<p>I posted this in College Search hoping for suggestions but it seemed like I was on the right track:</p>
<p>"Hello all,</p>
<p>To cut right to the chase, I am a High School Junior who would appreciate any and all help with deciding which colleges to apply to. Obviously my expectations are very different from reality. I will provide my details and then elaborate.</p>
<p>Race/Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
State of Residence: NJ
School Type: Public
School State Rank: 180-200/322
Class Size: ~400</p>
<p>Parents' Education/Job Status/Income:
Father: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology, 1985
Unemployed/Freelance as of Feb. 2013, previously made $100K+</p>
<p>Mother: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from Moore College of Art and Design, 1988
$110K+ as a Manager of Web Design</p>
<p>NMSQT/PSAT: 221</p>
<p>SAT I Composite: 2260
SAT I Writing: 700
SAT I Mathematics: 780
SAT I Reading: 780
SAT I Essay: 9</p>
<p>ACT Composite: 35
ACT English: 35
ACT Mathematics: 33
ACT Reading: 36
ACT Science: 35
ACT Writing: 8</p>
<p>AP European History: 3</p>
<p>I have not taken SAT IIs yet and am still deciding which to take.</p>
<p>GPA (UW/W): 4.00/4.70+ (not including senior year schedule)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
* Student Government President
* Junior & Senior Class Treasurer
* Science Club Treasurer
* Key Club Junior & Senior Class Exec.
* National Honor Society
* Science National Honor Society
* Honorable Mention in local Science and Engineering Fair Environmental Sciences Division
* Student of the Month September 2012
* Peer Leadership
* published sportswriter
* published in local community college literary magazine
* organizing Habitat for Humanity trip
* two years of tennis in school
* years of basketball and baseball outside school
* certified as a Little League umpire
* studied briefly in Paris, London, Germany, and Switzerland as part of European History class; I am hoping to additionally travel to Spain and Morocco for an educational trip in Spring 2014
* volunteer tutoring for peers in need of assistance</p>
<p>Junior Year Schedule:
* AP Biology
* AP English Language and Composition
* AP United States History
* AP Computer Science
* AP Calculus AB
* Spanish III
* Health/Physical Ed. (required)</p>
<p>I am maintaining an A in all of my junior classes (with the exception of a clerical mistake on my Physical Education grade of all places that gave me a B and is being petitioned)</p>
<p>Senior Year Schedule:
* AP Chemistry
* AP United States Government & Politics
* AP Statistics
* AP Spanish Language
* AP English Literature and Composition
* GALRE (Government And Law Related Experiences - Honors, non-GPA)
* Health/Physical Ed. (required)</p>
<p>I will be taking the AP exams for all of the courses.</p>
<p>As with most, I picked reaches, matches, and safeties (sort of).</p>
<p>Here are my (tentative) picks:</p>
<p>Reaches: Stanford, Princeton, Harvard</p>
<p>Matches: NYU, BU, USC</p>
<p>Safeties: I would say my safeties are Rutgers, UMiami, and Fordham, but these are the most fluid.</p>
<p>Here's where things get trickier. I have my sights set on the National Merit Scholarship, but the cutoff in NJ has wavered between 221 & 223 the past few years. Assuming I do get it, I would look at the schools that recruit and give aid to NMS qualifiers. </p>
<p>However, these picks were based off of the overwhelming encouragement I've gotten from teachers, family, counselors, and classmates. After just a few hours on this site, I've learned to temper those expectations. </p>
<p>I was hoping that you could give me the hard truth I need instead of feeding me candy-coated nonsense that I want to hear. What schools should I be looking at? I have toured USC, Stanford, UCLA, Cal-Berkeley, Princeton, NYU, BU, BC, Harvard, and Yale. I plan on touring or attending information sessions for Penn and Columbia. I have received information from dozens of universities and am feeling a lot of pressure over my application decisions.</p>
<p>I can supply any additional information you ask for within reason, and may add some as I remember it. Feel free to also suggest any things I can do in the next year to boost my application. I'm considering taking piano lessons (I play recreationally)."</p>
<p>Basically I'm looking for an honest, straight-talk answer as to my chances at:</p>
<p>Stanford, the Ivies, Duke, Georgetown, USC, NYU, BU, UChicago, UCLA, Cal-Berkeley & Northwestern</p>
<p>In addition, I'd like any suggestions you have for other colleges. Rest assured that these are not the only schools I am considering I just feel that these are good match to reach schools for me.</p>