<p>Hi, I'm looking at these colleges:
NYU
BU (sibling currently attends)
Elon
UMD - college park (legacy)
Emory
U of Michigan
U of Toronto
Duke (legacy)
University of Chicago
Columbia College
BC
Tufts
Tulane
U of Miami
Community College</p>
<p>GPA: 3.46 UW, 3.98 Weighted at acclaimed high school (in top 100 in country)
PSATs: 1810 (hoping to increase them, taking SATs this spring)</p>
<p>Honors credits this year:
H. Modern World
Molecular Genetics - am taking summer course this summer to get college credits</p>
<p>AP courses:
AP AB Calculus
AP Language and Composition</p>
<p>Next year (senior year):
H. Anatomy
AP Psych
AP Stat
AP Literature</p>
<p>Already taken AP US Government - 4</p>
<p>EC:
President and founder of a charity/ social activism club at school
Regional student journalist (Several reviews were published in local media outlets).
(will have) 4 years drama club/shows(Most likely will have leadership position next year)</p>
<p>I also have a few film awards and writing awards throughout local competitions, but nothing too glitzy.</p>
<p>Those are my most dedicated ones., though I have more.</p>
<p>I'm thinking of majoring in Journalism/Broadcast journalism and maybe minoring or double majoring in film production/media</p>
<p>I know some of them are out my reach, but... chance me?</p>
<p>Very hard to chance you before the SAT’s, because we have all seen examples of them turning out pretty different than the PSAT’s. If your SAT’s do come in at a similar level though, then I think that Emory, Duke, Chicago and Tufts are high reaches, Michigan and BC a reach, Tulane and NYU a slight reach, Miami, BU, UMD and Elon matches, and I don’t know about the rest, although Community College should be a safety of course. Better SAT scores, like 1900-1950, won’t change the high reaches I don’t think, but give you an outside shot at the reaches and make the matches much more solid.</p>
<p>well everything on your list except the cc is kind of a reach or more… SO… Study hard for the SAT and take the ACT too. Your still early enough in the process to make a big difference in your scores. Go for it…</p>
<p>Thanks, I’m taking them this weekend, we’ll see how they go!</p>
<p>ncmentor - Not sure why you would say Elon a reach. The middle 50% SAT’s are 570-660, and an 1800 is 600 each, on average. Combined with that good GPA and the challenging schedule, I think it is the very definition of a match. Maryland is a slight reach on stats, but he is a legacy, thus a match. Very similar for BU. Miami has the same stats as these two, but that would still put him within the middle 50% group and his strong schedule would make him a match. Still, no question that a significantly better SAT score or a good ACT score changes the equation.</p>
<p>Fair enough fallenchemist. Here’s my process. </p>
<p>The student has NO SAT’s to compare yet and guessing at SAT’s based on PSAT’s can often bite someone in the ____. </p>
<p>3.46 is a good but not memorable GPA</p>
<p>The “middle 50% SAT” comparison is based on past years data and you don’t know what next years data will look like until it’s come and gone.</p>
<p>I think bluesharpies is the kind of student that any college would be lucky to have, but chancing at this point is a blind guess. So as far as I’m concerned, “Study hard for the SAT and take the ACT too. Your still early enough in the process to make a big difference in your scores. Go for it”…</p>
<p>Also fair enough. You are right that it is all speculation, in fact all “chancing” is. So I guess this is doubly speculative, lol. It will at least be a little more meaningful when the OP has better data about himself and the latest data from the schools.</p>
<p>BU/UMD-Match
HYU-Low Reach
Elon-Not sure</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>