<p>Hey! So this is my last chance thread, and I will chance you back.
I am half Asian and half White (I'm putting white). And I live in New Jersey.
So I attend a very well known private boarding school. It sends 100 percent of applicants to 4 year colleges, and probably 70 percent to top 25 Universities or top 20 Colleges. Also, nobody greats straight As, and the average sat is probably around 2100. </p>
<p>So, we don't have GPAs, but mine would be around a 3.4 with a huge upward trend and a great sr. year so far. The only AP class I have taken is Calc BC, but there are no ap classes offered in the histories, Englishes or sciences.
SATs
2220 - 760, 710, 750
SAT II
740 - US History
680 - Math I
710 - Lit. </p>
<p>Highlights of ECs (just the best things):
Paid internship at a local newspaper - I actually wrote stuff.
3 sport varsity athlete.
Sectional editor/writer for school newspaper.
Club president.
Model UN
Some more club and like community service things. </p>
<p>So here are the schools ( I know some are huge huge reaches - I'm actually putting some of my super-reaches in the list, if they are tell me! I want you to make me cry). </p>
<p>I want to major in Psychology. </p>
<p>Michigan
Brown
WUSTL
Colgate
Miami
Hopkins
Vanderbilt
Duke
Wisconsin
Emory</p>
<p>Michigan: Match
Brown: HUGE HUGE Reach (unfortunately, man, w/ that GPA, this is an impossibility)
WUSTL: Reasonable Reach (WUSTL is a holistic school, so the GPA might not matter SO much come decision time)
Colgate: Low-Reasonable Reach
Miami: In
Hopkins: Reasonable-BIG Reach (this is also a very low chance, if not ED)
Vanderbilt: Reasonable Reach
Duke: BIG Reach (virtually an Ivy)
Wisconsin: In
Emory: Reasonable-BIG Reach</p>
<p>Basically, the GPA destroys your shots at these schools… espec. w/ the lack of an AP curriculum to compensate; otherwise, you’d be a great shot for these schools; SAT’s are fantastic, EC’s are great, and based on your writing skills, your essays and recs are prob excellent as well</p>
<p>I’d knock out Duke, Hopkins, Emory, and Brown… just b/c they just seem too far out of your range; here are some suggestions that I think may be closer in your range:</p>
<p>Texas-Austin (one of the best public schools in the country, but within your range)
NYU
Boston College
Boston University
Cornell (if you want another sizable reach, but one where you have at least a 30% shot)
Northwestern</p>
<p>Check out these schools; I think they’re good fits for you</p>
<p>I can only really attest to Vanderbilt and Hopkins…</p>
<p>Hopkins will look at your SAT Math 1 score pretty warily, and I’m sure you realize that it is fairly low. Most of your other schools might do the same, but they also might just look at the top two scores (if they only require two). </p>
<p>For Vanderbilt, I think that they would love your involvement with journalism and interest in psychology. If you are applying to the Peabody institute, your chances would be slightly lower, but I would say that Vanderbilt is a match for you.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t take any of the schools off your list.</p>
<p>-
It seems like (based on your description) your school would be well-known among those colleges. They would understand the system without GPAs, and the fact that not many APs are offered. Do other students at your school self-study for AP tests? If so, the fact that you have not put forth an initiative to do so might hurt you.</p>
<p>Try to self-rank yourself among your classmates. If colleges are actually familiar with your school, then they will be able to compare you to other people even without a GPA or rank.</p>
<p>Oh actually I did self-study for US AP History, English (I forget which one), and in 10th grade European History. I got 4, 5, 4. Sorry I didn’t mention that.
Also, I know my sat math grade is low, but I want to like stay away from math in college. So I hope that won’t hurt me too much.</p>
<p>I think that each of these schools will be familiar with your school profile, and will bump your GPA up to reflect the difficulty of the classes you took. This is to say that your “regular” classes may be on par in difficulty with honors classes elsewhere, and they will take that into account. This is at least what I’ve heard. </p>
<p>Michigan- You’re in
Brown- Very very high reach
WUSTL- I don’t know enough about this school! Sorry
Colgate- reach (much much better chance than some of your other reaches though!)
Miami- Sure thing
Hopkins- reach
Vanderbilt- Big reach
Duke- Big reach
Wisconsin- Safe
Emory- Big reach</p>
<p>wow good stats. Umm I go with the only schools you have more than (umm sorry to put an exact percentage… its a ridiculous idea to say you have a certain percentage chance… but for lack of better way to term it) 30% chance are wisconsin and miami… idk about wustle colage vanderbilt etc. But wisconsin is really hard to get into too. well just hope for the best. The Ivy and Duke and Emory are like really big reaches, and michigan is a reach. Wisconsin might be one too.</p>
<p>wow i just noticed that my previous post was soo confusing… i was just rambling. All I’m saying is your GPA is too low without any AP assets to it, but schools will see that no AP courses are really offered at your school. Just hope for wisconsin and a few other schools. I would really like to say that it will be a miracle to be accepted to Duke Emory or Ivy. A dream to be accepted to Michigan. But then your EC might play a vital role in chances, so just apply and see how it comes out as.</p>
<p>It’s not untypical for the best private high schools to grade conservatively and limit the number of AP courses. Many of the courses that you’ve taken I expect would be viewed as APs in the majority of high schools. The selective universities to which you’re applying know that. I think that you have a good chance at all of them. If you can narrow down the list to the one or two colleges you really want to get into, and get your college counselor to advocate for you, and consider EA you have a good shot at your highest reach. Good luck.</p>
<p>Michigan - Safety
Brown - Reach
WUSTL - Not Sure
Colgate - Safety
Miami - Safety
Hopkins - Match
Vandy - Match
Duke - Reach
Wisconsin - Match
Emory - Not Sure</p>