College list confusion?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>My friend has been asking me what colleges she should apply to, but I seriously don't know, so I'm asking people here on her behalf. Please help. </p>

<p>Math IIC - 650 (not retaking)
Biology - 650 (not retaking)
AP Calc - 4
SAT 660 CR, 630 WR, 750 M
GPA - 92 unweighted
Rank - 3/117
College Course / Philosophy - 3.0
Extracurriculars:
Chorus (In-School, 1 yr)
Dance / ballet, pointe, jazz (14 years)<br>
National Honor Society (Junior year & probably Senior year)
Race - White
Volunteer work - 2 years/ 75 hours altogether @ a local library
Location: NYC</p>

<p>Senior Schedule:
Note: She is allowed to take only two APs senior year, and everyone is allowed to start taking APs junior year. Our school offers AP Eng Lit, AP French Lang, AP Bio, AP Spanish Lang, AP Euro (sophomores, recent addition), AP Studio Art, APUSH (they got rid of calc for the upcoming year)</p>

<p>AP USH (2nd year)
AP English Lit
Regents Physics
Phys. Ed
Economics</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>Presidential Fitness Award (10, 11)
Presidential Award for Academic Excellence (10, 11)
Chemistry Award (11th grade)
Math B Award (10th grade)
Student of the Month (sometime in 11th grade)</p>

<p>Economic Status: Parents own 4 houses and a private business.</p>

<p>She wants to apply to
Oxford [ED]
NYU
UC Berkeley
UCLA
Harvard*
Yale*
Princeton*
Columbia
Penn State: University Park
Intended career field/major - premed?? .. something that is either science or math..</p>

<p>*these are the schools she identified as her "safeties". i try telling her that none of those are safeties, but she's sure they are. most people, including our college advisor, have told her that she does not have much of a chance at oxford. </p>

<p>I need your help figuring out what schools are safety schools, matches, and reaches for her. She wants to go to school in either the New England Area, California, or New York. </p>

<p>Extra Info: She's not a great essay writer. She will probably get 1 excellent recommendation and 2 mediocre ones. She's not a legacy. I don't know if she knew that National Achievement was only for black students, but she entered herself in the competition... and I'm pretty sure she didn't know what she was doing. She's applying to Penn State because she thought it was an ivy... yes, I know, pretty mis/un-informed. We go to a small school, so extracurriculars are very limited: chorus, drama, inactive debate team, NHS, newspaper, yearbook (seniors only!)..the sports offered are basketball and volleyball.</p>

2

<p>Oxford [ED]- Waitlist
NYU- Accepted
UC Berkeley- Recjected
UCLA - Accepted
Harvard<em>-Rejected
Yale</em>-Rejected
Princeton*- Rejected
Columbia- Rejected
Penn State: University Park- Accepted</p>

3

<p>She'd really like a solid list, and I can't really help her with that. Can you help please?</p>

4

<p>Why would she be waitlisted at Oxford?</p>

5

<p>My gut feeling is that this has to be a joke...but just in case it isn't...here is my opinion. In my opinion your friend has confused safety schools with reaches. The schools she has marked as safeties aren't really a safe bet for anyone. To be honest, her awards aren't anything notable and from what you've posted, her ECs are not particularly notable either. Her standardized test scores are fine and her GPA is too but not for the Ivy League. If finances are an issue (owning four houses and a business could make need based aid dicey), I would suggest she at least consider one of the SUNY schools as a safety (academic and financial). Then I would look at some of the smaller LACs in the area...the is no shortage between NY and PA...go to the Gettysburg area and you have Gettysburg, Muhlenberg, Dickenson, Susquahanna, Franklin and Marshall, etc. And also the schools in the greater Phily area...Villanova, Lehigh, etc. Go into NY and you have Ithaca, Union, Hamilton. In CT you might have her look at Connecticut College, and Trinity (in Hartford). Also, there are a bunch of schools in Massachusetts...Northeastern, Emerson, Simmons, Boston University (if she likes NYU, she might like BU). Then there are smaller schools...St. Josephs in Phily, Siena in NY...Many of these have the potential to give this friend some merit aid if that is a consideration. Just a note...applying to any of the UC's as an out of stater makes admissions all the more difficult. </p>

<p>Your friend needs to have a serious talk with her guidance counselor AND her parents. Something is not right with this picture.</p>

<p>Oxford [ED]- Rejected
NYU- Accepted
UC Berkeley- Rejected
UCLA - Maybe accepted
Harvard<em>-Rejected
Yale</em>-Rejected
Princeton*- Rejected
Columbia- Rejected
Penn State: University Park- Accepted</p>

6

<p>
[QUOTE]
My gut feeling is that this has to be a joke...

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>I've talked to her. I've talked to the college advisor and told her to talk to her. I've told the guidance counselor to talk to her. She seriously thinks she has a shot... everywhere. Whenever you ask her where she's going for college, she says Oxford. We tell her it won't work out and she said she'll apply to "lesser schools" such as the ivies. She's been asking me for help, so I recommended Sarah Lawrence (a school I love) and NYU, and she said, "I don't want to go to retard schools." We have a really bad college advisor too, so that could play a part in it. She put ivies as a bunch of peoples' safeties/matches on college lists she wrote for us... yeah, terrible. My friend, the one who this post is about, is familiar only with the UCs, CUNYs, SUNYs, and the ivies. She considers anything besides the UCs or ivies "retard schools".</p>

7

<p>By Oxford does she mean Emory at Oxford or Oxford, UK? Because if it's Oxford, UK, there is no Early Decision system. She would have to apply by the 15 October deadline and then try her luck through the admissions procedure just like anyone else.</p>

8

<p>"Oxford [ED]"
Essentially zero chance. Oxford/Cambridge have almost entirely test-based admissions, and there is simply no way a 2040, low SATIIs and 1 AP will cut it. Also, she can't do ED at Oxford, since the UK is on a totally different system. You end up "applying early" anyway, since the preliminary deadline is in October (IIRC), but it doesnt give you any sort of special status. She can and should do EA/ED somewhere else. </p>

<p>UC Berkeley
Match-reach</p>

<p>UCLA, NYU
Match</p>

<p>Harvard*
Yale*
Princeton*
Super-reach, unless her parents give them a library. </p>

<p>Columbia
High Reach</p>

<p>Penn State: University Park
Safety-match</p>

<p>BTW, Oxford is not "above" the ivies. Oxford will take most people with 3 tough A-levels, but if an Ivy offered admission to anyone with (say) 3 5's on APs they'd be laughed out of the league.</p>

<p>You might want to get a copy of the US News guide or the equivalent and show her that at HYP she's below the 25th percentile. Raw numbers might break her turpor.</p>

9

<p>Trust me, I've tried (to show her USNews rankings and SAT/GPA averages). Even a talk with the college advisor (who told her she had zero shot at any of the schools she was considering besides NYU, PS and maybe a UC) did not make her get rid of her superiority complex and ignorance. </p>

<p>She means Oxford in the UK. She knows nothing about any schools that are not ivies, UCs, NYU or SUNYs (she's familiar with 2). I recommended several LACs for her (Bryn Mawr, Sarah Lawrence, Oberlin) and she insisted that the schools didn't exist and "even if they do, I am NOT going there."</p>