College List Suggestions and Chances at Admission

Hi!

I am going into my senior year of high school in Portland, Oregon, and I’ve been exploring options for college. I am hoping that I can receive advice on other schools that fit my desired list of qualifications.

I plan on majoring in journalism, but I have an interest in possibly double majoring in anthropology or political science. I would like to go to a four-year institution and get my Bachelor’s degree in journalism, but I plan on going into Civil Rights or Environmental Law while pursuing my Master’s degree. At this point, I am mostly interested in finding a school that will be able to accommodate those needs with an outstanding journalism program, as I may likely receive my Master’s at a different institution, but it would be nice to go to a school that has influences from the field of law.

                                                                  GENERAL CRITERIA:

-Have an outstanding, renowned journalism program
-Be co-ed
-Have in between 12,000 and 35,000 students
-Be in one of these states/areas: Washington, Oregon, California, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Washington D.C., or Georgia
-Provide on-campus housing
-Have Greek Life, a school newspaper, a mock trial team (or opportunity to start one), and student government
-Have a liberal climate and be in a college-friendly city

                                                                  MY CURRENT SCHOOL LIST:

-University of Oregon, Clark Honors College
-University of Southern California
-Syracuse University
-Boston University
-University of Washington

[Colleges that were on my list that I have since removed: University of California at Berkeley, University of California at Davis, New York University, George Washington University, and University of Massachusetts at Amherst]

                                                                  MY STATS AND QUALIFICATIONS:

Unweighted GPA: 3.95
Weighted GPA: 4.15
Composite SAT (new): 1280 [I plan on retaking this test. My highest individual score is 1230 (660 in reading and writing and 570 in math. On my other test, I scored 600 in math and 620 in reading/writing)].

My class schedule:

2015/2016 School Year–
I.B. Calculus SL
Leadership
I.B. Anthropology SL
I.B. History of the Americas HL
I.B. Psychology SL
Anatomy and Physiology (Semester 1)/Geology (Semester 2)
I.B. Literature 5-6 HL
Newspaper

2016/2017 School Year–
I.B. Anthropology HL
I.B. Literature 7-8 HL
I.B. Environmental Systems and Societies SL
I.B. 20th Century World History HL
Street Law
Leadership
Newspaper
Intermediate Art

Clubs/Organizations/Activities:

Class Cabinet Publicity Representative/Treasurer since Sept. 2015
Editor-in-Chief, Head Copy Editor, Reporter, and Team Leader of my school newspaper since Sept. 2014
Member of the National Honor Society since Feb. 2015
Student Body Cabinet Secretary since Aug. 2016
Leadership Student since Sept. 2014
Volunteer ESL Student Tutor/Mentor since Feb. 2014
Mock Trial Member since Sept. 2015
Sales Associate since July 2016

Again, I am hoping for advice on what schools I could be admitted to, as well as other schools I should look into. Thank you!

Your GPA, course rigor, and extracurriculars would definitely give you a very good shot at getting into the colleges you listed above. However, colleges might think differently once they see your SAT score. Are you on track to receiving your IB diploma?