Objective:
GPA: 97 UW, 99 W(4.0 UW on 4 scale)
SAT: 1450/1600 new SAT(1400 old)
Rank- 2/110
Course Rigor- 7 APs, 10 Honors throughout high school, most rigorous in my school
ECs:
FBLA-2 years- treasurer(11), president(12)- 1st at regionals, didn’t place at states
Model UN- 2 years- treasurer(12)- outstanding speaker, two events per year
Tennis- 3 years- Varsity team, club team(winters), clinics year round, #3 sometimes #2 singles on varsity team
Tennis volunteering- helping out at local clinics over this summer for our district residents(75 hrs)
Students against destructive decisions(SADD)-4 years-treasurer(11)
Engineering competition-11-12th
Recycling club- 9-12th- I know this sounds like nothing but I’m president next year and I’m trying pretty hard to make it more active as this year was probably the worst ever
Piano- seven years- private lessons
Preferences in school
-MUST HAVE good FA or decent chance at a large scholarship(everything else is just a preference this is the only mandatory thing)
northeast, mid Atlantic region
no preference for size
don’t mind warm or cool weather just don’t want extreme cold or extremely hot
going into business/finance, so good opportunities for internship
school spirit would be nice
Where do you guys recommend look into and would it be a reach, match, or safety?
I suggest first boosting your sat score to 1500+if possible, which makes you eligible for the top dawgs like Princeton, Harvard and Yale. 1450 means you’re more likely to be stuck in the middle to lower tier Ivy league schools. With your extracurricular activities, you can easily get into the top schools if you score 1500+.
No one “easily” gets into top schools. Grades & test scores are just the start for those schools; ECs need to be really spectacular beyond that, and while the OP’s are solid, they aren’t in that category.
@Robin36520@intparent I am retaking in June, but I know my chances at schools like those are low even with a 1500+. Also, I am also Asian Indian which I know doesn’t help. I know I don’t have that one standout or spectacular EC, but do you think my ECs are good enough for a school like Georgetown? That is my biggest reach school right now.
I don’t think there’s really such thing as a “middle to lower tier Ivy”. They’re all amazing, highly ranked, and highly selective schools with major name recognition; trying to designate inferior/superior Ivies is really splitting hairs.
@theoriginalclone While all of the ivies (and non-ivy but highly selective schools like Stanford and MIT) are excellent schools, it is the case that it is easier to get into some of them (e.g., Cornell, Dartmouth, U. Penn) than others (e.g., Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford). That is probably what is meant by “middle to lower tier” versus “higher tier.”
That said, all of these schools are crap shoots for everyone, so you need to make sure that you have some matches and safeties. And yes, increasing your SAT or giving the ACT a shot would probably be a good plan.
@class0f2017 – When you say a school must have good financial aid do you mean need based or merit based? What is your EFC? How much can your family afford to spend?
I ask because there are some schools that have wonderful need based financial aid, that meet full demonstrated need for families, but do not offer merit based scholarships. If you have a higher EFC, and will not qualify for need based aid, there are schools that offer top students merit aid for high stats… so, the list of suggestions will be different depending on your circumstance.
@KatMT By good financial aid, I meant either or both. I know lower ranked schools usually don’t have great need based aid and top schools don’t have much merit aid. I have done NPCs for schools that meet 100% need, but not HYP level aid like Lehigh, Bucknell, BC, Georgetown, etc and it came around 15k/year which is doable for us. Lehigh was actually around 11k IIRC which is amazing. So my parents can afford the NPCs for schools that meet need or else I need a significant scholarship. Max would be around 25k/year, but under 20k/year is what I’m hoping for.
I’m also trying to raise my SAT by a little bit if that will help for any merit.