College Suggestions?

College Search & Selection
1

Hi!
I’m a current sophomore (early, I know, but I’m just curious at this point). Here are my stats:

School: private, very well known.

Gpa: my school doesn’t calculate GPAs, although I get straight As with some exceptions

PSAT: 1340- 98%- overall with no studying (English-99%- 700, math-96%- 640) - I will study for the next one but I’m not sure how much people usually improve- hoping for 100+ points with test prep

Classes (my school has no AP classes and doesn’t give A+s)

Freshman year:
Challenging over the summer biology (A)
Algebra II (B+)
Spanish II (A)
History (A)
English (A)
Drama (A)
Health (A)

Sophomore year:
Challenging over the summer spanish 3 (A)
Physics (A)
Honors geometry (A-)
Spanish 4 (took spanish 3 over the summer, but I’ll get into that later) (A)
History (A)
English (A)
Drama II (A)
Strength and conditioning/ yoga (A)

Planned junior year classes:
Honors chemistry
Honors physiology
Honors precalculus
Spanish 5
History
English
Might take drama III but have yet to decide

ECs:
Varsity rowing all 4 years and likely captain next year (This takes up most of my time as it’s 6x a week)
100+ hours of service
Coding club
Science Olympiad
Founding member of a dance club
I went on a service trip to Central America as a part of my summer spanish class

no class rank (my school doesn’t rank)

Demographics:
Female
White
Income > 300k but I’m not sure exactly how much
No financial aid

I really want to go to a research school, but it doesn’t have to be well known. I have a connection at Stanford but I’m not sure if I fit their criteria. I really like the idea of Johns Hopkins, but I’m unsure if I’d have a chance there either.

Please give me suggestions of where I should start to look at in the next couple of years!

2
  1. Sophomore year is too early to start looking at specific colleges.
  2. When the time comes (junior year) the guidance counselor at your "very well known private school" will be able to give you the best advice about what colleges to look at -- he/she will have a history of where students with your academic stats have been accepted to over the past years.
  3. If you want you can get your hands on a good college guide book (ex. Fiske, Princeton Review) and read up a bit on different schools so you can get a sense of what is out there (again, it is too early to focus on any particular colleges IMO).
3

By a research school, do you mean one at which you could conduct research? For this opportunity, consider including colleges with strong undergraduate focuses on your list.

If you’d like to continue with rowing, this resource may help you narrow your choices (though note that some colleges not listed may offer rowing clubs):

https://www.ncsasports.org/womens-rowing/colleges

4

What do you mean by “research school”? If you mean that professors spend more time on research than with undergrads, it’s one type of school. If you mean professors involve students in their research and help undergrads work on research, that’s another type of school.

Finding dream schools is easy; finding likelies and matches is harder.
Rather than thinking of “names”, figure out what “fit” is and what your fit specifically is – go on visits: a nearby selective/NESCAC LAC, a nearby private large-ish university, the state’s public flagship. Try to figure out what appeals to you at each and what you liked best. Then try to find 5 safeties that seem to fit with what you liked best (5 = to give you space to grow and change your mind).

5

@happy1
I know it’s early ? I was just wondering if I should start planning visits for this summer. I have limited breaks due to my rowing commitment and need to plan as far out as possible. This summer is the only time I’ll be able to tour and late planning isn’t an option for my family (my parents both work and need to ask for leave in advance, plus It’s much cheaper to plan 6 months in advance). Thanks, everyone, for all of the thoughtful recommendations! Can anyone tell me how competitive my PSAT score makes me (1340)? I’ve heard scores higher and lower than my own, but I have absolutely no perspective.

6

Are you interested in rowing In college? It is a sanctioned NCAA women’s sport - and could help your admission efforts.

You have time, but engaging in recruiting process should happen soon.

7

What state? What is your major state university? Many have research opportunities.

8

Yes start visiting in the summer etc. Note that students won’t be around so you might get a false view of the college. Visiting in the fall/spring if you can as well. This will give you a better sense of the college. The above is all good advise. Do you have any local colleges just to go to see the size of the college regardless if it’s a college you would go to?

As you see many are asking about rowing. Female, smart, rower can be a way into some selective colleges if it’s something you enjoy. This gives you a slight edge…have any rowers had scholarships from your school to college?

Even though your psat is a good score and 94 %. It’s not setting the world on fire . Psat seem to be lower then the actual Sat scores. It’s very common. For the next tests really put a lot of effort into it.

You have a long way to go. We started visiting schools local to us to determine size and feel of the school. We either just went to lunch on campus and walked around and /or did an official tour. We are lucky since we have many different size campuses local to us. Maybe you can do this first with your parents. You might dislike large universities VS small Liberal arts colleges. You might want something in between. This can help greatly when picking colleges.

9

As others have said you are young and have quite a bit of time to sort this out. We won’t know if you might be competitive for highly ranked schools until you have another year+ of grades and some more test scores.

One thing that you might want to think about is whether you want to attend a larger school or a smaller school.

Larger schools typically have a wider range of majors and more resources, but often (depending upon the school) also have more competition for those resources.

Smaller schools typically have smaller classes, especially for freshman and sophomore years (although I did see large classes even in graduate school at a relatively large university). Liberal Arts Colleges will frequently not have much in the way of graduate programs. This means that undergraduate students get to help in research efforts without having to compete with graduate students for research opportunities. My younger daughter is at a small school and is getting very good research opportunities.

A few visits might help you figure out where you would be the most comfortable.

To me it looks like you are doing very well up to now. Keep up the good work! Also, make sure that you don’t let yourself get too stressed out.

10

Since you took the PSAT as sophomore, your score might comport with about a (rarefied) 1500 on the SAT. For perspective, you can check Common Data Sets to see where this would place you at various colleges of interest.

11

With an intense sport schedule, it is a very good idea to start visiting schools the summer before your junior year. I would narrow your list down and try to get to any that are far enough from where you live that it will take a day or two to travel there. Local schools (within a couple hours drive) are easy enough to squeeze in during the school year, but travel to more distant schools eats up a lot of time. Try to combine visits to several schools in the same area.

My daughter is a 2 sport/4 year varsity athlete (off season club) whose sports run year round. We are midway through her junior year and finding it difficult to figure out how to squeeze in visits to schools that are located pretty far apart before she has to start interviewing this summer. She won’t be able to travel for interviews in Fall of her senior year because she travels for her sport most weekends and will be in college classes during the week. We will spend a lot of June focusing on getting her to interviews before her school sports season starts in mid july.

12

@yeehawqueen - If STEM is your thing and rowing is a passion, consider Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). It has a project based approach and lots of research opportunities on campus. My D is a freshman biotech major and received significant merit aid. Over 40% of recent class is female. SAT optional but admitted student profile shows SAT range (middle 50%): 1310–1480. The women’s crew team placed second in NCAA D3 last year and took bronze at the Head of the Charles this fall. It practices on a local lake and has an Indoor training tank. Solid coaching staff (head coach named D3 Coach of the Year) and dedicated group of young women (including a senior who competed at the U23 World Championships). Bates (also test optional) is another in New England to consider. Both schools clearly have a different vibe. As previous posters have noted, check out the Fiske Guide’s narrative on each school (and others of interest) and go on websites. Good luck on your journey.
https://www.wpi.edu/research/areas
https://www.wpi.edu/project-based-learning
https://athletics.wpi.edu/sports/wrowing/2019-20/news
https://www.bates.edu/admission/student-profile
https://www.gobatesbobcats.com/sports/rowing/index

13

Time to visit schools does get tight. However, visiting over the summer might make some schools seem pretty dull.

14

Just so you know, Stanford doesn’t take legacy/connection into account in the admissions process, but if it’s a dream school, you should definitely apply!

The first thing you should do is start listing out important factors in finding a college. location? schools that specialize in your major? clubs? size? etc.

One of the things I most regretted was not applying EA to schools. Because you’re thinking about college early on, you should definitely start a common app account in your junior year and start thinking about college recommenders so that when applications open in late summer and early fall, you can apply and get decisions back early!

Because your grades themselves don’t show all of who you are, you should apply to schools that undertake the admissions process holistically, so they see your ECs and things you do outside of the classroom.

Some college suggestions:

University of Michigan
University of Notre Dame
NYU
Brown
Purdue

15

@highschoolsen20r - Stanford does consider legacies— I’m pretty sure it’s a big bump…

16

Also: I’m currently signing up for classes for next year. How do these sound for a junior?

English (highest offered)
Us history (highest offered)
Honors chemistry (highest offered)
Accelerated precalculus (second highest offered, math is my worst subject)
Spanish 5 (highest offered)
Honors physiology OR computer science (highest offered)
Maybe: Drama

Thoughts on physiology vs comp science? Should I take drama?

17

CS

18

Any reason?

19

The Common Data Set for Stanford shows Alumni Relation is Considered, not Important. Section C7
https://ucomm.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2019/12/stanford-cds-2019.pdf

20

Is there any benefit for me to take CS 2/3 over physiology?? Courses due soon! Help!