Confused--- Direct me

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a very confused boy...</p>

<p>1) I definately want to go to college.
2) I definately don't know where.
3) My GPA is 4.1.. where honors are 5 and AP's are 6
4) I'm in my school's National Honor society
5) My SAT is 1930
6) I go to an average high school in Pennsylvania
7) I don't care about how far away the school is
8) I prefer a friendly, rural atmosphere.. i think.. i don't really care
9) I'm a science/math guy.. I don't know my exact major yet
10) I've done sports, but never Varsity
11) 2 yr's Math League, 2 yr's Science League
12) 2 yr's Key Club
13) 2 yr's computer Club
14) President of a small Club I made.
15) I'm in organizations OUTSIDE of school... does that count?
16) I've done work to earn mony... does that help?
17) My GC likes me</p>

<p>I have a meeting with my GC to talk about colleges soon.. i dont know what to say because I haven't really researched colleges.</p>

2

<p>What's your unweighted GPA? That's no +'s or -'s, Honors Credit, or AP Credit.</p>

<p>Also, what would be your GPA where AP's are considered 1 extra point?</p>

<p>Things outside of school not only help, but they'll push your application up above many of the club-maniacs who focus solely on school and not the real world.</p>

<p>I don't know if your GPA and SAT are quite high enough to get you to some of the bigger places...one that jumps to my mind though is Gettysburg College. It's in your state, and I was considering applying there initially. You might like it, based on what you described. Plus, it's in the middle of a historical landmark!</p>

3

<p>wht do u want to major in? Syracuse or Boston seem like matches for u.</p>

4

<p>With my own calculations, I have 3.61, and 3.72 when AP's are an extra point...(honors are considered regular classes)</p>

<p>My SAT score will hopefully become better.</p>

<p>I've never heard of Gettysburg, and I don't know much about it. The fact that it is a historical landmark doesn't intrigue me as much I'd expect. I went to its website, and it looks okay.. but it ranks terribly on even the librel arts ranking on USnews...</p>

<p>Also, when you guys suggest a college to me, where do i go to learn more about it? It seems like the college websites seem incredibly useless or maybe i'm just bad at navigating them?..</p>

5

<p>I attended Syracuse pre-college and with your stats, Syracuse looks like a really good match. I dunno too much about Boston but i do know that it's right up there with syracuse. what is your intended major?</p>

6

<p>He already said Math/Science type of guy who isn't too sure of major..</p>

7

<p>yea..here's another question.. how do I go about deciding my major?</p>

8

<p>Boston U and Syracuse wouldn't exactly qualify as "friendly, rural" atmospheres." </p>

<p>Even with the 1930 SAT you could get into some good schools. I'd consider Clarkson, Bucknell, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Penn State, North Carolina State, Ohio U, Miami U (Ohio), Purdue, Michigan State. If you improve the SATs to about 2100, you will increase your options quite a bit.</p>

<p>Get the Fiske Guide to Colleges--it will help you narrow the options quite a bit.</p>

9

<p>what about reaches.. what are good reaches for me? Is there any chance for Columbia?</p>

10

<p>Columbia is a huge reach unless you have a major hook...</p>

<p>If you bring up your SAT scores to around 2100 you still have a good chance at a top tier school, however.</p>

<p>Why don't you visit Bucknell, Lafayette, and Lehigh which are all in PA and I think have rural campuses (not sure). Most of those should be matches</p>

11

<p>What do you mean by hook?... does that mean connections??... I have connections..</p>

12

<p>a hook is something that makes you stand out .... for example, being an underrepresented minority (black, latino, native american), having some incredible, rare talent, etc.</p>

13

<p>Oooh... I may have that... but I didn't say for identity reasons. If anyone is willing to help me 1 on 1, please say so, or PM me your AIM screename.. or otherwise.. thanks a lot everyone for your help.</p>

14

<p>rragas, If you want rural, Columbia is not it. You might check out James Madison U. It is a rural, friendly campus. You might check out their ISAT program (science/technology). I think that JMU would be a match/safety for you. I say match/safety b/c you never know who they will accept for sure. Also, if interested in engineering, you might look at VTech.</p>

15

<p>I see... I'm not exactly looking for a rural atmosphere as much as an atmosphere where I can make good friends, and enjoy myself in general. Also, I'd like to able to study when necessary ;)... I know this is pretty vague, but note the title of this thread.</p>

<p>Anyway, the "hook" that I think I have is science-related...</p>

16

<p>Well you might check out RPI, Carnegie Mellon, UConn, Olin (this one has a friendly campus, but a tough school/might be more competitive than what you are looking for).</p>

17

<p>So far, you guys have suggested:</p>

<p>Gettysburg College
Syracuse University
Boston College / Boston University?</p>

<p>Clarkson
Bucknell
Clemson
Virgina Tech
Penn State
North Carolina State
Ohio University
Miami University (Ohio)
Perdue University
Michigan State</p>

<p>Lafayette College</p>

<p>James Madison University
Virginia Tech</p>

<p>Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Carnegie Mellon
University of Connecticut
Olin College</p>

<p>Any others?</p>

<p>I have decided prestige is substantially important to me.</p>

<p>Competition is not a bad thing... right?</p>

18

<p>Georgetown, MIT(reach),Caltech(reach), Johns Hopkins---all in city areas though.</p>

<p>UVA maybe?</p>

19

<p>Are those schools really possible for me?</p>

20

<p>You have the gpa, but not the sat score. That is why I did not list those schools. You should have a couple of reasonable reaches on your list. Afterall, if you don't apply, you definitely don't have a chance!</p>