The thing about stats is that they speak for themselves. I don’t think you will have much traction explaining that your 3.5 is truly superior to your competitor’s higher GPA. Your ACT/SAT scores will serve, to a degree, as a reality test for your GPA. Based on your posts so far, your projected ACT score would probably be 27-29, maybe 30.
I would spend less time looking for schools so early in the process and spend more time studying for the ACT/SAT hoping to bolster your GPA.
Ohio University may be more your scene then.
Your guidance counselor would include grade distribution and indicate your school is very competitive in order to put your GPA in context but you shouldn’t do it yourself.
Look at Dickinson, St Bonaventure, Cal Poly slo, Denison, St Olaf, Illinois Wesleyan, Earlham, Skidmore, URedlands: which ones appeal to you more? Why?
Ohio u. is pretty heavy into partying, so if Miami u is scratched for its intense social scene, ohio u wouldnt be much of an improvement.
Don’t rule out Loyola Maryland just because it’s in B-More. B-More can be a really fun place to go to college. It’s not the place for big sports, but they have a lot of great residential life programs.
well, the vibe at Ohio U is still quite different from the vibe at Miami Ohio. 
I got my May sat scores back and am okay with them.I am really happy with my 700 on math but I googled it and I don’t even know if it is good.I got a 600 on writing which was okay.I think I did better on the June one but hopefully my scored won’t be affected because we had a fire drill in the middle.Essay I got a 33/40 on which I was really happy with because I rarely ever get above a 75 on a paper.That makes me feel really stupid to be happy over that. I don’t know how much more sat prep I will do.I will just hope for the best for my June scores.I feel like my score isn’t that good and that I kind of failed myself.
1300 is pretty good. I don’t think that score rules out any of the universities listed in posts above. Congratulations!
Based on what you wrote, your biggest challenge is finding matches and safeties that you love and would be proud to go to. It sounds like you and your parents have very high expectations for where you go. I found that many schools that aren’t in the top 20 seem very desirable. You just need to go to college websites and poke around. Get a book like Fiske and you’ll find good schools. You need to lower your expectations and know that you can and will get into a good school even if it isn’t the most prestigious
If your parents are willing to be full pay for only certain schools you’re going to have to craft a well thought out list. That means adding not only matches, but some safeties as well. It’s going to be difficult to find safeties if you can’t get your head around the fact that your matches are matches based on your stats.
Most students show they’re capable of doing the work by submitting competitive standardized test scores and GPAs. If you can’t do that, you may need to reevaluate what schools are an academic fit for you. You said you study a lot, so unless your 3.5 GPA is high for your school your match schools are truly matches for you. If there were unusual circumstances that could explain your GPA (not poor teachers) then colleges would take that into account when evaluating your transcript. Otherwise, they’ll take the transcript at face value.
Find some match schools that have the characteristics of the reaches that you love and learn to love them too. You don’t want to be one of those students who’s shut out in April, or who applies to all reaches and their in state flagship (that they wouldn’t actually dream of attending) and whose only acceptance is to the flagship. Good luck.
@MYOS1634 Actually, a new 1300 converts to an old 1230/1820 (27 ACT) depending on how the conversion is calculated. It is not equivalent to an old CR+M score of 1300.
The new SAT is creating havoc bc of inflated scores. A 1450 converts to an old 1400/2080. A 1500 converts to an old 1460/2170.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/05/11/why-your-new-sat-score-is-not-as-strong-as-you-think-it-is/
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/scores/understanding-scores/sat-score-converter
Shoot, I missed that.
Although 1230/1820/27 ACT is respectable, it’s not quite the same as an “old” 1300 indeed.
How will colleges handle this?
It doesn’t sound at the moment as if you have kept any matches or safeties on your list. Lewis and Clark would be a reach. Goucher, Ursinus, Muhlenberg, Kalamazoo, Ithaca and Syracuse might be options on the match side. Leigh would be a low reach. Lafayette may be one to look at as well. I also agree with the earlier Fordham recommendation. Cal Poly slo would be a reach and requires you to declare a major at application, I would not look there. It sounds as if you are east coast focused so that seems out of range. If not, ones to consider would be Gonzaga, Seattle University, University of Portland, University of Puget Sound, Willamette, Chapman. All of these are matches, not safeties at your stats.
Reading back through this thread, I have two questions. You said you got a 33/40 on the essay on the SAT. This is not possible - the maximum score is 24. Did you get a 3/3/4 for the three sections? Or something else? The other question is related, you said that you usually get a 75 on papers. If that’s the case, you should look for schools that have good writing support or dedicated freshman writing tutorial classes so you can improve your skills.
I do blame my teachers for my bad grades.Case 1:The day before a final my teacher taught us stuff that would be on it that was 50% of it.It was completely horrible and I did not know anything despite studying so much.You can only learn so much in one night.Case 2:My teacher put stuff on my final literally no one had even heard of before,when we asked him he was like just guess and we were like how can we guess on all of it.Why should we have to guess when it isn’t our fault.
I looked at the wrong section I got 19/24.I feel as though I am a decent writer but i don’t know.
I don’t think you will improve your standing for college admissions by blaming teachers for results that you feel are below your potential.
Them putting information on tests that I have never learned results in me getting a bad grade it is as simple as that.I study so much but when they do that it makes it impossible to get good grades.
I do feel like I am smart and my parents tell me how I am smarter than them when they were in high school so I do feel like my grades don’t reflect that.I always have very intellectual discussions during dinner,I am very aware of the current issues in the world.I am very well-traveled and I do think I am intelligent.
Some teachers are terrible but you can’t say that in your application. What you CAN do however is take a subject test to show mastery in a subject where you supposedly did so-so.
^^ agreed. And truly whether they were, or were not terrible, whether it was fair or not, that is life. It will happen in college and in the workplace. This will not be the first or last situation that feels unfair. Blaming will get you nowhere. Figuring out how to succeed despite that and focusing on that goal is what will move you forward.
You need to take ownership of where, and how you want this to go. Blaming others and focusing on schools that are reaches for your stats will not get you where you want to be. Subject tests could help but honestly for the schools that are matches for you, likely not necessary and may or may not be considered. Make the best of what you have, take the act or sat again in the fall and knock the grades out of the park first semester. Hopefully you have some good relationships with teachers you can ask for letters of recommendation.
You’ve been given some good advice. Try to step back and listen openly to it and stop blaming. It doesn’t change a thing and will hold you back tremendously. At the end of the day all you can control is you. Try to be the best you, you can be. If you do, it will show in your essays and your LOR’s and that can help you quite a bit.
I don’t think I will ever fully come to terms with the fact that I can’t get into the colleges that I should be able to get into.I just can’t picture myself at my “match” colleges and really don’t think I will ever be able to be happy there.I guess now I just need to focus on choosing a college that is the easiest to transfer from.Not transferring is not an option.i just can’t imagine how much of a disaster my life will be when all the college rejections arrive,I think if I got rejected from all my colleges I would just stop going to school.
Wait, what?
Where does ^ come from?