<p>@mom2collegekids, they gave me a different statistic during my tour, 25% international. i loved mcgill because of the overall feel for tolerance - asians are nice, but i’d just like to get out of the bubble of ignorance that is maine/most of northern new england. even though mcgill isn’t strongly asian, many are from different parts of canada (i haven’t been able to find actual diversity statistics…)
@wgmcp101, i did visit PSU, i liked it to an extent, but i’m only applying because my dad wants me to and it’s his alma mater, lol. he really liked his time there (as an INTERNATIONAL student, may i add) and i have yet to meet a PSU grad who disliked their experience. you’ll notice that’s the only school on my list with a low diversity level…i also like their 6 year med program, if i was to get in. i don’t have the opportunity to go to many schools outside of new england which is where half my schools are…so i can’t really visit them. i’ve visited all the ones on my list nearby (mcgill, uconn, penn state) and the others are kind of from word of mouth & research.</p>
<p>i forgot to mention this earlier but i’m also going to be talking about extenuating circumstances in my applications; my dad nearly died my sophomore year and it carried over into my junior year when i had to take care of him.</p>
<p>does this change anything?</p>
<p>You have a decent chance if the SAT score goes up and if you’re class rank improves a bit.</p>
<p>Hmm.
Is your school a difficult school?</p>
<p>@footskineater, not particularly. every year we have like one kid go to an ivy (usually dartmouth), maybe a couple to tufts/brandeis/unc chapel hill, but usually they go to small LACs. we only offer like 10 aps (including language) and i took 6 of them.</p>
<p>another thing i wanted to add: this past month, i’ve been working with the elementary school in my local town, and i’m going to be starting the first tutoring/big brothers big sisters program between the high school and the elementary school. thats another thing on my ECs.</p>
<p>i want to keep one ivy on my list - which one would you guys recommend? (not cornell, dartmouth, or penn)</p>
<p>bumpity bump</p>
<p>I’d say keep Columbia on your list.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You can keep adding, but I doubt that will make the difference.</p>
<p>Your academics seems to be in the lower ballpark (SAT) but your rank is quite low.</p>
<p>@footskineater, i think i chose penn. and i recalculated my GPA, it’s a 3.588 on the 4.0 scale unweighted…i think thats an addition that might help. 
we’re going to be submitting the percentage one.</p>
<p>i know my class rank is a huge bust. 
ugh. my school is just full of level 4 coasters, and i wasn’t on the top of my game with APs, what can i say…my two lowest grades on my high school transcript were a 75 and 81 on ap calc though. so they’re all primarily 80s, 90s. we’ll see.</p>
<p>I understand.
But as most colleges say, they look for applicants who have challenged themselves (and have done well).</p>
<p>Best of luck!
3.59/4= .895, 89.5%, which is low for most Ivies.
I wish your school had a really really notorious reputation for grading.</p>