edit my list pleaseee

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey, i posted on here a while ago but it wasn't specific and i didn't learn much, so i'm trying again. </p>

<p>I'm an upcoming senior who attends a competitive public high school, and i remember my peers saying once that we have 'major grade deflation'. </p>

<p>I've taken the most rigorous course load offered so far, consisting of all honors classes and four AP's, and i ended junior year with a 3.83 unweighted gpa. For my AP scores, I got a 5 on stats, 4 on US history, and a 3 on English. Didn't take my AP foreign language test because teacher recommended that juniors in class don't take it until next year, after we've been exposed to the language more. </p>

<p>Took the SAT the first time blindly to see how my base score would be and got a 1940, then took an SAT prep course. The second time i took it i got a 1950. I plan to take it again and then take two SAT II's in the early fall.</p>

<p>Superscore was 1970: math 700, reading 600, writing 670</p>

<p>I had mono for the second half of the spring, and the end of my school year, which was brutal, because it's a sickness that makes you tired, so the second taking of the SAT and my english and history AP tests were absolutely exhausting. I feel like i could have done better on all three of those, but there isn't much i can do about the AP tests. I might make a note of it on college applications, let me know what you think.</p>

<p>For extracurriculars i've played soccer and lacrosse since 9th grade, made varsity for both sophomore year. I was a captain of the JV soccer team freshman year. I played premier club soccer from 5th grade to 10th grade, and won states four times. I ran varsity indoor track sophomore and junior year. </p>

<p>I played piano privately for 8 years, but stopped in 11th grade. I had performances every few months. Might go back to lessons again next year. I played piano in the jazz band for 9th and 10th grades, and have played clarinet in the school big band since 5th grade.</p>

<p>Unfortunately i don't have many other clubs or teams that i was in or on. I did however help run an annual fundraiser for three years, and i go into my mom's preschool to help out with the little kids frequently. My mom also runs the composting at our school, so i help out a lot with that. </p>

<p>A lot of this isn't really a job or a club, it's just stuff that i spend time on, i'm just including it so everyone can get a full picture. </p>

<p>I was going to write my essay about my grandfather, and there's a lot of good stuff i can branch off to from him. </p>

<p>I'm thinking about trying to get into med school, or at least going to a school where that would be possible, so if anyone has any advice about that, it would be greatly appreciated. </p>

<p>Whether or not I go to med school i was thinking of choosing something biology related as my major.</p>

<p>Here's the list. It's long and has a lot of huge reaches but i haven't really edited it all that much yet. </p>

<p>Boston C
Boston U
Bucknell U
Clemson U
C William and Mary
Cornell U
Davidson C
Duke U
Grinnell C
Northeastern U
Northwestern U IL
Oberlin C
Rice U
Stanford U
Tulane U
U Calif Berkeley
U Calif Los Angeles
U Florida
U Georgia
U Miami
U Michigan
U North Car Chap Hl
U Notre Dame
U Richmond
U Virginia
Wake Forest U
Washington U St. L.</p>

<p>Cornell and Stanford i don't really expect to get into, northwestern, rice, washington university, and duke are also pretty big reaches, but all of the others seem possible.</p>

<p>Let me know what you think, whether it's from personal experience or just general knowledge, anything would be immensely appreciated.</p>

2

<p>What is your home state?</p>

3

<p>I’m not seeing the logic in your list - enormous state schools in urban areas like Berkeley, small rural LACs like Grinnell. Have you really thought through your criteria for selecting schools? What brings out the best in you? Do you need financial aid? </p>

<p>I also think you might want to check the Common Data Set for these schools. I’m not sure applying to Stanford or Wash U makes a lot of sense with your current test scores and ECs unless you have some unique personal background that you haven’t mentioned. (URM, first generation to college).</p>

<p>Finally, I’d be careful when writing an essay about a person who was a significant influence, like your grandfather. He’s not the one applying to the school, so his amazing characteristics, background or life experiences aren’t relevant unless you can make most of the essay about what his example has inspired you to accomplish, become or achieve.</p>

4

<p>These large state schools look like reaches for out-of-state and as a result you may want to chose only 1-2 to apply to:</p>

<p>U of Mich
UNC
UVA
U of Fla.
Cal Berkley</p>

<p>…ND is also a reach</p>

<p>other than those you’ve already mentioned you have a lot of matches on your list.
If you don’t want really big schools my favorite matches for you are W & M, Bucknell, Davidson, & Wake</p>

5

<p>I’m assuming your stats are fantastic since you are applying to some really great schools. I’d keep Clemson on your list as a safety though. Our science, engineering, architecture, business, education, agriculture, nursing majors are fantastic (not so much for liberal arts if you are looking for that). Also if you are in the top 10% of your high school class, have an ACT of 31 or an SAT Critical Reading + Math score of 1370, you can be eligible to receive in-state tuition.</p>

<p>Let me know if you have any questions about Clemson!</p>

6

<p>I’d keep Clemson as well and I would also keep Boston U and Northeastern. Best of luck!</p>

7

<p>Thanks everyone, to answer some questions and doubts, I live in Maine and I’m well aware that Stanford and Wash U are out of my reach with my current test scores. I kept schools like those on my list in case i do a lot better the next time i take the SAT (i have two friends who both scored similar to me their first two times, and then jumped up above 2000 on their third try). But realistically i’m focusing on schools that i can get into with my current scores, and i know how difficult it is to be accepted to Stanford. </p>

<p>In regards to my essay, I’m also aware that I can’t write it solely about my grandfather, i should have been more clear when mentioning that. It has to be about how he affects me everyday, and how i’ve changed because of him. </p>

<p>I also know ND is a reach, but my grandfather, aunt and sister all attended/attend there, so i think i’m going to apply and hope for the best. </p>

<p>I think i would lean more towards schools that are known to send the most students to med school, or ones that have good premed programs. </p>

<p>Does anyone know anything about those?</p>

8

<p>Two good med school feeders that would be good for your stats are Muhlenberg and Franklin and Marshall, both in PA. I think these might be good substitutes for some of the uber-reaches here. Some of the out of state publics you have here, such as UNC, are actually uber reaches for you because they accept so few out of state students.</p>

9

<p>thanks, i’ll look into those. What other schools are known for not accepting many out of state students?</p>

10

<p>Nevermind, I found the statistics of the state publics on my list, and most of them accept very few out of state students. </p>

<p>However, how much of an impact does this have on my chances, either with my current scores or possibly a slightly higher score?</p>

<p>Please respond and continue to make suggestions, this is helping me out a lot.</p>

11

<p>Might look at Holy Cross -very good school with strong science and pre-med program. HC has nice campus 1 hour from Boston and the campus offers good athletics/school spirit.</p>

12

<p>UPitt would be worth a look and is excellent in the areas you are interested in. Maybe Union in NY also. Best of luck!</p>

13

<p>Thanks for the suggestions. I haven’t looked at UPitt or Union yet, but my list has been whittled down so far to a few schools:
Brandeis U
Bucknell U
Clemson U
Holy Cross
U Miami
U Rochester
Wake Forest U
Notre Dame</p>

<p>I was also thinking about one of the California schools, maybe UCLA or UC Berkeley, but they have low acceptance rates for out of state students, so i wasn’t sure.</p>

<p>Please let me know what you think</p>

14

<p>And also what does everyone think about Boston U? My friend’s dad said the other day that he didn’t think it was a good school, but I didn’t have time to talk to him about it.</p>

15

<p>Boston u isn’t bad. I’m glad to see that you whittled down your list. Obviously notre dame is your bi reach, it is a tough school to get into and it’s ranked 19th in the country. Plus the relatives you mentioned don’t count as legacy. Only if your parents went there does notre dame consider you a legacy. But i believe you said your sister got in so she probably can give you some info and help. Also for ucla and Berkeley it’s not the low out of state acceptance but the fact that they are great schools with low acceptance in general and not many out of state students apply.</p>

16

<p>Thanks, what do you think my chances are at getting into either of them? I want to apply to a few more reaches, I just haven’t decided where yet.</p>

17

<p>Aren’t BU and Holy Cross known for grade deflation?</p>

18

<p>…and the relevance of that is med schools are big on GPA, so a school with grade deflation can make getting accepted into med school tougher than it would be if u went to a non-grade-deflation school.</p>

19

<p>I don’t know about BU but the mean graduating GPA at Holy Cross is 3.3, and med schools know what the undergrad’s school’s grading policy is, so no matter what you’re exact GPA is it’s all going to be looked at.</p>

20

<p>If you are pre-med, I’d recommend keeping Grinnell on your list. They have really outstanding sciences - both faculty and facilities - no distribution requirements, and a student culture that is big on collaboration. My S’s organic chem class went out for chinese food every Thursday night so none of that ‘cut-throat’ weeder-class attitude that exists at larger schools where kids worry that no on the faculty knows their name or cares whether they succeed or not. In general, I think LACs are great for pre-meds for this reason.</p>