good reach schools? asap?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I already know I'm applying/have applied to to Virginia Tech (safety?), UVA, William and Mary [all three IS]. Georgetown and Cornell are my reaches, but I'd like some others. I think I want to major in political science/government, but I also love math and science so I want a school that will allow me the option of taking courses in those disciplines. I'm having trouble figuring out how many reach schools I should apply to in hope I'll maybe get into one. No one in my school will give me any help because they, like most high schoolers, are in some distorted reality and have no idea how hard is to get into top schools. Also, my counselor is useless. </p>

<p>I have to give all this stuff to my school within the week, so I need options now.</p>

<p>STATS</p>

<p>Gender: F
College Class Year: 2012
High School: Public -- largest in state
High School Type: sends some grads to top schools
Will apply for financial aid: Yes</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: unknown -- all A's with a couple B+'s on a hard grading scale
GPA - Weighted: 4.022 (weighted AP +.5)
Class Size: 830 doesn't rank -- almost definitely within top 5%, and possibly within top 2%.</p>

<p>SR Courses: AP Lit, AP Euro, AP US Govt, AP Comp Govt, AP Calc AB, French 5, World Religions, Current Affairs, Geosystems</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>SAT I Math: 710
SAT I Critical Reading: 760
SAT I Writing: 760 /12essay
SUPERSCORE: 1470/2230
[retook dec07. No idea what my scores will be -- probably very little change.]
SAT II: 770 US / 760 Lit / 660 French w/ Listening [retaking with math ii in January for schools that take Jan. scores]</p>

<p>APs:
World History (5), US History (5), Psychology (5), English Language (5)</p>

<p>**Extracurriculars:<a href="what%20extracurriculars?">/b</a></p>

<p>Significant Extracurriculars: Girl Scouts (silver award, gold award pending), NHS, French Honor Society, Model UN, History Honor Society, chem tutoring,
Volunteer/Service Work: Tons of Church Service Ministry work (even though I'm an atheist), Girl Scout Volunteer Work, random volunteer work here and there
Honors and Awards: Commended National Merit, AP Scholar with Honors, AP English Lang Award for best AP Lang student, Academic Letter all years, Summa Cum Laude, 3rd place science fair award (angry about this since my teacher said we should have won and advanced to regionals)
Other; lots of babysitting/regular childcare jobs, JSA Georgetown II 2007 (A+ in US Foreign Policy)</p>

2

<p>WashU in St. Louis. A phenomenal school that has no core requirements and most kids there double or triple major and its a all sorts of stuff.....they encourage your exact situation. But....they are very selective and hard to get into.....and can be a little quirky on admissions at times.....waitlisting top kids with perfect SAT's and admitting kids with lower scores....but its worth a shot and its a great school.</p>

<p>And frankly, I would drop an application Princeton. Nobody is better when it comes to Government majors, if you ask me. A friend of mine's son went there and then went to work DIRECTLY in the White House.</p>

3

<p>Look at Clermont McKenna (CMC). They are one of the best in the areas that interest you (government/political science). Also, I believe you can take courses at the other Clermont Colleges (Scripps, Harvey Mudd, Pomona and Pitzer). Harvey Mudd is outstanding in the math/science area. I think they are all right near each other also. Best of luck!</p>

4

<p>I agree with catfishin you can stretch a bit. Some places to think about in addition to WuStL:</p>

<p>Brown
Northwestern
Chicago
Columbia
Duke</p>

<p>If you want to throw in a LAC or two:</p>

<p>Carleton
Pomona
Amherst
Haverford
Claremont McKenna
Davidson</p>

<p>Your scores and grades are very, very good. One of the deciding factors will be your essays and how, in them, you portray your passions and your interests/participation in your ECs. Knock 'em dead here.</p>

<p>On your ECs, I'd sharply focus on your Girl Scouts experience which seems long and deep. To that end, if you can get a letter of recommendation for someone who has known you a long time as part of your GS participation and can speak abour person and character, that would be powerful.</p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>