Help deciding schools

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am a senior in a competitive high school in St Louis, MO. I moved there 2 months into my jr year from an audition only arts school in Toronto, Canada. I'm white and jewish, so no minority.</p>

<p>My stats are as follows:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.5 (I'm having it recalculated because of my move-some things got messed up...it should be higher)</p>

<p>PSAT: 204 (national merit something)
SAT: 1950 (taken once)
SAT II: I'm taking them in Oct</p>

<p>ACT: 29, 30, 32 (I took this again, will get results this week) got a 10 on my essay as the highest </p>

<p>Sr Year: Taking AP chem, ap bio, ap us hist, ap english lang, ap psychology, honors pre calc, some gym classes</p>

<p>Frechman-Jr years: took honors classes when i could- my shool in canada did not have them</p>

<p>ec: Varsity soccer-12, jv tennis-11, varsity mock trial team-11, 12 (ranked 1st in region), green club-12, PPP (new club just started-kinda like MADD)-12 (leadership role), student ambassador-12, school musical leads-9-12, musical theatre performance ec group-9-10, principal oboist in symph orchestra and concert band-9-10, head assistant director for $25000 school production -10</p>

<p>summers: ive worked in 3 labs, including one at umass med school (which my project was published in Blood (im a co author)), one at harvard/mgh (possible publication pending)</p>

<p>I will have really good recs from my lab jobs over the summers- head of onc/hem at VA hospital, head of onc/hem professor at umass med, professor at Harvard/MGH. teachers are different because i moved, but both are stong recs.</p>

<p>colleges that i am thinking about applying to still-i know this list needs to be cut down, so any advice is appreciated</p>

<p>umich (i will apply very soon, my status here will also help me cut down this list), yale (single choice e.a., legacy), harvard (legacy), UVA (legacy), Vanderbilt, Tufts, Brown, Boston College, American, Georgetown, Tulane, Colorado College, UC Boulder, U Denver, U Miami, Columbia, Case Western, Oberlin, Northwestern, Trinity College (CT), Brandeis, Washington U in STL, U Chicago, U Penn, U Wisconsin (g-father went there).</p>

<p>so, again i know my list is wayyyy too long, but i need help, that's why im here. thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>any advice?</p>

3

<p>Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I'm here to see what people say about schools, and don't have any special qualifications to opine.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>My first thought is that you should take a look at where your test scores fit in the profiles for the schools you are interested in. But, I think it's too easy to use profiles to eliminate choices that could be very good. If the middle 50% is very high, that means 25% are higher still and 25% have lower scores. I suspect that if you are in the lower half, your arts interest will make more difference than legacy.</p></li>
<li><p>"umich (i will apply very soon, my status here will also help me cut down this list)"
-Does this mean UMich is your first choice? That you want a big school?</p></li>
<li><p>"yale (single choice e.a., legacy), harvard (legacy), UVA (legacy),"
-Are these on your list only because you're a legacy; they were good for Mom/Dad? If so, toss them out and focus on schools that are interesting to you.
-See comment 1. </p></li>
<li><p>"Vanderbilt, Tufts, Brown, Boston College, American, Georgetown, Tulane,"
-What attracts you to these? A program? Size? Do you have a preference for location? What do you know about their personalities? Have you visited? You can narrow your list better than anyone in this forum can.</p></li>
<li><p>"Colorado College, UC Boulder, U Denver,"
-Looks like you have some interest in going to college in Colorado. Each of these has distinguishing qualities that may give you reason to put it on your final list or permanently remove-- e.g. Colorado College's nearly unique academic calendar. On the other hand, if location is the main thing their distinguishing features might not mean so much too you.</p></li>
<li><p>"U Miami, Columbia, Case Western, Oberlin, Northwestern, Trinity College (CT), Brandeis, Washington U in STL, U Chicago, U Penn, U Wisconsin (g-father went there)."
-Variations on the theme of my other comments-- you are the one that can best narrow your list.
-Nobody seems particularly enthusiastic about Case Western, though it seems to have a pretty good reputation for merit aid. My impression is that it is best known for sciences and engineering.
-Oberlin seems to be the most arts-oriented of the schools you listed (well, maybe Yale). Is that something you want to pursue, or something that is a great extra-curricular but long-term study/career? (No wrong answer.)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Finally-- Are any of these safeties for you? Is it (are they) the best safeties for you? You should think about your criteria for a safety school (size, location, program, etc.).</p>

4

<p>Look at Tufts' dual-degree program with the School of Museum of Fine Arts. Get a BFA from the SMFA and a BA from Tufts. Your GPA is rather low and your SAT needs help, though.</p>

5

<p>Thanks Mom58-</p>

<p>UMich is not necessarily my first choice-I will use it to gauge my safeties -ie. would i rather go to school X or UMich. </p>

<p>No about legacy. When I visited all three I really loved them and could see myself there. I'm not just applying for the sake of applying...i would love to go there (not only for reputation) but because I liked them alot.</p>

<p>I have sort of heard what you mentioned about Case Western...It may be on its way off my list, but part of my problem i guess, is that I hate eliminating schools because I think "well what if i end up wanting to go there?"</p>

<p>as far as arts are concerned- i think it's more secondary-I would like to continue it as an ec i guess, but i don't see it becoming a career (hence not applying to conservatories or competitive arts schools)</p>

<p>thanks again for your help-anything else you think of will be greatly appreciated.</p>

6

<p>Im not interested in fine art- I was a musical theatre major and minor in music (oboe). thanks for the idea though.</p>

<p>also, that gpa is unweighted- it would be much higher as a weighted, as i have taken all honors courses.</p>