Help finding colleges-reaches, matches, safeties- I have no idea

College Search & Selection
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<p>I started by posting my stats in the "What Are My Chances" forum, but having done that I realized I didn't know much about what college I want to go to, or where I would get in. I have some ideas like Case Western Reserve University, that's the one I've been looking to lately. I'll give you guys and girls my statistics, as well as some criteria I've thought up for picking a college. I don't know much though, feel free to ask questions of me, to help figure out what colleges I should be looking at.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.7-8 unweighted, 4.32 weighted</p>

<p>SAT: I have to take the new one but I did take the old one. 1520, 750V/770M. Thank god for analogies, and thank god for quantitative comparisons. I'll have to retake that though since it's not the new one.</p>

<p>APs: Took AP Psych sophomore year, haven't gotten my results back yet.
Future APs: Junior year: AP English Composition, AP US History, AP Chemistry. Senior year: AP English Literature, AP Spanish Language, AP Biology, AP Physics, AP Calclulus BC, AP Macroeconomics possibly.</p>

<p>Community Service: 80 hours. I plan to do much more this summer.</p>

<p>Sports: Volleyball, varsity for 3 days freshman year until they cut the team in half and made a JV team lol. I wasn't over 6' lol.</p>

<p>Clubs and ECs: Science Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, Habitat for Humanity, Math UIL, Computer Science Club, PSAT Accelerated Program (preparation program through my school which 1% of future juniors are accepted into.) I'm an avid pianist with well rounded abilities. I also play guitar, moved onto classical about five months ago and I'm already playing songs from the most advanced books. I used to play rock and roll guitar and still do occasionally, I have composed music on both instruments.</p>

<p>Criteria: I'd like to attend a small to medium sized school, basically I want minimal lecture halls, and a good chance that I will develop relationships with students and professors rather than see them in one class only. I would also prefer a school that is not heavily involved in sports, and doesn't have a huge fraternity scene.</p>

<p>Possible intended majors: Premed (heard it may not be a good idea but I do want to be a physician), Biology, Math related major, Chemistry, Physics if I like the class next year, Economics.</p>

<p>School: Right now I attend a decent public school, which received the second highest commendation for their state test scores, though mine are all in the high 90s for percentile. Possibly transferring to a very small religiously affiliated but selective private school.</p>

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<p>what state do you live in? what regions of the country are you willing to live in?</p>

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<p>I live in Texas, and I'm willing to live anywhere pretty much. When I'm older I'd like to either stay in Texas, or go to the east coast probably.</p>

<p>If there are any good colleges near New Orleans that would be nice since they play my kind of music over there.</p>

<p>I'm willing to live pretty much anywhere as long as I get a good education.</p>

4

<p>Tulane is a great school in New Orleans and it is a good fit except it is too big by your standards. Tulane has a great pre-med and sciences program. Have you thought about a liberal arts school???</p>

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<p>Is a liberal arts school where you can usually only get your Bachelor's degree?</p>

<p>It seems like a good idea since they are small. I do have a lower bound though, I don't want a college smaller than my current high school which has 3,000 students.</p>

<p>I didn't think there were any good colleges in New Orleans, but I'd probably make an exception since there is.</p>

<p>Could I get into Tulane?</p>

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<p>You could get in and your SAT scores is above the 75th%tile. You could get merit scholarships from Tulane for your score or get into their honors classes.</p>

<p>Another good school in New Orleans is Loyola U of New Orleans. You could definitely get in there too. It's not as prestigeous as Tulane, but it is smaller than Tulane; there are 3,600 undergrads.</p>

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<p>I just looked up Tulane's tuition, bring in the merit scholarships man lol. I'll be needing them.</p>

<p>I'd definitely like an honors program, that's kind of what I'm used to around schools.</p>

<p>Any ideas for outside of New Orleans. I'm not totally set on it, I just thought it seemed like a pretty lively place.</p>

<p>I like the coasts, and I better like Texas because I live here, and the medical scene here is great.</p>

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<p>If you want to stay in Texas, you could try Rice. Rice has one of the best Pre-Med programs in the country. Are you focused on one area of the US or does it really matter to you? I could give you more schools if you pinpoint a region for me.</p>

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<p>I'll go to most places. The only places I wouldn't want to be are the midwest or north central United States. I don't have to have perfect weather, but it better be under 100 most of the summer, and over 0 in the winter lol.</p>

<p>Maybe you could tell me which schools I have a shot at and meet my critera in each region. East coast, west coast, or south.</p>

<p>Basically if I'm not in a southern state I'm on a coast. I'm not going to be landlocked unless it's Colorado.</p>

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<p>Is UT-Austin a safety for you?
Consider TCU, SMU, Baylor, Tech, Trinity, and A&M as safeties.
Also, do you want to live in a rural or urban environment? Think about Johns Hopkins?</p>

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<p>Well here's the thing about UT Austin. They have like 70% of their class filled by the top ten percent rule, which is about to be repealed luckily.</p>

<p>I'm not a native Texan, and the school I previously attended didn't offer the same courseload that students at my new school were offered. Therefore unless I made an average percent of like 93-4 I won't have much chance at the top ten percent. You also have to keep in mind that this is a very competitive and large public school.</p>

<p>If I had been here I'd be in the top 5 percent most likely, it is the system, not my motivation that screwed me over.</p>

<p>So if UT Austin would take time to read my application and all that, they'd probably accept me, otherwise they might overlook me due to that rule. I so hope it gets repealed.</p>

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<p>Well, who else has some ideas for me?</p>

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<p>you will get in to UT. they would die for your scores.</p>

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<p>The Texas legislature did have a bill pending that would have modified the 10% rule, but they couldn't reach agreement. It was set aside, at least for this year. However, you will get into UT Austin with scores like those.
You could also try getting into the PLAN II program at UT, although it is quite selective. As an alternative, there's Liberal Arts honors. These both take extra essays and application sheets. If all else fails, sign up for FIGS (Freshman Interest Groups). The University can give you info on these.</p>

<p>If you don't mind being landlocked in the south, have you considered Emory, which has 5,600 undergrads?</p>

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<p>might consider University of Miami as a safety (strong pre-med program).</p>

<p>Vanderbilt?</p>

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<p>Wow, you guys are naming some pretty good schools. I'll check out all of them.</p>

<p>Is this all because of my test scores though? I mean, is my GPA decent?</p>

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<p>yeah your GPA is fine...more importantly, what is your rank?</p>

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<p>The school I went to freshman year didn't do ranks so I don't really know.</p>

<p>I asked my counselor, and I was in the top decile. She said around 20/350. Which is technically the top tenth. I'm not valedictorian material really. I actually was valedictorian at my middle school though lol.</p>

<p>Check out my organization thread. You should post in there, you're a helpful guy for sure, thanks a lot. Yeah my organization bars me from the 4.0. Hey I can forget about half my assignments and pull a 3.75 though lol.</p>

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<p>if you are top 6% then your GPA is great!!!!</p>

<p>i'd suggest buying a college guide like "Best 357 Colleges" or something - it helped me a lot. otherwise you are just running in circles only knowing about 20 schools</p>

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<p>Oops I meant 30/350. There wer awards for the top 25, and poor me, I didn't get one, so that would be top 8%, still top tenth lol, it's fine.</p>

<p>I think I used too many commas in that sentence. Yeah, you are right, there are only twenty or so commonly known college, and then I think eleven talked about on this board. They even abbreviate five of them, HYPSM. That cracked me up when I saw it.</p>