help finding the right school?

Applying to College
1

<p>i am posting on behalf of my little cousin. i'm not quite sure of some of her stats, but i'll post her stats. i tried to help her earlier in the process, but it turns out that the schools i sent her to look at are probably out of her league admissions-wise now that she's gotten her first set of SAT scores back. </p>

<p>i don't want to post very specific info to her case because the info is not mine to dispense, but my help has been requested in selecting some schools for her to visit this summer and i am running out of ideas for her. i am going to keep some of the info as general as possible...hopefully it will still be helpful in garnering advice.</p>

<p>gender: female</p>

<p>minority status: asian american (adopted)</p>

<p>geographic: small town new england (under 1000 pop.) - she's gone to a small and, in my opinion, inefficient and poorly funded public school.</p>

<p>SATs: in the mid-1000s out of 1600 (i suggested she do a prep course asap, but i don't know how much time she's got left)</p>

<p>GPA: somewhere around 3.0 - she's a bright kid, but it's not necessarily reflected in her stats, unfortunately. i don't know how many AP and honors courses she's taken, but my guess is that she hasn't done too many.</p>

<p>grade: rising senior</p>

<p>EC's: she has lots of employment history, and is the manager (yes, the manager!) of a store in her town. i'm not quite sure what else she does, but she loves art and is very talented artistically. she is a good skier and i think she may be on her school's ski team or something of that nature. </p>

<p>alum relations: one of her parents is an alum of two ivies and uva</p>

<p>what she wants in a school:
-relatively urban
-southern...or at least, not cold weather...mid atlantic would probably be okay, too. she wants to be far from home!
-no idea what she wants to major in, so not a specialty school for art or anything
-is willing to look at schools of all sizes, public and private
-somewhere where she could get in...obviously
-money is not a factor...can afford full tuition at most private schools</p>

<p>what schools should she look at? i was thinking places like ole miss, auburn, clemson, usc (carolina, not california), some of the other unc campuses, u memphis...but i'm really not sure what to tell her. suggestions?</p>

2

<p>update - here is the list of schools i am telling her to research:</p>

<p>stetson
rollins
trinity u
southwestern u
hendrix
wofford
bsc
centre
ut austin (maybe a reach)
furman (again, a reach)
eckerd
millsaps
st. john’s md
unc greensboro
u of tampa
roanoke coll
loyola new orleans
usc columbia
baylor
belmont
loyola md
smu
ut dallas
u tenn knoxville
c of charleston
fsu
jmu (reach)
nc state
mississippi state
appalachian state
auburn (reach?)
u of alabama - tuscaloosa
umbc
unca
uncw
gmu
salisbury u
ole miss
LSU
texas a&m</p>

<p>do any of these seem too far out of reach for her? or, could she possibly reach for somewhere like rhodes or uga? any additional suggestions as to where she should look/suggestions in general?</p>

3

<p>can she take the SATs again, or the ACT? i don’t know, uga is a pretty good school…</p>

4

<p>yes, i have already suggested that she do a SAT prep course and take them again, as well as the ACTs.</p>

<p>here is the final list of schools that i recommended to her:</p>

<p>-Birmingham-Southern College
-Auburn University
-University of Alabama -Tuscaloosa
-Eckerd College
-Rollins College
-Florida State
-Loyola University of New Orleans
-LSU
-Loyola College of MD
-University of Maryland - Baltimore County
-Millsaps College
-University of Mississippi
-UNC-Charlotte
-NC State
-UNC-Wilmington
-USC - Columbia
-College of Charleston
-The University of Tennessee - Knoxville
-Southern Methodist University
-The University of Texas at Austin
-The University of Texas at Dallas
-Roanoke College
-VCU
-Marymount University
-JMU</p>

<p>assuming her test scores don’t rise, are many of these too reach-y for her?</p>

5

<p>How about Emory? The thing is, you have to look at her in the context of the environment she grew up in.</p>

6

<p>do you really think she’d have a chance at emory with SATs under 1100? i would love for her to look there…but i don’t want to tell her to look somewhere where she has no chance.</p>

7

<p>Well, at what age was she adopted? If she’s so bright, then why are her scores so low? Does she have any motivation to improve them? She’s got the entire summer! Her verbal score might remain low, but she can improve in math and writing. She’s got to have motivation to learn.</p>

8

<p>some people just don’t test well. it was her first time taking the SATs, with no preparation. i don’t necessarily think that low scores the first time around mean that she is unmotivated or stupid. she was heartbroken when she got the scores back because she really had hoped to do well. </p>

<p>hopefully we can get her into a sufficient prep course.</p>

<p>but, that’s not the question i am asking. i am simply looking for some schools that might focus on personal qualities over low test scores, assuming that she cannot raise them to 1200+.</p>

9

<p>By the way, I highly doubt that prep courses are effective–I don’t know though, just want you to be aware… It might be better for her to prepare without the course itself… I recommend that she try that first, rather than decide on an expensive course that might not work.</p>

<p>I still suggest Emory, but I don’t know what else…</p>

10

<p>To answer your question, based on the list set forth in post #4, if she has a 3.0 gpa and 1050ish SAT, her chances would not be good at FSU, College of Charleston, SMU, Univ. of Texas (Austin), and James Madison. The Univ. of Tennessee and the Univ. of S. Carolina would be iffy, but I’d keep them on your list.</p>

11

<p>thanks for the good advice. i was hoping she’d have a chance at c of c, jmu, and smu, because those would be good schools for her. i know that ut-austin is probably a stretch, too. thanks for looking it over!</p>

12

<p>She probably should apply to any of those schools if she is really high on them – they certainly take some students that have her type of credentials. It’s just that the odds will be significantly against her for those schools, so best to temper expectations. Good luck!</p>

13

<p>This is just my opinion based on different factors:</p>

<p>-Birmingham-Southern College-Match
-Auburn University-Low Reach
-University of Alabama -Tuscaloosa-Low Reach
-Eckerd College-Match
-Rollins College-Reach
-Florida State-(out of state) High Reach
-Loyola University of New Orleans-Match
-LSU-Match
-Loyola College of MD-Match
-University of Maryland - Baltimore County-Match
-Millsaps College-Match
-University of Mississippi-Match
-UNC-Charlotte-Match
-NC State-Reach
-UNC-Wilmington-Match
-USC - Columbia-Low Reach
-College of Charleston-High Reach
-The University of Tennessee - Knoxville-Low Reach
-Southern Methodist University-Reach
-The University of Texas at Austin-High Reach
-The University of Texas at Dallas-Match
-Roanoke College-Match
-VCU-Match
-Marymount University-Low Reach
-JMU- High Reach</p>

14

<p>

</p>

<p>are you kidding me? They are very effective. The personal attention of having a tutor explain the tests and all the little tricks helps a good bit, and it forces you to actually prep, where as if you try to do it on your own you may not. Of course reading a prep book and taking a bunch of practice tests can also very effective if one has the motivation so the courses may not necessarily be worth the price, but they are certainly effective.</p>

15

<p>I think Emory would be an almost impossible reach. THe other options sound good.</p>

16

<p>i do, too. i’m unsure why it was suggested.</p>