<p>I am an Asian American student that lives in NJ, going into senior year. I always got B+ grades starting from Freshman year, so I was never really able to get into any honors classes. So now, with a 3.4 GPA, I finally managed to get A- grades in all my classes with the exception of Language Arts and am planning on taking AP Psych, AP Environmental Science, and AP Calculus next year. However, this doesn't change the fact that the previous 3 years my only advanced class was Chinese... </p>
<p>So now I'm completely blind as to where I can go... my family and my group of friends have much better resumes than I do. Most have been getting straight As and Bs in all advanced classes since Freshman year, or Sophomore at the latest. So while they all target the Berkeleys, the NYUs, the Cornells, etc. I'm stuck here without the slightest idea of where I can go since there's nobody for me to compare to. I know I can't make it into any school with that level of prestige.</p>
<p>I don't have any outstanding extracurriculars. I have a lot of volunteer hours working as an assistant teacher and hospital assistant, I participate in two clubs(but am not an officer), and I did an internship at the Boston College physics lab for two weeks. My SAT score is 2140 and I'm planning on taking two SATIIs and getting at least 700-750 on both. When I view charts for who got admitted into schools, the range with my SAT score and my GPA is always barren as people rarely get such a crappy GPA with a higher-end SAT score, so that leaves me even more clueless. </p>
<p>The only thing that I hope can sort of boost my image is that I have a slight improvement curve through all the years, and if I get good grades in my first senior semester maybe that will show something too. But I don't count on it to do too much.</p>
<p>I don't want to go to a bad college... I don't want to be the mess-up kid. I think I could make it into Rutgers, but although I know it's not too bad of a school, it's looked down upon by our group because it's the college that "everybody goes to." Does anybody know any school that they think I could stretch to? Preferrably on the East Coast.</p>
<p>But you haven’t told us what you want. Size? Urban/rural/suburban? Majors? Do you want to continue Chinese, because all schools don’t offer it? (On the other hand, all schools do have math and biology, for example.)</p>
<p>What about finances? How much aid do you need? Merit or need-based?</p>
<p>Rutgers is an excellent school. So are some of the NJ state schools. And they may be your most affordable options. If you want to go to graduate school, avoiding debt as an undergraduate is really important. Much more than supposed prestige.</p>
<p>And why would you want a school where everybody is as bright as those classmates you mention? Think of the standards, expectations, workload. Is that the way you want to spend four years?</p>
<p>There are plenty of schools out there for you! Use one of the college search sites and plug in your data and see what comes up. Then start researching.
Have you talked to your guidance counselor about potential matches?
You will need to stop thinking about what your group “looks down upon”! What matters is finding the school that is the best match for YOUR GPA and test scores (not your friends’ !), your interests and your family finances. Also, your friends know a lot less about the relative merits of various colleges than you think.</p>
<p>What BeanTownGirl said, so excellently. Your push to up you grades is great and will surely be noticed. I think it is good that you are taking AP Calc, but the other 2 AP’s aren’t as valuable and, unless you have a compelling interest in them, you should just treat them as electives. If you want to push for a more selective college then you should make sure you have 4 yrs math, sciences, english, language, 3 history, 1 or 2 yrs art. If you don’t have AP in the sciences, you should consider it, also AP english, AP World Hist, AP US Hist first, before the ‘softer’ psych and enviro classes.</p>
<p>assistant teacher and hospital assistant sounds like good EC’s</p>
<p>try very hard in your essay and application package to show what does interest you enormously, how your mind works, what makes you get motivated etc.</p>
<p>apply to a couple of safety schools and match schools based on your stats and on your financial situation (look for Colleges that Change Lives website/book) Don’t worry if no one is familiar with those schools, they will get you where you need to go, and they often have special features like built in year abroad. Apply to Rutgers. Apply to a couple reach schools and start really early doing drafts of essays so you can really make a killer one and not the boring typical one. You might even talk about how you are different from your friends and family and what made the change in your grades as you grew older.</p>
<p>Rutgers would be very happy to have you with that SAT score. They are getting a new President so some positive changes should be happening. I am a Rutgers grad from 1965 (it was a men’s college then), and I can assure you it never hurt to have a degree from RU.</p>
<p>A question: is it about what’s best for you or what your friends think?</p>
<p>Of course you should apply to Rutgers, and you have a good chance to get accepted there. You should also apply to TCNJ, which is a bit more selective than Rutgers. Rutgers is certainly much better known, but in my rising senior daughter’s school in NJ, TCNJ is where “all” the students in her honors classes plan to apply to, and Rutgers is the school where “all” the seniors from her non-honors Pre-Calc class last year applied to. </p>
<p>Do you know your class rank? A 3.4 can mean vastly different ranks at different schools.</p>
<p>What are you looking for in a school? What can your family afford? Are you looking for need-based financial aid or for merit aid?</p>
<p>Some other popular schools for NJ students are U. Delaware, U. Maryland, and Penn State. U. Pittsburgh might also be of interest for you. If you want a smaller school, there are lots of LACs in PA that may be worth considering, such as Bucknell, Lafayette, Muhlenberg, Gettysburg, Dickinson. Elon is a mid-sized school in NC that is getting more and more popular among NJ students.</p>
<p>I agree with Sacchi on Lafayette, Muhlenberg, Gettysburg, and Dickinson.
You will be a lot happier if you do not play the good school/ bad school game! whatever school you go to be happy about it, get involved …do not have a sour attitude or compete with family or friends etc… you are in the game for yourself to learn, grow and be happy!</p>
<p>Sorry I wasn’t specific enough with the info.</p>
<p>My family is actually pretty wealthy. My brother goes to NYU and we don’t have any plan of getting financial aid. As for what I’m going to college for… I am going for what’s best for me. My friends won’t really hate me for going to a worse college but obviously picking one with a good image is always a plus. I want to go to a college with a medium or large sized student body, and I can adapt to any campus, really.</p>
<p>I think you have fallen victim to your own stereotype. Step outside your box and tell us what you really like doing. What is your passion? I know it’s clich</p>
<p>Given that you want a medium/large school and price is no object, consider BU, Northeastern, GW, Syracuse, U. Miami, in addition to the OOS public schools I listed in post 6.</p>
<p>I do play a fair bit of video games but it’s definitely not something I’d like to pursue a career in at the moment. I would like to target a school for business or law, as those are the things that interest me the most.</p>
<p>Also, does the combined SAT score have any weight over the one-time score? My friend and I were arguing about this earlier. My combined score is 2200, but one-time is 2140</p>
<p>Rutgers is a great school. They are solid and respectable across almost all fields. You are NOT “too good” for Rutgers. You could do much, much worse than Rutgers… you will have the opportunity to gain an outstanding education there. What you do with that is up to you.</p>
<p>I guess I’m reacting to your insinuation that Rutgers is just so beneath people with ambition. Get a grip.</p>
<p>It’s not that. It’s just I have friends who attend Rutgers and they don’t tell me good things. Apparently, it definitely has some great people with ambition in it, but at the same time there are even more kids who went there just for the partying and are there just to say they went to college… I don’t consider myself above Rutgers, in fact there is still a huge chance that I’m going to go there if I can’t go to something notably better.</p>
<p>Regarding the APs not looking so nice, do you think it’s worth it to switch out of AP Enviro for another AP science course? AP Enviro is really just there because it’s easy to be honest, I have ZERO interest in the class. I could try out AP Chem or AP Physics but if it won’t matter much I would rather not, as those classes are infamous for being VERY difficult.</p>
<p>Anyways, do you guys think colleges ranked around 40-50 are viable for me to reach for? The problem with diagnosing what position I’m in is difficult because virtually none of those GPA-SAT graphs show people that applied with 3.4 and 2200 SAT… extremely frustrating.</p>
<p>Trust me, there are plenty of students at Rutgers who are there for academics. At any large university, there will be some people whose main interest is partying, and other students whose focus is academics. The simple fact is that Rutgers will challenge you if you choose to let it.</p>
<p>Furthermore, you haven’t given us any real information in this thread about what actually interests you and motivates you. You have not stated a single passion. You have stated no idea what you want apart from the fact that you just don’t want to look too bad in front of your peers. You seem completely focused on “image” and your inferiority complex is showing.</p>
<p>Get a grip. Let it go. Screw what other people think about going to a “prestigious” enough institution. Why don’t you share with us just one passion? What do you want out of college apart from “image” that makes you feel respectable in front of your peers and family?</p>
<p>I don’t actually know what motivates me to be completely honest. I am not the kind of guy that can imagine myself doing something in 10 years. I guess I sort of seem like I have an inferiority complex, but that’s not because I want to look good to my peers - it’s just because I don’t know any better. Usually the colleges with the “good” images are good schools, that’s all I know. Believe me, image is not the only thing that’s motivating me.</p>
<p>I guess if I had to pick something that I could really see myself enjoying is being a lawyer or being involved in business somehow, and even then I don’t know exactly what to major in for those. All I want from my college experience is a busy environment, a good education, and of course the ability to land a job after. Not that big of a party or sports guy.</p>
<p>Don’t be disillusioned by where your classmates are going. It’s really more about what you make of your experience. It doesn’t matter where you go as long as you go with a positive attitude and have fun! Everybody finds a place that’s just right for them.</p>
<p>Regarding your interest in law, a 2009 study from the University of North Texas ranked LSAT scores (the LSAT is the entrance exam for law school) by undergrad majors. Given your secondary interest in business this study reveals a conflict. Perhaps majoring in economics would be a good choice that captures both of your interests. Now go find the lists that rank undergraduate econ schools. Now go and pick out 3 “reaches”, 3 “matches” and 3 “safeties” according to gpa and sat/act - bam, you’re done.</p>
<p>From reading this, it sounds like you actually have a fair idea of what you want. Here’s what I get:</p>
<p>You have a 3.4 GPA, maybe top quarter of your class, but not top 10%. You’re really not entirely sure what you want to study at this point. You have good community service (which is an extra curricular) and but otherwise average EC’s. Your SAT’s are excellent.</p>
<p>You’re assuming that you won’t get into a top top (code for Ivy or equivalent) school. Rutgers looks lika a statistical match, but you’re not excited about this school.</p>
<p>I think I agree that the Cornell’s and Berkely’s are probably far reaches for you. However, if you really fell in love with one or two of these, I wouldn’t discourage you from applying to them. My advice – get in all your other apps, and then do these as a reward to yourself. Even if it’s pretty unlikely – your chances are still better than if you don’t apply.</p>
<p>If you like NYU – perhaps a reach, but not as far a reach as the others you mentioned. Definately apply. Schools in the 40-50 range – reachish but not impossible – apply to some, but make sure you have matches too.</p>
<p>You’ve gotten some good advice from here about finding schools. I want to add a couple of thoughts.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I tell this to everyone – find a couple of Early Action Schools where you are likely to get in. A lot of the pressure will be taken off you when you get in somewhere.</p></li>
<li><p>If you don’t know what you want to study, think larger rather than smaller schools. There in most cases, be a broader range of academic options.</p></li>
<li><p>Rutgers is a great school – but if you don’t love it, look elsewhere. On a cost basis, it’s a bargain, but cost doesn’t seem to be a factor for your family. I’m sure you will find similar schools that you like.</p></li>
</ol>