Help! Looking to escape Bama

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I am currently a junior at a so-so school in Alabama and I’m still trying to figure out where to target application wise. While not completely opposed to the south as a whole, I would definitely like to leave the Heart of Dixie. If you could just help me by chancing or pointing me in a certain direction I’d be grateful.

White

GPA: W 4.3
UW 3.8
I’m taking the most difficult schedule possible and the only reason my GPA dropped was because of a disagreement I had with a math teacher, long story short the administration took my side but it still doesn’t change my GPA.

ACT: 31 (32 Superscore)
I know it’s low but I’m only a Junior so I’m sure it will come up as I begin to put legitimate effort into it.

EC: Eagle Scout
Occupied every position in my boyscout troop there is with multiple terms served in most
Staff a leadership training program for the Council Anually
Order of the Arrow (honor society)
Served as Crew Leader at Philmont, backpacking 91 miles in 12 days.
35ish Merit Badges and over 15 individual awards including religious medals, service awards, etc.

Tennis for 7 years, placed several times in the USTA State Junior Team Tournament including a Runner Up. Varsity for 4 years and received a individual runner-up medal in the county tournament.

2 years of scholars bowl, disbanded.
Captain and Team High Scorer Freshman and Sophmore years.
Recieved all kinds of state recognitions and all state team awards in middle school. I am currently making an effort to recharter one and I’m working with my principal along with another student to make it happen.

Top 10 in the state geography bee, making it to the final round.

4 years marching band, 2 as section leader (Tuba), receiving several individual awards including Outstanding Bandsmen, outstanding section member, and 2 Golden Dinkles (a kind of spirit / merit award)
2 years in schools highest concert band (Baritone and Tuba) as well including qualification and trip to 2nd highest concert festival in the country.

Founding Member of my school system’s Superintendant Advisory Council.

French Club

National Honor Society

I volunteer to teach a class weekly at my church and have helped run the activities portion of the summer VBS for the last 5 years.

The closest thing I have to a job is doing yard work for an elderly couple in my area on the weekends.

APs: (all available)
(Taking)
Chemistry
English (comp.)
US History
(Planning to take)
Stats
Gov.
Econ
English (lit.)
Bio

Schools:

Vanderbilt
Brown
WUSTL
Emory
Rice
Cornell
Penn
Tulane
Florida State (safety)
Auburn (safety) legacy

Am I aiming too high?

2

This is a perfect amount of safeties ,matches, and reaches. If you can get your ACT up to around a 33-34 U should be able to get into most of these schools
as of right now I would say:
Vanderbilt-low reach
WUSTL-reach
Emory/rice-match
Tulane-match
Penn/Cornell/brown-reaches/should get into at least one
Fsu/auburn- safety

3

Do you know what these schools would charge your family and if they can afford it? There’s a tool called the net price calculator that will give you and your parents an estimate for each school. I think you should check that as you’re developing your list.

4

I disagree. You don’t have any matches. You have two safeties and that’s it.

5

Vanderbilt: Reach
Brown: Reach
WUSTL: Reach
Emory: Match/High match
Rice: Reach
Cornell: Reach
Penn: Reach
Tulane: Match
Florida State: Safety
Auburn: Safety

6

We could give you better advice if you told us what you love to do and what kind of school you think you’d enjoy other than the geographical requirement. Your Eagle Scout involvement would appeal to colleges that value leadership and civic involvement like Pomona, Claremont McKenna and Dartmouth. Your tuba playing would appeal to Oberlin and a whole slew of colleges and universities with terrific orchestras (UCLA, Stanford, USC). Your 'bama roots puts you on the desirable list for schools far away like Stanford and Bowdoin. Your desire to expand your horizons and enjoy a more multicultural, global environ would preach to the choir at Yale and Columbia. The fact that you are already a southerner will appeal to Duke and UVa, two powerhouses that are more diverse than their home states. I agree with other posters that you’ll be in better position with a slightly higher ACT. Good luck!

7

Georgetown would also be appealing in terms of civic involvement…

8

Now is the time for that… you want to get your testing done this spring if at all possible. Have you taken any subject tests yet? Several of the Cornell colleges require them. Ideally you don’t want to be struggling to bring up scores or take tests for the first time in the fall, it adds unnecessary pressure to fall of senior year when you should be focusing on applications.

9

If your parents can pay, check out some liberal arts colleges that are not in the South. There is a list of them here on CC. You might enjoy Bates or Bowdoin, Carleton or Macalester.

10

Carnegie Mellon, too…

11

You will get into Tulane. What do you want to study?

12

I qualify for a significant amount of financial aid, so the financials of it all look pretty good for most of these schools. I am looking to major in History and have a minor in French or German, or just double major with Linguistics at the schools that offer it. I’m not really looking for much of a party school and I’m not really looking to pursue music after high school. I’m really just looking for a school that isn’t politically extreme in either direction but left-leaning would be better than the alternative. I would also enjoy to study abroad and distance from home really isn’t a concern.

13

All the liberal arts colleges are left-leaning. Some are known to be especially lefty like Pitzer, Reed and Wesleyan. History: the LACs rock. Do you want survey courses in history or are you in love with American history? Check course catalogs for breadth. Study abroad is huge at Middlebury, Pomona, Bowdoin, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Carleton, where the majority of the junior class goes abroad. Re languages, you named two that every college teaches. If you think you might want to study other languages, take a look at the course catalogs at these schools plus some bigger universities including UChicago and Yale. The party scene: you can’t avoid it completely, but some colleges have outlawed fraternities which is supposed to cut down on the debauchery. They include Bowdoin, Pomona and Amherst and there are others. Schools where frat parties are a huge part of the social life include Northwestern, Cornell and Dartmouth. Also, just fyi male applicants have considerably better odds at all the elite LACs. Google the name of the college + “common data set.” You’ll also see average FA awards. Being from Alabama is another huge plus in your favor. Every elite college mentioned in this post gives generous FA to applicants that qualify.

14

Title should have said Alabama. Bama commonly refers to the university. I thought you wanted to escape the University of Alabama.

15

@Chardo‌ To be completely honest I was referring to both. I am on speaking terms with the dean of the honors college at The University of Alabama and most of the more academically minded students from my school end up attending Bama’s HC and there is substantial pressure to continue that trend but I am trying my hardest to work my way out of it. I don’t hate the school, the University of Alabama is a wonderful school, it’s just not for me.

16

Your list is reach heavy. and while most of these schools are known to offer to meet demonstrated need, I would look into more schools where you could get merit with your stats too.

17

First off - I’m a top 20 geo bee student! Top ten is awesome, go you! I hope your scholar team (we call it academic challenge in NY) gets back together - I’m also on the team and I adore it. I would say Emory is a high match, but look at liberal arts schools up north, like Colby, Swarthmore, Davidson, Haverford, Dickinson, or Kenyon! OH, and Grinnel will adore your Eagle Scout EC - Try applying there!

Chance back?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1726529-sophomore-blues.html

18

I can only evaluate you on Cornell and WUSTL since those two are the only ones I’ve really looked into on this list.
I think Cornell and WUSTL are both low reaches for you. Consider getting up your GPA and if you can’t then just try to maintain it as best as possible. In addition, do try to take another test to improve your current score. It’s not bad, but it’s not outstanding either.

Your EC’s are fairly solid. You didn’t list an intended major so I can’t say that they’re lacking or shining. But don’t worry about doing anything super over the top. Admissions will take into account where you live and what sort of opportunities are available for you.

Best of luck!

19

Bump

20

Have you given some thought about the LACs suggested so far? Have you filled out the “request info/join mailing list” form to demonstrate interest and get on their radar?