<p>I'm a rising senior from Northern Virginia, so I have a good number of excellent in-state colleges to apply to, but I think I'd do myself a disservice to not apply to at least 1 or 2 reach schools. Here are my stats:</p>
<p>SAT: 1970/2400, 1290/1600 (first try, no studying. will retake in october)
UW GPA: 3.82/4
W GPA: 4.4/5</p>
<p>AP Courses by end of high school: Chemistry, Euro History (5), US History (4), Language and Comp (5), Literature, US Government (school offers very few AP classes).
All other non-AP courses were honors since the beginning of freshman year. So I will have about 16-20 honors and AP courses by the end of high school.</p>
<p>EC's include:
- Physics peer tutor
- National Honors Society
- National French Honors Society
- editor-in-chief for a division of a global online video game organization
- co-manager of another online organization for 1 year
- black belt in martial arts
- co captain on school's Georgetown University History Bowl team
- co founder of school's quiz bowl team
- chess club </p>
<p>Here is my list so far. I have a pretty solid list of good safeties and matches:</p>
<ol>
<li>Hood College - safety/match (would get the 40k NHS scholarship + an academic scholarship, fits my idea of perfect fit college in terms of what I'm looking for)</li>
<li>Virginia Tech - match</li>
<li>UVA - match</li>
<li>William and Mary - match (applying ED here, my ideal school)</li>
<li>York College of PA - safety (I love the area and it also offers engineering)</li>
<li>University of Maryland - match (have a legacy hook here)</li>
<li>George Mason University - safety</li>
</ol>
<p>I'm looking for a couple reach schools that are very similar to William and Mary in terms of the surrounding area, size, and atmosphere. Help give me suggestions.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’d say you already have a few reaches as your application now stands. I know many, many students with similar stats to yours who were rejected at almost all of the schools you denoted as matches (UMD-CP, UVA, W&M, VaTech)</p>
<p>well im in-state for UVA and W&M, and i have a legacy at UM-CP, so as long as my stats are in the 50th percentile for those schools, i think i can consider it a match</p>
<p>Legacy is not considered at all schools. Public schools are less likely to consider legacy status.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, UMCP does not have its common data set on its web site; this tells whether legacy status is considered. However, UMBC’s common data set indicates that legacy status is not considered at all.</p>
<p>UMCP does NOT give legacy preference, but it is still probably a match for you. I agree that W and M and UVA are not matches unless you raise your SAT scores. I believe that it’s harder for kids from Northern Va to get in to those schools than from other parts of the state.</p>
<p>You might want to also consider JMU and Mary Washington in-state, and St. Mary’s in Maryland. If cost isn’t an option, there are some privates that would be somewhat similar to W and M - Wake Forest, Gettysburg, Dickinson to name a few.</p>
<p>I recommend wake forest. its a high quality school aka UVa and WandM peer (Rank 28? in USWR) that doesn’t place a huge emphasis on SAT scores. I maybe even heard they were taking them out in the future. You should look into it.</p>
<p>What website do you work for? Your ECs in my mind are fantastic because they show that you are pursuing what you enjoy. I would raise the sat a bit and possibly apply to a school in us news world report top 30 universities. I think that although your sat scores aren’t high your grades and ECs could give you boost. Plus those schools give great financial aid.</p>
<p>Well I sort of have a passion for video games, but not in the nerdy way. I was the editor-in-chief for the call of duty division of [National</a> ESL: Home - USA - Electronic Sports League](<a href=“http://www.nationalesl.com%5DNational”>http://www.nationalesl.com), ESL being one of the world’s largest video game organizations which gives out usually over hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes per year through tournaments hosted around the world.</p>
<p>That’s awesome. I know what you mean about video games in not the nerdy way because that’s how I am. I have a great passion but my life isn’t devoted. I think that extracurricular is fantastic, something to be proud of, and if you use it correctly (possibly some essays) you have a good shot at many schools.</p>
<p>The whole concept of safety/match/stretch goes out the window if you are applying to highly selective programs within potentially less selective schools overall. If you are liberal arts/school of arts and sciences, you may be able to apply general GPAs and class rank percentages. But if you are aiming for a nationally or internationally ranked program within a public university…your competition will be much greater. Example -my son goes to University of Cincinnati, public school in midwest which is generally not considered highly competitive - average ACT is about 22. His particular program is ranked #2 in US and among the top in the world, with average ACT scores of 28-32. So - don’t count your state schools as “match” just because you are a resident. If you have found schools that meet your academic, social, geographic and financial requirements - look no further.</p>