Help me find safety schools

Pre-College Issues Home Schooling and College
1

I’m a homeschooled junior. I was in public school for my first year and a half of highschool, and was basically a C student, which I know will set me back.

Career Interests: Physics, Aerospace Engineering, Entrepreneurship.
Other Interests: Herpetology

My interest in Entrepreneurship and Herpetology are well represented through my extracurriculars, but I’m worried that my interest in science isn’t as much (though I think its clear in my academics)

Some of the colleges I’m interested in, though they’re all match at best.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Reed College
Colorado College
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Lewis and Clark College

Stats
SAT: 610 M, 640 CR, 660 W (retaking this June)
SAT II: Planning to take Chem and Math II
Weighted GPA from public HS - 2.29
Unweighted GPA from public HS - 2.08

AP Courses (haven’t taken the tests yet)
Physics I
Computer Science
Psychology

Number of courses by subject I plan to take by graduation
Science: 10
Math: 4
English: 4
French: 2
Social Studies: 6
Computer Science: 3
AP: Planning to take Physics II, Calculus and Economics senior year

ECs
DECA
3 regular volunteer activities for about 6 hours per week
Founded 2 homeschool clubs
2 Internships (business)
2 summer science camps/programs
1 summer Entrepreneurship program
1 wilderness survival summer camp
a few other small things (music/petsitting/girlscouts/astrophotography)

My applications will include a pretty in depth portfolio with course descriptions and resources, reading lists, extracurricular resume, timeline/overview, essay explaining why I chose to homeschool, ect.

If you actually read all of this, thanks.

I’m not completely sure what I’m looking for in a school - besides once I can be fairly confident I can get into - so any suggestions are welcome

2

Identifying where to start looking can be hard. First, these are some things that could help you narrow stuff down:

  • How much will your parents pay? Will you need scholarships/aid? This is really, really important, as many posters will tell you.
  • What state are you in? Your state schools can often be an easy place to start your research.
  • What type of school do you want? You have a mix of tech and liberal art schools. Do you like both types, or is there a certain type of atmosphere you like better?
  • Where do you want it to be? Do you have a preference over cities vs smaller towns?
  • Are there any other traits you want specifically? For example, if you’re looking at tech colleges, some people are worried about the skewed gender ratios there. Other people specifically want or don’t want party schools. Any of these things could help you figure out what type of college you want.

Now for your scores and GPA: they’re troubling. They’re definitely low for MIT, and fairly low for the others (especially if you’re applying for physics/engineering). What score are you estimating for your retake? Do you have any AP or SAT subject tests? Have you tried the ACT? Do you think you can hit around 700 for all areas in your retake, especially math?

I’m also confused by the classes you said you’ve taken. Does 10 science courses mean 10 semesters, 10 years, 10 separate subjects…?

Below are links to the admissions data from the schools you mentioned:
RPI: http://collegeapps.about.com/od/collegeprofiles/p/rpi-rensselaer.htm
Reed: http://collegeapps.about.com/od/collegeprofiles/p/Reed_profile.htm
MIT: http://collegeapps.about.com/od/collegeprofiles/p/MIT_Profile.htm
Lewis and Clark: http://collegeapps.about.com/od/collegeprofiles/p/lewis-and-clark-college.htm
Colorado: http://collegeapps.about.com/od/collegeprofiles/p/ColoradoCollege.htm

Feel free to ask me again or PM me for more questions. I’m also homeschooled and happy to see someone going through the same process I’m in!

3

I don’t know about other schools you listed, but in my opinion MIT (and probably Renssellaer) is not a match.

As a reference, my D, also homeschooled, did not get admitted to MIT. Her stats:

  • National Merit finalist
  • SAT: 790 M, 800 CR, 770 W (only 1 seating)
  • SAT subjects: 800 US Hist., 800 Physics2s
  • 7 AP tests - all 5
  • about 30 quarter units of college-level physics, chemistry, and math classes from Stanford Univ. EPGY.
4

What is your financial situation as far as college money goes and what state are you in? Wichita State University in Kansas is easy to get into and it has a good AeroE program. Nowhere near MIT level, but you asked for safeties.

5

Oh I realize MIT and RPI definitely aren’t match schools, just schools I’m looking at, MIT is a toss up for any applicant really.

My SAT scores and GPA are definitely my weakness right now, my GPA has obviously raised since I’ve started homeschooling, I’m estimating it will be around 3.5 UW by the end of senior year. When I retake my SATs I’m aiming for 700s all around, I’m especially focusing on math. I’m also studying hard to score high on my AP tests and SAT IIs for more supporting test scores.

My strengths are definitely in my extracurricular activities.

And about the classes I’ve taken, that’s how many courses in total in each subject throughout high school. For science that would be 2 freshman year, 2 sophomore year, 3 junior year and 3 senior year.

Basically what I’m looking for in a school: Good physics or aerospace program, easy to get into, preferably in the north east but thats not too important, aside from all that I’m not completely sure what I want in a college, but I supposed i still have more than enough time to figure it out.

6

Your GPA as a homeschooler will be hard for colleges to judge, but if you can improve your SAT scores and have other test scores that will help. My new list of questions:[ul]
[] What state are you in? Your state schools could be a good place to start looking if they’re strong.
[] What science classes did you take? I’m still confused about how you got three classes a year. Could you list out the subjects and whether they were “verified” by anyone (e.g. AP or SAT scores, online, dual enrollment, etc.)
[/ul]
If you like tech colleges, you could look into RIT, RHIT, and possibly WPI. I’m not sure how difficult they are to get into, but collegeapps.about.com has all that data. Depending on what state you’re in, University of Michigan, Georgia Tech, Purdue, and UIUC are all possibilities although not in the north east (and also not really safeties). If you’re from California or Texas definitely look into the UC / UT systems for both reaches, matches, and safeties.

The other thing you could try is posting this in the College Search and Selection section which gets more views (and will probably be seen by members who can give more advice).

7

MIT isn’t a “toss up for any applicant”. They aren’t throwing darts or dice to decide which applicants to admit. You should familiarize yourself with the Common Data Set for each school you are interested in (Google " Common Data Set"). You can see SAT ranges along with a lot of other useful data about admissions and financial aid. Right now MIT is an impossible reach for you, look elsewhere. Look at the SAT ranges for each school. For a match, all of your SAT scores should be above the midpoint of their 25-50% range. Safety, above 75% mark, you know you can afford it, and it had a high acceptance rate.

You should also look at Net Price Calculators for each school you are interested in. On their websites on the Financial Aid page, have your parents help you with it. It will help you see if a school is affordable.

Your GPA situation could hurt you. With those grades and only homeschooled grades to add to it, it does not paint a strong academic picture. Do you have any Community College classes with good grades or AP scores to show? Those could help prove you are able to succeed in a college classroom. You want to enter a very tough, math intensive major. They need evidence you can do it, honestly. I see you plan to take some AP tests – you need to try to do at least a couple this year so you have scores for your apps in the fall.

And… yay for the Herpetology interest! That is unusual and interesting. :slight_smile:

What is your home state? What is your financial situation?