Help me select/narrow!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey, everybody! I'd really appreciate some help in narrowing my choices/selecting a good college for me. I would LOVE to go to an ivy league school, in fact, it has been my dream. I'm just having a hard time selecting which ivies to apply to, as well as schools that aren't ivies but would suit me well. Please help me! Here are my stats. . .</p>

<p>Schools I'm Looking Into:
Princeton
Harvard
Yale
Stanford
Dartmouth
Brown
Northwestern
Boston University
Boston College
Duke
Amherst
WashU</p>

<p>Personal:
Gender: Female
Income: Low? Lower-Middle? Around 65K
First Generation Student
URM?: Latina
State: MO
My mom has moderate-severe Rheumatoid Arthritis. The medications cost our family a lot of money, and I have to take care of her.</p>

<p>Intended Major:
Pre-Med
Molecular Biology? (Not sure, I want to pick out a major that will help me stand out)</p>

<p>GPA UW: 3.9
GPA W: 4.69
Class Rank: 1/330</p>

<p>Subject Tests: Planning on taking Literature, U.S. History, and Math II (or Biology E)</p>

<p>ACT: 32 (34E, 33R, 30M, 30S)</p>

<p>(I will probably study for my ACT to boost my scores. I went in cold.)</p>

<p>APs: 5 European History. Took four this spring.</p>

<p>9th Grade:
Honors Biology
Honors Algebra II
Gifted Honors English 9
Fashion Merchandising/Academic Lab (Graduation Requirements)
Debate I/ Advanced CC Debate
Honors World/American History
German II</p>

<p>10th Grade:
Honors Chemistry
Honors Geometry
Gifted Honors English 10
Health/Personal Finance (Graduation Requirements)
Advanced CC Debate
AP Euro
Honors CC German III</p>

<p>11th Grade:
AP Chemistry
AP Statistics
Gifted Honors English 11
Personal Fitness (Graduation Requirement)
AP Psychology
AP United States History
Honors CC German IV</p>

<p>12th Grade Anticipated:
AP Biology
AP Environmental
AP/CC Calc (BC? Our school does not specify)
Gifted Honors English 12
AP Art History (Taking this class through a college, our school does not offer AP Arts)
AP Government
AP German V</p>

<p>Probably going to try taking physics through a college program, too. Looking into it.</p>

<p>I didn't take Honors Precalc my junior year. My schedule didn't work out, so I had to take another AP math instead. I got permission from my counselors to bypass HPC to APC because of my ability in mathematics.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Softball (9-12), Team Captain
Speech and Debate (9-12) LD and OO Captain
German Club (9-12) President
Future Problem Solving (9-12)
About Better Choices (11-12) Teen Health Consultant
Freshman Mentoring (11-12) Crew Leader
STAND (11-12) Founder
NHS (11-12)
Volunteer at a local hospital
Tutoring “at risk” students
On the side I also play the violin, but not for orch.</p>

<p>Awards/More Info:
USSSA All-State Softball 2006, 5th Place NSA Nationals 2008, MVP at a few tournaments, many tournament placement trophies (too many to list)
Speech and Debate: National Qualifier, many placements at different tournaments in LD and OO (too many to list), Best on team award for speech
Future Problem Solving: State Qualifier 10, 11. 2nd Place State Bowl 09
ABC: Honorable Mentor Award</p>

<p>Honor/Citizenship Roll
History MVP Departmental Award</p>

<p>Summer Stuff:
Accepted into and attending a leadership conference
Accepted into WashU's Summer Scholars, though, I may not be able to attend because of the cost.
More Working/Volunteering
Summer Softball
This summer, I'm probably going to do lab work at WashU</p>

<p>Work Experience:
Hollister (11-12)</p>

<p>Volunteer Hours:
Around 200? I hope to rack up more this summer.</p>

<p>Other Interesting Stuff:
Writing my own syllabus for AP Lit Independent Study Gifted English which will be used in the future.
For Pirate Edge/College Counselor, I'm writing a “How to Survive HS successfully” info pamphlet. </p>

<p>Thanks again for the help! In terms of what type of school I'm looking for. . . I would prefer to go to school in a city environment (but that's not a requirement). I'd also like to find a school that is further away from home (MO).</p>

2

<p>bump 10char</p>

3

<p>Are you going to go away to college? Who will take care of your mom?</p>

4

<p>Yes, I plan on going away.</p>

<p>EDIT: There will be someone to take care of my mom.</p>

5

<p>Obviously your entire list fits your stats. Being Latina is extremely helpful too :P</p>

<p>and who will take care of your mom when you go away? and you’ve never taken physics in high school?</p>

6

<p>An additional school to consider for pre-med and/or grad school prep in bio: Reed College in Portland, OR:

From [REED</a> COLLEGE MEDICAL SCHOOL ACCEPTANCE<a href=“3.1%20is%20the%20campus-wide%20average%20GPA”>/url</a></p>

<p>Also check the Biological Sciences column at [url=<a href=“http://web.reed.edu/ir/phd.html]REED”>Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College]REED</a> COLLEGE PHD PRODUCTIVITY](<a href=“http://web.reed.edu/ir/medschool.html]REED”>Medical School Acceptance Rate - Institutional Research - Reed College) for advanced grad school prep in bio.</p>

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<p>Family will take care of my mom. She’s obviously not dying. Some days are better than others. It’s the bad days that are really hard. Physics never fit my schedule. But I am taking it through Mizzou’s duel credit program. If that doesn’t work, I’m going to take it through a local community college.</p>

8

<p>I’ve heard Reed is solid. I’ve also heard that substance abuse is prevalent on campus. . . and don’t think I’m interested in a school that has widespread drug use. Am I wrong?</p>

9

<p>Do you plan on playing softball in college? If so, do you want to play bigtime Division I softball? That would filter out quite a few of your options.</p>

<p>I’d dump Boston University, as you can do so much better, and they are supposed to have some grade deflation problems (bad for getting in med school). You’ll get in a lot of the very top universities…you need to decide if you want a small or medium sized school, if you want to be near a big city, and if you care if your winter is long and cold or not.</p>

10

<ol>
<li><p>I’m interested in playing softball in college, but it’s not a must. I haven’t had time with the NCAA recruiting process because this year has been pretty hard and stressful on my family. I might look further into it this summer, but like I said, D1 isn’t something I HAVE to do. Ivy League would be nice, too :stuck_out_tongue: </p></li>
<li><p>I’m worried that I won’t get into the top universities. That’s why I’d really like to find some decent back-up schools. I’d prefer a medium-large sized school, but that isn’t a must. Big city is preferable, but I’m open to otherwise. I don’t care about cold winters… MO is pretty chilly and unpredictable. :)</p></li>
</ol>

11

<p>The question is how “widespread” drug use is in comparison to other schools; some data is available:</p>

<p>[Pluralistic</a> Ignorance Project - Drugs & Alcohol](<a href=“http://academic.reed.edu/psychology/psy322/pluralisticignorance/drugsalcohol.html]Pluralistic”>http://academic.reed.edu/psychology/psy322/pluralisticignorance/drugsalcohol.html)</p>

<p>One question is how Reed students can accomplish what they do if drug usage is as widespread as some people say; I don’t know the answer either way.</p>

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<p>bump 10char</p>