<p>So one of my good friends is a junior and is starting to compile his college list, do some research, etc, this year. He asked me what colleges I thought were slight reaches/good matches, and I honestly had no idea what to say! Maybe you guys know some schools I can suggest to my friend to help him out? He wants to go to a UNIVERSITY (not a college!) and in the NORTHEAST. He would like to major in Jewish History, so the university should have a strong social studies dept.</p>
<p>His GPA is around a 3.4 (a mix of A's and B's), but he takes tons of challenging classes, including BC calculus, French V AP, and AP US Hist + honors courses. He's in 2 senior classes. Also, his freshman year grades were all A's. </p>
<p>His PSAT was like a 229, so he'll probably do just as well or better on the SAT. I'm almost sure he'll get a 2300+. He'll probably beast the SAT IIs as well.</p>
<p>He doesn't really have any ec's right now except for an outside math class and ballroom dancing... probably the weakest point of his app. </p>
<p>Also, he's worried that his teacher recs might be very average or below average because he didn't really click with any of his teachers this year. </p>
<p>I definitely want to help him through this stressful process!! Lord, I know how stressful it really is. What universities should I suggest for him to look at?</p>
<p>do you think emory is a slight reach, major reach, or target for him? It mght be a little too far south for him, as well. </p>
<p>Also, he wants to apply to Harvard EA, then Princeton and stuff. I think those are BIIIIIIIG reaches, but I don't want to dissuade him from doing what he wants to do with his apps either.</p>
<p>He does not have a chance at any ivy league with those gpa s and weak ecs and would be completely wasting his ed opportunity. Brandeis might be a good reach, esp. if he applies ED; BU; GW; Syracuse.</p>
<p>He'll need a lot of safeties that are not HYP or any other ivy. You're right in saying that they are big reaches. Even with a difficult course schedule, his GPA, in addition to his ECs, is not exceptional.</p>
<p>What's wrong with a LAC rather than a university?</p>
<p>How about UChicago? Sure, it's in the Midwest, but it has a good social studies department and pretty much everything else academic. Let's just hope he doesn't suddenly want to become an engineer. UChicago would probably be a reach, but not a huge one. Boston University would be a match. NYU? Tufts? Lehigh? Definitely Brandeis.</p>
<p>Could you get him to consider going outside of the Northeast?</p>
<p>He REALLY does not want to go to a school like GW or BU... it's hard to explain this online, but he has very high standards in regards to schools. Maybe he would consider Brandeis, but not ED... I'm kind of worried that his high standards/perfectionism might get in the way of him making a good, realistic, balanced list. </p>
<p>I don't know if this helps or hurts, but we both attend an excellent public high school. He'll also be a semi-finalist for the PSATs for sure, and he's going abroad for the summer. Also, he'll be taking courses at Harvard next year in Math and French because he's basically done with it at a high school level.</p>
<p>Couldn't he still improve his ECs before next year? What should I suggest?</p>
<p>And how good a chance does he have at nice schools like emory, brandeis, or tufts?</p>
<p>I don't think it is possible for him to improve his ECs enough to be a HYP level applicant. You can't do that in a summer. He shouldn't not apply, but he definitely shouldn't use his ED opportunity on Princeton or think he's going to get into any of them.</p>
<p>He has good chances at Emory, Brandeis, and Tufts.</p>
<p>Are GW and BU just not good enough? You can't diss schools of that quality, and you especially can't when you have an approximately 5% chance of getting into any ivy.</p>
<p>s'vrone - he told me he LOVES UChicago, so I think he's applying there anyway despite the distance, but I thought UChic was pretty hard to get into as well? A guy I know with similar Stats (worse SAT by about 100 points SATs but amazing ECs) didn't get in this year.</p>
<p>He doesn't like LACs because they lack a huge class selection/famous professors/big opportunities, according to him.</p>
<p>Most colleges want a history of Ecs, scrounging for one now won't help</p>
<p>What about the Ballroom dnacing...how much time does that use up?</p>
<p>What you friend looks like is a good studious student who just focuses on school, and that is it</p>
<p>When you have kids who have the same stats AND are super involved, that is what will hurt him at the super competitive schools</p>
<p>THere are some wonderful schools that will love admitting him</p>
<p>If he is snobby when it comes to schools, want to bet his counselors notice that? And he needs to try and connect with his teachers, for the schools he appears to be interested in, those recommendations can be a bump up on an application</p>
<p>If he rejects some schools because they aren't good enough for him, well, as a counselor, i would say, well, do whatever, your attitude is a bit skewed and considering he hasn't really done anything much but study for four years, not as an attractive a candidate as he might be</p>
<p>He was "prestige" and the bells and whistles,l and he does need to adjust his attitude a bit</p>
<p>He should consider applying early to UChicago since his chances there are not sure. I think he has a fair shot though, especially if he shows that he's in love with the school and could contribute a great deal.</p>
<p>unfortunately for your friend, great SAT scores arent enough to get into the top top schools.
large 'top' schools in the northeast with jewish studies that would be reasonable for him might be too much to ask for.
disregarding location for the moment, he might look at: (reaches at top, safeties towards bottom)</p>
<p>McGill
UCLA
Michigan
Brandeis
NYU
Wisconsin
Binghamton
Maryland
Temple
American
Hofstra</p>
<p>okay, but if he uses his ED/EA shot on a major reach, do you still think he has a decent shot at all the other schools we've been discussing here? </p>
<p>I don't really think ballroom dancing takes up a great deal of time, and he's only been doing it this year. I think he does another EC as well, but he's not very serious about it either. </p>
<p>He def. is very studious. He's the kind of person who will study and write papers late into the night, without doing much else. I think he's a great kid, and very smart, albeit somewhat snobby about colleges.</p>
<p>his dad works at princeton...... do you think that could help?</p>
<p>Also, while we're on this topic, should I go to Cornell, Wellesley, or Hopkins if I want to be a humanities major? Wellesley and Hopkins gave me enough money to attend, while Cornell really didn't give me that much, but Cornell & Wellesley are my top 2 choices eeeee... At cornell, I'd also be in the school of human ecol doing human development. I loved both when I visited... what say you?</p>
<p>So NOW you tell us about dear old dad..that puts a different spin on things....you would think dad would have told him to do more than just study</p>
<p>I've been leaning towards Wellesley as well. I also got into JHU, but ehhhh, I'm pretty sure I don't want to be stuck in the middle of crabcakestate with a bunch of crazy premeds.</p>
<p>no offense to all you JHU lovers and premeds! =P</p>
<p>Yeah, I really doubt his father will help that much, and the whole situation is quite complicated. It might be enough to go from rejected to waitlist, but not much else.. :/</p>
<p>I have just been accepted to University of Arizona and Michigan State University. </p>
<p>I have done my research, an UA and MSU ranks almost the same under "US News 2006 undergraduate business program".</p>
<p>I haven't been to either campus but i hear MSU's campus is great because it is an agricultural college. But UA is based in tuson, AZ, and i have seen pics of the campus and it looks great.</p>
<p>I know that the party scenes are also great at UA and MSU. </p>
<p>Academic wise, UA and MSU holds about the same also. Does anyone know if majority of students at UA or MSU are smart (i mean will influence ur future) or are they just a bunch of average Joes??????????</p>
<p>But i think MSU hold it over UA for reputation wise, i mean it isn't a bad school. </p>
<p>I got a scholarship to UA for three years but never got one from MSU.</p>
<p>PLEASE HELP ME MAKE A DECISION!!!!! I"M BEGGING SOMEONE, SHARE SOME WISEDOM!!!!!!!!</p>