Help Re-evaluating My Options

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>To cut right to the chase, I am a High School Junior who would appreciate any and all help with deciding which colleges to apply to. Obviously my expectations are very different from reality. I will provide my details and then elaborate.</p>

<p>Race/Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
State of Residence: NJ
School Type: Public
School State Rank: 180-200/322
Class Size: ~400</p>

<p>Parents' Education/Job Status/Income:
Father: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology, 1985
Unemployed/Freelance as of Feb. 2013, previously made $100K+</p>

<p>Mother: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from Moore College of Art and Design, 1988
$110K+ as a Manager of Web Design</p>

<p>NMSQT/PSAT: 221</p>

<p>SAT I Composite: 2260
SAT I Writing: 700
SAT I Mathematics: 780
SAT I Reading: 780
SAT I Essay: 9</p>

<p>ACT Composite: 35
ACT English: 35
ACT Mathematics: 33
ACT Reading: 36
ACT Science: 35
ACT Writing: 8</p>

<p>AP European History: 3</p>

<p>I have not taken SAT IIs yet and am still deciding which to take.</p>

<p>GPA (UW/W): 4.00/4.70+ (not including senior year schedule)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
* Student Government President†
* Junior & Senior Class† Treasurer
* Science Club Treasurer
* Key Club Junior & Senior Class† Exec.
* National Honor Society†
* Science National Honor Society
* Honorable Mention in local Science and Engineering Fair — Environmental Sciences Division
* Student of the Month — September 2012
* Peer Leadership
* published sportswriter
* published in local community college literary magazine
* organizing Habitat for Humanity trip
* two years of tennis in school
* years of basketball and baseball outside school
* certified as a Little League umpire
* studied briefly in Paris, London, Germany, and Switzerland as part of European History class; I am hoping to additionally travel to Spain and Morocco for an educational trip in Spring 2014
* volunteer tutoring for peers in need of assistance</p>

<p>Junior Year Schedule:
* AP Biology
* AP English Language and Composition
* AP United States History
* AP Computer Science
* AP Calculus AB
* Spanish III
* Health/Physical Ed. (required)</p>

<p>I am maintaining an A in all of my junior classes (with the exception of a clerical mistake — on my Physical Education grade of all places — that gave me a B and is being petitioned)</p>

<p>Senior Year Schedule:
* AP Chemistry
* AP United States Government & Politics
* AP Statistics
* AP Spanish Language
* AP English Literature and Composition
* GALRE (Government And Law Related Experiences - Honors, non-GPA)
* Health/Physical Ed. (required)</p>

<p>I will be taking the AP exams for all of the courses.</p>

<p>As with most, I picked reaches, matches, and safeties (sort of).</p>

<p>Here are my (tentative) picks:</p>

<p>Reaches: Stanford, Princeton, Harvard</p>

<p>Matches: NYU, BU, USC</p>

<p>Safeties: I would say my safeties are Rutgers, UMiami, and Fordham, but these are the most fluid.</p>

<p>Here's where things get trickier. I have my sights set on the National Merit Scholarship, but the cutoff in NJ has wavered between 221 & 223 the past few years. Assuming I do get it, I would look at the schools that recruit and give aid to NMS qualifiers. </p>

<p>However, these picks were based off of the overwhelming encouragement I've gotten from teachers, family, counselors, and classmates. After just a few hours on this site, I've learned to temper those expectations. </p>

<p>I was hoping that you could give me the hard truth I need instead of feeding me candy-coated nonsense that I want to hear. What schools should I be looking at? I have toured USC, Stanford, UCLA, Cal-Berkeley, Princeton, NYU, BU, BC, Harvard, and Yale. I plan on touring or attending information sessions for Penn and Columbia. I have received information from dozens of universities and am feeling a lot of pressure over my application decisions.</p>

<p>I can supply any additional information you ask for within reason, and may add some as I remember it. Feel free to also suggest any things I can do in the next year to boost my application. I'm considering taking piano lessons (I play recreationally).</p>

2

<p>actually, I think that your list of schools are pretty spot on. the colleges all seem to be in the right categories</p>

3

<p>How much of a reach do you think those schools are? Do you have any other suggestions for matches? I am looking for a school near a city center with some prestige. I know that not all Ivies equal, but everyone I talk to acts like I should have no trouble getting in to them (obviously not the case).</p>

<p>Thanks for your help.</p>

4

<p>Possible majors?</p>

<p>Cost constraints?</p>

<p>If you make NMF, Texas A&M has a good scholarship for you. There is also a thread with a list of NMF and NMSF scholarships. There is a thread with a smaller list of automatic-for-stats full tuition or higher scholarships. Rutgers has been known to throw full rides at high-stats in-state applicants to try to counter the “anywhere but Rutgers” attitude among many NJ high school seniors.</p>

5

<p>ivies are definitely a reach- high reach, but you can’t really say more than that since they’re so unpredictable, but you’ve got a good shot for sure. you’re not guarenteed at a school like that, but no one is.</p>

6

<p>@ucbalumnus: Texas A&M is definitely a big one that I’m looking at. I really prefer warm-weather schools, because of seasonal depression and fondness for travel and new experiences. The fact that Southern schools are big on NMFs is pretty enticing to me.</p>

<p>As far as majors, I’m likely going to stray from the hard (in the concrete sense) maths and sciences. Probably something like Law, PoliSci, or Econ. </p>

<p>Cost constraints are becoming an issue. As I noted, by father was recently laid off, and although he is well-regarded in the commercial photography industry, I can’t guarantee that he will be able to provide steady help with my finances. I also have very little saved from my early childhood. The unfortunate thing is that (from what I’ve heard), colleges look at Jan. 1 of the junior year — when my family still had a $200K+ income. On top of this, my parents have two other children to worry about. I am the oldest and my brother (2 years behind) figures to go to a four-year college as well.</p>

<p>Thanks for the hints to other threads. I will check them out. I was aware of Rutgers’s affinity for NJ students, but, if I were being picky, I’m not a big fan of New Brunswick. It’s a little close to home without the obvious prestige of Princeton (though still a remarkable school in its own right.)</p>

<p>@stressedouttt: Thanks very much; that’s about what I had figured.</p>

7

<p>Here are the threads of interest:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-17.html#post15743177[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-17.html#post15743177&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;