HELP! Suggestions/Advice Needed

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Colleges are so hard to get into nowadays, this whole process is sometimes discouraging because I'm told all of the schools I want to get into are a stretch. I was hoping I could get some suggestions as to where to apply to.</p>

<p>White
Male
Lower Middle Class Family
Long Island, NY</p>

<p>I currently attend one of the best private schools (I believe it's the second best) in New York, I'm not graded based on GPA, and I haven't received a class rank yet. All of my classes are considered AP classes, even if they are very generic. During my junior year I took: Chemistry, American History, Spanish, Religion, English, and Trigonometry.</p>

<p>Junior Year Average: 92.0
Three Year Average: 89.7
SAT I: 2000 (710 CR, 660 M, 630 W)</p>

<p>I probably won't be taking any SAT II's, and I'm still unsure about whether or not I should be taking the ACT come this fall. (Advice on this would be appreciated, as well)</p>

<p>Like my classes, my school has a bunch of generic clubs as well, where no leadership positions are even available. All of this information is pretty hard to explain on a college application, which pretty much sucks, but I guess I'll have to deal with that.</p>

<p>---Clubs/Sports---
Tennis 9th - 11th
Social Studies Club 9th - 11th
Economics Club 11th
Spanish Club 10th - 11th
Yearbook 9th - 11th
Chess Club 10th - 11th
National Honors Society 11th - 12th</p>

<p>---Community Service---
Team Captain for Relay for Life Foundation - Raised around $5,000 for cancer research
Intramural Basketball Coach for 4th Graders
Intramural Baseball Coach for 2nd Graders (My Dad and I coached underprivileged kids in a bad area around Queens, could make for a nice essay =P)</p>

<p>---Work Experience---
Coached and refereed for kids at a basketball camp (9th - 11th)
A file clerk at an ophthalmologist (9th - 10th)
Worked at an ice cream store (11th)</p>

<p>---OTHER---
I played travel basketball and baseball for nearly 10 years, and I've played USTA tennis for a few years now. I've recently taken up boxing. In my spare time I also design websites, which I've been paid for, and I'm fluent in HTML and such.</p>

<p>I'm unsure of what I'll be majoring in, but it'll most likely be some form of History, because that is what I excel in and enjoy most. Being on the east coast would be preferred by my parents, but I'd be willing to attend a college on the west coast, and my parents have given me the "okay". &lt;/p>

<p>I do know that I'd like to attend medium-sized school or a large-sized school. Some sort of school with D-I sports where you can go to basketball games, football games, things like that. </p>

<p>Here are some colleges I want to get into but I know I'll have a real rough time getting into:
(If I'm wrong please correct me, but I'm pretty sure, for me, these will all be difficult to get into)</p>

<p>University of Southern California
University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)
College of William & Mary
Boston College
Wake Forest University</p>

<p>And here are some colleges I believe I can get into:
(Once again, correct me if I'm wrong)</p>

<p>American University
University of Florida
Villanova University
Pepperdine University</p>

<p>Now this is where you come in, can you suggest some colleges for me to look into, that I could potentially get into? I've only visited BC and W&M, and they're both under my "I'll need a miracle" list. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>By the way, I didn't put this in the "Chances" section because I was just using the schools I listed as examples. You may tell me my chances of those schools additionally, but I mostly want suggestions for other schools to look into.</p>

<p>Thanks again.</p>

3

<p>I think 9 schools is a good amount. </p>

<p>Of what you listed, I'd say that USC, UNC, BC, and W&M are reaches. WFU and Pepperdine are matches. UF and Villanova would be either low matches or safeties, depending on the rest of your application. American would be a safety. </p>

<p>Similar (medium sized/athletic) schools to look at would be: Georgetown (reach), James Madison (safety), University of Miami (low match), Syracuse (low match..ish), Dartmouth (reach), Gonzaga (safety), College of Charleston (match). </p>

<p>What I would do is keep the magic number (9), but adjust it so that you have one fewer reach, and one more solid safety or match. Doing so will probably give you more options in the end.</p>

4

<p>I'm not sure of your chances with these schools, but just a few you can look into... Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, & Boston University</p>

5

<p>@world changer: Thanks for the help. I think Georgetown and Dartmouth I won't even bother with, but I'll look into JMU, Syracuse, Gonzaga, and College of Charleston. I actually want to go to Miami, but apparently it's "too much of a party school for me".</p>

6

<p>Any other suggestions?</p>

7

<p>UM's partying is that of most big private/public schools that have major athletics and a sizeable greek population.</p>

<p>For example: i wouldnt consider UM to have more of a party scene than UF, Pepp or USC. they have a very similar party scene. all three are tough schools to get into and 3 of them (USC, pepp and UM) are expensive thus students are on scholarships and must work to maintain that.
Read studentsreview and many students do find the coursework to be demanding at UM.</p>

<p>if u dont like that sports scene and greek scene (often condusive to partying) then dont consider some of the schools on ur list because they are not 100% academics. USC, Pepp, UF and even Miami are about a 65% academics and 35% partying. </p>

<p>Hope this clears that for you.</p>

<p>I would reccommend visiting UM and the others I mentioned to get a feel of the atmosphere.</p>

<p>In the case that you do consider them:
- USC: Reach
- Pepp: Match
- UF: Match
- Miami: Match</p>

8

<p>I have no problem if there are a lot of parties, but my parents feel like I'll fail out because of the atmosphere. I believe that I have a lot more self-restraint than just disregarding schoolwork completely because I'm in Miami. Thanks for the information though, I'll try to explain that to my parents.</p>

9

<p>Miami isn't a party school in the typical sense of the word, either. Kids there love to go out and have fun, but it's typically not at alcoholic frat parties. Miami students are more likely to hang out downtown at a dance club on weekends. Pretty tame in comparison to some colleges. </p>

<p>For the most part, I don't think the students there have any problem keeping up with the academics.</p>

10

<p>Alright, thanks for that world changer.</p>