hey guys..advice please

<p>hey well im studying International relations next year and im trying to apply to the best universities(prestige and program excellence) but i also want to have some that i have more chances in....so help this is my list..</p>

<p>-princeton
-georgetown
-NYU
-UVA
-Northwestern
-Tufts
-George washington U
-american
-tufts
-brown
-columbia
-harvard
-yale
-university of Chicago
-boston university
-cornell</p>

<p>ok as you can see im having problems narrowing it down...i want great schools, that have great programs and that i have possibilities in...please help! which ones should i stick to?</p>

<p>Considering that you didn't include any information about yourself, it's kind of difficult to tell which colleges would be matches. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>jeje yeah very true.... well im latin american..from Nicaragua, 4.38 Gpa out of 4.40 , in various community service activities (about 200 hours, not sure): Operation smile, a school organized club, editor in chief of the school newspaper...been school government secretary, cultural activities coordinator, been to hacia democracy, play tennis, 1st honor ever since i can remember, 1810 SAT: 600 verbal, 580 math, 630 writing, (i know kind of low but ....) took 3 sat 2s in dec...(french, spanish, lit) was in 1 ap class in 10th, 2 in 11th, and 3 this year
what else? well likely to be valedictorian...was in the schools ethics and transparency, volunteered in E&T for this years national elections, worked in a company 2 summers ago and volunteered in operation smile this last summer.....idk what else...guess thats it.....</p>

<p>which are the best universities? what should i do?!?!</p>

<p>what do you WANT to do in life?</p>

<p>Let's say that you ARE valedictorian. With your SAT scores, schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton are still pretty hard reaches. The other top schools on your list like Brown, Columbia, Georgetown, Northwestern, Cornell and Tufts -- I think you'd get into about half (hard to predict which half, it's all pretty random). The others on your list, you're likely to get into.</p>

<p>crap...so what do i do?! :(....well i life i want to be successful like evrybody else...i want to get into a good school...and have a great education...hopefully be ambassador...or who knows what in the future...but now how do i know where to cut...if i need to cut my list...where to begin..should i leave only a couple ivy leagues? but which ones...?!?! dude im really confused...</p>

<p>To be perfectly honest, all of the colleges on your list except GWU, American, and BU are reaches. You have a strong application, but your SAT scores are a major weakness. I strongly suggest adding some matches and safeties (U Rochester, Beloit, Ohio State, Syracuse, Knox, Northeastern, Goucher, RIT, Emory, etc.).</p>

<p>You also might want to look into test-optional colleges. Some of them, like Bowdoin and Sarah Lawrence, might fit.
<a href="http://www.fairtest.org/univers.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.fairtest.org/univers.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Have you taken TOEFL yet? Most colleges have it as a requirement if your native language isn't English.</p>

<p>What are you trying to major in?</p>

<p>Answer that first and then we can help. It makes no sense to go to a school with a weak program in what you want to major in. And your SAT limits you from almost all of those schools.</p>

<p>as i said ....i want to major in INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS....thus my question...whats the best for that....and which ivy leagues should i cut down..i mean why have 6 if the six are gonna turn me down (waste of money)...so i just want to keep a couple with the best programs... which ones??</p>