Hey! What Schools Should I Apply To?

<p>Well, I'm a junior this year and I'm not really sure about what schools I wanna go to (and am qualified for). The only school I'm sure about is USC. I'd love to go to Stanford, but I think my chances are pretty slim. Any suggestions? (Reaches, Matches, Safety etc..)</p>

<p>Info:</p>

<p>Current UW GPA- 3.87/ W GPA- 4.6
Class Rank- Top 10%</p>

<p>Classes-</p>

<p>Freshman Year:
Honors Geometry
Honors Biology
Honors Freshman English
Spanish 3-4 (2nd year)
Art 1-2
P.E</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
AP European History (only AP open to sophs)
Honors Spanish 5-6 (3rd Year)
Honors Algebra 3-4
Honors Chemistry
Honors Sophomore English
Drawing/Advanced Drawing
Weight Lifting</p>

<p>Junior Year:
AP Chemistry
AP English Language
AP Spanish 7-8 (4th Year)
Honors Physics
Honors Trigonometry/ Honors Pre-Calculus
U.S. History</p>

<p>Will Take Senior Year:
AP Calculus AB
AP English Literature
AP Physics BC
AP Art (Focus-Drawing)
U.S. Government and Politics
Yoga</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Women's Lacrosse- 3 years
Key Club- 2 years
Artwork displayed in various exhibitions around town
Artwork published in various magazines
Random art awards
Giving art lessons to kids
Volunteering at local art museum
Spanish Language Competitions</p>

<p>Other stuff:
At least National Commended Scholar
Member of National Honor Society
Still waiting for SAT scores, but should be 2200+
Probably AP Scholar (or whatever it's called)</p>

<p>Not trying to create excuses for myself, but come from a low-income, hardworking, minority family. It's possible, but it's kind of hard to immerse yourself in various activities when your family just doesn't have the means to support you. Attending a very wealthy, competitive public school.</p>

<p>Sorry if this was long, but any suggestions? :)</p>

<p>Other colleges & universities to check out (long & not exhaustive):</p>

<p>Grinnell*
Macalester*
Beloit*
Colby*
UChicago*
Reed
Earlham
Lawrence U*
UWisconsin-Madison
Trinity (CT)*
Bates*
Northwestern
Colgate
Haverford*
UMichigan-Ann Arbor
Union (CT)
Cornell U*
Vanderbilt
Hamilton*
Johns Hopkins
Oberlin*
College of William & Mary
Emory
UWashington-Seattle
Wesleyan*
UIllinois-Urbana Champaign
Vassar*
URochester*
Davidson*
Tufts*
UNorth Carolina-Chapel Hill*
C of Holy Cross*
Denison U
Gettysburg*
Connecticut C*
Wake Forest*
St. John's (MD)*
St. John's (NM)*
Rhodes
Dickinson*
URichmond*</p>

<p>Hope this gets you pointed in the right direction with respect to other school options. Tried to give you a wide range of universities & colleges--big/small, public/private. Schools with asterisk (*) are those that either meet 100% of need or guarantee to meet full need.</p>

<p>Thanks! This is quite a list :) I've already got letters and stuff from some of the schools you mentioned, so it's nice to see some "familiar faces".</p>

<p>But do I have a chance of being admitted to USC or Stanford?
Both USC and Stanford have sent me letters so that's kind of why I was wondering.</p>

<p>Can you tell us about your interests? Science, humanities, fine arts? Do you prefer a large school? Do you prefer the left coast? Do you want to go to grad school? Some details might help with suggestions.</p>

<p>I want to major in science or engineering- biomedical engineering, biochemistry, electronic engineering, physics etc.. to name a few. Math and Science are my strongest academic subjects.</p>

<p>But I still want to have the option of maybe minoring in Art (drawing to be specific). It's my greatest passion in life and a gift that I truly cherish.</p>

<p>I prefer a medium-large school, preferably urban. I'm also interested in going to university in Australia or New Zealand. Definitely want to go to grad school afterwards.</p>

<p>How about the University of Washington in Seattle? You should check that out if you're interested in engineering/biochemistry stuff like that. It's definitely a large school in an urban environment. A complete opposite of UW is Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. It's a small liberal-arts school, but it's close to Philadelphia (I don't think people go there often though) and they have their own engineering program. That's pretty special for a liberal arts school. And a large percentage of people who go to Swarthmore go on to great grad schools.</p>

<p>^The thing is: public schools often won't give much aid to out-of-state students. </p>

<p>That said, if money's the factor, why not apply to some in-state publics? They'll obviously be cheapest, and almost all big universities have solid science programs.</p>

<p>Yes, I do think you'll be in at USC.
Stanford is a maybe. </p>

<p>Try looking at Santa Clara. The vibe is very similar to Stanford.</p>

<p>Also, of the list posted above, the best fits for your criteria will probably be Johns Hopkins, University of Rochester, Emory, and maybe Cornell.</p>

<p>In at USC...Stanford is always risky.</p>

<p>Trinity (CT), Union (NY), Lehigh, Lafayette, like Swat, has an engineering program and are LACs. Case Western, Carnagie Mellon, Tufts, Washington U in St. Louis, URochester, and Emory are medium sized, in a city, and have engineering as well.</p>

<p>Thanks for the help everyone!</p>

<p>A young woman athlete with 2200 SATs who is a minority and wants to study engineering? There aren't too many of those. I think a lot of colleges will be interested in you.</p>

<p>You could try a different approach, which is to pick a top-ranked school and make that your target. Find out what kids from your high school have made the jump to that university, and what grades, etc., are needed. Since you attend a private school, you probably have a decent college counselor available. Make an appointment to see him or her this spring.</p>

<p>You'll have to decide if you want to aim for the very top-tier colleges, where you might be in the middle or even the lower half of your class, or try for a slightly lower college where you would be among the top students.</p>