<p>I live in Michigan
GPA: 2.802
ACT: 25(retaking, probably going to get a 27-29)
SAT: 560 on CR, 560 on M, 610 on W</p>
<p>-4 year of lacrosse, we won the state championship this past season.
-3 years of IM basketball.
-3 years of drumline/band.
-Just got a job at Carrabba's. I've been managing 3 different properties and landscaping them for my parents this summer.
-I've done some volunteer work, not a ton.</p>
<p>I'm going to send a letter to all the colleges I apply to explaining part of the reason my GPA is low, which is that I had really bad ADHD and anxiety disorder that weren't really diagnosed well until my sophomore, which really sucked. I don't know how much this will help, but my counselor seemed to think it was worth it to write the letter.</p>
<p>Here are my schools:</p>
<p>Boston University-reach
Central Michigan University-safety
Grand Valley State University-match (my mom teaches there)
Pepperdine University-reach
University of Dayton-match
Hillsdale College-slight reach
Miami(FL)-reach
University of Central Florida-match?</p>
<p>That's my list as of right now. Any suggestions as to what I should change? I'm not positive what I want to major in, but I'm leaning towards journalism or something in broadcasting. I would also like to be in or close to a big city. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>No, it's fine with the reach schools. Make sure you have enough schools you're sure you will get into, and make sure those eight schools are eight first choices. In other words, try to be as enthusiastic about your top school as you are with your safeties. Safety schools know when you don't want to go to their schools and they will very likely deny admission.</p>
<p>No Mich State... too large for your tastes? I would think that Mizzou or Syracuse might be a nice reach, based on the broadcast journalism interest. Bowling Green or Duquesne would be options as safer admissions options.</p>
<p>im still kind of deciding whether to apply to msu or not. pretty much everyone in my family has gone there, i just think i might get lost there. i took it off at the beginning because i thought it was too big of a reach, but now that i look at my list, some of my schools are probably bigger reaches than msu. i also was trying to keep the size of schools around 20,000 or lower, except ucf, and i have that on my list because ive heard that classes are pretty small there. i was also considering mizzou, but it seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere. the only reason a few of my schools are in rural areas are because theyre pretty close to home. and im also still thinking abotu applying to syracuse.</p>
<p>If you like Boston, look at Suffolk. It is easier to get into than BU. Northeastern may also be a little bit easier than BU, and has a great Boston location. Northeastern has a practical focus, and you seem to also, so it may be a good match.</p>
<p>Suffolk is literally in the downtown Boston area, just to the west of the main business & financial district - it is kinda spread out throughout the Beacon Hill & Boston Common vicinity. Not a real cohesive campus by any means, more just a few groupings of buildings. </p>
<p>Northeastern has more of a campus feel, but is still in the city of Boston, just south of Fenway (a bit further west than Suffolk). NEU is adjacent to the "Fenway colleges" consortium - Wentworth, Emmanuel, Simmons, etc. and also not too far south of BU. So there are tons of things to for college-aged students in the area, basically a student-oriented mecca. I would say that NEU has a slightly better location than Suffolk, but neither bad by any means. Both definitely fit the bill for someone wanting an urban campus.</p>
<p>To put it in perspective, if you wanted to go to Boston Common and/or the downtown shopping area from Suffolk, you would walk, easily. From Northeastern, you would take the green line subway a few stops. You could bike, and an avid walker could walk. It's probably about three miles.</p>