How to pick the right school and my chances

Applying to College
1

<p>my list of schools:</p>

<p>UC Irvine
UCSB
UCLA
UC berkeley
UC San Diego
Georgetown(EA)
Columbia
Johns Hopkins
Stanford
northwestern?
brown
Princeton(ED)-Common APP
U of Chicago
Cornell-COMMON APP
Harvard-Common APP
Carnegie Mellon-Common APP
Duke-COMMON APP
Dartmouth-Common APP
Upenn-COMMON APP
MIT- EA</p>

<p>that's a lot of school, so how do I cut them down? what I'm looking for in a school:</p>

<p>-mediocre weather
-nice buildings
-good surrounding city with lots to do
-GRADE INFLATION ( easier to get A's than other schools... I know university of Chicago has grade deflation which is horrible)</p>

<p>My stats:
- My fully weighted g.p.a that even weights college summer courses is:
9-11 4.16 W ( Georegtown EA, MIT EA or Univer of Chicago EA)
9-12 4.22 W ( RD applications most of those schools) 3.73 uw
10-11 4.5 W 3.9 uw(princeton ED, uc's) uc g.p.a is 4.2 capped
10-12 4.57 W 3.91 uw ( Stanford )</p>

<p>SAT 1: 2200
SAT 2: US 770, MATH 2c 790, math 1c 780</p>

<p>HUGE UPWARD TREND IN GRADES!! :p i have reasons for this</p>

<p>rec's and essays should be good... i'm spending a lot of time on them even now!</p>

<p>EC's:
Dance-Volunteer-10 years</p>

<br>


<br>

<p>500 hours of comm service... i helped at numerous places for variety</p>

<p>also which schools do you think I should totally cross off my list because I won't even have a slight chance there.. please be honest thanks!</p>

<p>Also i decided to apply to MIT because my major is economics and poli science... would that raise my chances? Late</p>

2

<p>Well, you have the potential to be competitive at any school, depending on how your GPA is compared to your peers. Seems low, but could be a competitive school. Rank? Do you really need so many UC's? For instance, aren't Irvine and SB very different? You could probably get rid of one of those. I think you should try to get your list down to atleast 12. Let's say you don't get into Pton ED, if you get into Chicago/MIT/Gtown EA (I'm pretty sure none of those are SCEA) are there some schools you would eliminate? You would already have everything done, why not wait until December to see what happens? You could already have your UC app done too. So, if you don't feel strongly about the other schools, just apply to like four UCs and your early apps. To make things easiers for your recommenders, you can have them just send recs to them all.</p>

3

<p>Thanks! Yeah, If i got into MIT/G town EA I would probably elimate all the uc's for sure... I wanted P ton Ed so I know for sure if i got accepted, where I am going to school. I wanted to party from that day till the next year in the fall... it's like a whole year of relaxing... thats the way see ED as an advantage.. imagien the ebst Christmas and New Year knowing you got into one of the best schools in the world.. maybe party in rio de janeiro or england or amsterdam/nyc that'd be the day...</p>

4

<p>bump.................</p>

5

<p>I think that you have great chances at all these schools...definitely do MIT/Georgetown EA and Princeton ED. Do you live in California? If not, then I would cross the UC's off your list...they're not exactly worth the out of state tuition, plus you have tons of other great schools you have good chances at. Maybe just apply to UCB and UCLA. Why Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon? They're not exactly known for poli sci and economics. MIT, UChicago, Cornell, UCB, and JHU are all tough to get good grades at...I'm not sure if they have grade deflation. </p>

<p>FYI: Even though colleges say they don't look at Freshman year GPA, they do. Trust me.</p>

6

<p>o wow really? i did horrible freshman year... dont you only send in your grades for 10-12 grades or 10-11? well thy'll see the upward trend and they do g.p.a re-calculation.</p>

<p>hmm yeah thanks for the aadvice yeah I should definetely cross off carnegie, jhu, and berkeley. Thanks man! I need to cut down this list... yeah grad deflation is killing me here!</p>

7

<p>You send your whole transcript...they'll see everything no matter what. Don't be afraid of grade deflation--those are all great schools that have excellent graduate/professional school placement regardless of the hard grading system.</p>

8

<p>Skymall935,</p>

<p>Before you get too far in the process, you need to map out a specific applications strategy -- which means understanding the stipulations of applying to each school that interests you, plus plugging the application events into a timetable.</p>

<p>FIRST, understand that you CANNOT apply ED to Princeton and also apply EA to Georgetown and/or MIT. Princeton ED applicants may NOT apply to other Early notification plans (ED or EA) at any other college/university -- although if you apply ED to Princeton, you can apply RD elsewhere.</p>

<p>If Princeton is your absolute No. 1 TOP CHOICE, and you want to apply ED there, then all your other apps must be RD. The deadline for ED is Nov. 1. Alternatively, you can apply EA to Georgetown and MIT and apply RD elsewhere, including Princeton. Applying EA to either or both of these schools has the same app deadline of Nov. 1.</p>

<p>Because ED/EA notification occurs in mid-December, you will have to submit your UC application by Nov. 30 (online app to all campuses and check as many boxes as you want for specific campuses). This will provide a hedge in case you are deferred/rejected from either Princeton (ED) or Georgetown/MIT (EA). Applying to multiple UC campuses is both easy and manageable.</p>

<p>Assuming you live in CA, I view your chances as follows:</p>

<p>UC Irvine - SAFETY
UCSB - SAFETY
UCLA - MATCH
UC Berkeley - MATCH
UC San Diego - Strong MATCH / Weak SAFETY</p>

<p>As for your other schools, I see you as a MATCH to Weak MATCH for CMU, JHU, UofChicago, and Northwestern, in that order. All of the other schools are Slight REACH to REACH.</p>

9

<p>i heard that they first look at your gpa then what undergrad school you went to.. i also heard the average gpa for university of chicago is 3.3. This is a huge disadvantage about this school and probably the only disadvantage. I guess all schools have major pros and cons. -_- </p>

<p>and grad schools look very closely at gpa and mcat/lsat or other reasoning tests... just 2 things...</p>

10

<p>btw how will princeton know if I have applied to another school? There are 3500 colleges in the U.S -_- well actually I think they know if you aplied SCEA and ED/EA at Ivy League Campuses... but do they really check every single school? How does that work? My main goal is applying early to as many places... : ) but Princeton is my number one choice, but at the same time, I really don't know if it's right for me.. i'd rather go to school in New York... but I guess Princeton is close enough...</p>

<p>Hmm so Northwestern is a slight match? I was thinking about that school because it seems very solid. The other schools you mentioned I really like, but I don't actually have a passion going there... </p>

<p>Imagine putting princeton's academics and UCLA's location and Stanford grade inflation.. that's a perfect school right there...wow too bad we can't have everything... : (</p>

11

<p>Actually NorCaldad is incorrect; You are allowed to apply ED and EA--just not SCEA and ED. If you are accepted to your ED school however, you must withdraw from you EA schools.</p>

12

<p>YES! Well I was thinking.. I mean why should a school care if I want to apply EA to another school as long as it's not SCEA and non restrictive. K well,since university of Chicago is deadly... and I dont want z 3.3 gpa for undergrad for law school i guess its:</p>

<p>Georgetown EA
MIT EA ( Will me applying under econ/poli sci help?) I mean don't they need to fill up those majors? Nobody does poli sci at MIT right?
Princeton ED</p>

<p>Finding out earlier=partying earlier</p>

13

<p><a href="http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Sure, but I wouldn't really sweat the grade problem with UChicago...as you can see, it's grad placement is excellent; it's your call though.</p>

14

<p>yeah, what exactly does that chart show? I mean 3.3 average gpa for undergrads? thats crazy! How does that work? Not even Mcdonalds will hire anyone with a 3.3 out of college...do law schools know that University of Chicago is hard?</p>

15

<p>
[quote]
Actually NorCaldad is incorrect; You are allowed to apply ED and EA--just not SCEA and ED. If you are accepted to your ED school however, you must withdraw from you EA schools.

[/quote]

Exigent and Skymall935,</p>

<p>Always consider the source of your information...l do... and I stand by my earlier comment: "understand that you CANNOT apply ED to Princeton and also apply EA to Georgetown and/or MIT. Princeton ED applicants may NOT apply to other Early notification plans (ED or EA) at any other college/university -- although if you apply ED to Princeton, you can apply RD elsewhere."</p>

<p><a href="http://www.princeton.edu/pr/admissions/u/appl/06/index.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princeton.edu/pr/admissions/u/appl/06/index.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

16

<p>O great! Like i said though, how can they find out? I heard they have connections with the whole ivy league system, but what about outside colleges? Do they randomly check?</p>

17

<p>Whoops, sorry about that...I guess I'm wrong. Huh, I'm pretty sure I had an example of a college where it was okay to apply EA and ED at the same time...</p>

18

<p>Skymall, you cannot complete a college application without the assistance of your H.S. Guidance Counselor who needs to attend to transcript information and GC recommendation forms. One of the forms that a GC may have to sign/acknowledge is the "binding commitment" and other stipulations of ED.</p>

<p>In other words, even if YOU might want to dodge the rules, your GC won't likely take the chance, lest he hates his job and wants to serve reason for his dismissal due to incompetence. The GC gets paid to make sure students don't stray too far off the beaten track.</p>

19

<p>my counselor... hmm.. but let's just say... for kicks and giggles... that I do get past it will colleges really look afterwards? Well i'm realizing now that I really don't want to go to MIT or U o C anymore.. g town definteley however... so it's Princeton ED and G town EA I guess... but if it came down to one, i guess Princeton.</p>

<p>What do you think is the overall best school in academics, social life, and society?</p>

20

<p>
[quote]
What do you think is the overall best school in academics, social life, and society?

[/quote]

Skymall, are you asking me? Of these two schools, Princeton and Georgetown?</p>

<p>A lot depends on your intended major/academic interests. I consider Princeton as good a school as any, period. My daughter, however, did not like it -- neither did most of the Ivies appeal to her. I think Princeton's educational philosphy is excellent, one of exploration and personal discovery. It also provides the benefit of advisement that doesn't let a serious student to fall through the crack. Georgetown, on the other hand, is in one of the most exciting and vibrant cities in the world. It has advantages in internship possibilities that Princeton might not be able to offer. In chosen academic programs, i.e., International Relations, it presents an edge that perhaps Princeton wouldn't be able to provide. I know of students at both schools -- they're equally happy... even thrilled.</p>

<p>It all starts with knowing yourself and what you want.</p>