<p>A few thoughts: </p>
<p>On recs, can you get another academic teacher rec rather than coach? Only having one academic rec would be a warning signal that there aren’t two academic teachers who can say good things about you. A coach can be an additional rec, but be very careful about only using one academic teacher for recs. </p>
<p>Have you thought about trying the ACT? I know back east it is less common than midwest, but they are sufficiently different types of tests that some students excel at one and not the other. ACT is more of a content-what do you know and can you do it quickly-test, whereas SAT is trickier. My soon-to-be freshman son did much better on some portions of ACT because he would overthink the SAT questions – try some practice tests and see how you do. </p>
<p>Be careful about being overly optimistic about the gpa increase. Remember, you only have fall semester for schools to consider, and it is very difficult, even with straight As, to bring a gpa up far in a single semester. </p>
<p>So, you are really looking at a 3.3, maybe a 3.35. Wesleyan is certainly a reach, if not high reach. BU probably reach as well. We didn’t look at Trinity, GW etc, so I am not familiar with their stats and expectations. However, I believe Colby is very popular, especially among athletes, so unless you are a recruited athlete, that could be tough. If you are looking east coast-ish, what about Skidmore, Dickenson. Holy Cross, maybe Connecticut College? </p>
<p>Read the College Search and Admissions boards, looking for threads on the 3.3-3.6 students. </p>
<p>As any parent will tell you, the most important step is to find a true safety – one that you will absolutely be admitted to, that you will be happy to go to, and that you can afford to go to. Spend some time on the net price calculators on various school websites to see what your predicted cost is likely to be, talk to your parents about what they can afford (which is often very different from what colleges say you should be able to afford). </p>
<p>If you are the eldest in your family, so the first one to go through this process, your parents may need some updated information about college admissions. When I was applying to college in the late '70s, Trinity, BU, GW were schools were B students went. Not anymore. If your school has Naviance, spend time seeing where students in your range of stats were accepted. If your school doesn’t have Naviance (ours didn’t), spend a lot of time researching Common Data sets for each school you are interested in, spend time on the individual school message boards here at CC, searching, for instance, for fall 2012 decisions – that will show you what students are being accepted (remember, many students who are rejected cannot bear to come back and post they were rejected, so you can get a skewed view.</p>
<p>Stay focused on figuring out what kind of school you are looking for – with BU, NYW, GW and Barnard, it sounds like you are interested in urban schools. Wesleyan and Colby don’t fit that mold so what is it about those schools that appeals to you (or your parents). This is a good time to dig into researching so you can be ready to visit and apply in the fall. </p>
<p>Good luck, and hang in there – this is an exciting time.</p>