I have my reaches but I need matches and safeties.

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am a junior. My unweighted gpa is a 3.5 weighted 3.9. Ive taken the SAT and scored but a 2300, but Im sure I can do better. I've taken four subject tests Math I,II, Bio E, and spanish and I've scored above a 760 in all 4. Looking at engineering or computer sciences. No financial boundaries. Applying i am in the top 15% at my highschool .it is very rigourous and we are a blue ribbon school. (according to my guidance counselor) Colleges acknowledge that my school makes it exceptionally difficult for students to succeed, and i do follow an upward trend from freshman to sophomore and the trend shoots up to junior.</p>

<p>Reaches:
Tufts
Cornell
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
Duke
Wesleyan
McGill
Carnegie mellon
Johns Hopkins
WUSTL</p>

<p>As of now no matches or safeties</p>

<p>Volunteer:
animal shelter 150 hrs
Oxfam America 150 hours
Redcross 140 hours
Youth literature tutor- 60 hours
I did a thing called La Casa Nueva Vida 100 hours</p>

<p>Leadership
Started DECA and Oxfam clubs at my Hs.
Chief Marketing Officer for a small gaming studio (NaBrO studios)
Volunteer coordinator of the Redcross club at my HS.
Part of youth lead( an organization promoting effective dialogue.) Facilitated Workshops and helped set up conferences around the country
2 years of student council</p>

<p>Ec's
Debate Team
Varsity Cross country
Varsity Tennis
2nd degree black belt in two forms of martial arts</p>

<p>Course Load
Freshman- honors geometry, honors physics 1, honors spanish2, english 1, world history1
sophomore- honors algebra 2, honors chem, honors spanish 3, honors english 2, honors world histroy 2
junior- ap us, honors physics 2, honors english 3, honors bio, honors spanish 4, pre calc and trig
senior- ap ab calc, ap physics c, ap spanish 5, ap bio, ap gov, honors english 4</p>

2

<p>Look at UWashington, UMaryland, Penn State, and UT Austin</p>

3

<p>Thanks. Any more advice from anyone else…</p>

4

<p>Pause. You do not need 10 reaches plus safeties and matches to apply to. I think you are underestimating the amount of effort needed to apply to each of those colleges. Ideally you should cut your reach list at least in half before starting to add matches and safeties.</p>

5

<p>Rice, RPI, Lehigh, whatever your best in-state option is should be your safety.</p>

6

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<p>Yes, retake the 2300. What is your home state and your estimated family contribution ? Add:
UIUC and Umich.</p>

7

<p>Yeah I’m from Massachusetts. And my family will pay for 3/4 every year since they want me actually work for 1/4 of it. Any others</p>

8

<p>I fair idea of what it takes to apply to these schools and my guidance counselor urges her students to apply to as many reach schools as possible.-etuck24</p>

9

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<p>What exactly is gained by scoring that possible additional 100 points on the SAT, I wonder?</p>

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<p>I’m sure people with a 1900 would want a 100 points so 100 points makes a difference, but aside from that any more suggestions.</p>

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<p>Yes, a 2000 over a 1900 opens some more doors scholarship-wise and puts more schools in range. But at the 2300-2400 level I don’t think it makes much difference. I’d put the time into my junior year/1st semester senior year grades instead.</p>

<p>You are only looking for fairly large universities? Or would consider smaller ones or LACs if they offered CS or engineering?</p>

12

<p>Seriously, the difference between a 2300 and a 2400 will not even be noticed by the colleges. However, what might be noticed is that you kept taking it, over and over again. THAT will be a turn off. I recommend not taking it again.</p>

13

<p>And 1/4 of a $50K+ college is $12,500+ a year. I do not know of any kids your age who can make that. IF you are really going to have to pay 1/4, you need to be looking for schools with good merit aid.</p>

14

<p>I would eliminate any schools on your list that don’t have engineering (I guess that is only Wesleyan), and add ones that do. Northeastern, BU, WPI, RPI, Case Western etc. depending on what type of environment you are looking for. For a less STEM-centric environment consider Bucknell, Lafayette, Union…
And UMass Amherst and UMass Lowell.</p>

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<p>I don’t necessarily need aid because as a c++ coder I can get a part time job coding and earn a decent salary. I’m looking for any schools with an engineering program and I’d like to avoid Massachusetts state schools because way too many kids go there from my school and I’d like a new environment. I appreciate wpi and rpi. Any other along that route?</p>

16

<p>I notice your grades/scores have morphed slightly upwards since the other two threads you started over the past couple of days. </p>

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<p>I also note that your SAT scores from above actually total 2250. Still high scores but I don’t get why you are changing them and reposting and ignoring past good advice.</p>

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<p>Your Guidance counselor also isn’t the one who’s paying the application fees, writing the essays, and filling out applications. But hey, if you think you’ll have the time and are willing to put in the effort to make 15+ applications all high quality, go for it I guess.</p>

18

<p>What is your application strategy, other than getting accepted by the most selective school that will take you?</p>

<p>I think you need to determine what you are looking for in a college, and then look for schools with those attributes. Big school or small? City or rural area? Close to home or far away? And so on.</p>

19

<p>*
I am a junior. My unweighted gpa is a 3.5. Ive taken the SAT and scored but a 2270(cr710,math800,w740), but Im sure I can do better. I’ve taken four subject tests Math I,II, Bio E, and spanish and I’ve scored above a 750 in all 4.
*</p>

<p>Well, he may have a 2250, but his M+CR is a 1510…that is excellent and good enough for anywhere. </p>

<p>However, the UW GPA will be an issue at top schools unless rank is very high. this student is in the top 15% of his class…that will hurt. He’s coming from a state with a gazillion other applicants to top schools.</p>

20

<p>Being from MA I understand not wanting to apply to a UMass to avoid people, but…think about how many people go to UML and the Zoo. You’ll never run into anyone from your old school.</p>

<p>They’re also both pretty fantastic schools and you’d definitely get into the Commonwealth Honors College which has massive perks and decent scholarship money. Plus, tuition increases are frozen for this year and possibly next year, so the price isn’t going up too much.</p>

<p>I know that we tend to put down our own state system a lot (seriously, we do), but we have a better flagship than a lot of states. Just consider it.</p>