<p>I was told to come to the parents forum to find opinions as to which schools would be safties for me. </p>
<p>gpa- 3.8uw 4.5w
act-32 (english 32, math 33, reading 32, science 32, essay 9)
(i dont plan on taking the SAT 1's..or should I?)
sat2's- (in october)
Class Rank: 30ish/850 (about 25 people are tied for #1..crazy i know, but its suprisingly not grade inflation, we just have an uber-competitive class this year)
IB diploma candidate
JR year classes
HL Math 1
HL English
HL Biology 1
HL History of the Americas
Theory of Knowledge
SL Spanish 3
SL Theatre Arts </p>
<p>EC's
JV tennis (9-11)
Bharatnatyam -indian dancing (since 3rd grade) (I will graduate from the school of Kalapeetem Dance and Music next year, having completed 8 years)
Volunteering at hospital (9-11) 200 hours
Model UN delegate (10-11)
Academic Decathalon (11)
Mock Trial (10-11)
Journalism Staff writier (10)
Piano (i stopped taking lessons in 10th grade after taking them for 7 years but i still play alot....does that still count??)</p>
<p>Work Experience
i write for the local newspaper</p>
<p>I dont really have any awards besides the generic honor roll</p>
<p>i want to apply for pre med</p>
<p>I basically want to know of any safety or good match schools i should apply to. I was thinking of applying to John hopkins..would that be a big reach though?</p>
<p>Im also definetly applying to UC Berkely and UCLA...what would my chances at these schools be? any suggestions of safty or good match schools would be greatly appreciated. </p>
<p>Last question, will my class rank hurt my chances?</p>
<p>The UC's don't use rank in the process (only ~50% of Calif schools rank), but they will recompute your gpa in thier weighted format (Soph & Jr years only, bonus points for approved honors/ap, but capped at 8 semesters). </p>
<p>ACT will work for the UC's. Johns Hopkins (don't forget the 's', even in typos-LOL) still requires three SAT Subject tests (erstwhile SAT IIs). All three schools will review the essays carefully - demonstrate passion.</p>
<p>Where do you live? If overseas, that can have a big impact on what would be considered a safety school. If in the U.S., the region you come from can have a big influence as well.</p>
<p>Also, will you need financial aid? If so, your safety might be lower down on the "prestige" list (e.g., US News) where you are more likely to get an academic scholarship.</p>
<p>You asked for safeties - there are about 3000 of them for you so I'll just give you a couple of pretty good major private universities you should have no problem getting in. Boston University, Syracuse, George Washington, University of Miami, and Tulane. You are also a good match for Vanderbilt and USC.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins has a great graduate school and perhaps the finest medical school in the country. But it has a reputation of treating its undegraduates like a rented mule. If the University of Chicago is the place fun went to die then Hopkins is where they sent the desicated corpse for the autopsy.</p>
<p>according to CollegesThat Change Lives (pope) you might want to consider Juniata in PA as a safety. supposed to have excellent med school acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Ive made a list..that needs to be narrowed down. Nonetheless, what are my chances at these schools (i know that atleasst half of them are reaches...but oh well)</p>
<ol>
<li> Boston University</li>
<li> John Hopkins </li>
<li> UC Berkeley</li>
<li> UCLA</li>
<li> UC Irvine</li>
<li> UC San Diego</li>
<li> UC Santa Barbara</li>
<li> UC Riverside (??)</li>
<li> University of Southern California</li>
<li>New York University</li>
<li>Cornell University</li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>Duke University</li>
<li>University of Columbia </li>
<li>Brown University</li>
<li>Yale University</li>
<li>Harvard University (hah..what am i thinking right?)</li>
<li>Dartmouth University</li>
</ol>
<p>extremefob, the title of this thread is -"I need advice...saf(e)ties" and that's the list you now have AFTER the advice? Other than a couple of the UC's and just maybe Boston University (although I wouldn't put it as one) IMO none of those schools are "safeties" , even with a higher GPA, ACT, and better ec's. I also noticed that your list contains no LAC's. </p>
<p>I will admit to being very conservative in "list making". Are you not considering any school that doesn't make "tier one (top50) national doctoral universities" as chosen by USNWR? (other than UCR and #57 BU?) If so, that's perfectly O.K.. I'm sure a lot of folks do that, but we need to know that before we can offer appropriate advice.</p>
<p>extremefob, you have @ 9 lottery schools and a couple or 3 reaches, all the Ivy schools, Duke, Cal, UCLA,JHU. Your stats are a match at some of the other Cali schools but that is so freaky I'll let a Cali person calculate those.So you are above the average at a couple schools on your list. Build your list from the bottom up. Find schools where you would love to be that your stats put you in the 75th percentile (unhooked that's really top 1/2 IMO, as the bottom 1/4 is hooked kids).You are way top heavy, and weak on the matches. You only need a couple of safeties you love on your final list of 8-10 schools but at this point it would be good to have more. We are trying to help or I wouldn't have taken the time to post..</p>
<p>Also, remember, there is no such place as Dartmouth University. It's Dartmouth College! They actually take offense to those who call it a university, officially being established a college due to its larger undergrad population.</p>