I Need Safeties...badly

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Okay so I am a rising junior at a somewhat prestigous boarding school. </p>

<p>My GPA is (unweighted) 3.6
I havent taken the SAT's yet.
My PSAT's are from soph year are pretty dismal:
Math - 53
Critical Reading - 67
Writing - 59</p>

<p>I'm looking to do better this fall. </p>

<p>I'm the newly appointed copy editor of the newspaper, co editor of the yearbook, member of the spiritual society, and im planning on creating a student activists organization this year (something i feel strongly about)</p>

<p>My sched is as follows
US AP
Physics H
Humanities AP
Spanish 4 AP
Chorus
Alg. 2. H</p>

<p>I play soccer in the fall, do the yearbook in the winter and the play in the spring.</p>

<p>I did an internship at Channel 13 freshman summer and am currently doing an internship at a non profit human rights organization in DC.
I write a lot. Usually articles, but from time to time, little short stories.
I'm a minority. And when i mean minority i mean rare. </p>

<p>Right now my college list is just a mess. </p>

<p>Reaches:
Brown
Dartmouth
Williams</p>

<p>Good (this is also a problem column):
Vassar
Northwestern
UChicago
Georgetown</p>

<p>Safety (AHH):
Villanova?
Marist?
Sarah Lawrence?</p>

<p>I was considering UVermont but it seems so unlike me.
And for good matches i was also considering GWU, Carnegie Mellon, Wesleyan, Brandeis, NYU, Boston College, Notre Dame, UVA, Emory. I am also seriously thinking about Cornell, but i dont know where to even begin to classify that. </p>

<p>I am a pretty liberal person, an activist if you like. I want an intellectual place. I like pretty, green campuses, but that will not make/break my decision. I want a place with good academic standing that can take me somewhere in the real world. I want good professors. I do not like 100+ classroom settings. I'm not too worried with prestige. I'm beginning to become jaded with the whole prep lifestyle. But i think part of the problem is that im very adaptable. The ideal college setting would be alive, active, and smart. pretty is also a plus. And someplace that would give out grants, aid, scholarships etc. I really like Vassar. </p>

<p>Please help me with this ridiculously crowded list.</p>

2

<p>You have a lot of time to figure out your college list (and for your gpa and stats to go up or down effectively changing what will be safties and what will not be). Enjoy your summer. That is my only help.</p>

3

<p>ur right.
what am i doing here.</p>

4

<p>Just pick all the decent public colleges within a 200 mile radius of your house.</p>

5

<p>I agree that it's hard to say anything definite without your SAT scores. Perhaps when school starts in the fall you could meet with your guidance counselor at school to go over your current college list and get some feedback on the history of students from your school with similar stats. </p>

<p>If you have a chance this summer you could informally visit some colleges and try to narrow down your preferences. My D's list was similar in size to yours and then during junior year she was able to narrow it down after we made some visits and she got a better idea of what she was interested in. Have a fun summer.</p>

6

<p>The problem that I have with your list is that your good match schools are really competitive--are honestly reaches for almost everyone, and although you certainly are no slouch and I don't like to judge based on PSAT alone, your test scores aren't great for <em>any</em> of those schools. Okay, rereading I see that you are a very underrepresented minority, but still. I'd not call Northwestern or UChicago or Vassar or Georgetown anything less than high matches for anyone. Furthermore, there is a pretty big gap between your reach and high match schools and your possible safeties. Try for some medium and low match schools also, so that if you get burned at your most competitive schools, you have more options that just safeties. I think you have some good ideas about match schools--GWU, BC, maybe American? Brandeis and NYU would also be match schools for you. Wesleyan and possibly Notre Dame would fall into the high match category. I guess I find your list confusing, kind of like two lists in one? Catholic schools aren't the first that come to mind when I think of schools for a liberal activist. Wesleyan, Vassar, and Sarah Lawrence do make sense to me, though. Also Brown, although that's definitely a reach for you. UChicago also makes sense with these schools. An Oberlin may fit here. </p>

<p>Then there's the other half of your list, with all those Catholic schools and a bunch of what I think of as more traditional schools (as opposed to the other, more alternative, list) like Dartmouth, Williams, Cornell and Northwestern. On this side, in addition to the aforementioned American (because of the Washington, DC angle more than anything), maybe Fordham for a safety? Villanova fits in on this side as well. </p>

<p>I guess if I were you, I would spend some time thinking and, if you can afford it, visiting to see if you really fit in more on the alternative list, or the traditional list. Both contain great schools where many students could potentially be happy, but it seems unusual--but not impossible!--that one person could really be happy applying to all of the schools that you suggest. So...think about that one more.</p>

7

<p>If you're interested in writing, as I've mentioned in a couple other threads (how can I help it? I LIVE here!), you might want to consider University of Iowa as a safety. If there is no seperate procedure for writers, it's pretty much an apply-get in kinda school (atleast, that's what it is for our school)</p>

<p>Even though you ARE a minority, I think your SAT and GPA may be a little on the iffy side. You need GREAT ECs, recs and essays. With your interest in writing, the essays should especially stand out and PROVE that you are a good writer. As of now, with the limited information given, most of your Reach and good schools seem probably improbable (hahah, sorry, I'm not the greatest writer ;)) unless you have the things mentioned above.</p>

<p>Why don't you look into some LACs? They have the nice campus you like and though I don't know much about each LAC's writing/academic strengths and all that, I'm sure you could find one that fits you! (Sorry, I'm not much of an LAC person myself, so my advice on this stops short..)</p>

8

<p>BTW what do you mean by "somewhat prestigious?"</p>

<p>Do you mean NOT Exeter/Andover/Choate and maybe Loomis/St. Paul/etc or.. something else? Because that definitely has an effect on how your GPA is evaluated.</p>

9

<p>rising junior? chill! just focus on getting and keeping your grades up and improving your SATs. i reeeeeeally think though that you are aiming a little too high for yourself right now (no offense). a lot of your match schools should be slight reaches and so on.</p>

<p>leave the list alone for now and just focus on junior year. in the spring look at what youve done and reevaluate your list. your barely halfway done with HS, you have a lot of time</p>

10

<p>Oh, apparantly I've been misinforming people. The writing program at UI is for masters. I guess the quality WOULD trickle down to undergrad, but eh, what do I know? I've been wrong once already. ;)</p>