i need safeties....

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Allright, I've posted on here with my stats before, but my college search is now almost over. The problem is, I don't really think I have enough safeties. Here's all my stuff.</p>

<p>I go to a very competitive public school in the northeast that sends tons of kids to the ivies every year (maybe 40 out of 400...i know its a lot)..no important legacy to speak of..school does not rank</p>

<p>ACADEMICS
First 3 years- 3.48 academic GPA with a huge upward trend (hoping for 3.65 after first semester senior year)—this is weighted, my school doesn’t weight very much though, so my UW isn’t very different
FRESH- 5.5 academic credits- 3.067 GPA, 2 honors, highest english
SOPH- 5 academic credits- 3.467 GPA, highest english
JR- 7.5 academic credits- 3.81 GPA, 2 AP, advanced english
SR-signed up for 6 academic credits including 4 APs, advanced english
If French is taken out of the GPA picture, it jumps by about .2 to a 3.7 academic after 3 years.</p>

<p>ACT Composite- 33 (hoping for 34 on retake)
SAT Reasoning Test- 2200 (750 M, 740 CR, 710 W) (hoping for 750 M, 780 CR, 770 W on retake)
SAT II's- Math IC- 740, US History- 630...I know, long story. Taking Physics and Lit in the fall, both should be over 700.</p>

<p>AP Courses taken
JR- AP Gov--4
AP Econ--4 macro and 4 micro
SR- signed up for AP Calc AB, AP English Lit, AP Physics C, AP Stat</p>

<p>National Merit Commended Scholar—will not be a semifinalist</p>

<p>Basically, my GPA is so low because I don’t really try in school. It’s kind of a problem that I’ve been working on (as shown by the upward trend), it’s just I developed bad study habits in middle school for a variety of reasons after being a ‘wonderkid’ when I was younger.</p>

<p>I've taken 4 French courses, 4 science courses (1 AP, 1 honors), 5 math courses (2 APs, 1 honors), 4.5 SS courses (2 AP), 7.5 English courses (1 AP, others highest possible)</p>

<p>Based on my school, I'd say my course load is somewhere in between Very Competitive and Most Competitive. Taking 6 academic classes a year with 8 scheduled periods, gym required, and necessary electives is pretty rare.</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS
Volunteering-
Senior Center--been called the "best volunteer ever" by the person who runs all the programs--done this for two years on occasional weekends, lots of hours
Public Library--I taught a chess workshop to kindergarten and first graders for a year (I was a chess champion when I was younger)
Local Beach Playground--worked in rebuilding the playground area at my local beach over one summer
ABC Foundation--volunteered by waitering for two years during fund raisers for a local organization that brings students from lower income families across America to my high school</p>

<p>Jobs-
Basketball referee for Parks and Rec (9,10,11,12)
Babysitting (9,10,11,12)
Teaching tennis (11 summer,12 will do)</p>

<p>Sports-
Tennis- JV as Freshman, Varsity (10,11,12)--team has won 7 of the last 8 state titals
Basketball Association Rec League (9,10,11,12)
For fun, I play volleyball and golf, and I’m pretty good at both</p>

<p>Summers-
Took an accelerated English course over one summer
Attended Johns Hopkins Camp one summer
Attended Camp Encore-Coda for piano and guitar
Attended local volleyball camps
Took a trip to China with my dad and brother
Attended Kent Writing Camp for two years</p>

<p>Music-
Jazz piano (will send CD to schools)—this will hopefully help my app a lot, could be a BIG boost at some schools.
Guitar—not nearly as good as piano</p>

<p>Arts-
Photographer
Cartoonist (will send)
Photoshop editor (will send a portfolio)—this is by far my strongest art</p>

<p>In school-
Jazz Band (11,12)--winner of many awards
Radio Club (10, 11, 12)--have a show
Badminton Team (9,10)--team broke up
Creator and President of the Sports Analysis Club (10,11,12)
--club at my school that my friend and I created...we analyzed statistics and such to predict outcomes in sports...became a very popular club at my school
School newspaper--won the Columbia gold medal for excellence every year I've worked their--Staff Writer (9,10,11,12), Cartoons Editor (10,11,12)—my section got specifically mentioned by Columbia in our recent ‘Gold medal with merit’ award</p>

<p>Other-
Will enter the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards next year for 3 pieces--a personal narrative, a humor piece and a journalism article
Working on a fantasy novel (150+ pages complete)
Just began work on a second historical fiction novel about the Praetorian Guard
In the process of publishing 5-7 articles</p>

<p>RECOMMENDATIONS-
Guidance Counselor—I’m one of her favorite kids
Senior Center Advisor—Ditto
Piano teacher since I was 10
English Teacher who loves me and thinks I’m brilliant
Economics teacher who loves me and thinks I’m brilliant</p>

<p>I like to think of myself as a very good writer, so I hope my essays will be unique and insightful</p>

<p>Thats about it....its pretty thorough i think...if i left anything out please let me know</p>

<p>Now, to the meat of the matter. I DON"T HAVE ENOUGH SCHOOLS I'M SURE I WILL GET INTO ON MY LIST.</p>

<p>Basically, I'm going to apply ED to either Brown or Pomona. My uncle works at Brown and my cousin works there, so that should help a bit. All the other schools I'm looking at (alphabetically) are.....</p>

<p>Amherst--not very serious because I won't get in
BC- not sure
BU- should get in
UC Berkeley- don't look at freshman year! still won't get in
UCLA- Ditto
Claremont McKenna- I think I'm in, but who knows
Colgate- Ditto. Tennis assistant coach told me not to worry about it from an academics standpoint.
Cornell- Eh
Duke- Not unless I apply ED
Emory- I've visited their which helps
Hamilton- absolutely loved it, but it's tough
Haverford- a possibility
Macalester- should be in
Miami- should be in
Michigan- should be in? maybe?
Middlebury- don't know much about their admissions
UNC Chapel Hill- won't get in but they have EA and it's free to apply
Northwestern- just for journalism...
Reed- should be in?
UVA- hopeful
Wesleyan- ditto
William and Mary- ditto
Williams- ditto</p>

<p>So that's the 25 schools that are final. Do I have enough safeties? Am I overly optimistic? Pessimistic?</p>

<p>As you can see, I'm all over the place.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading this LONG LONG thing!!!</p>

2

<p>You do not have enough safeties. You barely have matches.</p>

<p>But, regardless, 25 schools is too many.</p>

3

<p>So....I obviously need suggestions. Any ideas?</p>

4

<p>Wow...25 schools is definitely a lot. First cut down some of your reachier schools and the ones that you don't seem to know a lot about. Perhaps the UCs since OOS is very difficult. Also, maybe Middlebury, Duke, Cornell, and Amherst since you don't seem very serious about those. Try and get it down to 8-12ish and then see your balance between the schools. Only then try to get safeties if you need it.</p>

5

<p>I agree with everyone above me- 25 is WAY too many.</p>

<p>As with frutiaspice, I'd cut out those schools. With your gpa, it will be near impossible to get into a school like duke, ed or not (especially since it's a weighted gpa).</p>

6

<p>Allright...that list was also just for me so I could lay everything out. A more reasonable list would be...</p>

<p>Pomona or Brown ED</p>

<p>BU
Claremont McKenna
Colgate
Cornell
Duke
Emory
Hamilton
Miami
Middlebury
Northwestern
Reed
UVA
Wesleyan
William and Mary
Williams</p>

<p>There's still some on there that I'm unsure of, but there's 17. I'll try to narrow it down even more. I've seen them all except Northwestern, Reed, and Miami. I know I probably won't get into schools like Duke, but I've got nothing to lose as of now. My uncle is actually an alum and on some sort of admissions advising board.</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
My uncle works at Brown and my cousin works there, so that should help a bit.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>AFAIK, being related to faculty & staff doesn't give you an advantage in the admissions process.</p>

<p>If you won't get into Amherst, then your odds are pretty long at Williams, Middlebury, and Wesleyan as well.</p>

<p>To narrow it down, you may want to think more about your ideal school profile - your list is all over the place in terms of size and location.</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
Cornell- Eh

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It seems like you're not all that interested in Cornell, so why not just cross it off the list? I still hold the same about Duke.
17 is still far too many. I'd just cross off the ones you're "not sure" about and go from there.</p>

9

<p>You know, the point of the thread wasnt to narrow down his school list, but to find safeties.</p>

10

<p>RBC has a point...</p>

<p>OP- what state do you live in? You may just have a decent state school that would be a good safety. (Safety as in automatic in AND financial safety)</p>

11

<p>Yeah, thanks RBC. Ummm I live in CT and am just not that interested in UConn...</p>

12

<p>What about the suny system?</p>

13

<p>Well, I would be interested in SUNY. But my Dad went to Binghamton and is VERY strongly suggesting I don't apply to any. He just doesn't think they're right for me.</p>

14

<p>Ok. Like everyone has said, this list is all over the place and needs to be cut down. It's rather hard to get a handle on what exactly you're looking for, and therefore hard to suggest safeties. Still, I have some suggestions of schools that you might like based on the schools you are looking at, and that are easier to get into than most of the schools you have (whether they are safeties in all cases, I'm not sure. I think some will be more like lower matches, but, really, you should have some more of those too).</p>

<p>LACS: Skidmore (I know a lot of people who applied to either Brown or Wes as a reach who liked Skidmore as their safety), Pitzer (since you seem to like the Claremont colleges), Lewis+Clark, Bates, Colby, Goucher, Occidental, Kenyon, University of Richmond, Connecticut College, Dickenson</p>

<p>UNIS: Tulane, Pepperdine, American, Clark, various state schools (I don't know much about them)</p>

15

<p>
[quote]
AFAIK, being related to faculty & staff doesn't give you an advantage in the admissions process.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>No, it does. It also allows you to go there for free. Or in the case of Northeastern it does. I suppose Brown could be a different story.</p>