<p>hey guys..im a junior this year at a mediocre public high school in jersey...my main problem is that I'm actually starting this whole college process and my guidance counselor is too preoccupied (we have like 600 kids in my grade alone) with everything to really sit down and have a chat with me...my parents are a little apathetic about the whole thing (the whole undergrad doesnt matter, grad school matters mentality) but I'd just like some direction from some people who know the process.</p>
<p>basically, i don't know how to get a list of colleges. As of now, my college list looks like i tore a page out of US News College Rankings or something, and i really don't want it to be. I dont want to judge schools on rankings and stuff, but as of now, all I have is the opinion of seniors who already graduated and those of these ppl who make the rankings...
im gonna list some basic stats so you get a general impression of where im coming from...</p>
<p>ehtnicity: mixed (irish last name)
male, junior (duh) right now... 1/598
sats - 2310 74V 80M 77W
sat IIs - mathIIC - 800, chem 800, japanese 800, history 760, physics 760 (retaking physics cuz i already signed up for it, beliving id do much worse)
aps - bio 5 chem 5 env sci 4, history, physics B, C, us gov comp gov are for this year...
took the hardest classes in my school, and all A's except for the B+ that I'm likely to get in precalc H this year...just a hard teacher...im hoping my satII score and my A's next year in calc will offset this...<em>shrugs</em>
one more note on the curriculum - i self studied some of those aps</p>
<p>sorry u guys had to go through that. anyway, some quick ECs
TA at a local CC for japanese, varsity soccer, likely pres of nhs but elections are next week, stuff in french club and other small clubs in my school.
the two things that im most proud of are that soph summer i interned at rutgers doin nanomaterials research over the summer, (im going to japan for two weeks this summer to do a followup with my mentor who happened to be japanese lol...) and going to gov school in the sciences this summer. (random awards here and there, like one or two at the state level i believe, nothing imp enough to note)</p>
<p>thats the gist of it. as you can tell, my app will be screaming "sciences" but im really not sure what i want to do yet. I found that i was good at the sciences compared with the rest of the ppl at my school so i decided to pursue it, and yes i genuinely like it, but idk if i do enough to spend a lifetime on it. I also found out i like civics a lot this year, all that gov stuff, and im really interested in broadening my interests in college.</p>
<p>theres also one more situation...i have a triple legacy at MIT that i know many of you on this board would KILL for. (starting with my great g-father on my dads side) my dad isnt putting any pressure on me to apply, like i said, he's pretty apathetic about the whole process, but I really don't want to waste it either....but im not sure if im letting this fact influence my decision to apply there or not...
one also at harvard but thats not a big deal probly.</p>
<p>with that said, im really looking into schools with an urban environment...like columbia or nyu or something. Boston seems cool too...I think that I'll stay in the northeast....even though i havent given anythign else much of a chance yet.</p>
<p>I feel like i should apply to MIT early, but idk if id get in with that B in MATH of all things for crying out loud. I feel like I might be happier at Columbia, but id always have that nagging feeling of.....what if....you know?
i'm just confused about the whole thing in general. My list of colleges is a waste...I think i understand the early application process but Im not sure if i do completely....could i ED columbia and EA mit at the same time? but that wouldnt make sense to do....
I think my top three choices as of now are mit columbia and brown....does anyone have any suggestions on where to consider applying or comments on my chances? should i be deterred by a B...? (my gut instincts are telling me nahh, but im not sure) If someone could briefly elaborate on the EA(multichoice?..)/ED process that would be great...</p>
<p>thanks a lot in advance guys and sorry for the long post, but i didnt know where else to turn...</p>