--I NEED YOUR HELP! Looking for Reach..--

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey I'm from VA with no financial restrictions(I'm not extremely rich but my Asian parents are offering to pay full tuition although I want to pay them some of it sometime in my life). I'm in a really weird situation because of my GPA/SAT. My counselor doesn't even know what would be considered reach and match. Basically he said I'm a safety for my two in-state schools UVA and Virginia tech.</p>

<p>I'm thinking about applying to the following:
CMU, Michigan, Chicago, Maryland, UVA, PennState, Northwestern, VTech, NYU, UIllinois-Urbana Champaign, Case Western Reserve.</p>

<p>Ok with that said, are there any other schools that would work well for me? What are my so called reach, match,safeties? My stats are posted one post below.</p>

2

<p>School: Thomas Jefferson HS for Sci.&Tech.(1482 SAT average, considered one of top schools if not top in nation)</p>

<p>GPA: This is my major area of concern. I have 4.0 junior year, but a 3.6 frosh+soph. I was having difficulty adjusting to school(commute of 3 hours total a day etc.)
CourseWork: Sophomore: 2 APs, Junior: 3 APs,2 Post-APs, Senior: 4 APs, 1 Post-AP</p>

<p>I'm worried about SAT1
SAT1: M: 800, CR: 630, W:680
SAT2: Math2c:800, Chem: 760</p>

<hr>

<h2>Cluba</h2>

<p>MUN -
Outstanding Delegate at Ivy League Model UN Conference(Hosted at UPENN)
several awards in regional conferences(Best Delegate,Outstanding,Honorable)
Director of Technical Operations on one of the best teams in nation
FBLA -
webmaster, varsity letter
Varsity Math Team -
AMC12- 99.5
Varsity Computer Team-
Topcoder
Future Problem Solvers-
Invited to States for Individual Competition
National Honor Society</p>

<h2>Volunteer</h2>

<p>National Congressional Award Bronze Medalist
Hospital(150+ hours)
atarelief.org
-Setup informative website that helped people donate to asian tsunami aid. reported donations over$800 through site
fairfax fair
-i volunteered in the sci/tech department of our huge county fair. we helped kids create mini-motors using batteries/motors and helped generate interest in the sciences)
set up a concert(raised money for asian tsunami relief</p>

<h2>Culture</h2>

<p>MC at a big mela(500+ ppl)
Youtsav of NoVa cofounder(youth group promoting indian culture)
dance(TV appearance)
fundraising concert
namaste(indian club) - webmaster</p>

<h2>Sports</h2>

<p>Travel - randy rawls sportmanship, 2nd place ODSL
Club- Captain, voted MVP, all-star, most goals&assists, first place undefeated
taekwondo - gold belt
crew - 1st place in novice 8 division at occaquan classic</p>

<h2>Research/Work</h2>

<p>U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Mentorship(Physics related)
intel comp.(results pending)</p>

<h2>thinkQuest(results pending)</h2>

3

<p>IS there any chance that you could study and retake the SATs, I'm sure you could raise your verbal and writing scores. </p>

<p>As you are now, I'd say you have VERY good chances at UIUC, Maryland, Case, Penn State, Virginia Tech. </p>

<p>Good chances at NYU, UVA, and CMU. </p>

<p>Michigan (out of state), Northwestern, and Chicago will be slight reaches IMO, but definitely possible.</p>

<p>Basically, do a little better on your SATs and you'll have much better chances at your reaches, as you know, and other reaches I would consider are Cornell, Emory, and Georgetown. Other matches I would consider are George Washington, maybe William and Mary.</p>

<p>Good luck...</p>

4

<p>Have you considered the Management & Technology (M&T) program at UPenn's Wharton School? It's a dual degree in engineering and business; you're in FBLA and have some business-related EC's, so you might want to consider it. Your scores are solid, and Wharton places high importance on strong math scores.</p>

5

<p>My GPA is not strong enough for Wharton</p>

<p>I will try really hard to bring up SATs. How can I improve the CR though?</p>

<p>BTW I really appreciate your comments.</p>

6

<p>CMU loves TJ. Assuming the GPAs you gave were unweighted, I think you have a good shot there. Same goes for NYU and Case.</p>

<p>Critical Reading is the hardest score to improve. Basically all you can do is practice. That can mean taking more practice tests. It can also mean reading advanced literature (meaning stuff you'd find in English class, not the NYT Bestseller's list). If you can plow your way through dense reading like Heart of Darkness, anything the SAT throws at you will seem like a cakewalk. </p>

<p>That's a long-term fix though. If you haven't already read anything about how to dissect and understand the CR section itself, I'd recommend that for what might be a quick boost.</p>

<p>Just FYI, I had a similar "adjustment problem" which didn't hurt me all that much. But my GPA situation was a bit better (3.7 UW freshman year, 3.9+ every other year).</p>

7

<p>bump.................</p>