<p>You WONT get into Harvard, I can tell you that. WIth a mediocre GPA, even if unweighted, no EC's, and not much else to help you get the attention of an admissions officer other than being German, I strongly suggest that you look at schools in the mid tier. That is not a bad thing, actually because the United States is full of excellent schools who admit good but not BRILLIANT students, with great faculty, great facilities and so forth.</p>
<p>You mentioned you want a state school. I think that is a good idea, except that some mid tier private colleges may actually offer you more money for financial aid, so apply to both kinds of schools. Your SAT score is KEY. YOU MUST GET A critical reading and math score equal to at least 1250 to be competitive to good colleges. Below 1200 and you have to start looking at schools that are further down the list. Again, not that that is bad....it just means a lesser known or not quite so competitive school. LOTS of state schools fit that bill and many private lesser known schools fit that bill.</p>
<p>You mention weather as important. That means stay out of the northwest, midwest and the northeast. Focus on the south, southeast, and southwest.</p>
<p>With your stats, take a look at Auburn University and University of Alabama. Both very good schools with some great programs. University of Tennessee and University of Mississippi also have some great programs, and Ole Miss is a beautiful antebellum campus. Tulane in New Orleans is an awesome school, but it might be a stretch for you with those mediocre grades. If you slam the SAT, then take a look at it. I am afraid that prestigious schools like UNC, Virginia, Florida and probably Georgia Tech are out of the picture for you unless your SAT is incredible...like 2150 or higher. But you might take a look at Clemson, South Carolina, College of Charleston, NCState, James Madison. In the southwest look at Arizona, Arizona State, and some of the Cal State campuses. I am afraid that the uber competitive U Cal system might be a stretch, such as UC Irvine, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, UCSD, and UCSB. Those are becoming highly competitive. Again, if your SAT is great then maybe take a look at them.</p>
<p>For your information, go into an American Bookstore and grab a hold of one of the excellent Directories of American Colleges out there, such as Barrons, or Petersen's. They list all the schools, give a page or two description of everything about them ,size, scores, sports, campus life, dorms, student body demographics, religious stuff, etc etc. LOOK CLOSELY at their GPA and SAT scores and see where you fit. They list over 2,500 colleges in the United States, usually organized alphabetically by state. Find a college that is a good fit for you. </p>
<p>Most colleges in the United States have appliation deadlines in January or very early February. Some have late deadlines, like Clemson, but that is because they know a lot of kids get rejected at prestigious schools and scramble to get into schools like Clemson. Clemson by the way is a very good school and also becoming quite competitive. Write an EXCELLENT essay. Submit your forms EARLY if you can. Most kids apply before Christmas. The early bird gets the worm.</p>
<p>DO NOT APPLY ED (early decision) unless you are certain its where you want to go, to forsake all others. Its a binding decision. Better to apply regular decision and wait for the results in April. However, some schools also have rolling admissions, like St. Louis University, which is an outstanding school....but its in St. Louis and its not a warm weather school in the winter. Its bitter cold there in January-March.</p>
<p>Good luck to you. There are hundreds of colleges out there who are waiting for your application. Get the Barron's or Petersen or Fiske Directories and research the schools and then go from there.</p>
<p>Make sure you have all your paperwork in order and your visas.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>