<p>I'm currently a sophomore at a public university in PA that is at the bottom of the 3rd tier. I didn't apply myself at all in high school and now I'm stuck at a university where the students go to class just so that they have something to do in between parties. I don't find myself being challenged here, now that I'm willing to apply myself. Also, the school is in a very, very rural area. The nearest commercial area is about 30 minutes away if the traffic isn't bad. </p>
<p>My question for you is are there any fairly good schools I could make it into - regardless of my terrible HS record - or am I stuck at this school for the rest of my undergraduate career? I'm an English major so I'm trying to find somewhere with a good English or creative writing program. </p>
<p>My HS GPA was around an 87% and my SAT scores were a dazzling 1660/2400. I'm probably going to take the ACTs if I need to. </p>
<p>Right now I have a 3.67, which should go up to a 3.79 by the end of this semester, and hopefully 3.8 by the end of the Spring '08 semester. I have a 4.0 in my major if that counts for anything. I have a pretty decent number of extracurriculars. I haven't directed a symphony orchestra or cloned a fruitfly or anything, but I do have some. I would realllly love to go to Manhattan if there are any schools there that are a possibility for me. I love Barnard but that is a huge reach, I think. </p>
<p>Thanks for any suggestions you might have! :)</p>
<p>Yes, Barnard might be a huge reach. But if I were you, I would try for it. You have the profile of someone who "didn't get it" in high school, but now gets it. If you have profs at your current school who would write great recommendations, those - plus your college GPA plus great essays - could possibly do the trick.</p>
<p>Take a look at where your profs got their degrees? Did any get them at schools you'd like/schools in Manhattan? They might want to mentor you along to their alma mater.</p>
<p>Consider Fordham, along with Barnard. I don't happen to be familiar with too many Manhattan schools. So.. give us some other criteria - do you only want urban? how about close-in suburban (eg, Wellesley, Brandeis)? size? other factors?</p>
<p>You are NOT stuck. You might or might not be able to move up to the most selective tier of schools. But you can find a place which will fit you better.</p>
<p>i know this was a long time ago, but my dad transferred from city college in queens to the university of chicago, which is a huge jump. anything is possible! why not apply? if you get rejected, fine, have some backups. what about nyu or fordham? or BU is a city school if thats what you're looking for, but not in manhattan. bard is pretty close to the city i think. and if you're willing to look outside manhattan, not too far, there are also a lot of schools to consider</p>
<p>Hi, thanks so much for replying. Yeah, I was also thinking about Fordham, but I'm not excluding schools that aren't in NYC either. I prefer urban, but suburban areas are fine too. </p>
<p>Size is not that much of a factor, but financial aid is. I have 3 younger sisters who will be graduating very soon, so I'm going on loans alone right now for my last 3 years.</p>
<p>Well, if financial aid is a factor, I think you need to start with that FIRST.</p>
<p>It happens to be an area about which I have virtually no expertise. So you might need to do your own research or start another thread on that (I think it's been tried, but...).</p>
<p>You need to know your EFC and find out which schools of interest to you tend to meet all or most of need FOR TRANSFERS. Or look to your instate schools which are higher tier than where you are, but a good financial deal. </p>
<p>Well, right now I'm attending mainly on loans - which is why NYU is a no no for me, even if I only go there for 2 years. I'd say I could pay 20k a year max on my own without other sources of aid. So yeah, I'm still considering applying to Barnard. Would my odds be any better at a school like Wellesley? I know that's still pretty competitive. </p>
<p>I'm also considering applying to Temple and Pitt as far as in-state schools go.</p>
<p>I think Wellesley is also worth a try. No saying whether you'll get in, but worth a try. (I'm an alum, and transferred there; but it was in the Dark Ages... so doesn't give me anything to go on for predicting your chances).</p>
<p>Temple and Pitt also sound like good options, but I don't know how the cost factor at them would work for you.</p>
<p>Okay, I'm going to bump this semi-ancient post. I just have 1 more question (hopefully). We'll be picking classes soon, so I was wondering if anyone could tell me if this schedule looks at least somewhat competitive. I'm pretty sure I'm going to apply to Barnard, Wellesley, Fordham, Temple, possibly UNC, and (just for kicks, because chances are basically 0 for me) Brown. Our school's courses go from 010 - 400 level for undergrads. </p>
<p>-ENG 332 - Shakespeare's Later Plays or ENG 379 Literary Criticism (Junior class)
-ENG 275 - Archetypal Women in Mythology and Literature
-PSY 250 - Abnormal Psychology
-HIS 311 - Revolutionary America
-AST 020 - Intro to Astronomy w/ lab or BIO 104 Principles of Biology with lab</p>
<p>Math does scary things to my brain, so I'm avoiding it for right now. Will that look bad, even though I'm an English major?</p>
<p>there's a lot of us in the same boat as you. You mentioned UNC and other than the fact fin. aid might be an issue OOS, I think you have a good shot there. Keep your gpa as high as possible but don't obsess over it, just do your best and you will surely get in somewhere.</p>