Junior planning college trips

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi guys. So I'm a junior in high school, and I need to start planing some college trips so I thought I would give you my profile and some schools I'm interested in, and see if you have any more suggestions I can think about.</p>

<p>First, I'm a white male, attending a very rigorous academically demanding private boys' school in new england, that places almost a quarter of the class in ivy league institutions.
what I'm looking for in a college:
A far as geography goes, I would prefer kind of the mid south (not the deep south) or the west coast, although this is not THE deciding factor. I also want to got o a school that has at least a d1 basketball team, preferably a football team as well. I would prefer the school to be suburban, possibly rural. </p>

<p>My academic information. Including my grades from this year thusfar, my gpa is right at about 3.0. Although there is an upward trend in my grades, especially this year. I have yet to receive this years psat's back that I took in october but my score last year was a 192. </p>

<p>Athletically, I'm a 3 season athlete, playing soccer, hockey and baseball. I've been on varsity hockey since 10th grade, made varsity soccer this fall for the first time, and hope to make varsity baseball this spring.</p>

<p>As far as extracurriculars go, I'm involved in the model united nations program at school deeply, being one of about 10 or 12 boys on the executive committe that makes major decisions for the program. Also I have been a tour guide at my school since my 8th grade year. Last, I've been in both my school's chorus and glee club since my freshman year. </p>

<p>Summer-wise, after my freshman year I did a pre-collegiate us history program at william and mary in addition to working at a ymca summer camp in upstate new york. this pas summer I traveled to France through my school and once again worked as a camp counslor at the ymca camp</p>

<p>standardized testing I got a 4 on the AP stats exam as a 10th grader, a 670 on the Latin SAT 2 as a 9th grader and a 650 on the math SAT 2 as a 10th grader</p>

<p>schools i have thought about include,
UVA, William and Mary, Vanderbilt, Boston Colege, UNC, USC, UCLA, Wake Forest, UT-Austin</p>

2

<p>You need to get your GPA up for many of those schools :)</p>

<p>Since you mentioned that your schools sends a lot to top schools, does that mean that your rank is mid-range?</p>

<p>As for touring…try to tour on days that the campuses are open. You can’t really get a feel for a campus when classes aren’t in session. It’s nice to be able to “sit-in” a class (which can sometimes be arranged ahead of time. :)</p>

<p>Many colleges are open on some days that high schools are closed. For instance, some colleges are open on Presidents’ day, while many high schools are closed.</p>

3

<p>I agree with mom2collegekids about the travelling dates and when to visit the schools. </p>

<p>I would also include Purdue, Ohio State, Mich State, and Indiana. If your school is that competitive then your 3.0 should be fine. I had a 3.2 at a very competitive public school too and had a 1140 SAT (620M/520CR) and got into MSU and Purdue. Didn’t apply to OSU and IU but you have a good chance. The Big Ten Conference has great schools and great athletics as you mentioned. B10 also is without a doubt the best conference in Basketball too right now :slight_smile: We shall see starting tomorrow night with the Purdue v Wake and MSU v UNC game :)</p>

4

<p>^^^</p>

<p>Yes, looking at some Big 10 schools would be a good idea.</p>

<p>did I miss what you’ll probably major in?</p>

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<p>^^yeah, big football schools would be better for you. a 3.0 eliminates all the schools your interested in.</p>

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<p>3.0 would put me in the upper middle of my class. the placement of kids in the past with similar gpa’s at my school has been really impressive. right around the schools im looking at actually.</p>

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<p>oh, whoops I didn’t notice that you went to a private school</p>

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<p>For smaller schools in the south, Davidson (great D1 basketball), University of Richmond (football) and Furman may interest you. They are all smaller LAC’s with very strong academic credentials. The GPA may be an issue as of right now but you have some time to work on that this year.</p>

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<p>Ask your college counseling office if they can give you a Naviance ID. Most independent schools have Naviance. The program shows gpa on the y axis and SAT scores on the x axis. It will show clusters of acceptance/rejection/waitlist, etc. for your school. Usually this is given around January of the Junior year, but if you are already planning visits, you can ask to see it. Also, a college advisor can suggest different types of schools that you can visit so that you can figure out the type of school in which you would be most comfortable.</p>

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<p>Not true. Attending an independent competitive school with a rigorous curriculum and no grade inflation - your 3.0 will be quite competitive for the schools you listed</p>

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<p>^can you not read? i said i didnt realize he went to a private. That obviously changes things quite a bit.</p>

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<p>I think your list looks great. My D is at Wake and loves it, has many of the things you are looking for. I went to UCLA, and it is quite different. Very large, urban campus, but great academics. One thing to think about, and it seems everyone has a strong preference, do you want a smaller campus and classes, where you get more individualized attention, or do you want a larger campus, with all that it has to offer?
In Cal, may want to add Loyola Marymont and the Claremont colleges to your list.</p>

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<p>It’s hard for us to help you since clearly your school has a leg-up for top schools, who know the rigor of your curriculum. For most people, you would have to be at the tippy-top of your class to consider an Ivy, but you said that your school sends almost a quarter to those schools. This makes your situation somewhat hard to gauge. Personally, I would talk to your guidance counselor, since she can more accurately describe to you the options your stats give you, coming from your school.</p>

<p>However, I assume from the rigor of your school that there is a significant amount of grade deflation, making your 3.0 less significant than at a shoddy public. I’d recommend Elon, Emory, Davidson, William and Mary, Vanderbilt, Furman (I think at this point, I’m just echoing what has already been said). But again, your GC is your best resource, not a bunch of randomly selected overachievers on an Internet forum.</p>