So, I go to a private prep school in New York. I have a 3.58 unweighted and 3.64 weighted. I would say I’m top 25% of my class. I got a 35 Composite on the ACT (35 English 34 Math 35 Reading 34 Science) I have taken 2 APs (4 offered) and have been in about 3 honors classes a year. I have worked every summer with one being a “leadership” program, have played 3 different sports (Crew and Track frosh, Track and Rugby Soph, Rugby Junior Senior) and have been volunteering teaching CCD since soph year. What schools should I be looking at? I would appreciate very honest answers, I know I’m not looking at Ivy’s.
Oh, and I am undecided but leaning towards business or computer science
Your parents pay great money to have access to college counselors at school. Make an appointment. Because your GPA might make many on CC shiver, your self assigned rank means your school has tough grading, or your guess is off. Start at school, ask about naviance, talk to your parents about budget. I assume you are a junior?
Do you have any geographic, size, setting preferences? Any certain vibe? Would you consider a Catholic college? Tell us more about what you’re looking for. Also any budget constraints. You’ll have many schools that will accept you based on your stats.
I am a senior now. I have met with my counselor a couple of times but it has been somewhat confusing. She never gives me straight answers, always saying “there’s a chance”, when I would rather just hear that I shouldn’t waste my time. I am fortunate to have well off grandparents who are paying tuition, so that is not an issue.
Edit: My counselor told me my weighted was closer to top of my class which is why I said 25%. More realistically 35%
Erm, are you just starting to think about applications? Or have you already got some in? Do you have parents? Are you at boarding school? And what is the budget, schools that cost even 70K a year? Grandparents are nice, make sure you know the numbers.
We have deadlines at school and submitting EA applications are October 20, so I have not submitted any yet. I am done with all of my common app stuff. Except obviously school specific essays.
I have parents and am not attending boarding school.
One of my cousins is attending Dartmouth which my grandparents are paying for, which is something like 68k. However, if I’m choosing between similar schools I would go for the lower tuition
Well if you’re comfortable with the idea that the elites are out of the question, then the good/bad news is that you’re facing a rapidly broadening pyramid of schools. You have excellent scores and pretty good grades so you have a lot options, and they’re going to expand a lot as you back down from the lottery ticket pinnacle. Now it’s time for you to get to know d0uglas and figure out what he wants.
You need to have some way to sort through these and cut down the list. What can your parents afford? That’s usually a pretty sharp knife in this work. Want to go somewhere specific or avoid winter or stay close to home? Do you hate crowds, love cities, need a solid Saturday football scene, want Greek like Animal House, seek an active hillel, think the Colorado herbal scene is appealing, been wearing an A&M high and tight since second grade, want a supportive LGBT+ community or need a specific academic program? How about a sport or club? Honors? Where’d your parents go? What’s your favorite mascot? What color sweatshirts do you like?
You need to make a choice here, and the vague ECs, rotating list of one year sports and weak input from a GC who knows you a bit indicate you have to start taking steps in some specific direction. It’s time for you to step up and make your own list of what matters to you. It’s an important part of the journey and lies at the root of why no one has set you up with a nice list yet.
Frankly, you have tons of options. There are schools in your neck of the woods like Union that would give you merit. Rochester? Syracuse? While there is a group that’ll be highly unlikely, many more will be possible if you can convey fit.
Thanks StPaulDad. I probably haven’t thinking about this the right way (thinking only about ranks and acceptance rates) because that’s all my parents talk about when discussing college. I have general ideas, but you’re right I need to narrow a lot.
And momofsenior1 I haven’t looked at American before, but love the idea of DC and will definitely check it out.
I’m more familiar with business programs, not computer science, but here are some different schools you might look at (all good to excellent for business):
Safety for admission, merit likely:
Loyola Maryland (Jesuit, pretty, contained campus in a nice area in Baltimore)
Temple U (big basketball (and football to a lesser extent) school, North Philadelphia)
Elon (private school, NC, popular with Catholic prep school kids from my area outside Philadelphia)
Match:
Fordham (you’re probably familiar with it, and might get some merit there)
Lehigh
U Maryland
GWU (undefined campus in DC; you’ll either love it or hate it)
Reaches:
Villanova (B school is very competitive)
Boston College (B school is very competitive)
Washington U in St. Louis (top notch school, they might like that ACT score enough to overlook the GPA)
Wake Forest (same as above)
If you like any of these enough to apply ED, that might be helpful. Ask your counselor if some of these schools get a lot of strong applications from your school, and then focus on some that are less popular with your peers (meaning if half your class applies to Villanova and BC, you might focus on other reach schools).