Moment of Truth... Which of the Schools may REMAIN ON MY LIST?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm just about to start junior year, and I'm worried that my bad 9th grade year is going to hold me back from getting into a top university.</p>

<p>Which of the following schools are worth keeping on my list.. meaning that I may have a chance at them if I do everything below...?</p>

<p>Harvard (#3 choice, merely impossible)
U Minnesota-Twin Cities
U Wisconsin- Madison ( tied #1 choice)
UIUC (#2 choice)
Cornell
Ohio State University
James Madison University
Carleton (dad is an alumni)
U of Washington Seattle (tied #1 choice)
UCB
UCLA (#4 choice)
UCSB
Purdue University
Tulane
Vanderbilt
UNC-Chapel Hill
UT-Austin
Northeastern
Duke
Boston University</p>

<p>And here are my stats, as of now:</p>

<p>I'M NOT APPLYING FOR ENGINEERING. I'll likely major in something involving environmental sciences or medicine.</p>

<p>Rising Junior from Minnesota (I obviously have 1 more year)</p>

<p>GPA: 3.1 (Got a 2.7 Freshman Year. Got a 3.6 Sophomore. I hope to get a 4.0 Junior year and get it up to 3.3 or 3.4.)</p>

<p>ACT: I'm predicting a 30. I got a 29 on the practice test, and am getting tutored for it.</p>

<p>RANK: As of now, top 40%. I don't know how much this will fluctuate this coming year.</p>

<p>ALL Honors and AP Classes starting Junior Year and 4+ years of all core subjects. (ALL that's available, that is.)</p>

<p>EC's:</p>

<p>Varsity Cross Country (6 years)
- Captain
- Hosted several team events</p>

<p>Varsity Track ( 4 years)
- Captain 2 years</p>

<p>Intro. Med. Residential Program @ U-Wisconsin this summer... in August.
- This was competetive to get into.</p>

<p>Environmental Club (2 years so far)
- minor volunteering
- possible president next year?</p>

<p>School Band (5 years)
- Pep Band
- Section leader
- Orchestra Ensemble
- Jazz Ensemble- 2 years</p>

<p>Piano (13 years)
-Participated in various recitals/ competitions.. no awards.</p>

<p>Guitar ( 3 years)
- Been teaching myself</p>

<p>MSWE Leadership Team (Model Students With Enthuisiasm)
-Red Ribbon Week President (Organized an anti-drug and alcohol themed week of activities for the school.)
- Active in community volunteering through this program.
- Elected on to the Executive Board</p>

<p>WEB (Where Everybody Belongs)
- Group Leader.. volunteered to assist underclassmen with adapting to a new school
- Did twice as much volunteering than anyone else</p>

<p>Junior Leadership Team Advisory (meets daily as an advisory)</p>

<p>Senior Leadership Team Advisory (sequls JLT)</p>

<p>Peer Tutors (Roughly 3-4 hours weekly)</p>

<p>Student Senate (Elected for Junior Year)
- Hoping to work up to President or Vice by senior Year</p>

<p>Fall Musical (will be 3 years)
- Medium sized roles, likely a lead role junior or senior year</p>

<p>Winter One-Act Play Competition (2 years)
- Small roles. This just gives me something to do in the winter.</p>

<p>Student Ambassadors (Freshman Year)</p>

<p>I write novels in my spare time. My longest was 210 pages. I want to get something published soon.</p>

<p>I am a dedicated rower.. I row 4-6 times a week in the summer, and 3-4 times in the school year.</p>

<p>So yeah. Which one of those can remain on my list?</p>

2

<p>Goodness…you are way too early to be making a list and asking to strike out schools. First, your Junior year is MORE important than Sophomore year. Second, your SAT scores will determine which schools are reaches and thus which to pare off the list.</p>

<p>Dont obsess about college yet. Look around and contemplate a lot of schools. FIT, FIT, FIT. Not prestige, prestige, prestige.</p>

<p>Relax. Take the SAT in the Spring and good luck. Come back next summer.</p>

3

<p>I know I know.</p>

<p>I just want to know which one’s I should forget about.</p>

4

<p>bump.. please?</p>

5

<p>You have some very different schools on that list… Ohio State and Carleton, for example, are about as different as you can get.</p>

<p>What characteristics do you want in school? That might help us narrow down your list.</p>

<p>Also, it’s not too early for you to be making a list - your stats might change, but I think it’s better to get a head start on planning for college than to be lagging behind as a senior.</p>

<p>And right off the bat, looking at that list, some of those top publics are going to be near impossible OOS. UCLA, for example, is hard even for CA residents to get in. Same with UNC-CH and UT-Austin.</p>

6

<p>Right, even though it’s too early to obsess over lists, you can safely cross off those three OOS publics and Harvard.</p>

7

<p>Also cross off UCB - didn’t notice it on the list the first time. The UC’s are highly selective all around, but for OOSers, they might as well be impossible.</p>

8

<p>Cross off Harvard (crapshoot and only your #3 choice), the UCs (insane for OOS), and Carleton (the only LAC and doesn’t jibe with the rest of your list). Also, good for you for starting so early! Another rising junior here. ;)</p>

9

<p>^ A third rising junior here, lol. We are the future of CC. ;)</p>

10

<p>What do you think about U Washington-Seattle and U Wisconsin-Madison? I’m really hoping to get into at least one of those.</p>

11

<p>Wait a second… no one told me to cross off Cornell. Is there still blooming hope there?</p>

12

<p>Don’t do too much crossing off. Just nail your junior year and your ACT/SAT and you could be competitive at a lot of schools. OK, maybe not Harvard, but a lot of schools. Certainly Wisconsin-Madison, your co-#1 choice. As a Minnesota resident you can attend Wicsonsin-Madison at in-state tuition, and they don’t have a quota on how many Minnesotans attend, so it’s basically another in-state school for you. You already have a 29 on the ACT; their middle 50% range on the ACT is 26-30, so you’re already in the upper range of what they’re looking for. Get it to 30 and you’re in the top quartile. Your grades are a little low because you bombed freshman year but most schools are going to discount freshman year pretty heavily if your subsequent grades show improvement, and your 3.6 sophomore year is pretty solid. Do even better in your junior year (be realistic, though: maybe 3.8?) and you’ll be moving into match range for one of your first choice schools.</p>

<p>I’m not sure why you’d bother with some of these other state schools if Wisconsin-Madison is your #1 choice (or co-#1). Some of them, like Purdue and Ohio State, are not as good as Wisconsin, and way more expensive. Minnesota you should keep on the list; it’s an improving school but still a little easier to get into than Wisconsin, potentially more in the low match/safety range if you get your grades up. UIUC is a very good school but they admit very few out of state students (7%). The UCs are also hard to get into OOS, as is Texas. UNC Chapel Hill is a great school but highly competitive for OOS applicants. I don’t know much about U Washington for OOS, but Seattle’s a great city.</p>

<p>But bottom line, it’s way too early to be making a definite list. You have some ideas of schools you’d be interested in; you can keep poking around investigating schools but junior year is a time to nail school and your standardized tests. Then you’ll have a much better idea where you stand.</p>

13

<p>University of Washington, seattle seems pretty easy to get into so don’t worry. </p>

<p>Why is it your first choice? (just wondering)</p>

14

<p>Cross off top 20 schools, and highly selective OOS public.</p>