<p>well, after months of deliberation, i have finally chosen 8 colleges to apply to. if someone could list them as reaches, matches, etc. that would be amazing.</p>
<p>my stats:
senior at a reasonably competitive high school in austin, texas. 4.17 weighted GPA (3.91 unweighted). ranked 19th out of about 500. not economically disadvantaged or a minority. no legacy. </p>
<p>SAT: 2190 total. retook today (!). taking two subject tests (u.s. history and math I) in november. also taking ACT.</p>
<p>APs: u.s. history: 5. english language: 4.</p>
<p>awards:
national merit semifinalist (227)
trustee award 9th-11th grade
academic all-district 9th-11th grade</p>
<p>senior year schedule:
ap gov/economics
ap english IV
ap calculus bc
h anatomy/physiology
h newspaper 2
desktop publishing</p>
<p>ECs (in random order):
volleyball 9th-11th grade, 10th and 11th on varsity.
newspaper 11th-12th grade. assistant editor, attended summer workshops and such.
NHS 11th-12th grade
SADD 9th-12th grade, vice president.
mu alpha theta (math club) 10th-12th grade
FCA 9th-12th grade
book club president
leadership council 9th-10th grade
running eyes for the blind (walk/run with blind/visually impaired people to help them get exercise, about three hours every other week)
volunteer at hospice (clerical work, learning to be a grief counselor) - 2 hours/week
steady job (cashier at goodwill), work about 20 hours a week
volunteered at food pantry my freshman/sophomore year</p>
<p>Actually I'd say you need to have more reaches, right now I see you getting into almost all of these with rice as the only true reach. I'd add maybe a couple reach schools like Duke, Dartmouth, Brown, and a couple like Northwestern and WUSTL.</p>
<p>really? well thats excellent. i was looking at brown but figured i wouldnt get in. i only want to apply to eight (i feel sorry for my poor teachers writing recommendations). which school do you think i should replace?</p>
<p>I think you should dump one of Elon or Beloit, and add Brown and another strong reach like Dartmouth or Penn and maybe one of the others I mentioned like Northwestern. Options are everything, you don't want to limit yourself. Apply to 9-10 schools I would say.</p>
<p>oh, they only have to write one? well, thats a relief. someone told me that they had to fill out one for each college and i felt like such an awful person. </p>
<p>thanks everyone for your advice!!! i'll look into reach schools tonight and tomorrow and hopefully post a revised list by tomorrow night.</p>
<p>It concerns me that you would change your list based on an internet rec. Both lists look good to me but I don't know who you are or what you want. For example, do you know where Whitman is and what it is like there, compared to Rice or Brown or Beloit? Your list should really reflect your needs and desires. Is weather a concern, or distance from home? The hardest schools to pick are the safeties because they should be great schools that haven't achieved the same level of competitive applications. Fit is so important.</p>
<p>Why would that concern you? People here have incredible knowledge of colleges and college admissions. Most likely many know more than most top guidance counselors. He has a safety and a couple safe matches, he IS getting into elon at the worst. </p>
<p>But I agree, what type of school do you want. If you like Brown, you might really like Vassar too for example, more than you'll like Haverford.</p>
<p>my guidance counselor has over 500 kids to deal with and not the slightest idea who i am. i kinda have to trust people on this board. :) </p>
<p>what type of school do i want?
i would like it to be fairly small (not more than 7000 under any circumstances). it doesnt have to be LAC but the majority of small schools are. i'm open location-wise, but prefer the north. dont care about the distance from home or the weather. strong academic departments in several subjects, because i'm not quite sure what i want to major in yet. don't want large greek population.</p>
<p>acc - search out web sites of high school guidance counselor offices that offer information regarding the application process. I used to have a list of them but purged my "Favorites" after my D accepted a school.</p>
<p>Slipper, I don't doubt your expertise, I am more concerned about the posters own understanding of these schools and her reasons for including them. For example, my d's safety was way below her other schools but met her interests, offered her serious money and was picked after diligent research. It was a true academic and financial safety. If you or another poster had said, "drop that add that," she would have come back with a lot of questions and a couple of days of research before she yeilded one school on her "final" list. </p>
<p>acc- your list is a nice list of schools, but what you want, what you like, what you can afford....are all questions that lead toward fit.
No school should be on your list that doesn't fit you. Know yourself and pick your school based on that knowledge.</p>
<p>ACC, your first list is a great list! Your second one is too. Just make sure you consider what Mr. B has said: Interest & finances. Just because one school is considered a reach and another a safety doesn't make one better than the other. My son skipped over his reaches to pick a match in the end last year. And finances was not a consideration between the reach and match. They both offered great aid.</p>