<p>Hi there, I've just finished my sophomore year of high school and figured maybe I should take a look at what kinds of schools would be a good match for me. I used to be really active on here in eighth and ninth grade and going into high school I said I was going to do all these great things extracurricular-wise and I just.. didn't. It's too late now so the only thing I really have going for me is my grades.</p>
<p>As of right now, I have a 4.76 weighted GPA, 4.0 unweighted. I predict a 4, 5, and 5 on the AP exams for stats, calc ab, and comparative government respectively. This year on the PSAT I got a 213 and I expect to improve during my junior year. </p>
<p>As far as extracurriculars go, it's pretty lacking. I'm the secretary of debate, and then just generic NHS, Model UN, badminton, and some volunteering. </p>
<p>Junior year schedule:
AP Calc BC
AP Physics (or chem, dunno yet)
AP French
AP English
APUSH
AP Psych</p>
<p>I'd really appreciate anyone's help in suggesting some schools to me that would be a match. Used to really wanna go to Penn but that's a huge reach now. I don't really have any idea of what schools I do have a good chance of getting into other than my state universities. Also, I plan to do something econ or applied math related. Thanks :)</p>
<p>Swinter, did you read the link above? If not, please do, come back, and we’ll help.</p>
<p>Cost constraints: My parents make about 40k per year altogether. I have two other siblings who will also be in high school once I am a senior. I doubt my parents can contribute more than 5k a year max.</p>
<p>I’m undecided on what exactly I want to do, but I’m into econ and applied math. I don’t think I’ll be getting a PhD.</p>
<p>I prefer a school with 5000+ students and anywhere but the midwest. Any weather is good. Suburban as well as urban work for me. I don’t plan to join a sorority. I’m not religious but wouldn’t rule out a school simply because of religious affiliation.</p>
<p>My unweighted GPA is 4.0. I am ranked in the top 1% of my class of about 800. As a sophomore I took AP calc AB, AP stats, AP comparative government, IB film, and honors for chem, french, and english. </p>
<p>213 on PSAT sophomore year. </p>
<p>Matches with money: Reed College, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Carleton, Claremont McKenna, Vassar, Williams, Washington & Lee, Occidental, and Whitman. An SAT of 22xx would be helpful. Chicago is not out of the question, but not a match.</p>
<p>Those are NOT matches–just a random list of good LACs.</p>
<p>What caliber of schools do you think would be realistic for me? </p>
<p>people will say all kinds of things here, OP, without supporting their claim. I won’t have anything else to say about that comment.</p>
<p>Those LACs are matches for you academically. Take your PSAT score and multiply by ten; this will give you an approximate SAT 2400 score or 2130. Divided by 3 gives you a CR of 710, M 710, and W 710 Then take a look at this url:</p>
<p><a href=“College Search & Match with our College Finder | CollegeData”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/search/college/college_search_tmpl.jhtml</a></p>
<p>type in the name of one of the schools and scroll down to where the “middle 50” SAT scores are for that school. You will find that your projected SAT of 2130 falls within the middle 50 of these schools. That is a vague definition of an academic match. If your score is above 75%, it’s an academic safety, and so forth. </p>
<p>Yes, as the above poster has noted, the above poster did not initially support their claim that those schools are matches: “people will say all kinds of things here, OP, without supporting their claim”. Team hypocrisy has a new member, it seems.</p>
<p>Here is support for my claim: Claremont McKenna has an acceptance rate of 10.1% (CR: 650-740; M: 660-760). Middlebury has an acceptance rate of 17%, and similar test score ranges. Academically, these schools may be “matches” (in that your grades and test scores would not put you out of the running). However, all of those schools receive far more applications than they can admit, and therefore, ADMISSION-wise, many of those schools are NOT matches (any school with a <25% acceptance rate and 25/75 percentile test scores in the range of 650-750 is a REACH). Otherwise, by your logic, even Dartmouth is a match. And so is Cornell. And Brown too. Hey, let’s throw Harvard in the mix too… </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So so dangerous. Many schools use holistic admissions, and safeties need to be rock solid. Many schools will waitlist (example George Washington, Union College, etc) top students to see if they are serious. They can’t afford to risk admitting them due to yield management issues. </p>
<p>International95, some of those schools ARE matches for some students. The statistics that you have access to are not the best. Naviance statistics for the OP’s school are much better. </p>
<p>I view reaches as less than 35% chance of getting in, matches as 35-95% chance of getting in and safeties as 95-100% chance of getting in. </p>
<p>Using our Naviance, many top schools including one of the most selective ivies were matches for the top students based on Naviance. Others were such that they had never admitted anybody except early decision. </p>
<p>That’s why I said “many of those schools” and not all of those schools. Well, not every school uses Naviance, and a lot of us only have access to the overall class profile.</p>
<p>I’m aware that I fit the bill academically but that my ECs are what will kill me. What do you think would be a match admission-wise? Also, my school doesn’t use Naviance. </p>
<p>I appreciate International95’s clarification of what he meant by “those are NOT matches.” I don’t disagree with much that has been said by International95 and ClassicRockerDad. I think we just disagree by what we mean by match. They seem to want much more certainty at this point, 8 months from decision day with very little info about the OP, than I and most people do. We’re talking about putting together a list of matches, not predicting whether or not the school will accept the student. I think International95, you agree with me on this difference when you mention “ADMISSION-wise.” I don’t think there’s anything unclear about my claim that mine was a common “vague” definition of a match. </p>