Parents, I need help finding match/safety schools

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hey you guys, I would really appreciate your feedback on if I need safety schools or not.</p>

<p>Lists of Colleges</p>

<p>Cornell ED (reach)
Dartmouth (reach)
Princeton and Harvard (reaches)
Colgate
Vassar
Lafayette
Bucknell
Washington College in Maryland (safety)</p>

<p>(Not including Freshmen year bc i heards it not important)</p>

<p>Class Ranks 13/596</p>

<p>Sophmore Year
Honors Pre Calc (As both semesters)
Honors Chem (B first semester, A 2nd semester)
AP Euro (As both semester)
Honors English (As both semesters)
Spanish 2 (As both semester)
Art (As both semesters)
Varsity Swim</p>

<p>Junior Year
AP Physics (Bs both semesters)
AP Calc BC (As both semesters)
AP US (As both semesters)
AP Comp (As both semesters)
Spanish 3 (As both semesters)
Varsity Swim Team (As both semester)
Academic Decathalon</p>

<p>Senior Year
AP Stats
Honors Brit Lit
honors Anatomy
AP Econ
AP Spanish
I have straight As for senior year</p>

<p>APs
AP Bio (freshman)- 1
AP Euro (soph)-5
AP US-4
AP Physics-1
AP Calc-3
AP Comp-3</p>

<p>SAT I
Math:680
CR: 550
Writing: 640</p>

<p>SAT IIs
Math II: 650
US history: 680</p>

<p>Extra Curriculars</p>

<p>Scholarship Program since 7th grade and I did over 3000 hours of community service- I volunteered for over 90 non profit organizations (I will go into more detail later)</p>

<p>Volunteered for Special Olympics for 4 years
A member of the Assistance League: 2004-current and I help raise money and collect clothes, backpacks, toothbrushes, shoes, etc for children who can not afford these neccesities
Work and raised over $15,000 for a therapeutic horse back riding facility for disabled children- 2002-2006
helped raise over $8,000 for single mothers and abused women in my community
Worked for two months and helped raise of $50,000 for Tsunami victims in Asia Hurricane Katrina victims and I helped gather tons of food and clothes
Chairwoman of my school for Giving Tree Drive
Chairwoman of my school for Pennies for Patients Drive
Actively involved with American Cancer Society and Relay for Life
I work very closely with cancer victims and a non profit organization near my home ( I dont want to name it bc i am paranoid about stalkers, lol, pathetic i know)
Volunteer at the Homeless shelter near my home (over 80 hours a year)</p>

<p>School Activites
President of Environment Club
Treasurer of Cancer Awareness Club
Member of NHS (2004-current)
member of National Art Honor Society
Member of Spanish National Honor Society
Member of Spanish Club
Member of key club
Treasurer of California Scholarship Federation</p>

<p>SPORTS
Varsity Swim Team since freshmen year
2005 Athlete Scholar Award</p>

<p>OTHER AWARDS
AP Scholar
Principals honor roll from 2003-current
Academic award 2003-current</p>

<p>Great Essay (talked about my obstacles and how I grew up in a broken home)
Great Teacher Recommendations
Have an outstanding rec from a powerful politician in my area
first generation College student
raised by single mom/ never met biological father</p>

<p>Female/ Japanese (Asian)
resides in California</p>

<p>For the schools I want to go to:
East Coast (PA, NY, MD or that area)
Awesome Pre-med program
rural or suburban location (not urban)</p>

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<p>Boonies...I think your SAT scores make most of your list a Reach. Have you seen the scattergrams for your school? You need to look at those to see if the schools on your list have made exceptions for SAT scores similar to yours.</p>

<p>Here is alink to a scattergram for a big public school in the Northwest. I think they could serve as a barometer for you.
<a href="https://connection.naviance.com/fc/s...?hsid=garfield%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://connection.naviance.com/fc/s...?hsid=garfield&lt;/a>
Enter as guest
Click on Scattergrams
Click in schools on your list and check SAT scores vs GPAs. You will be able to see which schools generally accept students with your stats.</p>

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<p>I agree with Cheers. Unless you have a strong hook such as the possibility of being a participating athlete at those schools, it is going to be a tough go for many of them. Lafayette, Bucknell, Vassar and Colgate are possibilities if you strongly "woo" them as they would welcome the geographic diversity that California would bring and Lafayette does give females some extra considerataion. For an awesome premed program, I would suggest looking at some schools such as McDaniel in Maryland, Washington/Jefferson in Pa, Juniata in Pa, Susquehanna and Ursinus. Muhlenberg is also a good possibility. There are a number of small, excellent schools in the states you mention that have nurturing premed programs that have launched many med students.<br>
Not saying you should give up on the reaches if you truly love those schools, but you should have a couple more that are match/safety in stats so that you can have some choices if the admissions season is tough this year. Do be aware that in applying to some of these small schools, interest is paramount, and that a visit to the east coast to say "hello" to the adcoms would be helpful, and for someone on the westcoast, very important in seeing what the atmosphere is like at these schools. I think they are the way to go if you want to get into a med school. Schools like Cornell are tough on premeds as the competion can get cutthroat.</p>

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<p>I agree with Cheers. You need some safeties and more matches. Washington College is a very solid match, but I'm not sure I would call it a safety (close, but not quite -- your CR + M SAT is below their 75% level, though your class rank and GPA are well above their average -- I just like to be conservative). I suggest you look for some schools where your GPA and SAT scores are both well above the averages.</p>

5

<p>I'd suggest looking at SAT-optional schools such as Bowdoin and Bates. They are also looking to increase their minorities and they consider Asians minorities (that was what we heard six years ago, but I think the situation has not changed much). Cptofthehouse's suggestions are also excellent.</p>

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<p>Will you be applying to the UC system? If not, why not? (with your class rank, you are probably ELC, making the UC's a safety). </p>

<p>Beyond that, for your profile and your desire for rural/suburban, I would suggest looking more at LAC's that accept around 50-60% of their applicants. Don't forget the women's colleges -- Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Bryn Mawr are all excellent colleges that are going to be way more foregiving of your test scores (esp. Mt. Holyoke, which I believe is test-optional). Bard is another great test-optional, rural college that very much wants students interested in sciences.</p>

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<p>a lot of ppl are suggesting UCs but I know for a fact that I do not want to stay in California. I want to get far away from California (and my home) as possible, lol. I really want to go to the east coast and im not applying to any california schools bc i kno if i get into any of them, my mom will force me to go lol</p>

<p>but, thank you for all of your inputs, it really does mean a lot to me and I will most definitely look into schools that make the SAT optional, I also know that I do not want to go to a women's college, I think I will feel very uncomfortable there. I also dont really believe in single sex schools bc i feel that school should prepare you for the real world and the real world is not just females (Its just my opinion)</p>

<p>anyways, you guys have been most helpful</p>

8

<p>I have a question. Hamilton Colleges makes SATs optional, do I have a good chance there?</p>

9

<p>
[quote]
im not applying to any california schools bc i kno if i get into any of them, my mom will force me to go lol

[/quote]

Who is paying for you to go to college? Can your single mom afford private colleges on her earnings? Does your dad - the one you have never met- send child support payments, are his whereabouts unknown?</p>

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<p>First off, if you write any future essays I would avoid the sob stories. Colleges do not necessarily look favorably upon the hard luck stories. Many admissions committees view this as someone looking for a pity vote. The exception to this guideline is if your hardhip was truly something extraordinary such as cancer, horrific accident, severe learning disabilty etc.. Broken homes and single parent households with absent fathers are a dime a dozen. Nearly every book/website that offers essay advice specifies that applicants need to avoid the poor me theme.</p>

<p>Just because someone is a single parent without the father being involved does not mean that a private LAC is financially impossible. I have grown up with only my mom and have never met my father but plan on attending Georgetown (hopefully) or some other expensive LAC. My mother does okay financially, has equity in the house, has saved and is willing to work an extra job if necessary to make my dream come true. In many cases, financial aid is more generous to single parent households. I do not mean to be harsh but I get very tired of the stereotypes surrounding single parents. My mom is educated, devoted, hard working, and involved. Not all single parents are waitresses on welfare. Please do not be offended, I just wanted to vent.</p>

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<p>well my mom is going to pay for my college education bc my mom is going to probably refinance our home. Our house is paid off and its market value is $750,000 and my mom has good credit. So getting a good college loan and stuff shouldnt be that hard
as for my dad, I have no clue of his whereabouts so yea....
as for my essay, its not really a sob story, but i included my upbringing in it. I responded to "name a person who has been a significant influence in your life" and then i incorporated it into the essay. I had two of my english teachers edit it and they said it was really good and I was worried that it might be obvious that im writing a sob story but my teachers said it was ok.</p>

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<p>Boonies--I have news for you. Your mom refinancing her home means she will be borrowing the money for you to attend college. The interest rate will be somewhere in the 7-8% range. If your mom has to borrow $20,000 each year for you and pays it back over 10 years, that means she has loan payments of $240 per month for each year's tuition. By the time you graduate, her monthly loan payment assuming she borrows between $20 and $25K per year will be over $1000 per month.</p>

<p>Unless you qualify for a ton of need based aid, you sound like you are very unaware of the impact paying for college has on a single parent's income. You need to look at schools that will offer you merit aid for your stats. Check out Knox in IL--they offered our D (1/2 Asian and very similar grades and test scores as you) a 50% ride. Cost of living is also modest in Galesburg so it was a very affordable option for her.</p>

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<p>My nephew is at Knox and loves it. I thought Juniata was a good suggestion also. They have very high acceptance rates into med school.</p>

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<p>I agree with all of cptofthehouse's suggestions for PA colleges. One other note is that I don't think it's common on the east coast to ignore freshman year gpa. I know I'll be corrected if I'm wrong, but I think ignoring freshman gpa is mostly a California thing.</p>

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<p>I think what folks here are saying is that if your Mom is not flush for retirement, you may want to consider what she will have to pay for private colleges. With that much home equity, she will be expected to remortgage and spend a lot of that money on college. You and she will have to figure out if a school where you can't get merit aid, and has high tuition, is worth it. </p>

<p>Will you take loans, or just your mom? Has she put away money for her retirement? Do you plan a high paying career in sight? Are you thinking about her dreams as well as yours?</p>

16

<p>I noticed you have a Md school on your list. George Mason University in Va is SAT optional if the GPA is above 3.5 I think, although your SATs probably wouldn't be out of line, although it's getting more competitive after the whole Final Four deal. It's also public, so significantly cheaper than a private school, although of course OOS it's going to probably be a lot more than your state school. I don't know specifically about pre med but they are supposed to have some good programs like that I think. I don't know how hard it is to get into OOS though. </p>

<p>CA's a pretty big state with good universities. You could probably get pretty far from home I'd think. In Va we can get like six hours away LOL That seems plenty far to me. You should probably reconsider some CA schools, or at least look into more public schools on the east coast with good pre med programs.</p>

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<p>There are a number of colleges on the east coast that will meet your criterion, Boonie, but unless you and your mother are of one mind that paying $200K+ for the next 4 years in in your financial plans, you need to have some financial safeties. I suggest going to some financial aid calculators to see where you would stand in terms of need based aid. If money is an issue, do focus on schools that give close to 100% of need, if you come up with a decent EFC for your family purposes, look for low sticker prices, look for schools where you are in the top % academically that have some merit opportunities. Catholic colleges in particular could meet the merit critieria. A school like York College in Pa, Mary Washington in Va, St Mary's, James Madison, Grove City (a Christian bent to it), Stonehill in Mass, are all considerations. SOme of the SUNYs may also be a possibility. FOr the LACs in particular, a visit and strong show of interest would be necessary; if they are convinced you are serious about coming East to their school, some of these adcoms would be eager to have a California gal and may sweeten the pot for you. Schools like Vassar, however, get enough CA applicants that this would not likely be the case. Some of those smaller schools though, are hungry for geographic diversity. I know a young man from the north west who got a very nice package from Muhlenberg a few years ago, and the adcoms specifically welcomed him for his geographics.</p>

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<p>Also look at Skidmore, Wheaton(MA), and Goucher in the East and Earlham and Beloit in the Midwest as matches or perhaps safeties.</p>