Please Help Me Choose!

College Search & Selection
1

Hi everyone! I’m a rising senior and I’ve just begun the process of applying for colleges. I have a list of about 7 colleges or so that I’d like to go to, but I’m not quite sure about my chances for like 5 of them, so I think I need more safety schools and I’m open to suggestions.

GPA: My school only does a weighted GPA, so I don’t have a clue what my unweighted is, but my weighted sits at 4.0. From my understanding, some colleges factor honors courses into a weighted GPA, which my school does not, but if that is the case with some colleges, I would have a weighted GPA slightly over 4.0 maybe at a 4.1.

SAT: My SAT score sits at 1400, which I achieved after taking my first dry SAT in March when the new SAT came out (I got 1240), I then prepped for the May SAT and did better, and I am thinking about taking it again in October and get a possible better score just in time for early action applications.

RECS: I have good relationships with teachers in school and I’ve already spoken to several about getting recommendations, and I’m fully confident that they will give me good recommendations overall.

EXTRACURRICULARS: I’ve always been someone who loves to stay busy so I have enrolled myself in a few extracurricular activities, but not too many. I’m not just a member in any of them, I usually hold leadership roles (excluding service/national honors societies).

I was Junior Class Vice President last year, I’m running to become Senior Class President next year (which I should win), and I’m also Director of Communications (basically public relations/social media person for Student Government).

I also am heavily involved in a marketing organization called DECA (similar to FBLA in multiple ways), which I’ve been involved in since freshman year, I’ve competed every year since sophomore year, and next year I’m serving as Vice President of Membership (our chapter is the largest in the world with over 1,400 members).

I’ve always loved politics so I founded a chapter at my school or the Junior State of America, which is a national organization aimed at helping to prepare high school students to become active members of our democracy. I serve as President of my school’s chapter and I’ve been in contact with the Governor for our region and he wants me to serve as head of expansion for Georgia and I also applied to hold another cabinet position.

Next year, my AP US History teacher from last year asked me to join the Academic Bowl team for social studies (which is pretty intense at my school).

I’m also in Science National Honors Society, Social Studies National Honors Society, National Honors Society, and BETA club. All my national honors societies I’ve been in Junior + Senior year, and BETA Club I’ve been in since Sophomore year.

COLLEGES: In terms of schools I think I’ll get into I’m applying to North Georgia University as an ultimate fallback and the University of Georgia (those are all the schools that I’m interested in in my home state of Georgia), then I’m applying for Georgia Washington and American Universities in Washington, D.C. as schools I think I have a decent shot at getting into (George Washington more so than American), then I have two reach schools which I do not believe I will get into but I want to try anyway: Georgetown University and New York University. My GPA/SAT scores are slightly above what NYU wants, and I think I can get in, but I’ve seen how very smart people get denied. At Georgetown, my grades are slightly below and my SAT score is just barely below their average, but I think my essays and reccomendations will make up for it.

Please let me know your thoughts. Any help is appreciated!

2

My explanations were very long-winded, but here is a TL;DR:

GPA: 4.0/4.1 area.

SAT: 1400 (may take again in October to try to bring it up)

Extracurricular: Very involved and serve in officer positions in Student Government, DECA, and Junior State of America (for explanations of what I do in these clubs/what my position is/what these clubs please refer to my explanation above).

Recs: I’m very close with several teachers and I’m confident that their recommendations will be extremely positive and will help boost my application overall and compensate for some areas I’m lacking in especially in the more competitive colleges.

Colleges (in increasing order from best chance of acceptance to least in my opinion): North Georgia University, University of Georgia, George Washington University, American University, New York University, Georgetown University.

Thank you again! Any light you can shed on this process is welcomed and appreciated!

3

Ok I think you have a balanced list but you can calculate unweighted yourself. Any A is a 4 and any B is a 3 and so on. Just roll through your transcript, add up all the point values and divide by number of courses. Gtown is a reach for sure but hey its good to apply to a reach school in case you get in. NYU is like a low reach. GW is a match. American and UGA are like low matches and North Georgia is a safety. I would suggest adding another match or two.

4

I would say your chances are in order of most to least: North Georgia, UGA, American, GW, NYU, GTown. American is definitely less selective than GW

5

Hi! I am currently a rising freshman at American :slight_smile: I was accepted into SIS under the early decision program, which I highly recommend doing if you are serious about going to American. Our RD acceptance rate this year was 25.7%, while GW’s was 39.5%! American will be a reach school for you if you do not show demonstrated interest, as they are known to waitlist or even reject qualified applicants who they believe are applying to AU as a backup. GW and AU are both equally great schools, and my choice between the two came down to the campus. I would suggest setting your eyes on one now and sticking with it. If you don’t have the finances to apply early decision, high demonstrated interest towards one will increase your chances! Let me know if you have any questions!