Please help me! I need Help with Match schools!

Parents Forum
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<p>I'm actually posting this for one of my friends (she's having trouble activating her account) who is just about to start her college application process (I'm done, but I reccommended her this forum esp. the parents section b/c everyone here is so helpful.) </p>

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<p>My friend's post</p>

<p>I'm posting in the parents thread because I'm wondering whether any parents have experience with this type of problem for their children? I can find plenty of "safety" schools and "reach" schools, but no "match" schools. I feel overqualified for most schools, but like I'm playing the lottery with all of the super-selective ones. My list so far is:</p>

<p>Reach:
" Swarthmore College
" Northwestern University
" Brown University
" Harvard</p>

<p>Safety:
" American University
" University of Maryland- College Park
" St. Mary's College of Maryland</p>

<p>I'm really looking for an intellectual atmosphere, with the students very open to debating and discussing ideas constantly. </p>

<p>I'm probably going to study the social sciences, but I may change my mind. I'm considering journalism, but regardless of what I'd study, I'd like a suburban setting close enough to a large city to find some good internships. I'm from the D.C. area so I'm used to going to school with a very diverse group of students, and I LOVE that, so diversity would be wonderful. </p>

<p>Here are my qualifications:
SAT scores: (new one) 730 for all 3
Unweighted GPA: 3.98
Weighted GPA: 4.63
AP classes (including next year): U.S. Government, World History, Comparative Government, Psychology, 2 English classes, U.S. History, Calculus BC, Human Geography.
Leadership and Extra-curriculars:
" Editor-in-Chief of Literary Magazine
" VP of Model UN
" VP of Tri-M music honor society
" Flute section leader in marching band and symphonic band
" Mock Trial- 4 years
" Pit Orchestra- 4 years
" Debate and county finals- 1 year
" National Honor Society
" Quill and Scroll Honor Society</p>

<p>Any suggestions as to which colleges I might want to look at, or what I am doing wrong?</p>

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<p>SAT scores?</p>

<p>A match is usually considered to be any school where your SAT scores and GPA are in the middle 50% and which has a reasonable acceptance rate (greater than 30-40%).</p>

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<p>Does your school rank? That stat could also help in determining appropriate matches. Have you looked into Tufts?</p>

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<p>No our school does not rank.</p>

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<p>Another matchy/reach might be Wash U. in St. Louis (don't know about journalism there, tho.)</p>

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<p>Tufts and Wesleyan come to mind as potential matches for you. You might also look at the University of Rochester given your desire for diversity and your music interests. You might also check out honors colleges at the larger universities. The advantage is the small, intellecutally challenging group of peers in the honors classes combined with the large variety of potential EC's and activities.</p>

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<p>Hi, I'm the original poster, and my account has finally started working. Thanks for the advice so far, you wouldn't consider Tuft or Wesleyan to be a reach?</p>

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<p>Your SAT's are at the upper end of both of the schools' ranges, and your grades/curriculum certainly seem to make Tufts and Wes realistic. More info regarding your ec's would help in evaluating further, eg. what does "debate and county finals" mean, how much of a commitment is demanded from the literary magazine role, what accomplishments might you have from mock trial, etc. On another note, however, Wesleyan is not really that near to any major city (NYC is about 2 hours away).</p>

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<p>Ok clarification. Even though we don't technically have ranks, I'm pretty sure I'm the valedictorian of my class (our high school has about 2000 people). Being editor-in-chief this year will entail running weekly meetings, editing submissions, setting up coffee-house fundraisers, judging art and photography, working with the publishing company, working with other editors, the layout, etc. The "magazine" is actually more like a book that comes out at the end of every year. It is non-profit, and the mission is to promote writing, art, photography, and even music within the school community. It is a real publication, but we sell it more cheaply than it's really worth so that more people will have access to it.</p>

<p>I've been playing the flute since fourth grade. In high school, this year I was the best flautist out of somewhere between 15-30 as a junior. As a sophomore, I was the third best, beating out a few seniors. I'll have been in marching band 3 years at the end of my senior year, playing the piccolo and acting as section leader for two of them. The marching band is going to China this September to march in the tourism parade (it's like Macy's here, but bigger) and I'm going to be working with the flutes to make them presentable to China. I've performed in the pit orchestra for musicals all of high school, which requires practices and rehearsals for several months and we stay at school until 10 PM the week beforehand. The Tri-M music honor society is dedicated to promoting music within the community. We host free concerts, charity concerts, fundraisers, go to shows, etc. Getting in requires an audition, teacher recommendations, straight- A's in music classes, and a specific GPA. I've also played individually in a county festival before, receiving the highest score. The school band received a superior rating in county festival for the first time this year. I have not played in a state festival either way because the festival people botched the administrative stuff.</p>

<p>Mock trial is a competetive club in our area. We haven't won many cases because our school is pretty new, and we're still inesperienced. Model UN is pretty self-explanatory, and there aren't really many awards associated with it. I joined debate my sophomore year and stuck through with it until the end of that year even though I didn't enjoy it, and ended up going to the county finals (you can do that if you win at least half of the required number of the debates) I think the NHS and Quill and Scroll Honor society are pretty self-explanatory. Tutoring, that kind of thing.</p>

<p>I've also been in peace club and was the historian this year, but the club does not do very much.</p>

<p>I neglected to say I was a school ambassador for two years, before I left because I couldn't stand the direction the leadership was taking the organization into. The ambassadors help with freshmen orientation, give to some charities, provide helpers at school functions. My new leadership positions and difficult classes is the main reason I left, but additionally, the new leadership has been devoted to babying the freshmen by playing elementary-school style games with them (even 3/4 of the way through the school year!) The freshmen didn't like it, and we did not either. </p>

<p>Probably a bit too much information there, sorry about that.</p>

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<p>People who like Brown usually also like Wesleyan and Vassar. Wes is located in Middletown which is not a very attractive city. Vassar is in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Tufts has become very selective, but you are definitely in the range. It is near Davis Square, which is a very lively area and only a couple of subway stops away from Harvard Square, and about 15minutes from downtown Boston.
If you like Boston, consider Boston University also. It is very large, but it has some great faculty and it has ties to the New England Conservatory if you are interested in music (so do Tufts and Harvard).
A bit further out is Brandeis University which is definitely suburban but within easy commuting distance to Boston/Cambridge.
Have you considered Georgetown and George Washington U? Both are considered a bit more selective than American U.</p>

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<p>It sounds like you have some strong ec's, so the schools mentioned seem in the upper match range. Washington U. in St. Louis may be the kind of setting you would like, though it may not have the diversity of a Brown/Wes.</p>

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<p>i was considering applying to Wash U in MO. the only thing is, there is somebody i'd really rather avoid seeing going there too, but i love the look of the school. do you know any similar ones?</p>

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<p>A match/safety for you is also the University of Michigan, which also has a great marching band.</p>

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<p>If you'll look south Emory, Vanderbilt, and Tulane could be interesting. I'd pick Emory (supposedlly a bit of a rivalry with WashU).</p>

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<p>Are you interested in the west or southwest? What about Rice? UCLA? UCBerkeley? USC?</p>

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<p>What about Johns Hopkins?</p>

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<p>I was looking more to the east coast/midwest because I don't want to be too far away from my parents (i live near DC) Johns Hopkins seems a bit of a reach?</p>

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<p>I don't think Hopkins is such a reach...I think you would be a strong candidate.</p>

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<p>Uh, point of information: SATs of 730/730 are not upper end of the range for schools like Wesleyan & Vassar. They are a tick above Median, and these schools are too selective to be considered matches. </p>

<p>Match ideas: Union, Syracuse, Tulane ?</p>

<p>Agree with Wash U (reachy,) Vanderbilt, Emory.</p>

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<p>SBMom: I had glanced at the SAT 25%-75% from US News rankings before I posted, which I now see as dated '03: Wesleyan:1290-1460; Vassar:1300-1450. These ranges prompted my saying the OP was at the upper end.</p>