<p>I want to get into the absolute best school possible and I'm a little lost in terms of what I can do to set myself apart and have a chance (a possible Ivy?). Here's what I have so far:</p>
<p>Female
White (Greek and Polish, if that could give me any edge :-) )
Rising Senior
Smallish Blue Ribbon Public School</p>
<p>ACT: 33 (English: 34, Math: 27, Reading: 36, Science: 36)
SAT: I took it last weekend
GPA: 3.43 (I know this is bad, I did the whole slacker thing my freshman and sophomore year)</p>
<p>Enriched Math for 3 years and Honors senior year
Honors English for 3 years and AP senior year
AP Photography senior year</p>
<p>The school newspaper sophomore year
HUDDLE (prevent drugs), SAFE (recycling), International Club, Chinese Club, and Key Club junior year
SAFE, Int. Club, Chinese Club, Key Club, and hopefully NHS senior year</p>
<p>Honor Roll and Perfect Attendance awards</p>
<p>I take Art classes at the Cleveland Institute of Art
I have worked a summer job as a secretary at a law office</p>
<p>I'm planning on starting an online business this summer where I will sell handmade accessories and donate the profits to charity</p>
<p>I'm looking for any suggestions on anything I can do to strengthen my resume and make it kick - a**.</p>
<p>Stick to the same ECs you were involved in junior year, since colleges like to see dedication and continuity in your ECs, allowing you to really impact your school and community through them. The online business might help, though I’m not exactly sure how colleges view them. However, since it’s a little late to strengthen your resume as far as ECs go, you could start writing and drafting your essays, which will 1) give you more time to perfect them and 2) lessen the stress of senior year and college applications. Make sure you have some solid safeties and reaches that you would be happy at because (as I’m sure you know) a 3.43 GPA is pretty low for the Ivies.</p>
<p>Is that your weighted GPA?</p>
<p>@collegehappy the only EC I’m not doing next year is HUDDLE so I don’t think it will have that big of an impact, right? And as for my GPA, I plan for it to go up next year within the 3.7-3.9 range.</p>
<p>@momtocollegekids I don’t really know if it’s weighted because my school only gives us one GPA and that’s it.</p>
<p>An ivy league school would not be realistic with 2 slacker years, even with good ECs. State flagships are often good bets with weaker GPAs and high SATs. And if you’re full pay, most private colleges ranked under 20 on the U list and about 15 on the LAC list will be happy to have you.</p>
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<p>Agreed. The best thing you can do is find schools with incoming GPAs around what you have, or a little above (an upward trend will benefit you).</p>
<p>:-( That’s disappointing… There’s no chance? Well, okay thanks.</p>
<p>It’s best to find out these things now.</p>
<p>But, that doesn’t mean that you still can’t go to a really good school that you’ll love.</p>
<p>It shouldn’t be Ivy or nothing!</p>
<p>Is that your weighted GPA?</p>
<p>how much will your parents spend each year?</p>
<p>My parents are willing to spend any amount of money.</p>
<p>And yeah, it’s not Ivy or nothing… but for my reach schools I thought some of them would fit well (Yale, Harvard, Brown).</p>
<p>I understand my resume isn’t good enough to get in now, so that’s why I want some suggestions.</p>
<p>OK…</p>
<p>So, you’re lucky that money isn’t an issue… So, you’ll still have lots of very good choices!! </p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Tell us what else you want in a school…</p>
<p>Intended major/career:
big campus
small/med campus (less than 10k undergrads)
quiet campus
rah rah big sports to watch
honors college on campus?
greek systems as an option
Catholic schools ok?
single sex
co-ed 50/50 split
rural setting
big city setting
collegetown/suburban setting
nice dorms
recreation availability
warm weather
cold/snowy weather
regional preference
is regional preference a requirement?</p>
<p>If you slack, you don’t deserve to go to an Ivy league.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids I already picked out these colleges (I have no idea if I’m aiming too high… I probably am, but I like to think I have a chance) :
Pomona
Scripps
Occidental
Connecticut College
Yale
Illinois Wesleyan
Knox
Johns Hopkins
St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Amherst
Babson
Brandeis
Emerson
Harvard
Tufts
Wheaton
Macalester
Washington University in St. Louis
Bard
Columbia
St. Lawrence
Muhlenberg
Brown
Rhode Island School of Design
Middlebury
College of William and Mary</p>
<p>You are going to apply to that many colleges? You REALLY REALLY REALLY need to shorten your list to around 10 at most. I applied to 13 schools and first semester senior year was HELL trying to get all my apps done! I would divide your list into three categories: safety, match, reach and pick a few of each. Go online to look for the average GPA, SAT, etc for all of these colleges to determine which will go into which category.</p>
<p>Pick out a couple of reaches from your top schools as “just because/what if” and cut out the rest of the reaches. </p>
<p>So pick 2-3 from your ivies, WashU, Amhearst, CC, JHU, etc for your reach/super reaches.</p>
<p>Your chances are slim for those so, don’t waste too much time applying to a lot of those.</p>
<p>now…pick out your match schools…4-6 of these</p>
<p>Those are the schools where your ACT might compensate for your GPA</p>
<p>Then…Pick out your safeties (you’re going to need at least 2-3 of these).
Your safeties are schools that might require a 3.0 GPA for admission and a modest test score. Your ACT 33 and your 3.4 GPA will get you admitted.</p>
<p>I’m not seeing any/many safeties on your list…maybe St. Mary’s and St. Lawrence???</p>
<p>I’m trying to figure out some common themes with your choices. What are the common themes except they’re mostly all smallish schools?</p>
<p>@collegehappy yeah, I’m going to narrow it down, I just haven’t had much time lately</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids do I have any “match” schools on my list? I don’t really know how to pick out match vs. safety schools. I like schools that are under 10,000 students, great academics, a variety of social scenes, and a variety of majors (or at least more than a few)</p>
<p>Scripps
Occidental
Connecticut College
Illinois Wesleyan
Knox
St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Babson
Brandeis
Emerson
Wheaton
Macalester
Bard
St. Lawrence
Muhlenberg
Rhode Island School of Design
College of William and Mary</p>
<p>This is probably where you should start with your list (I got rid of your high reaches). Try to whittle it down to 8-12, though some CCers will swear by the mass-application strategy.</p>
<p>It would be helpful to at least have some idea what you want to go into. There are some very good colleges out there that you may still be able to get into. Yes realistically the Ivies are probably out but what about schools like Cornell College (not university) or Sarah Lawrence College? At the very least do a bit of research and don’t let ivy vision prevent you from looking into other schools that will provide you the same quality of education without the name brand price.</p>
<p>ap photography!!! hahahaa</p>
<p>Unless you are in state or a legacy take Wm & Mry off your list. Your GPA is low and the rigor of your classes don’t seem very high. Perhaps something is lost in translation, but they are going to want you to have taken the hardest coursework based on the top 10% of students in your class. If you look at those students and the classes you have taken are comparable then you may have a shot (not simply what you are taking Sr year, but what you have taken all 4yrs).</p>
<p>I’m still trying to figure out what the common themes are with her choices. I’m getting the feeling that the theme is prestige…and not necessarily fit.</p>