<p>I've been looking through a master list of potential colleges but I just can't seem to choose. Any many college deadlines, I've noticed, are January 1st. I don't really have any particular preferences for a college. </p>
<p>Gender/ethnicity: Female/Black</p>
<p>GPA: 3.0-3.1 UW/3.5 W (grades dropped junior year, but I have risen my grades substantially with my first semester senior grades)</p>
<p>AP Classes: Taken 7 so far, 12 by end of year.</p>
<p>SAT: 1760 (600 Reading, 620 Writing, 540 Math) I'll be retaking them again in January, --shooting for a 1900.</p>
<p>SAT II: None (I don't think I have time to take them, since I plan on taking the SAT one last time in January--I don't plan to apply anywhere that requires them, though some may recommend them)</p>
<p>Community Service: Just 175 hours combined at local food kitchens and charity stops.</p>
<p>ECs and Leadership: Typical leadership positions and activities with my school. Nothing special. I'm involved in a lot of Environmental and Social Awareness initiatives, but I don't have time to do anything outside of school.</p>
<p>Recs: Decent I suppose. They are from my AP Spanish and Pre-AP English Teachers from Sophomore Year</p>
<p>I would start with your local publics. Where are you?</p>
<p>What classes have you taken? What GPA will you be applying with? This will vary with the school. For example, a UC GPA for California publics can be very different from what a student calculates on their own. </p>
<p>You need to say something about financial and geographical needs, what you might want to study, and what kind of fit (with regard to the other students, activities, and rural/urban/suburban setting. It’s pretty late. Where have you already applied?</p>
<p>You may be cutting it close for those schools with a Jan 1 deadline, but there are a LOT of colleges with later deadlines. Take a deep breath… Then figure out which ones need to be done now, whether they accept the Common App, and whether they require a supplement. Don’t let yourself get so overwhelmed that you get nothing accomplished. Good luck! :)</p>
<p>I live in Miami, Florida. I have been checking many of my local colleges here and most state deadlines are in February. I’m definitely applying to University of South Florida and Florida Atlantic University as safeties/matches. Currently I’m indecisive on a major, but if I had to choose it would probably be something in Humanities or Linguistics. I’ve taken a pretty rigourous schedule throughout high school. I’ve completed 7 AP classes and am currently taken 5 APs this year. I’ve taken plenty of honors classes as well. I do considerably well in them, scoring a B average in most of my classes (although my Junior grades dropped my gpa quite a bit last year). My GPA will probably be a 3.1-3.2 UW with my Senior grades calculated (My Senior Semester grades were As and Bs). My parents want me to stay in-state, though I’d rather go OOS, if financially feasible. I want a college big on sports and social life, yet still strong in academics. I’ve applied to UNF and UCF, only (I got in to both).</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I forgot to mention some things:</p>
<p>Class Rank: Top 32 %
Varsity Athlete: Women’s Basketball in Winter, Crew in Fall and Spring (IMO I’m more competitive in Crew, I’ve been in contact with some DI and DIII coaches but not 100% positive about my standing in some of those colleges, which happen to be academically competitive institutions)</p>
<p>With regard to classes; how many years of foreign language? How far in math? How many lab sciences? How about AP writing? Did you get a 3 or better in that one?</p>
<p>It seems unusual for schools to include senior grades in GPA calculations. Do the publics in Florida do that? What do you understand to be financially feasible? Have you talked to your parents about what they can pay? Have you run the EFC calculator on the FAFSA website? I don’t know the schools you mentioned (but I know FAMU), but they sound like good choices.</p>
<p>I’ve taken Foreign Language up to Sophomore Year (Took Spanish in Middle School and advanced to AP by my Sophomore Year). My Math goes up to Pre-Calculus and currently I’m taking AP Statistics (I didn’t do AP Calculus - wouldn’t fit in schedule). Taken 4 lab sciences but I did poorly in AP Physics B last year. Math and Science seem to be my most troubling subjects, while the Humanities are my best. I got a 3 on World History and a 4 on AP English Language.</p>
<p>Nice job! How about finances? I don’t think it will be easy for you to compete for a spot at a “meets need school”, but I only know about the very competitive ones.</p>
<p>It sounds like you got your state schools covered, if you plan on going out of state what regions do you prefer and what finances would you have available. Certainly if you desire a school that is big on sports and on the social scene then you could look into the big athletic schools. Potential options might be found by comparing your stats to the averages of schools in big athletic conferences like the SEC or Big Ten. (You can use College Board for this)</p>
<p>Keep in mind this is about FEDERAL aid, which is limited to about $5,500 a year. This does NOT cover a dorm experience, but helps a lot for most local publics.</p>
<p>I don’t have a preference to regions in particular. I am speaking with coaches in Pac-10 and Big East, though their interest in me varies and I’m worried I may not be able to rely on being recruited because I’m good, but not exceptional.</p>
<p>Results of Multiple College Search Engines (most of these seem on the “reach” side):
Bates
Colby
Middlebury
Williams
Trinity
Emory (Oxford School)
Notre Dame
Wake Forest
Carnegie Mellon</p>
<p>All of those probably are out of realistic reach for your grades and scores. Also, the deadline for at least a few of them (if not all) is on or about January 1. </p>
<p>If you like small colleges such as Bates and Colby, check out the Colleges That Change Lives ([Colleges</a> That Change Lives | Changing Lives, One Student at a Time](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/]Colleges”>http://www.ctcl.org/)). These are similar to some of the schools on your list, but (except for Reed) less selective. Some of them have later deadlines, too.</p>
<p>^Thanks for the college lists, tk21769, I’ll definitely consider those colleges. If I were able to raise my SAT from 1760 to maybe 1900+ do you think Bates might be possible. I’ve actually been speaking with the coach about playing for them.</p>