Ready for LAC?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a junior and just got my SATs back, and I'm just wondering if I've got strong chances at the schools listed below my stats. Are they safeties, fits, reaches, etc.?</p>

<p>Male
Not a URM, but still very much an M (Jewish).
School: Highly competitive public school in CT (we've got a ridiculous amount of Intel semi-finalists, finalists, and the same applies for Siemens; at least 3/4 of students go to highly selective schools)</p>

<p>Rank: Top 10% (top 15% at worst) of a class of ~350
GPA (F/S/Junior): 3.9<X<4.0 (weighted), low freshman year GPA significantly harmed me (Junior year predicted based on semester grades)</p>

<p>SAT (I took the March SAT and am retaking the SAT in May, taking ACTs in April)
CR: 800
M: 610 (had intensive tutoring, aimed for 700, but didn't reach it)
W: 710 (was aiming for 750 or better)</p>

<p>SAT II: 780 US History (taken in June of last year), ??? Lit (taking it this June), ??? Bio (Ecology, maybe, maybe, this June)</p>

<p>APs Taking Currently: AP Environmental Science, AP US Government & Politics, AP English Language and Composition</p>

<p>APs To be Taken: AP Euro, AP Calc AB, AP English Literature, and AP Econ</p>

<p>Independent Research – Economics related, highly regarded by PhD candidate at Ivy where I took a summer class on economic growth and development, also well received by UConn professor and UMass-Amherst professors; I'm trying to get published</p>

<p>Have won awards from CT science fair, a regional fair, attending more fairs, and hoping to do well elsewhere; won "gold key" (1 of 3000 awardees in the nation) for the Scholastic Art and Writing awards, won award at Columbia Scholastic Press Association conference in NYC; numerous community service awards </p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>Viola - 6-ish years w/private teacher, formerly in school orchestra, dropped it for a local youth orchestra (at least 3 hrs. week of orchestra practice in that group, which was audition-only)</p>

<p>Administrative assistant (volunteer) at local hebrew school, 4 hrs. per week</p>

<p>12 hrs. a week at local Barnes and Noble –cashiering, customer service, etc.</p>

<p>School newspaper (highly regarded, old, Columbia Scholastic Press Association gold award every year for half a decade-ish) –
9th gr.: ombudsman,
10th gr.: copy editor (managed copy editor staff of 5 persons)
11th gr.: opinions editor (position is shared with a senior), about 10-15 hours per week
12th gr.: unknown, editor in chief OR managing editor (probably one of them)</p>

<p>Highly involved in local and state Democratic politics: Worked for mayoral candidate in two most recent elections, worked for local Democratic Town Committee in past three local elections, worked for ("intern") House of Representatives candidate in 2004 and 2006 (lost both times); all of those jobs were for a considerable amount of hours worth of phone calls, clerical work, research, canvassing, etc.</p>

<p>Also:
Applied for Bronfman Youth Fellowship (apparently highly regarded), didn't get in, but I beat out 78% of the students (was a finalist and got interviewed)</p>

<p>If you could make some suggestions for my APs next year and what I should do about SAT IIs, that would be much appreciated.</p>

<p>Schools (categorized as safety, fit or reach; are these accurate categorizations?):</p>

<p>Safety:
Connecticut College
Trinity College (CT)
Union College
Franklin and Marshall
UConn
U of Rochester</p>

<p>Fit:
Colgate
Hamilton
Macalester
Brandeis
Carleton
Oberlin
Grinnell</p>

<p>Reach:
Brown
Dartmouth
Haverford
Wesleyan
Vassar
Swarthmore
Amherst
Williams
Columbia
JHU
UPenn
U of Chicago</p>

<p>Anywhere else I should consider?</p>

2

<p>Safety...Add Muhlenberg...They also give academic scholarships regardless of need.</p>

3

<p>Good idea – though I'm pretty confident that I won't need a financial safety (will be paying full tuition – not FA eligible, plus I don't want to seek it out).</p>

4

<p>The classifications look about right, although I'd call Connecticut College a fit and Carleton a slight reach.</p>

5

<p>Conn? Really? Carleton as a slight reach (or high fit) definitely makes sennse.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

6

<p>Might as well add Middlebury since you've got the rest of the top 20 LAC's</p>

7

<p>hey, I live in CT too. Which part of CT? I live in southeastern CT. Urs look very good. Just wondering, where did u do ur economics research wi/ a prof?</p>

8

<p>With a 35% acceptance rate, I just don't think Conn College could ever be a safety.</p>

9

<p>I'm not really much of a foreign languages person, and even though I love international issues, I don't think middlebury would look favorably on my lack of AP foreign languages.</p>

<p>Southwest CT, myself. Didn't do it with a prof – but I contacted a number of them at UConn.</p>

<p>Interesting point about Conn College. I know a professor there (doubt it'll help) and he said "you could do better than Conn College" (paraphrasing a bit, but that's the gist of it). However, I dunno if he's right...</p>

<p>Just a note: I've visited nearly all of the schools that I'm considering, and liked every single one. I had visited Northwestern, but decided it was too big, so I took it off my list.</p>

10

<p>No, I definitely think you could get in somewhere higher up on the selectivity scale (if that's what you mean), as well as Conn. I just figured that since you'd organized the schools on your list into the three categories you'd want them to be as accurately placed as possible.</p>

<p>Kudos to you for visiting all those places, though! Did any of them stand out as a clear favorite (or favorites)?</p>

11

<p>Haven't visited all of them, but certainly most. So far, it's gotta be Wesleyan, Brown, Vassar, and Haverford that I liked most. Really liked U of Chicago and Colgate.</p>

12

<p>Bump-a-diddy.</p>

13

<p>are you applying to all of those schools?</p>

14

<p>Nah. I'll cut a few out.</p>