Recommend Schools, Please?

Parent Cafe
1

Hello all! I am a student from New Jersey and wish to share some of my credentialing so that you may help me, if you can! These are my stats for college applications in the Fall of 2016 for admissions in 2017. I need help choosing safety schools as well as schools that match my criteria. I was recommended to post here after I posted these statistics in the “What are my chances?” forum. I don’t mind traveling, I really don’t. I will go all the way out to California if necessary to obtain a degree. Thank you very much for reading! Hopefully I can gain insight via your kindness in sharing information with me!

Beginning with Grades…
My school uses a 5.0 Weighted GPA System
Weighted GPA -> 4.678 Unweighted GPA -> 4.0

Freshman Year:
Honors English I - A
Honors Biology - A
Honors Geometry - A
Honors World History - A+
Catholicism - A
Intro to Computer Science - Java - A
Honors Spanish I - A+
Physical Education - A

Sophomore Year:
Honors English II - A+
Honors Chemistry - A+
Honors Algebra II - A
Honors American History I - A
Sacred Scripture - A+
Physical Education - A
Health & Driver’s Education - A
Honors Spanish II - A+

Junior Year:
Honors English III - A
Honors Physics I - A+
Honors Pre-Calculus - A+
AP United States History - A
Morality - A+
Catholic Social Teaching - A+
AP Computer Science - A+
Honors Spanish III - A+

Scheduled Classes for Senior Year:
AP Literature
AP Spanish Language and Culture
AP Calculus AB
Theology IV A
Theology IV B
AP Biology
Discrete Mathematics
AP Physics

My SAT Scores are as follows:
March 2016 - 1390 (680 R&W) (710 M)
May 2016 - 1420 (730 R&W) (690 M)
Superscore of 1440 (730R&W) (710 M)

My Extracurricular Activities in School with Years of Membership:
Young Medical Leaders Club (1-3)
Personal Finance Club (3)
Business Leadership Club (1 & 3)
Science National Honor Society (2-3)
Afterschool Academic Tutoring (2-3)
Varsity Football (1-2)
Spanish Club (2-3)
Spanish National Honor Society (Senior Year) [Required to Apply in Junior Year]
Model United Nations – Council for Economic Advancement B Representing Israel
Junior Varsity Math League (2)
Varsity Math League (Senior Year) [Required to Apply in Junior Year]
National Honor Society (3-4)
Yearbook Staff (2-3)
Students Against Distracted Driving (Senior Year)
PRESIDENT Physics Club (3-4)
Assistant Athletic Trainer

My Extracurricular Activities Outside of School:
Fencing – 6th Grade to Currently
National Future Medical Medical Leaders Congress (2-3)
HEAD EVENT COORDINATOR Whispering Knoll Nursing Home (2-3) [Volunteer]
HEAD TRANSLATOR for Specialty Eye MD --7th Grade to Currently [Volunteer]
Columbia University Summer Program for High School Students Biomedical Engineering & Economics
Freelance Graphic Design (Photoshop CC)
Freelance Video Effects (Adobe After Effects CC)
Business OWNER & EXECUTIVE MANAGER: Restaurant
ASSISTANT MANAGER Healthexcel Cardiology and Specialty Eye MD

Thinking about creating a Non-profit organization… “Eye Can See Clearly”
-Charitable organization that collects old glasses from households, takes the prescription of them and matches them to those in need in nursing homes, orphanages etc.

Currently looking at doing a double-major in a science and Philosophy.
I still haven’t decided upon the science yet!

Math II taken June 2016 – Results Not Received Yet.
Recommendations will come from:
Math Teacher (Taught Pre-Calculus and Algebra II)
Guidance Counselor
English Teacher (Junior Year)
Physics Teacher
Fencing Coach

2

What can you afford to pay each year?
Large or small schools? Rural/Urban/Suburban?
LAC/Private/Public?

3

I can get around $75-80K annually from my parents. I would prefer small schools with no preference on rural, urban or suburban. Preferably private! But it being public won’t make me shy away from an opportunity to go there if it arises!

4

I’d suggest you start by trying the Supermatch function to the left (under find a college) and getting your hands on some good college guide books such as Fiske (my favorite), Princeton Review, Insiders Guide etc.

5

Is there a way to set it to accept Redesigned SAT scores? I only see the 2400 scale

6

Seriously? Then you can look just about anywhere where you have the stats tomget acceoted…because you can afford to be full pay.

So…answer these questions:

Urban/suburban/rural?

Large/medium/small?

Public/private?

Geographic or weather preference?

Religious…or not?

7

There are conversion schedules readily found online for new to old SAT.
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/higher-ed-brief-sat-concordance.pdf

8

@thumper1
1.) No Preference
2.) Preferably Small-Medium
3.) Preferably Private —> Some exceptions with Public
4.) No Preference
5.) No Preference

9

Rah/rah or quiet?
Do you have a preference for LACs or RUs.
With high stats and a lot of wealth, there are many many options available.

10

Case Western Reserve University

U Rochester

University of Pittsburgh

11

@usualhopeful Preferably quiet. However if a program strikes my interest at a “rah/rah” college, I’d be ecstatic to attend! I have no preference for LACs but what are RUs?

12

@mommdc I’ll keep those on the radar! Looking at the programs at them has me interested.

13

RUs = research universities. There aren’t always distinct differences between attending an RU and attending a LAC.

14

RUs would be nice! Not that interested in LACs though. For RUs, University of Michigan seems attractive.

15

If you are interested in the sciences (any idea which?), have you considered engineering (which pays more)? That would narrow your list considerably. Most every LAC has sciences.

Michigan would be an excellent choice either way for a public RU.

16

I am quite interested in the new emerging field of Immunotherapy. However, I feel that my calling is to be a physician in low-income areas and help communities of people that are impoverished.

17

Small-Medium schools (<20,000 students):

Reaches:
U’s: Princeton, Yale, Stanford, MIT, UChicago, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, Duke, Caltech, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Vanderbilt, WUSTL, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts. LACs: Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, Middlebury, Wellesley, Bowdoin, Haverford, Carleton, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd

Low reaches/High matches:
U’s: Emory, Boston College, Brandeis, Wake Forest, Tulane, Lehigh, U of Rochester, William & Mary. LACs: Wesleyan, Vassar, Washington & Lee, Davidson, Hamilton, Colby, Grinnell, Smith, Reed, Oberlin, Colgate, Macalester, Bates, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, Lafayette, Kenyon, Colorado College, Holy Cross, Dickinson, Mt. Holyoke, Whitman, U Richmond, Bucknell, Occidental, Scripps, Pitzer

Matches:
U’s: Miami(FL), Villanova, SMU, Santa Clara, Marquette, Miami(OH)…
LACs: Trinity (CT), Connecticut College, Skidmore, Gettysburg, Sewanee, St. Olaf, Beloit, Lawrence, Franklin & Marshall, Denison, Sarah Lawrence, Bard, Wheaton(IL), Earlham, Kalamazoo…

Low matches/safeties: Some smaller non-flagship public U’s and less-selective privates.

If you can give us more fit variables, we can help you narrow the list considerably.

18

Do you consider fencing in college?
If yes, read fencing thread in the CC athletic forum and ask questions there.
Fencing can get you into selective college.

19

@CCDD14 Yes, it is one of the sports I am going to pursue in college. I know Columbia has a decent team!

20

@Metanyanya

I am a student from NJ attending Michigan, so I can answer any questions you have about it. It would be a great choice!