So I have an obsession with South. Any Southerners want to help me out?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey, </p>

<p>I wrote one of these end of my junior year, but now I've had more time to think about college, and here's my list. I would love it if you guys would chance me! and suggest possible safety school(s) for me, preferably in the south (I visited and loved it!) I prefer a liberal arts school, but I will consider a bigger university. </p>

<p>Reach:
Washington and Lee (ED)
College of the Holy Cross
Wake Forest University
Barnard College</p>

<p>Match (I don't know if I'm a match for all of these, so if I'm not, please tell me!):
University of Richmond
Furman University
American University
Trinity College </p>

<p>Safety (I don't know, but here are some of my ideas):
Providence College, Flagler College, Clemson University (I kinda want this to be in the South)</p>

<p>Some information about me and my school: I live in Dubai, I'm a US dual citizen, I speak 3 languages fluently (one is almost dead haha).
My school doesn't offer traditional honors courses, but you know they are honors because selected people take a higher math or science. AP courses are not allowed until junior year. Also, my school does NOT rank because there are about 70 kids in the grade.</p>

<p>Grades
-GPA: cumulative: 3.3 UW
-GPA: cumulative: around 3.5 W </p>

<p>-Classes (core and elective)
9th:
Concert Choir
Girls Choir
Creative Writing
Earth and Physical Science
English 9
Geometry (honors math at my school)
Intro to MUN
PE
Spanish 2
Speech and Debate
World History 1 and 2 (it was combined)</p>

<p>10th:
Girls Choir
Biology
Algebra 2 (honors math)
Desktop Publishing
English 10
International Relations
Ceramics
PE
Spanish 3
Word History 3</p>

<p>11th:
AP European History (got a 4 on the exam)
AP Language and Composition (got a 5 on the exam)
Chemistry
Girls Choir
Dance
Mass Media and Culture
Calculus (honors math)
Spanish 4</p>

<p>12th schedule:
AP US History
AP Economics
AP Literature
Power Fit (PE)
Girls Choir
Sociology
Public Speaking
Spanish 5
Data Analysis </p>

<p>Test Scores
-SAT I: 2000
-SAT II: Spanish (600), will take US History and Lit this year
-Also will be taking the ACT </p>

<p>EC's:
9th: JV volleyball (captain), lettered (means I get to travel to a sports conference with other schools)
Tutored elementary school children, one in particular was a boy who was in his first year of education in English (he moved from Iran)
Volunteer work with a reputable organization here
Choir</p>

<p>10th: Varsity volleyball (only underclassman student to make the team), lettered
Secretary in student government, helped organize and participate in a service project which sent workers at our school home (they only get to see their families every few years)
Volunteering with a reputable organization here
Choir</p>

<p>11th: Varsity volleyball, lettered
Taking part in the class service project
Volunteering with the same organization
Traveled to Spain for 10 days on a Spanish cultural trip
Choir</p>

<p>12th: Varsity volleyball (captain hopefully!), will letter
Volunteering and Choir (basically the same as everything above)</p>

<p>Essays: Probably will be the best/more interesting part of my application. </p>

<p>Recs: Will be great (don't know if that's too enthusiastic) but one of the teachers is my absolute favorite and we get along extremely well, and the other was my volleyball coach last year, and will be again this year (also my AP Lit teacher)- so I'm assuming it'll be good. </p>

<p>More Hooks: I've been on every continent except for Antarctica! I'm well traveled and cultured. I've lived around the world (mostly the Middle East).</p>

2

<p>Do you want to play volleyball in college? You could look into some bigger universities for maybe a volleyball scholarship? </p>

<p>Trinity is an AMAZING college and it’s BEAUTIFUL. Gorgeous. It’s one of my safeties, and I think it’s a good match for you. :)</p>

3

<p>Why the South? I can’t stand the South!. I dont understand why any non-Caucasian would ever wanna live in these backwoods hillbilly hellholes! If you are a colored person, I suggest a school either in a big city or outside of the South, and save yourself the stress of daily perpetual ignorance.</p>

4

<p>^hahahahaha! Any southerners want to rebuttal? jk jk.</p>

<p>I dont know too much about these colleges, but I wouldnt put Clemson as a safety. The average GPA accepted was like, a 4.0?</p>

5

<p>Well yes I will provide some rebuttal from the south. </p>

<p>I don’t want to go north because of the stereotyping, or be around people who can’t look past the “hillbilly hellholes” as you so kindly put it, or be presumed to have “perpetual ignorance”. </p>

<p>Oh wait. I thought part of not being ignorant was actively looking past stereotypes. Oops. </p>

<p>OP, those are some good schools. I think the continent thing is awesome, maybe not a hook but definitely interesting and unique. Best of luck to you!</p>

6

<p>^ nicely said.</p>

7

<p>Yes, its not really a hook, I just put it there because it’ll be part of my essays (which are interesting) otherwise my app is quite boring I think haha. And about volleyball, I’m not sure if I would be considered for a scholarship because they don’t have a more intense volleyball program ( like club in the states). </p>

<p>About Clemson- I really don’t know. Everything I’ve read has been different, but I’m quite sure it wasn’t as high as a 4.0. It’s definitely a good school though. But this is why I’m asking! Does anyone know anything about Auburn? It’s reputable, but I heard its not too hard to get into. </p>

<p>And about the south- no I’m not a person of color haha. I loved the south because I felt WELCOME at all the schools + towns that I visited. This was something I definitely felt less of when I visited schools in the north. Like everywhere in the world, there are going to be stereotypes and incredibly ignorant people ( I live in the Middle East, can you imagine how many people question that?) but they are something I can deal with. Anyway, to end this rant, the southern people were friendly and warm and I enjoyed my visit there :)</p>

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<p>You can check each schools “common data set” Each school has a common data set that lists the average GPA, SAT scores, how many freshmen have X score, etc. etc. Thats where I found out clemson’s 4.0 GPA average. </p>

<p>Here’s auburn’s common data set from 2009:
<a href=“https://oira.auburn.edu/cds/2009/default.aspx[/url]”>https://oira.auburn.edu/cds/2009/default.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

9

<p>Hold up…hahaha the south isn’t that bad. People generally have this terrible perception of it, when in reality, there are some good schools down here! Rice, UT, Auburn, etc. Southern gentlemen! I live down here, and presonally, I really like it.</p>

<p>I do have a bad perception of Norhterners though, I feel like they stereotype way too much.</p>

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<p>I live in the South too, and I can’t stand it. Maybe because I’m black, I have different perceptions ans experiences than you guys. “Southern Hospitality” is a myth; just fake ass ppl pretending to be nice, just to talk about you behind your back. Instead of being focused on Confederate shirts and flags ppl continue to wear, the law decides to target young black men who wear their pants below the waist. How ridiculous! In the North, ppl want to move forward. The South is so slow and lazy, which explains why som much of it is still a wasteland. I remember living in the North, when racism is actually discouraged! Down here it’s just a way of life. All the country bumpkins I’ve had to set straight fro callin me the N-word… u know what, I’m done talkin about this. Anyways, Im sure the universities are different, so there’s no problem going to school here. It’s just the ideal place to live for the average level-headed, productive American.</p>

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<p>NavyFIELD, thank you! </p>

<p>Natalie, good point. And FutureVPFinance- I’m sorry your experience in the south has negatively affected you. But Confederate ideals have always been a part of the south’s history, and probably always will be. Anyway, I don’t live there so I can’t really say too much about your experience.</p>

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<p>Maybe I missed it, but did you say what majors you are considering?</p>

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<p>Oh I’m sorry! I had a feeling I was forgetting something… </p>

<p>Political science/ International relations, something along those lines. I’m also considering going to graduate school for law.</p>

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<p>I lived from year 0 to 22 in the North and from 22 to current (lets just say much past 22) in the South, however I am a conservative non-minority so I guess you can factor that in. But, I feel that in the metro areas (not so in rural south) that racism is MUCH lower than it is in the North or at least expressed differently. I also love the manners and general common courtesy in the south. I hate driving and shopping when I go home to visit - people are so rude!</p>

<p>All that being said, I’m sure you’ve considered all the big state schools but I think your gpa is low for UGA, GA Tech, UA, USC, TN. Might be ok for LSU and Ole Miss, UKY, MS state, GA State.</p>

<p>Some other schools you might want to take a look at…Plus they all have volleyball in some capacity</p>

<p>on the reach-y side:
Mercer
Wofford
Berry</p>

<p>on the match-y side:
Univ AL, Birmingham (Urban, bit more commuter-feel)
Millsaps
Auburn</p>

<p>On the safer side:
Charleston Southern
Loyola New Orleans
Guilford</p>

<p>Have you used the college search on CC yet? It lets you select a lot more options than many of the other search sites do as well as the level of importance. IE - Diversity, GPA, etc.</p>

15

<p>Thank you for the suggestions kerrbo! I have considered the bigger state schools, though I still prefer something smaller. Out of all the schools you suggested, I like Auburn and Ole Miss the best (my dad lived in the south for a bit, and likes both as well).
My counselor also suggested UT and USC for me as possibilities. I did some research on Berry, and I don’t think I’m interested.<br>
But I’m definitely leaning toward Ole Miss… there’s something interesting about it. </p>

<p>I did do the college research thing! I got a couple of the schools you mentioned, as well as a lot of random ones. I’m going to have to do more research I think.</p>

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<p>Dub - I can tell you that from all the materials my D got from a college fair last year, UKY and Ole MS were the most impressive and all-encompassing and that her best friend went on a college tour this past summer (from TN to KY to MS to AL to GA) and came back with Ole MS and Auburn on the top of her list. She’s getting ready for a NC/SC tour in a week or so though, so that may change.</p>

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<p>Interesting! I would love to visit these schools, but unfortunately I can’t. From what I see online, both Ole Miss and Auburn have great campuses and good programs for what I’m interested in. My only issue is how well I would fit in at a HUGE, southern school, which is why I was kinda opting for a smaller LAC.</p>

18

<p>I wouldn’t consider American Univ the south as it is in Washington, D.C. I think you aer a good match for W&L and for Wake Forest but should also reach for Duke and Rice because you have a very interesting background.</p>

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<p>NYC, I know American isn’t in the south. I didn’t want ALL of my schools to be in the south, and I was able to visit AU and liked it quite a bit. I don’t know if I would be considered a match for W&L, I’m probably on the lower end of applicants, but I’m hoping I have a better chance because of my background. I haven’t done much research on Rice and Duke, but I’ll look into them.</p>

20

<p>UF?? or Miami?? (Liberal south :slight_smile: )</p>