<p>Okay...I'm a freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder with a 3.424 first semester GPA. I took five classes (the more challenging freshman chemistry, British lit, French, linguistics, and intro to journalism) with grades of B, B, A-, A-, and A. I went to Phillips Academy (Andover) and was on the honor roll my entire senior year (5.0 on a 6.0 scale), but with no sports. I was an arts editor for a magazine there, etc. SAT: 1420, pretty even, with 800 Writing SAT II, other SAT IIs 690 (Bio) and 700 (French). At CU I have been working at a retail store 14 hours per week and I joined College Democrats and College Republicans and the Journalism Board. I might be an officer (possibly president) of the CU Chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists. </p>
<p>So, what would you say my chances are at:
University of Chicago
Georgetown
Cornell U
Barnard College (in NYC) (applied before, waitlisted, and no one was accepted off waitlist in 2005)
Brown
UPenn</p>
<p>Should I apply for fall 2006 or wait a year? Please help!</p>
<p>i'm applying to some of the same schools (Georgetown and Barnard) and the problem I think you might run into is your GPA, even with the high level classes. But obviously, if you love the schools, apply, apply, apply. I have never really looked at it, so I don't know how transfer friendly it is, but for journalism, have you ever considered Northwestern? Good luck!</p>
<p>if u went to such a prestigious prep school where almost half goes to an ivy, how didn't you get into a top tier place to begin with a 1420 and great grades at such a competitive feeder</p>
<p>Haha. I know. I wanted a mixed set of opinions, you know? Republicans' and Democrats'. Everybody's selling something.</p>
<p>As far as "feeder schools" go, there is no longer any such thing. Andover does not guarantee anything except a really fantastic secondary school education. Nowadays it can hurt you more than help you, if you're not a varsity athlete or cum laude.</p>
<p>Ah, well, I DO live in Boulder, CO...I always felt more closely affiliated with the Democratic party, but I still think I'm grossly under-informed. So, because I was swinging that way, anyway...I got a lot out of the Republican organization, though. It was interesting.</p>
<p>Anybody have any more thoughts about the college question? I know that a 3.4 is low, but CU factors in + and - (I don't know if all colleges do that). The grades, as I said, were two Bs, two A-s, and an A. What do you think?</p>
<p>I know. I am the quiet sort. (I won't say academic sort; you won't believe me with a 3.4.) If I could go back to Andover, I would (not all that quiet, but my kind of place). </p>
<p>I reeeeeally want to go to Georgetown, Cornell, or Brown. Gaaaaah. If only it was 1970. (I mean, assuming these schools all let girls in, then.)</p>
<p>colorado is not a good transfer school. they tend to screw your gpa over when you're there and the rigor at cu is heavily underrated. If you work the system (know which profs to take and which NOT to take; when to take classes, etc...) - you can end up doing very well. But if you're not careful, even smart people can get rear ended. </p>
<p>talk about a small world. I ended up taking honors brit. lit. at colorado when i was there. was the name of your instructor by any chance " scarlett"? I remember this was one of the best classes i've ever taken in my life.</p>
<p>sorrryyyy you're totally right.... i have to stop being so vitrolic in my politics.... back on topic, I think waiting even a semester could help, so if you could stomach going back to boulder for a semester next year, maybe you could get out of there in time for Jan 2007?</p>
<p>Yeah sara, all those schools you're wanting to transfer to are going to be more competitive than where you are now (as in, more coursework, AND more students on your level competing for top grades), so I'd strongly suggest planning on finishing at least 3 semesters, and working your ass off to bring overall GPA to 3.6. If you do that and get involved in the campus community so you can write about it, I think some good schools like Georgetown and UChicago will def be in reach. I think you could get into Barnard if you do the above.</p>
<p>Oh man. You know, my Brit lit class was awful. The instructor was named "Broom" and he wouldn't have been all that bad except that he believed in something he called "cognitive learning," which he defined as knowing dates, settings, and characters' full names. It was mind-numbing. We were reading all of these great works (by Hardy, Dickens, Bronte, Tennyson, etc.) and being tested with questions like "Which character in The Mayor of Casterbridge said [something extremely insignificant/something much like something three other characters said] in the latter half of the novel?"</p>
<p>Sorry. Off-topic. I reeeeally hated that class and needed to rant. First B in a literature/writing-related class I had ever gotten in my life...I seriously wish I could've taken the honors class with your teacher.</p>
<p>As a matter of strategy, do you remember any names of faculty teaching within the lower division that you might recommend? (Thanks for the advice! I seriously don't know what I'm doing.)</p>