<p>Hey guys, just seeking out opinions on my desired schools. Just wondering if the majority of my school are "reach schools" because I would really like to attend college outside of NY. Profile below:</p>
<p>Hispanic male from a public school in NY state.
GPA- 89.8, so about a 3.5 uw
SAT- 520 CR, 550 M, 630 W :-/ retaking in November and studying my butt off till then
AP- 3- English Lang
AP- 2- USH</p>
<p>Freshman and Sophomore years: 6 honors classes combined
Junior year classes:
- AP Humanities USH
- AP Humanities English
- IB Theory of Knowledge
Senior year classes:
- IB Theory of Knowledge
- IB Spanish
- IB English</p>
<p>SCHOOL ACTIVITIES:
JV Indoor Track
Freshman Baseball
JV Volleyball
Sports Challenge Club
Table Tennis Club
Gifted and Talented
Features Editor of School Newspaper
International Baccalaureate Program</p>
<p>HONORS AND AWARDS:
Olde English F Award
Spanish National Honor Society
Dimensions Literary Magazine</p>
<p>OUT-OF-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES:
Little League Baseball
Guitar Lessons- 2 years
Writers & Books Camp
Camp College Prep
Marketing lessons from Rochester Red Wings (Minor League Baseball Affiliate of the Minnesota Twins)
I also went to Peru to work on my IB paper</p>
<p>VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE:
Work at Empire State Games
Other volunteering (minimal though)</p>
<p>PAID WORK EXPERIENCE:
Little League Baseball Umpire</p>
<p>Schools:
Elon
James Madison
UMCP
Penn State
Indiana U
SUNY Albany
and another SUNY, possibly Stony Brook</p>
<p>If your gpa is a 3.5 and you pull up your SAT score a bit, then you have a decent chance at JMU. Penn State often admits to one of their smaller campuses. UMCP I think is a bit more of reach than match. Elon is getting very tough to get in, but maybe being Hispanic and from NY will help some (I don't know if it will). I think that you have a decent chance at Indiana and Suny Albany. I would add a real safety for both admission and finances where you can be happy (Albany might be one, not too sure). BTW, JMU has gotten tougher for admission too.</p>
<p>You might look at Ohio University (not Ohio State). They have a strong communications/journalism department and the school overall is not hard to get into (journalism might be tougher). Nice school, great little college town.</p>
<p>hmm i was under the impression that my chances at JMU would be a little bit better than "below decent"; guess I was wrong. I would look into Ohio U and Iowa, but I don't want to go to school in the midwest, which narrows it down to the east coast (I know I have Indiana on my list - this is due to other various aspects). I looked at NCState and found out that although they have numerous communications programs, they don't have a journalism program, which is really what I'm going for (sorry if I wasn't specific enough in my original post). I'll look into Tennesse.</p>
<p>Being a male gives you an advantage, and so does the fact that they are slowly growing in size (I imagine it means accepting some more applicants than in the past, but I may be wrong. They accept around 65% anyway, but not sure of exact %). Midrange SAT score is 1080-1240 and you have 1070. Also their average gpa is a 3.7 and you state that you have a 3.5. However, keep in mind that in some districts have grade inflation and some do not. You have a decent chance there, IMO.</p>
<p>I'm a high school senior as well, so I can't claim to know anything, but I can say that people with similar stats to yours from my school tend to have some higher reach schools on their list than you do. Based on what I know from my college friends, some people have gotten into some great schools with some seemingly average stats, and you're better off than a lot of people (the SATs were very low though, although it's understandable considering the time investment involved in your pretty-good extracurriculars).</p>
<p>I agree w/ Collin, you're in pretty good shape. My D2 had low grades and strong SATs and did VERY well - - and you're in a better position than she was:
- male
- URM (assuming by Hispanic you mean Latino)
- schs pref strong grades to strong scores
- your scores are respectable </p>
<p>Did you actually sit for the IB/AP exams in any of your jr IB/AP classes? If so, what were your scores?</p>
<p>Also, if you're uncertain about your major, beware of unis that require you to declare early or where it may be diff to change majors and graduate in 4yrs.</p>
<p>A couple of schs you may want to consider: UWisc-Madison, UVM.</p>
<p>And rather than Stody Brook (isn't that a big commuter school?), what about Buffalo, Bing, Geneseo (only 7,000 students) or New Paltz?</p>
<p>First of all, thanks a lot for the responses. I've been thinking, and although this is not concrete by any means, I think I'll apply to one SUNY school - either Albany, Buffalo, or New Paltz. Then for my real safety school I'll apply to Bowling Green State U (OH) where I have a double legacy and overall it should be easy for me to get in.</p>
<p>nyc- yeah, I did take 2 ap's in my junior year. I got a 3 on English and 2 on US History so that isn't too good. I'll be sitting for 2 IB's in the spring. Also, I have looked at UW-Madison, but I think that it's too much of a reach for me. The same goes for Bing and Geneseo. I would look into UVM, but I want to shy away from the upper northeast states and NY because of the weather factor. I'm going to consider Buffalo/New Paltz as my SUNY school.</p>
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<li><p>I don't think it gets any worse, in terms of weather, than Buffalo! (though there are plenty of other reasons to go SUNY instead of UVM - - in-state vs oos tuition, SuNYs probably more diverse, for example).</p>
<ul>
<li>Yes, Geneseo would be a reach, but there's nothing wrong with having a few reach schools - - especially state schs that don't require an interview or complicates supplement.</li>
<li>I think 3 on the English AP is considerably stronger than 520CR (which is close to the national avg score).</li>
<li>I wouldn't rule out UWisc-Mad; it is often on the lists of pvt sch students w/ less than stellar stats (even if it's a bit of a reach).</li>
</ul></li>
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