<p>Okay so my stats are really low but I still have a hope that I have at least a 5% chance of getting into John Hopkins (when the chance is probably about 1%). I really want to talk to her and ask her about what she thinks but I'm way to nervous. I wanted to go to nationals for speech and debate but I only made it to semifinals of the national qualifying tournament. I don't know what I can do to help my chances any more. </p>
<p>My gpa is around like 3.0 and I have some good leadership positions and ECs, some good local awards and hoping to get more. I thinking about retaking some AP tests I didn't do good on but idk. </p>
<p>So should I just talk to her or should I just give up on my dream of getting into JHU?</p>
<p>"So should I just talk to her or should I just give up on my dream of getting into JHU? " </p>
<p>These are mutually exclusive. You fear speaking with her because you fear her confirming your intuition that you have a slim chance of JHU acceptance. Whatever she thinks is irrelevant. Your chances are indeed, extremely low.</p>
<p>What you need to ask yourself is: what advice, knowledge, encouragement can you obtain from your counselor. Probably a lot. Trust me: she’s seen her share of people who apply to unrealistic schools – and she won’t make you feel embarrassed about it. Frankly, she’ll be a great resource to discuss your alternatives.</p>
<p>She’s not the problem. Your unwillingness to face the reality of your slim chances is.</p>
Did I ever say she was the problem? No I know its my fear of my slim chances did I ever deny my slim chances no? I’m just wondering if I should make the effort to try to get in or just settle on my state school?</p>
<p>There are plenty of private universities, if your family can pay for it, that are below Johns Hopkins yet clearly higher than state schools in terms of selectivity. Why rule all those possible schools out?</p>
<p>“There are plenty of private universities,** if your family can pay for it**, that are below Johns Hopkins yet clearly higher than state schools in terms of selectivity. Why rule all those possible schools out?”</p>
<p>That was the key part. Also I don’t even know how to find these schools all the online college search things I use suck and either give me to many or none at all.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I absolutely believe you should do your own research. You should look at a Fiske guide; you should look at Colleges that Change Lives; you should search online. You should do all these things, because it’s your education that we’re talking about.</p>
<p>All that having been said, you can also get some helpful suggestions in the “College Search” forum here. But you have to give people something to work with. If you say, “Help me pick a college,” you probably won’t get much help, and you probably won’t deserve much. But you might get a lot of help if you say something like, “I’m looking for a small to medium size university (under 8000 undergraduates) or college that’s a good place to study environmental science. I’d like to be in the South. My grades are OK, but not great. Based on my PSAT, I expect my SAT to be around [CR/M/W]. Does anybody have any suggestions?” Or even, “I really like Johns Hopkins, but I think I probably don’t have the grades to get in. I like x and y about it. Can anybody suggest another school that’s similar, but easier to get into?”</p>
<p>So, obviously, your first step should be to do a little thinking and try to figure out what qualities you’re looking for in a college or university. Because, you know, even though Arizona State and Oberlin are both institutions of higher learning, they’re very, very different places.</p>
<p>Well I wouldn’t say the two are completely exclusive… in my school at least our counselor is very well known and well respected; if she supports someone then colleges know that student is the real deal. If this is the case at your school, then talking to your counselor may help you… If not, then your counselor might just confirm your fears and just make you more depressed. Hopefully though, she will be supportive and help you achieve your dreams. If you work hard and show commitment, you can get where you want.</p>
<p>Well, wait a minute there, moonman. I think that’s dangerously close to the kind of nonsense we tell kids all the time. “Just follow your dream.” “You can do anything, if you put your mind to it.”</p>
<p>I think these are some of the most pernicious lies we tell young people. You can’t just be an astronaut or win a Nobel Prize in economics if you put your mind to it. In both of those cases, there are more highly qualified people in the world than there are slots in the space program or Nobel Prizes available. If you win a Nobel, it’s because the Nobel committee selected you, and not simply because you put your mind to it. Do you really think that Hillary Clinton and John McCain wanted to be President less than Barack Obama did? I don’t. And I don’t think they worked any less hard to become President than he did, either.</p>
<p>A good guidance counselor will not help you “achieve your dreams” or “get where you want” if the place you dream of being is inconsistent with your qualifications, nor can a good guidance counselor help you if you dream of something that’s simply a matter of being chosen from a huge pool of highly qualified applicants. But a good guidance counselor should help you determine both a realistic way to achieve a goal that’s attainable and, if you want, a sensible strategy to shoot for a goal that’s not a sure thing, but not ridiculously out of reach, either.</p>
<p>OP is very good at debate, decent GPA that could get better with time (I’m assuming OP is sophomore or junior), and says they have pretty good ECs. JHU is not completely out of the question if scores, GPA increase, letters of rec, and essays are all done well. I think it is people who look to limit those that have not achieved so highly in the beginning of their life are the ones at fault here. If you set your mind to something, you can do it, barring physical barriers. Granted, certain things are inherently difficult like you mentioned, but if you want to look at isolated examples, look at Albert Einstein. To those around him, he had far too many problems to ever be successful, and eventually ended up as a mail clerk. He decided to learn things on his own, put his mind to it, and became one of the greatest minds of our time. Granted, he had talents that went under the radar, but the idea still stands. </p>
<p>Anyways, let’s be frank. Being an astronaut, Nobel Prize recipient, US President, or the next Albert Einstein has almost NOTHING to do with getting into college. When someone looks to achieve something, and has the desire to do it, I will always give them my wholehearted support. Obviously, that is what the OP is looking for in his post. Honesty is important; the OP faces an uphill battle, and he knows it, but support and encouragement are equally, if not more important. </p>
<p>I agree that being realistic is very important, but I personally don’t think the OP is being completely unrealistic. Yes, the GPA is low, but there is a lot else that goes into the application. Maybe it is just that I know my counselor’s reputation and respect her opinions, but I think a counselor should also help the student push for what they want. That’s just my personal opinion.</p>
<p>I am trying to stay away from the question of whether Hopkins is realistic for the OP or not. I don’t have any worthwhile inside information. I don’t know any more than anyone with a little common sense and an internet connection does.</p>
<p>But I think it’s vitally important to temper encouragement with realism. (And, yes, I know we agree here much more than we disagree.) I got a little worked up, though, by your last sentence: “If you work hard and show commitment, you can get where you want.” That’s the kind of thing I think we have to be careful about telling people. It suggests that if you take your best shot at something uncertain and it doesn’t work out, the reason must have been insufficient industry or commitment. I’d hate for young people whose long shots don’t work out to think that the reason why was some deficiency in their character, because that’s not necessarily the case. Not at NASA, not in politics, and not when it comes to admission at selective colleges and universities.</p>
<p>Although, I would say that my son’s GC was not the LEAST bit optimistic. If my son only applied to the schools his GC recommended, he would have shortchanged himself. There are some who are overly-optimistic, and then there are those who will only recommend the local safety schools. My suggestion is to have a couple of reaches (unlikely admittances) as well as some more realistic choices (likely or safety schools.)</p>
<p>@family: that’s fair. All of this discussion has been predicated on the assumption that the OP’s guidance counselor is good at her job. Perhaps she’s not.</p>
<p>@moonman: If only Congress find common ground as well as we just did…</p>
<p>I think that OP’s GC should at least be given a chance to review the list in the context of the HS. Lurking around and being afraid of bad news from the GC is a waste of time.</p>