Too many reaches? PLEASE ADVISE!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Good evening!
I'm just getting acquainted with the college admissions process, and I'm hoping to get some feedback. I appreciate any and all criticism. </p>

<p>[11th grader at Texas public; school of 2500+]</p>

<p>SAT: 2290 (800 CR, 690 MA, 800 WR); one sitting, Nov 2010.
SAT II: Taking in May
PSAT: 225
Rank: 34/644</p>

<p>APs: World History (5), currently in Bio, U.S. History, English Comp and Psych; enrolled in seven for senior year.</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:
5A Track and Field: Varsity Shot Put and Discus (9th-11th), 8th in district (9th), 5th in district (10th). My marks are recruitable in D3; I am registered with the NCAA and hope to become a student athlete.
Newspaper: Staff Writer (9th), Editor-in-Chief (10th-11th). This year, our publication won a crown from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association in its first year in online format.
Latin Club: Secretary (9th), VP (10th), recognized for performance in National Latin Exam and local competition.
Literary Criticism: Our team took first in district and region, went to state last year.
Keynote speaker at 2010 football games; gave opening address at homecoming game.
Student Gov: Freshman Class Rep, Sophomore Class President.
Volunteerism: Care for infants at church during sermons.</p>

<p>Major Awards:
2010 Okinawa Peace Scholar: One of ten in nation; won scholarship from U.S. gov. Went on a foreign exchange to Japan for the duration of summer. Attended Okinawan high school for duration of stay.
2010-2011 San Antonio Express-News Teen Team: Select group of students who write for the E-N. Published on multiple occasions; paid for freelance work.
UTSA East Asia Institute: Took first in high school division for essay on cultural preservation; work currently on exhibit in local museum.
Recognized as top student in English department (2009, fall/spring quarters).
Varsity letterman since freshman year.</p>

<p>Summer Activities:
2009 - Visited family in Washington and Arkansas.
2010 - Studied abroad in Japan.</p>

<p>Hobbies: Studying Japanese, writing, athletics, road trips.</p>

<p>Intended Major: Looking around. Very interested in international relations, public health. I have a passion for language study, but a weakness in mathematics (see the SAT above... wince-worthy). </p>

<p>Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Hooks: Potential athletic recruit, otherwise... nada. Dad (breadwinner) didn't finish college, but Mom did.
Income Bracket: 90,000-105,000 [NO savings for my college education; folks don't have investments outside of 401K].</p>

<p>SIDE NOTE: I recognize the weakness of my volunteerism. It is probably the most significant gap I can perceive in my resume. However, I spend a great deal of time on athletics, and have little room for much after extracurriculars and family time. In addition, my summers and breaks are often taken up by visits to a relative in a neighboring state who is mentally ill and housebound.</p>

<p>At present, my schools are as follows:
Baylor [safety; PSAT Merit Finalist status guarantees tuition/board]
Johns Hopkins [match?]
Stanford [far reach]
Harvard [far reach]
Yale/Princeton [Can't decide: love the established residential college system at Yale, but Princeton has the Woodrow Wilson school... both would be amazing, but far reaches nonetheless].</p>

<p>So: do I have too many reaches in here? I'm wondering if these schools are at all right for what I intend to study, and more importantly, I believe that I might be shooting outside of my budget. We don't have any investments or money set aside for college. We took a gamble on my PSATs, and now that it has paid off, my parents want me to to go for the cheapest option available. I would love to go to any of these schools, but I'm not sure I would be offered the aid I need to do so. No sense going neck-deep in debt for undergrad. On those grounds, I took schools like Georgetown and George Washington (AWESOME for IR) out of consideration, as I've heard that aid sucks.</p>

<p>Are these reasonable to apply to, in the first place? Should I throw some more reachable schools in here, and if so, which would be a good fit?</p>

2

<p>You need more match schools.
Your EC’s look like the majority of EC’s that any High school student has except for the Japan part (which I just have to say I love you for, I love everything Japanese, I plan to study the language in college)</p>

<p>Your SAT is really good though, but most kids applying probably have the same or better.
You have a lot of rigor, but most kids applying to those schools do as well, or they might have even more.</p>

<p>What is your GPA? </p>

<p>(and woohoo a fellow Latin Club person!! There are so many of us on this site lolz)</p>

3

<p>At my school, we have an intense case of grade inflation; we aren’t told what our GPA is on a 4.0 scale. Mine is a 104.3 average. It’s fairly high in relation to that of my peers. I’m in the top 5% of an extremely large class.
As for ECs, I have to say that, while I recognize that a lot of my ECs are vanilla, varsity athletics isn’t as common in these application pools. Particularly considering the level at which the Ivies compete. The 5A I’m in at the moment is significantly more competitive, lol.
(And heck yes, Latin Club! Classics ftw :3)</p>

4

<p>If you would be happy attending Baylor, your safety school, you can certainly cast a wide net and apply to some reach schools. You might also want to do some more research and consider some “2nd-tier” Ivies such as Brown and Cornell and some non-Ivy but very selective schools such as Rice, WashUStLouis, Duke, Northwestern, and USC (Southern Cal). You may also want to consider some Liberal Arts schools as well. I would really be concerned with considering schools that you have a good chance of being recruited in track and/or receiving merit-based financial aid. I would definitely have a sit-down with your school counselor and look at other options and expand your list somewhat.</p>

5

<p>I suppose it would be pertinent to mention that the limited scope of my list is due entirely to the limitations placed on me by my family. I am only permitted to apply to five schools. The pile-up of fees attached to each application has convinced them that I am fine with five.
I’ve considered Rice, but, as I’ve had the chance to visit Houston on several occasions, I feel as if the city isn’t exactly the best place to spend four years. Plenty of opportunities, but very much limited to the campus.
In regard to the other schools you mentioned: how is finaid at USC for out-of-state students? I know it’s a fantastic place to be for international business- particularly if I can employ proficiency in Japanese. Is it true that they offer tuition cuts for National Merit Scholars?</p>

6

<p>USC is a private school so there is no disadvantage applying there compared to most public schools as an OOS applicant. They have good merit-based fin. aid. available, particularly for NMS’s and other competitive applicants. If your parents are limiting your applications, make sure that each and every one of them really “count”.</p>

7

<p>Sweetness. I will be sure to look into it further.
For Washington U, Northwestern and Duke: is the location any impediment to finding internships? With the exception of Stanford, I chose schools largely based on the network and location associated with the school (JHU is very strong for foreign affairs; I made the assumption that HYP wouldn’t disappoint in that department, generally speaking). Do you think that attending schools further away from DC/NY/Cal would create difficulty in finding work relevant to my interests?</p>

8

<p>You might want to post in the athletic recruiting forum under College Admissions. There are some knowledgeable track & field parents who post there as well as recruited athletes. Iould encourage you to go ahead and contact coaches and see what kind of interest you get from D3 schools as well as the Ivy’s before you decide where to apply. If you’re recruitable, the Ivy’s will probably give you among the best financial aid packages. Good luck to you!</p>

9

<p>Recruiters go to top schools all over the country. If this was not true, students at Notre Dame for example would not be getting jobs in “influential” metro areas-- which is NOT the case.</p>

10

<p>Runners2: I would really hope so, man. It’s so hard to tell what is ‘good enough’ to be a recruit with the D3s… I mean, I see girls on the roster that throw 91 ft. for discus and under 30 in shot put. Is that at all a good representation of what a ‘recruit’ should be capable of? XD
jshain: I was just skimming USC’s page. It looks like NMS can receive half-tuition scholarships… I guess it would all hinge on the need-based aid from that point on, since Baylor foots about 11K above what USC is offering.</p>

11

<p>I’m most familiar with Ivy recruiting. For those schools, you might want to look up Heps championships (Ivy League championships) from last year on-line to see what throws placed. If your throws are close to competitive, then you’re likely to be a desirable recruit. The only way to know for sure is to contact coaches. If they’re losing their throwers to graduation, you might fill an important niche for them - if they’re loaded with throwers you may be less desirable to them. Do repost in the Athletic Recruit forum - you’ll get lots of knowledgeable advice there about athletic recruiting. Good luck!</p>

12

<p>If you’re looking for additional colleges to apply to, you can try some small LAC’s. I applied to quite a few colleges, but a few had completely free applications (minus sending test scores). I would look into Carleton and Kenyon college if you like LAC’s. Both have excellent academics, and I know Carleton participates at the D3 level. They both are free applications, and I believe Carleton is need-blind for 90% of its applicant pool. I was recruited to apply there for football.</p>

13

<p>agentofchaos, you heard wrong about GWU and FA. they are extremely generous w/ need based and merit aid.</p>

14

<p>For real? Do you know of any users I could contact regarding GW aid?</p>

15

<p>Well, if you have monetary issues, colleges are generally quite lenient with providing fee wavers. You are a strong applicant: apply to as many as you feel would suit you. This is the next four years of your life, and of major impact for the rest of your life past that. Don’t sell yourself short, but I do recommend more matches, as have been suggested:
WUSTL, Northwestern, Duke, Rice, University of Chicago, etc. Not all of these have the strongest International Relations programs, but each is nonetheless impressive and will undoubtedly provide you a quality education. Financial aid: APPLY. They are more generous than you would think.</p>

16

<p>AOC, ask this on the GWU forum. Lots of people can answer you there.</p>

17

<p>Thank you, everyone. This has been very helpful; I appreciate it :)</p>