Trying to narrow the list, please help!

Applying to College
1

<p>I am about to start applying and I have visited some schools and done research, but I am just not sure how I fit in at any of the schools on my list. Any advise, guidance, suggestions, or alternatives would be awesome. Thanks.</p>

<p>High School:</p>

<p>Northern Highlands Regional HS, Allendale, NJ
Very competitive public school
Aprox. 1300 students, 350 in graduating class
Does not rank students</p>

<p>Transcript:</p>

<p>GPA is 3.840 weighted
~3.65 unweighted
4.142 W Junior Year</p>

<p>Nothing lower than a B, nothing lower than a 2 B+'s (AP classes) since freshman year</p>

<p>All courses on the Honors level if offered with the exception of Geometry and Alg II/Trig</p>

<p>Currently enrolled in a Syracuse University writing/literature class offered at my high school (6 SU credits upon completion which are accepted at almost any US college)</p>

<p>Test Scores:</p>

<p>PSAT: 670 Math 660 Crit Reading 780 Writing
SATI: 700 Math, 760 Crit Reading, 730 Writing (1460 composite)
Taking SATI again in October
SATII: 800 US History, 710 Math 1C</p>

<p>AP US History: 5
AP Macroeconomics: 5
AP Spanish Lang: currently enrolled in class
AP European History: currently enrolled in class
AP Gov't/Politics: Plan to take tests cold</p>

<p>Extra-Curriculars:</p>

<p>Ultimate Frisbee, 10-12</p>

<p>Badminton, 10-12</p>

<p>Debate (policy debate, in pairs):
5-5 Debate record (9th grade)
7-3 Debate record (10th grade)
10-0 Debate record (11th grade)
1st place overall team 2005-2005
1st place overall individual speaker (set league record in speaker points)
1st place in all but 2 meets (2nd in one of the other 2)</p>

<p>DECA (nation-wide marketing club):Sophomore Year: 1st place Sophomore Promotional Campaign in the state of New Jersey, 1/3 sophomores at my HS to make Nationals (220 club members)
Junior Year: 2nd Place overall BSM event, 1st place overall Quiz Bowl for the state of New Jersey, qualified for Nationals in both events. #1 Quiz Bowl test score in the United States at National competition.</p>

<p>Fed Challenge (mock federal reserve competition run by the real fed bank):
1 of 2 students selected from a tryout group of 15.</p>

<p>Stock Market club:
Member 9-12, President from Sophomore year</p>

<p>Summer 2005:
-Worked for a fruit importing/exporting company (family business) doing administrative and computer work.
-2 Week Teenage Republican Leadership Conference in Washington, DC. I met with Congressman, Senators, pundits, advisors, pollsters, military officials, and President Bush.</p>

<p>Summer 2006:
-5 week community service project in Costa Rica. 80 hours CS building a community kitchen, cleaning up the rain forest. 2 week Homestay, Spanish language immersion.
-Worked on the Hunts Point terminal market in the Bronx, NY unloading trucks, filling orders for industrial buyers and other kinds of physical labor.</p>

<p>I am a Caucasian, Jewish Male</p>

<p>I am interested in majoring in Economics or Political Science or Marketing and would like to minor in Entrepreneurship or Management if offered.
I plan on applying ED to Vanderbilt University</p>

<p>Stretch Schools:
University of Virginia
UNC- Chapel Hill</p>

<p>Realistic Schools (I hope :/):
Johns Hopkins U
George Washington U
Emory U
U Maryland- College Park
College of Willam and Mary
Wake Forest University</p>

<p>Safety Schools:
American University
Need more!
Thanks alot for your help guys!</p>

2

<p>::BUMP::</p>

<p>Please help someone!</p>

3

<p>Um... Johns Hopkins and Emory are certainly NOT realistic schools. They both have very competitve pools, especially Johns Hopkins. JHU ranks #16 according to US news and report, right after Brown and a few other ivies, so you should get a magnitude of its competitiveness.</p>

4

<p>Are you sure about that? My GPA is close to their average and my SAT's are well within their top 50% at Hopkins, top 25% at Emory. My essays are very good and I think I will get amazing rec's. What kind of schools do you think I should be aiming for. As you probably noticed, I really want to go somewhere at least as far south as baltimore...</p>

5

<p>Do you think I have a decent chance at Vanderbilt on ED?</p>

6

<p>I'd agree that JHU is not realistic, but more of a reach. Plus, I hear the pressure there is like the pressure at MIT. Which doestn' sound very pleasant.</p>

7

<p>bump 10 char</p>

8

<p>Berkeley? Yeshiva? Your SATs and GPA are above-average but you've only took 5 APs? Does your school offer more? If not, I'd have to say that you've a great chance at top-tier schools. The above members are hardcore CCers who demand perfection, but in comparison (or contrast should I say hmm..) to applicant pools of the universities that you are applying to, you fare well.</p>

9

<p>I hear Jews get URM status at Vanderbilt, but I'm not sure it's true.</p>

<p>If it is, that should help you out some :)</p>

10

<p>I do policy debate myself, and while I'm not saying the records bad, 10 rounds a year? thats only like two tournaments. The slackers on my policy team who never did any work and did it just for the resume did 3-4 rounds last year.</p>

11

<p>My school offers a ton of AP's but unfortunately we cannot take them until Junior Year and I couldn't fit any more than 4 into my schedule without dropping core subjects. I plan on self-studying Poli/Gov't and maybe Human Geography if my college will take it.</p>

12

<p>Yea, unfortunately my league one has 5 tournaments per year and our tourneys are just 2 rounds each. I took first in 3 of the 5, second in one of the others and did better than pretty much anyone else in league history so I don't think I'll have a problem there.</p>

13

<p>more or less the same with my school. theres really only 1 AP you can take junior year, although now its 2. it looks really bad i guess, because our school offers 16 APs and even the most academically superior students have at most 2 APs (a couple 3) by the end of their junior year. Needless to say, 5, 6, and 7 APs senior year is not uncommon to make up for this.</p>