<p>Hi all.. i'm not a stupendous student, so my chances of getting into all of these schools aren't very good, but i believe that i can get in. Applying to all 3 is too much. Maybe two. Which school should i not apply to?</p>
<p>actually add Johns Hopkins to that list</p>
<p>What are your goals and what are your stats?</p>
<p>i'm at a 3.6 UW.. not sure about weighted, but in my total high school career, i will have taken about 25 semesters of honors/AP courses. so approximately 12 honors/ap courses. i only had one semester for freshman english honors as the school did not offer it the first semester. </p>
<p>2050 SAT (studying and then re-taking, so maybe higher!!!)
(780 Math! verbal sucks :( )
720 Math 2C (also retaking)
will take physics and history in November.. (projecting 700+)</p>
<p>i have four years of unfailing dedication to the colorguard. i am now head leader this year, this is something i intend to shine on my application as my advisor is more than willing to write me a good rec. </p>
<p>i am a part of Music Mentors (a club dedicated to helping middle school kids learn how to play their instruments), Leo Club (I am an officer in this and this is a community service group), Christian Club (I am a leader for this, i have done this for 4 years and still loving it :) ), Senior Men and Women (A really great service group at our school, i am a secretary for this), and i have been a part of the top concert band for 3 years (freshman year we're required to be in Band 1) </p>
<p>i may not have the strongest stats, but no one can tell me that i do not have the strongest ambitions. in comparison to myself, i have never been more ambitious to be genuine, hard-working, and hopefully successful. I am not really sure what career path or major path i want to pursue, but a little bird recently told me that i would make a decent teacher. Of course, i'd aim to be an educator of either high school or college students. ehh.. but i'm still not sure. i'm one of those people who have the potential for many things, but not a crazy amount of potential for any one area.</p>
<p>oh.. i also plan on taking the ACT in september!!</p>
<p>not sure how that might go</p>
<p>your best bet, especially since you have said your chances might be a little steep, is to apply to all three of them and hope you get into one. they all take the common app, if you can't afford the app fee, send the school an email and they should be able to give you instructions on how to waive it.</p>
<p>northwestern is going to be the most selective of the four, just slightly more than cornell. washu has strange admissions policies that i'm sure others will enlighten you on, but it makes it different to gauge anyone's chances there. if you show extreme interest that might be in your favor at washu considering they have a yield that is very low relative to the other schools.</p>
<p>northwestern and cornell would be the closer pair socially, and then johns hopkins and washu. northwestern and cornell are both social, greek-heavy schools that are highly preprofessional. johns hopkins and washu are technically-intensive schools located within cities and with less social reputations.</p>
<p>grad and job placement will be best out of northwestern and cornell, though i suppose for high school teaching this may be of less significance. if you wanted to do pre-med johns hopkins and washu would likely be stronger, since they both have highly renowned medical schools.</p>
<p>I agree with elsijfdl on pretty much everything except: "northwestern is going to be the most selective of the four" as Cornell takes a lower percentage, though NU has slightly higher SATs and both colleges have a top-10% HS rate within 1%. I can't possibly think of one situation where a student has a great shot at one and so-so at the other (unless it's like with architecture or something, I'm assuming this isn't the case here). </p>
<p>apply to all 3, hope for the best.</p>
<p>I would apply ED to one if I were you, and really try and increase the SAT.</p>
<p>your chances at cornell also depend on what school you want to apply to at cornell. if i were you, i would go for human ecology. you seem like you would be a fit for that school (and they accept a higher % of students...especially ED). and yeah you really should think about going ED to one of those schools.</p>
<p>aii.. the thing is .. i have trouble visiting this summer, so i'm afraid of applying ED somewhere i've never been to. any tips?</p>
<p>Yea, apply to all three of them and you might get lucky....</p>
<p>Not that this is an acceptable alternative to a personal visit, but I'll be at all three in the next 10 days with my D for tours, info sessions and interviews. Let me know if there is anything you want me to look for/at.</p>
<p>These are all incredibly strong and selective schools, you can't go wrong. ED is probably your best bet to get in. I would think WashU is the easiest to get into among the three, so I might try there.</p>
<p>I'm sure I'll get flamed by some moron for saying it, but I will. WashU is not the easiest to get into out of those three. They took 18% last year and have SAT midranges / student stats that are every bit as good as those of Northwestern and Cornell. Cornell took around 25% and Northwestern took about the same. I'm not up for a round of "my school is tougher to get into than yours" but I do find it strange that so many people single out WashU as if it's clearly the easier school. In fact, the vast majority of people on CC were waitlisted, which eventually equaled rejection.</p>
<p>Now if you're talking Early Decision then yes, WashU will look very favorably on you for that.</p>
<p>Yeah I am talking early decision.</p>
<p>So much talk about ED! </p>
<p>In a past post the OP wrote:
"hi all, i'm a junior who has been talking to mother about college and the DUES that need to be paid... i am scared about how much my WANT schools will ask of me any estimate numbers?</p>
<p>let's just say... tuition+roomandboard = 45k</p>
<p>i'm an only child with a single mother
dad left in high school, so house is ours (still paying loans off)
mom has 28k gross income...
crappy low paying job..
(but manage to live in nice city...) </p>
<p>also, i don't understand why/when colleges give loans or grants.. someone explain to i the CLUELESS"</p>
<p>And NSM wisely wrote:
"Also, since financial aid is a major concern for you, the first thing you need to look at when considering colleges is their financial aid pages. You also need to make sure that you have at least one financial safety school -- a college that you know you'll gain admission to, can definitely afford, and would enjoy attending. Do not apply ED anywhere because that would limit your financial options. It would be best if you apply in a way that leads to multiple acceptances so you can compare financial aid offers."</p>
<p>I hope you are taking this financial reality to heart as people are giving you advice about admissions.</p>
<p>yea i am... i just am not very informed in the area of financial aid. if you apply ED and get accepted, does that mean you pay whatever they ask you to pay? O_O</p>
<p>all three schools i believe pledge to provide 100% of demonstrated need, and financial obligations are the only reason that you can extricate yourself from an ED contract.</p>
<p>so financially you should be in OK shape to apply ED to one of the schools, because after they give you 100% of demonstrated need, if you realize it's still not enough, you can still apply to other schools because they let you out of the contract.</p>
<p>actually washu's admission isn't need-blind, at least not last time i checked; i don't think they "pledge" to provide 100% of demonstrated need either.</p>
<p>all the schools are almost equally selective. there's really no point to consider that area. instead, you should find as much info about their social scene, course/major offerings..etc that fit your personality and interest the best.</p>
<p>that said, northwestern does have a pretty good school of education & social policy.</p>
<p>if you can't afford a school, they can't force you to attend. Pick one and apply ED.</p>