What are my chances and where should I apply?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey everyone! I just joined and I would really appreciate some honest feedback on my stats. I'm very excited to start my senior year of high school and apply to colleges! I would definitely like to study political science in college and then attend law school</p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>High School: Public</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: ~94.00
GPA - Weighted: ~98.00
Class Rank: top 10%
Class Size: ~230</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>SAT I Math: 640
SAT I Critical Reading: 660
SAT I Writing: 670
SAT II U.S. History: 690
SAT II World History: 740
SAT II Chemistry: 690</p>

<p>By the end of high school I will have taken 11 AP classes
4 on AP Human Geography
4 on AP World History
4 on AP US History
4 on AP European History
3 on AP Chemistry
3 on AP English Language and Composition
I will be taking AP Gov and Politics, AP Literature, AP Italian, AP Statistics and AP 2D Design senior year. </p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Class Board
Principal's Shared Decision Committee
Model United Nations
School newspaper
Key Club
FBLA</p>

<p>Leadership positions:
Class President (10th-11th grades)</p>

<p>Class Vice President (8th-9th grades)</p>

<p>President of National Junior Honor Society, then President of National Senior Honor Society</p>

<p>Editorial Editor of the school newspaper</p>

<p>MUN Treasurer</p>

<p>National Art Honor Society Secretary</p>

<p>Athletics: Winter/Spring Varsity Track</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work: Atleast 35 hours of documented community service</p>

<p>Member of local Youth Ministry</p>

<p>Honors and Awards: </p>

<p>Inducted member of the National Senior Honor Society </p>

<p>Inducted member of the National Jr. Honor Society </p>

<p>Inducted member of the National Foreign Language Honor Society </p>

<p>Inducted member of the National Art Honor Society </p>

<p>High Honor Roll Award (7th-11th grades)</p>

<p>2011 Brown Book Award (sponsored by Brown U)</p>

<p>Numerous Model UN delegate/delegation awards</p>

<p>Recognized with the Scholar Athlete Award for the 2010/2011 winter season of varsity track </p>

<p>Nominated for the American Legion’s Boys State program for government instruction </p>

<p>Colleges of Interest: NYU, BC, BU, American U, George Washington U and Georgetown U</p>

<p>Desired College Characteristics:</p>

<p>Location type: Urban
Size: not too small
Area: East Coast</p>

2

<p>NYU - low reach
BC - low reach/match
BU - match
American U - safety/match
George Washington - match
Georgetown - reach</p>

<p>Other schools to consider: University of Maryland (match), Northeastern (match), UNC Chapel Hill (reach), UVA (reach)</p>

3

<p>Thank you so much!! I actually was thinking about applying to Maryland and Northeastern</p>

4

<p>Since law school is your goal, you need to minimize any undergrad debt.</p>

<p>What state are you in?</p>

<p>What is your budget for college? How much will your parents pay? </p>

<p>If you’re OOS for UMaryland and need aid, take it off your list. </p>

<p>UNC and UVA do give need based aid, but they’re hard to get accepted to OOS and you’d need to determine if your parents will pay what’s expected of them.</p>

<p>Are you retesting? You should. If you increase your SAT scores (and take the ACT), you might score high enough for either merit scholarships or preferential aid packaging.</p>

<p>However, if your parents will pay $55k+ per year for any school, then consider…Fordham, Villanova, Loyola Maryland, American U</p>

5

<p>I live in New York. I’m not rich, but my parents are more concerned with where I can get in at the moment. I’d rather not discuss finances on here.
Now I’ve already taken the SATs twice. I went up 240 pts the second time. Would it look bad taking it a third time?? Will any of the main schools I’m applying to not take my best score?</p>

6

<p>Taking it three times is an acceptable amount… not overkill at all. </p>

<p>And I want to just bring this to your attention…BC isn’t an urban area… I go there and it’s in a suburb about 30 minutes outside of Boston by the subway. I love it, but it’s not like BU at all. So just a thought. </p>

<p>You could also look at Wake Forest which is similar to BC in feel/demographic/academic standing, and take a look at Nova, Loyola, and definitely Northeastern as someone said below.</p>

7

<p>What about Temple or Pitt? Temple is state-supported,so even its out-of-state tuition & fees are more affordable than many colleges. If you want NYC, you might consider applying for the Honors College at Pace. Pace is not highly competitive, but the Honors College offers all sorts of advantages in placement, and comes with up to $15k in merit aid.</p>

8

<p>I live in New York. I’m not rich, but my parents are more concerned with where I can get in at the moment. I’d rather not discuss finances on here.</p>

<p>You don’t need to reveal finances here, but do have “the talk” with your parents to find out how much they will pay so you know what your limitations are. If they’ll pay - say up to $25k per year - then you’ll need to look at your instate publics or to schools that will give you merit for your stats (hence the need to retest and raise a bit for better chances at merit).</p>

<p>Now I’ve already taken the SATs twice. I went up 240 pts the second time. </p>

<p>Don’t worry about taking the SAT again…also take the ACT.</p>

9

<p>Might look at Holy Cross- very good school with nice campus 1 hour from Boston.</p>

10

<p>My parents have said that they will pay for any college that I get into. If I were to get into many of the colleges I am interested in, then cost would be a big factor in limiting them down. I will have to work more and take out student loans to pay for law school myself. </p>

<p>So I’ll take the SATs again and try really hard to get over a 2000. Which colleges do not accept the best combined scores? I don’t know about the ACT. In all my AP classes I have great grades, but haven’t been able to get a 5 because I am a slow test-taker. I hear that that would be bad for the ACT. </p>

<p>Does anyone else have any suggestions in regards to majoring in political science? I figured that NYC and Boston would be the best areas to look in besides D.C.</p>

11

<p>Also, I looked up Holy Cross and it looks beautiful, but I would really love to be very close or within a city. I think an urban area would be best for activism, night life, etc.</p>