<p>I am a junior at a public school in California that is very strong (each year about ~20 Cal, ~10 UCLA, 2-3 Stanford, 2-3 each HYP, and 1 or 2 to MIT. I unofficially rank around 30 of 650. with a 3.98 unweighted (4.0 not including freshman) and a semi-rigorous schedule (I will graduate with 6-7 AP's and 5 honor classes) I have a 2200 SAT and 800 World History SAT Subject and 780 Math SAT II. Volunteer I have about 250 hours. My Extra-curricular activities make up for my academics by showing pleanty of dedicated leadership and a passion though nothing really science related like research, but i don't want to study science in college so its alright i guess. I want to know what colleges i should start looking at. What to consider as saftey's, target and reaches. I am male and caucasion.</p>
<p>I would say the very top colleges if you can be an athletic recruit.</p>
<p>If not recruited, a very top or 2 as reaches, and more realistic reaches being on the level of Gtown, JHU, Vandy, Middlebury.</p>
<p>Coming from CA makes things especially competitive.</p>
<p>It can get crazy at schools that send many to top schools. That usually means lots of legacies, the connected affluent, top URMs and recruits. Your school doesn’t sound like one of the crazy 30% to ivies plus types, but still you’ll probably face the skew where its not the top 10% that goes to top colleges.</p>
<p>thanks 2college… but can some more people give input please i really want to know. thanks.</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>Where in the United States would you like to go? (And what parts of the country don’t you want to go to?)</p>
<p>You can definitely deal with more AP classes, unless you’re taking all of those 6/7 your senior year. Since you’re a junior, if you can bring up your GPA and SAT a little, I think the lower Ivies can be your reaches (for example, Cornell and Dartmouth). Also, like 2college2college said, small liberal arts colleges like Middlebury, the Claremont Colleges, and Davidson. University of Chicago and the likes are great reaches too. University of Michigan is probably a match/reach.</p>
<p>Just make sure you apply to at least one match/safety for an early admission plan, and I think you can be secure in applying to a lot of reaches. That’s what I did. I applied to Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford, but I am already accepted to two schools (Georgia Tech and University of St Andrews).</p>
<p>thanks guys. Im gonna bump this thread one more time though.</p>
<p>I would encourage you to think about where geographically you’d like to go and what kind of experience you want to have in college. Would you refuse to go to the midwest? There are lots of good schools here but if that’s literally not in your radar, I wouldn’t suggest them to you. How about the south? Do you want rural, urban, or in between? Small liberal arts or large research? Public or private? What can your family afford? Are you likely to get financial aid? There are hundreds of colleges in the United States. It’s hard to say “try for this” without knowing any more than your statistics.</p>
<p>Might look at some LAC’s like Williams, Bowdoin, Holy Cross, Davidson.</p>
<p>Regarding your GPA, is that on a 4 scale or 5 scale? Can’t go up much on a 4 scale. If you have those scores and a 3.98 out of 4 then you COULD be competitive anywhere-- at the most competitive places it will just be unpredictable and be affected by factors you can’t control (your competition, esp in your school and state), and some you can, like you essays. Also, it could help if you did/do well on your AP tests.</p>
<p>OP, what can your family afford? For instance, someone mentioned UMich which would cost $50K/year OOS.</p>
<p>If you want a new england school, Try something like Williams or Amherst. If you want bigger try princeton, cornell, low ivys CHANCE BACK</p>
<p>Try Amherst, Bowdoin, Williams.</p>
<p>Williams, Amherst, Holy Cross, Bowdoin</p>