What colleges should I aim for?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>aight, so I've posted my situation a couple of times before but my thread died as fast as a malnourished squirrel. So I'm going to post my high school history (very unconventional) again and you guys can tell me what my reaches/matches/safties are.</p>

<p>I was born in Boston, Massachusetts (I had to spell check that btw) and grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. I was educated in America until the eighth grade, when my parents sent me to India to live with my mom's sister. Indian school was difficult to get accustomed to but I ended up with a rank of 7/40 for 9th grade and 6/38 for 10th grade (not the best, but not too bad I'd say considering the fact I was completely new to the system.) Over here in India, the 10th grade final public examinations are really important (much like the SATs over here) and I scored an 81% (75% and above is an A, much like AP scores grading). So after my misadventures in India, I decided to tell my parents tht I hated it there and that I wanted to come back to finish high school in America. I enrolled in these classes for junior year and got:</p>

<p>AP Calculus AB - A (6 credits)
French 4 Honors - B (5 credits)
AP US History - B (6 credits)
Human Anatomy and Physiology - A (6 credits)
English Semester Honors - B (5 credits)
Independent Study - Pass</p>

<p>Unfortunately for me, my Indian grades mixed with my American grades give me a 3.5 UW GPA and a 3.8 WGPA (My weighted GPA from america only is 4.4) which I know is terrible. It's been haunting me for the past few weeks :(((</p>

<p>SAT wise, I've been scoring a perfect score consistently on the tests in the Blue book (assuming that I get an 11 on the essay), so I'm going to assume that I get at least a 2300-2350 on the actual SAT
My SAT II scores are Math II - 800 and Bio M - 780</p>

<p>My EC's are numerous ranging from Mu Alpha Theta (Math honors society) to FBLA to being a professional EMT (Just received my certification :DD) to Filmmaking (I'm going to send my colleges a supplemental creative video I made--I'll put it on youtube when its done) to American Legion Boys State</p>

<p>Also, I know the importance of explaining my situation in this case so I'm going to write an essay on my own shorthand phonetic language I made by myself so I could take notes quick in India, regardless of the language the lecture was in. I hope to use this essay to explain my grades.</p>

<p>So clearly my problem is my GPA, which like I said before, has left me feeling very very very very sad...
My senior year course load is this:
AP Calculus BC
AP French
AP Stat
AP Comp Sci A
English Semester Honors
Advanced Topics in Physics Honors
Assuming I get straight A's first semester of senior year (I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!) what colleges am I looking at. Here is my list:</p>

<p>Reaches: Ivy league, JHU, WashU St Louis, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Northwestern HPME, Duke
Matches: Boston College, Lehigh, Lafayette, Tufts, UMich
Safties: BU, Drexel, Rutgers, GWU</p>

2

<p>First, why in creation would you say this</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Do you realize how that sounds? Moving on…</p>

<p>I thinks you have a very unique situation having been at school overseas. This could work to your advantage. I rarely advise this, but if your parents are willing to spring for a private College Consultant it may be worth your while. Make sure you find a reputable one. Check references. You would benefit from someone who could help you show this in a very positive light…as it should be. Right now you are total gloom and doom and that’s the only thing that’s going to come through applications, essays, and interviews. </p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

3

<p>from the quote I meant that my 3.8 overall weighted GPA is terrible and my 3.5 UW GPA is terrible.
sorry bout the 4.4 thing. I’m actually quite proud of that</p>

<p>and yes, my parents jsut actually hired a personal college consultant for me :slight_smile: They gave me the same advice as you did :smiley:
what a coincidence!</p>

4

<p>It looks like you have a pretty good spread of schools for your info. If you score as well on the SAT as you believe you will you should be all set.</p>

5

<p>bumpiddy bump
that went off the radar pretty fast :P</p>

6

<p>How in the world do you think that a school like Michigan is a match for someone applying from OOS and with an uwGPA of 3.5?</p>

7

<p>Imo, if you get anywhere close to your practice scores on your SAT, you’re getting into Michigan. I think you have your Reach, Match, Safeties-- spot-on. There’s nothing “fishy” about this!</p>

8

<p>bump
boring day</p>

9

<p>buuuuump bump
Also, will senior year grades for me be especially important (i.e. decision determining) because of the little time I’ve spent in America?</p>

10

<p>Glad to hear you got positive feedback from a professional consultant. I don’t think you can compare your GPA while you were overseas to the grading system you have now. Chances are they are much different. They vary widely within the states. Some do not weight for AP classes. Some give a 2pt bump! Yes, that’s a 6.0 for an A. The colleges will look at you transcripts carefully to see how you were graded to put your GPA in context. They do this all the time. Your SATs will be very important. Your Sr grades will also be very important. As you would like a bump in GPA, I would not apply EA/ED. Applying RD will show your semester grades on your transcript. Pick strong classes and stay focused.
If you choose to incorporate your international experience in your essays, make sure you do it in a way that is totally unique to you. Your college counselor can help.
I think you will be fine!</p>

11

<p>^You have no idea how much better this makes me feel :smiley:
<em>cyber hug</em>!
I’m sucha nerd :)</p>

12

<p>“Imo, if you get anywhere close to your practice scores on your SAT, you’re getting into Michigan. I think you have your Reach, Match, Safeties-- spot-on. There’s nothing “fishy” about this!”</p>

<p>State schools like Michigan and Berkeley weigh much more heavily on GPA scores over SAT or ACT scores. Like I said, a 3.5 from OOS is more than likely not going to cut it.</p>

13

<p>^What about the context in which the 3.5 is in? I mean it was only a result of the transferring of indian grades to american grades.</p>

14

<p>Don’t waste your time and money on state schools like UC and UM. They are very, very difficult to get into from out of state, and they also put a greater emphasis on grades. Moreover, UM does not use a holistic system and some UCs (such as UCSD) use a point system, which means that they won’t consider the fact that your grades are obtained in a different environment. </p>

<p>Focus on private colleges. Assuming that you get 2300+ in SAT, and get mostly As in first semester of senior year, colleges like JHU, WashU and Duke should be matches; Lehigh and Lafayette should be safeties.</p>

15

<p>I just e-mailed two Yale admissions officers. One called me on my cell phone and the other e-mailed me back, but both of them stressed the importance of having a great showing the start of senior year. That will show them that I am ready for college. They also suggested that I write about my situation in the “additional information” section of the common app and talk to my guidance counselor/college counselor about my options here on forward (I presume this means to ask them if they can write about me situation in their recommendations.)</p>

16

<p>bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump bump
'scuse my repetitiveness :)</p>

17

<p>discreet bump…</p>