Hi, I am currently a junior in high school at a competitive public school in New Jersey. I had a bit of a rough junior year where my gpa dropped, and therefore I’m a little afraid about my chances for admission. I just wanted to have a better idea of the types of colleges I should be applying to. I would really appreciate suggestions, and even though I know its difficult to just name colleges like that, I really need a direction for when it comes to applying next year. Thanks so much!
Here are my stats so far:
Asian Female
gpa: uw around 3.6, weighted 4.1
Junior Course Load: AP Bio, APUSH, AP Calc AB, and AP English
(throughout high school only honors and AP classes)
SAT: 2100 (will retake but new format so hopefully higher)
Editor of School newspaper
Regional Choir for past two years and all of the years of middle school
All-State Choir this year
Part of school’s most selective ensemble for all of the years of high school and one of the board members for the group
Learning Indian classical music for last 10 years and have passed 2 high level exams in this
Member of NHS and Spanish Honors Society, will do Mu Alpha Theta and maybe Tri-M next year
Member of school’s pre-med club (running for board position in that as well)
Have 90+ hours of volunteering at hospital
I’m contacting professors in schools within the area for research internships over the summer and some have responded so most probably doing research over the summer
interested in science or engineering, not entirely sure yet
Females have some advantage in terms of acceptance for engineering. Assuming you don’t, some suggestions are Lehigh, Bucknell, University of Rochester, RPI, Union College, Lafayette, Stevens, Villanova and WPI.
IMO you need to do some thinking to narrow things down. You should qualify for many fine schools. Some things to consider at the start of your search are:
-What type of schools you like (LAC, mid-sized university, large school)?
-What area do you like – rural, suburban, urban?
-Religious or secular (or are both OK)?
-Financial restrictions?
-Geographic restrictions?
-Any other restrictions your parents have?
-Do you want a college with bit time sports?
-Interested in Greek Life?
-Do you want to do research as an undergraduate?
A couple of places to start would be to get your hands on some college guide books (ex. Fiske, Princeton Review etc.) and start reading and seeing where your stats fall in. These books can probably be found in your HS guidance office, the library. If you have no idea what type of college you like, try to visit some different types of schools near you to help you narrow it down.
Thanks! I want to go to a small to medium sized school, as I do not want all of my classes to be 200 student lecture halls, in a suburban or urban area. Although getting a scholarship would be nice (merit based i don’t think I qualify for need-based), depending on the schools I get into I’ll see how much money I’ll be willing to spend ( so for now no financial restrictions). In terms of geographic locations, I would say definitely on the east coast but maybe not as far south as Florida. And yes I do want to do some research as an undergraduate, but I can always do that over the summer at a state school near me so that is not necessarily my highest priority.
Work out clear financial restrictions and run some NPCs to see if you qualify for aid BEFORE you apply. We see a lot of kids in April who are heartbroken because they thought their parents would pay anything for their dream school.
@OnTheBubble has great suggestions. Trinity’s another LAC with engineering that might work.
You might want to try the SuperMatch function on the left or the CollegeBoard’s match tool.
@HelloThere101 I think you could possibly have a shot at Tufts—you might have something of a chance ED, but a 3.6 is kind of low for that school so I wouldn’t count on it. I also wouldn’t apply to any school ED unless you’re 110% certain you want to go. I EDII’d Tufts this year, had a change of heart a month after the app deadline, and had to email them to ask them to move me to RD, so…keep that in mind.
Tufts is a super high reach- especially for an over represented minority. Plus they give no merit. Do your parents have $250K in the bank to spend on your college education? That’s what tufts and other top colleges cost with no merit or financial aid.
I think Smith would be a good match for you and possibility of merit aid. But as mentioned it’s all girls though it’s part of a 5 college consortium that includes Amherst, UMass and Hampshire that have males.
I put in a second vote for a women’s college. Smith has engineering and Scripps is in a consortium with Mudd. Not sure about others for engineering, but Wellesley might have an arrangement with Olin and Barnard definitely has cross reg with Columbia. You would have to look into the engineering curriculum but it is worth some thought.
In terms of your preference for location, these Newsweek articles may help you generate a few ideas: “The 25 Most Desirable Suburban Schools,” “The 25 Most Desirable Urban Schools.”
Yes, you do have a chance at both Barnard and Wellesley but I would consider them low reaches. Smith is dead on perfect for scores and you’d most likely get merit aid there and possibly the STRIDE research scholarship as well. But…Smith is a school with its very own vibe, either you really like it or you don’t. It definately requires research and a visit for “fit”.
Wellesley is part of the Babson Olin Wellesley consortium. Wellesley students can cross register at Olin and Babson, and can also cross register for classes at MIT, and they run a buses between all the above campuses.
@NoVADad99 do Olin students have access to Babson and Wellesley’s non-academic facilities (ie pool, rock climbing walls, that sort of thing).
@HelloThere101 , if you’re looking at science, there are good smaller LAC’s, but in my search so far for my daughter the better engineering tends to be in the bigger schools, with the exception of Olin and WPI.
@MotherOfDragons Olin students have access to some of Babson’s facilities, like the gym and at least one of the dining halls. Not sure about other areas. I don’t think they have Wellesley privileges other than going to class there.