<p>What are my chances being accepted into the following colleges:</p>
<p>Penn State (University Park Campus)
Johnson and Wales University (Rhode Island campus)
Brown University (I just thought I would try for the hell of it...I'm interested in business but also in liberal arts so it'd still be a good fit.)
University of Connecticut
The College of New Jersey</p>
<p>High School Senior this coming school year and I live in New Jersey.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.7
Courses Taken: Took 1 honors class freshman year (English), 2 honors classes sophomore year (English and Biology), and then 3 honors classes junior year (English, Spanish, and Chemistry). I plan on taking 2-3 for my senior year too, along with 1 AP course (Biology). Basically, every year, I challenged myself a little bit more than the previous year.
Class Rank: 16/109
SATs: Yes, they're pretty low: 1540. I did improve each time I took them tough (around 100 points after every time). I'm doing fine on the Verbal and Writing sections but Math always seems to weigh me down. I've taken the Old SATs once and the New SATs twice. I've been considering taking the ACTs because of my lack of success on the SATs. </p>
<p>ECs: 1. JV Baseball freshman year, Varsity Baseball sophomore year (earned my Varsity Letter), didnt play Baseball my junior year due to personal reasons but I'm definitely playing Senior year.
2. I've done DECA (business program) for 2 years, sophomore and junior year, and plan to go into a 3rd year for my senior year.
3. Spanish Honors Society...took Spanish for 3 years and I've decided to take French for my senior year because I'm getting a bit bored of Spanish.<br>
4. Jerseymen (political club): started in Junior year and plan to do it for my senior year.
5. Student Council (Homeroom Rep.): Joined for my senior year.</p>
<p>Also, during the summer going into my junior year, I was 1 of only 3 people invited from my school to go to a 3-day business workshop (UAB - Understanding American Business). It was a great deal of work for only 3 days so we working nearly every minute of the day to get the project done...pressure but a great experience nonetheless. I'm very interested in majoring in business and hopefully this would help a lot. </p>
<p>I could be missing something but can't put my finger on it. If I remember something, I'll be sure to post. Also, if any other colleges come to mind that you believe would be a good fit for me, please sugges them. Any replies would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>i agree wth KallynMN....those SAT's are wayyyy too low and ur GPA is decent but it u dont have that many honors/AP courses so college might see that as looking for the easy road</p>
<p>I have to agree with KallynMN. You're GPA is strong, you're rank is ok, as are your EC's. Your SAT score is KILLING you, however. I'd suggest hitting the Princeton Review books, and studying like you've never studied before. If you can get your scores up to maybe an 1800, all of your schools, with the exception of Brown, will be plausible.</p>
<p>I tried to take a challenging road but I couldn't overload myself with all APs. I know what I can do and how much I can take and I felt like taking Honors courses was the way to go. I'm taking only one AP class for my senior year but I definitely think I'll be ready for difficult college courses. It's just a matter of if colleges can see this. </p>
<p>And yes, my SATs are pretty low, but I'm not good at taking those big tests. It would be a shame if some place like TCNJ rejected me based solely on my SAT scores. I've looked into TCNJ and I'm above the standards for average GPA...they also look heavily on personal/character qualities, which I believe I am very strong in. I'm also ranked pretty high in class rank (at least the top 5 are going to get into ivy league schools and 6-15 are going to very good schools...basically, it's pretty competitive for a relatively small class). Honestly, I only see the SATs as a problem but I can't do anything about that now. I'm just hoping that they look past that and accept me for having some solid stats.</p>
<p>its true that ur other stats and stuff are good but SAT is a pretty big thing.....a score like that may place u out of the applicant pooll before they even look at ur other qualities</p>
<p>I bought the SAT book (from Kaplan) and studied as often as I could (I was pretty busy with school at the time so I made time whenever I could). To give you a better idea of how bad I am in math, here's a breakdown of my scores:</p>
<p>1st time (Old SAT):
CR - 470
Math - 390
Overall: 860</p>
<p>2nd time (New SAT):
CR - 510
Math - 420
Writing - 510
Overall: 1440</p>
<p>3rd time (New SAT for 2nd time):
CR - 530
Math - 440
Writing - 570
Overall: 1540</p>
<p>I did improve each time which I was happy about. My goal was to hit 1700 but I'd need to go up another 160 points, which is tougher than you think. Even though the Writing/CR is decent, it's really the Math that's weighing me down. With the trick questions they put in there (I read about it in the Kaplan book), it's tough to consistently think you have the correct answer. I continuously doubt myself with the Math questions and for that I find myself improving around 20-30 points everytime I take the test.</p>
<p>I'll probably buy the princeton review book then. I'm hoping to get well over a 500 in Math (at least 550). As weak as I am in that area, I still believe I can improve.</p>
<p>Another question...TCNJ is really starting to interest me. If it's going to be my number one choice no matter what, should I just apply Early Decision?</p>
<p>There are a number of colleges where sending SAT scores is optional. Perhaps you should consider one of those. I don't have a link to them...but someone here probably can post it. The rest of your application stats look good...consider applying where your SAT won't be needed.</p>
<p>yeah, I heard about it. I know Bowdoin is optional for sending SATs in, but that's a little too far away for me. If anybody could list a few that look like good matches for me, please do.</p>
<p>If you want to go to Penn State you could apply to one of the branch campuses (Altoona is pretty nice, and the second best after main campus...that's what us Pennsylvanians call it, haha) and then transfer after a year. Yeah, I know you don't want to hear "plan on transferring!" but it is an option...</p>
<p>I don't know if you'd like it, but if you like big schools- maybe Temple? It is in the city (Philly) though..</p>
<p>I'm considering going to a branch campus (that's IF I don't get accepted into University Park). Not interested in Temple though...</p>
<p>I'm also going to take Brown and UConn down from my college list. Brown isn't exactly worth it (seeing how I wouldn't really get in). I already have two reach schools (University Park and TCNJ) so I'd rather not add another one in there with UConn. Then, Johnson and Wales is a good match school. From there I add 1-2 safety schools (one which might be Montclair State University...good college and it's close to home). </p>
<p>We'll see what happens though. Just gotta hope I can improve SATs.</p>
<p>You could try West Virginia, That is one of my safety schools with the Average (old) SAT being a 1072 My old one is 1240 so yours would be 970. With average EC's (Actually I don't really know, but their better then mine) I think it would be a good match. My Cousin visited it last year and he said it had a beautiful campus and like a remodled REC center. Maybe you should check that out. and It is one of the Top 361 colleges by Princeton Review so That is why I'm applying there as a saftey.</p>
<p>I was looking for something a little closer than West Virginia. It's about 7 and a half hours away. Also, I checked out the list of schools that are optional for sending SAT scores. I just checked by state and none of the schools I saw were of any interest. I did see Johnson and Wales was optional so that's a good thing. </p>
<p>I should've been more specific: Can anyone suggest any good business schools around the NJ/NY/PA area? Or even into the New England region (CT, RI, Mass)? I did look into University of Mass-Amherst and it does seem like a great business school. If you could tell me any info about that school, it'd be great.</p>