Hello I am searching for a college. I am attending a Catholic college prep high school. I currently have a 32 ACT (33E, 31M, 35R, 27S, 7 Writing). I have played sports all through my high school years and am going to be playing three varsity sports this year. My senior course load is AP Calc BC, Psych Realism, AP Psych, AP Spanish, Chorus, American Gov, and Peace and Justice (religion). For extracurriculars I have over 200 hours of service hours. Most importantly, I helped found a free baseball camp for inner-city children who can’t afford it and put in over 70 hours. It has been recognized by my school, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, and many local media sources.
So, what colleges would you recommend for me? (slight stretches, reasonable, and safeties) Also should I be taking the SAT Subject tests? (I was thinking about taking the Math 2 but not sure about another one). Thank you.
Freshman admit rates (2016) for UC GPA of 3.80-4.19:
UCB: 14%
UCLA: 14%
UCSD: 44%
UCSB: 54%
UCD: 58%
UCI: 65%
UCSC: 85%
UCR: 94%
UCM: 96%
You have competitive stats for the majority of the UC’s. UCLA/UCB are Reaches but have you good EC’s. Write some compelling essays and any of the top UC’s are possible. Apply widely especially if you are pursuing a competitive major.
Best of luck.
Are finances an issue? Do you need financial aid?
No finances are not an issue. We could make anything work. It’s just the matter of getting in.
Tentative academic interests?
Thank you for the reply Gumbymom. It is greatly appreciated. I would love to go to Berkeley or LA. They are for sure in my top five.
I’m looking into a business type degree undergrad. More specifically, finance or economics.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1903428-faq-uc-historical-frosh-admit-rates-by-hs-gpa-p1.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20514076/#Comment_20514076
How much will your parents pay each year? Ask them, please don’t guess. We see later posts from a lot of disappointed students who thought their parents would pay more.
They said that they can make anything work. I’m 100% sure that there is no financial problem
For business cum econ/finance, look into Emory, the University of Southern California, Boston College, NYU, Lehigh. For excellent economics programs cum some finance, consider appropriate LACs.
Can you narrow the universe down a little bit for us? What part of the country, how big or small a school, any idea what you might want to study and any cultural preferences? For example is it important for you to attend a Catholic college (based on your Catholic HS), not important but you might prefer a more conservative school, or not important at all and you could be happy at a very liberal/activist school?
I think those big questions will help the group point you in the right starting direction. Best of luck.
I’m looking for schools mainly west/east coast. Coming from the Bay Area I’m looking for more of a liberal school but will also go to a conservative. I’m looking for a big name school with a medium to large size class. I’m very interested in Norte dame and northwestern but don’t know the reality of getting into those schools
Totally apply to those schools if you’re interested but definitely apply to some safety as well. Not sure how UC/SCU admissions work but those might be good matches/safteys. For Northwestern and Notre dame check their websites to see if they want sat 2s (probably do). It wouldn’t hurt to try the ACT again to try an get up to a 34+ but if you don’t have time, it ok. I’m not saying you’re a shoo in, but I think with your ecs impact you may have a chance. Make sure to highlight that in your application (maybe a supplemental rec from an adult that worked with you?) And include other activities you may have done (baseball?).
If you have an idea of what you want to study that can help with suggesting more options.
Also make sure you understand how much your parent can contribute towards college and all that financial stuff. Run net price calculators and look at merit scholarships at slightly less selective schools with honors programs if you need to.
Yes, define your budget now. Major?
Just to clarify on geography, you mentioned the West coast, the East coast, and two colleges in the central part of the country. That’s totally cool if you’ll go anywhere, but I’m just checking that this is what you mean.
Yeah that’s what I mean. I’m basically like looking for anywhere but the south. I’m interested in a business type major like Econ or finance. And we are able to make any college work financially
University of Washington
If instate for California and you don’t mind a Catholic college, Santa Clara, USD, USF, St. Mary’s and LMU could be good options.
For OOS private schools BU is a low match and NYU could be a target school.
For UCs Davis and Irvine are low match.
SAT subject tests are recommended by UCs so Math 2 and 2 more (Science and History) would be good to have depending on your potential major.
Try 1 more ACT to get a score around 33.