Hi guys! I’m new to the website so I’m not really sure how it works, but I’m just going to post this and hope for the best, I suppose!
I’m super excited to be researching colleges and getting ready to apply in the fall, but I’m really struggling with figuring out what colleges would be safeties, matches, or reaches! I attend a pretty academically-competitive college-prep high school, and its easy to accidentally downplay my academic achievements since the environment is so academic-focused. The “normal” student has all A’s, so I’ve kind of been conditioned to think anything less is absolutely awful (not to mention that our grade scale is a bit more rigorous than most, anything below a 70 is an F, for example). I want to think realistically and not get my hopes up thinking I’m going to top schools, but at the same time I’m struggling with downplaying my grades & thinking that I’m an awful student, even though I know I’m not. If anyone could help me out by throwing names of colleges and which category it’d fall under for me, that’d be really greatly appreciated! I just kind of need a reality check, lol.
Heres a quick summary of my stats:
- Freshman GPA was somewhere around a 3.65-3.8 (weighted), I don’t exactly remember and I don’t have my report card handy right now. I took 2 honors courses.
- Sophomore GPA was somewhere around 3.8-3.95 (weighted), once again I don’t know for sure. I took 2 honors courses.
- Junior GPA sem 1 was a weighted 4.01 and sem 2 is looking like it’ll come to be around a 4.17. I’m taking 3 honors courses.
- My current cumulative GPA (as of sem1 junior year) is a 3.84
- I am taking 3 AP courses and an honors course next year, senior year
- My SAT was a 1220 but I’m retaking it in a week so it may (hopefully) wind up a little higher. (my top PSAT score was a 1270, so I know I have the potential to do a little better)
- As far as extra curriculars I have a bit of everything:
I was in an intramural sport (gymnastics) up until last year and placed nationally multiple times, I was on varsity cheer freshman year, but my school got rid of the team so I dropped it. I am in 8 clubs this year and signed up for 11 next year. As far as leadership, I was a Blood Drive leader freshman year and I lead every grade level’s “retreat” this year. I am in French National Honors Society and I’m set to be in Science National Honors Society starting next year. I was on student council this year and was elected to be again next year. I am currently running to be the President of my Senior Class next year, but thats TBD because we’re in the midst of elections right now.
- Since June of last year I have worked a part-time job, working 35 hours a week all summer and about 7 a week throughout the school year
- I am going to do about 3-5 volunteer hours a week all summer at a local nature center, so by the end of the summer I should have about 30-50 hours of service.
- I read and play 2 instruments as part of my “hobbies”.
Thats about all I can think of right now; sorry if it seemed like I’m bragging or something, I just wanted to put everything I had out there. Thank you for any insight / help / advice you can give! Its greatly appreciated!
What do you want to study ?
OP wrote: “I am in 8 clubs this year and signed up for 11 next year.”
Can you list the 11 clubs ?
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Potential major? Home state? Any preferences for location, size, or setting?
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Do you have any ideas about what you might want to study in college? Or what your family will be able to spend on your college education?
In terms of numbers, you might want to look at the Common Data Set for the schools you are interested in. Section C7 tells you how each school weighs both academic and non-academic admissions factors; Section C9 gives you the SAT and ACT ranges of admitted students; Section C10 tells you how admitted students ranked in their respective high schools; and Section C11 gives you the GPA ranges of admitted students. (NOTE: While all universities and colleges are required to maintain this information, some schools do not have a published common data set.) Reviewing this information can give you some idea of how you might fit in, statistically, in recent admitted classes at the schools you are interested in. With respect to whether a school might be a match or not, look to see if your GPA and test scores put you in the median 50% of accepted students based on the Common Data Set.
You should also sit down on multiple occasions with your high school’s guidance counselor and discuss admissions strategies, and try to identify with them what schools would be safeties, matches, and reaches for you. Further, if your high school uses Naviance or similar software, look over where you fall on those plots of GPA vs. ACT/SAT compared with those of other students from your school who have applied to the schools you are interested in; and discuss those with your guidance counselor.
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Can you answer a few questions?
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Do you have any financial limits…or are your parents able to fund $75,000 a year? If there is a top price point…what is it? If you don’t know…this is a very important piece of info to get.
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Location? Geographic plus do you want rural, urban, suburban, small town?
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Possible majors or areas of interest?
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What size college? Big research university? Small LAC? What?
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Public or private. Are you open to schools with religious affiliations?
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If you are a woman, are you open to women’s colleges.
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What is your state of residence?
Just one comment…you are currently in 8 clubs…but signed up for 3 more? Why? There won’t even be room on the common application to list 11 clubs. Colleges aren’t looking for a larger number of things…they are more looking at the depth in which you do things.
Anyway…give us some more info and I’ll bet this group can give you a place to start at least!
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But right now it would help to know the 11 clubs in order to understand OP’s thinking & interests .
(Trying to get more information & insight without overwhelming the OP.)
Hi thank you so much for replying!
I want to study Forensic Psychology and Pathology, and the clubs:
- Bullet Journal Club
- Chorale
- Liturgical Choir (I go to a catholic school)
- Diamond Key Club (basically student ambassador)
- Ambassador Club for transfer students (a nearby school is closing so we’re increasing our student body by about 30-40% with transfer students next year)
- Drama Club
- Community Service Corps
- Current Global Issues Club
- No Place for Hate
- Club Umbrella (mental health awareness & advocacy)
- Varsity Mock Trial (I won best witness this year :))
Also next year I’m working with a teacher to re-start our school’s debate team, but I don’t know if that will actually materialize in time for me to be a part of it next year, or if it won’t form until after I leave.
Thank you so much for replying!
- I am very fortunate in that I have a good amount of money left for me by my great grandparents, and I have an Aunt that has offered to pay anything else I may need, so right now I am grateful to say that price is not a boundary.
- I am willing to go anywhere within the United States, and I am leaning more towards going far than staying close (I live right outside of Philadelphia). I would like somewhere that isn’t in the middle of nowhere, so maybe suburban or small-midsize city, but I don’t think I could do NYC. I am open to larger cities if the campus is contained, but I am not a huge fan of campuses that are spread throughout a big city, if that makes any sense?
- I am really interested in Forensic Psychology / Pathology.
- I like the idea of a mid-size school. Nothing too small, like 1,00 undergrad, but nothing absolutely huge, like 30,000 undergrad. Other than that kind-of general idea, I really don’t know. I’m willing to look anywhere because I don’t think I’ll know if it fits until I look into it!
- Either way is fine; I am open to religious schools also, as long as they don’t require a whole bunch of religion courses, activities, etc.
- I would prefer co-ed schools. I go to an all-girls school currently and I absolutely love it, but as far as higher education goes, I kind of would like to stray from that.
- Pennsylvania, but as I said, I’m kind of looking to get away.
Also, regarding comment-- I know, but honestly it was less for the application and more just for me and my experience. The clubs that I newly signed up for were either new to my school or I just recently became able to join. Two of them were ambassador programs, which I think will give me good real-world experience, as well as giving me an opportunity to make connections and just be more involved in my school community. And the third was a second choir (I’m already in one), and that was just because I realized that I had the time and its something that I really enjoy being a part of. Also all of my friends were in it, so it gives us a chance to kinda hangout before school. For me, the clubs are great for applications, yes, but the majority of them are just because I love being in them & participating in my community!
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Thank you for your reply!-- I just covered this in another reply to “thumper1”, if you wanna go look at that!
Thank you so much for this! I haven’t ever heard of Common Data Set, so I’ll be sure to look into that! I do meet with my guidance counselor as much as I can but there’s not much she can really do until I begin putting together a list of at least some colleges because she’s the only counselor for the entire school, so she does everything a normal counselor would, and ALSO college stuff (we’re a pretty small school, but its still a lot on her).
I also forgot to mention, but I did participate in a trial-county science fair this year which gave me an extra credit of science. I didn’t receive any awards, but I’m really glad to have the experience!
I’m looking to pursue forensic science in college, but right now I’m just involved in a little bit of everything because there’s a lot that I enjoy doing: service, performing, ambassador-ship. I kind of said this in one of my replies but my club involvement right now is more for my own enjoyment / experience!
Ok…I’ll give you a few suggestions…but you need to check to see if they have majors that interest you.
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Marquette University in Milwaukee. This is a great small city and the school is terrific.
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Case Western Reserve University
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University of Richmond
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Schools in the greater DC area…American, George Washington, Georgetown.
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Lots and lots of schools in the greater Boston area…Boston College, Northeastern, Brandeis, Harvard, MIT. I know you say not womens, but Wellesley might be worth a look see.
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West coast…my favorite is Santa Clara University (our kid graduated from there). But there are lots of colleges there. University of San Diego, Loyola Marymount, Occidental, the Claremont Colleges.
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University of Miami, University of Tampa
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College of Charleston
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As a PA resident…what about Pitt? It’s way on the other side of Pennsylvania and has a beautiful campus and plentiful offerings.
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I’ll definitely be sure to check these out! Thank you so so much for all of your help!
Now that places are opening up more, try to visit some schools in and around Philly if you can. You don’t have to be interested in that school per-se, but it will help you decide if you like larger or smaller. Temple, Drexel, Arcadia, and Ursinus come to mind, but there are plenty of others. What’s near you? Go visit (if they are starting to open up) and get some ideas of likes/dislikes to then find places further from you in those categories.
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Wait thats actually a really good idea that I hadn’t thought of. I guess its kinda been in my head that there’s no use in visiting if I’m not interested, thank you!
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Check places like Haverford, and Villanova. Not too far. You might like those!
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You have great stats and great extracurriculars for what you want to do. The trick is going to be finding the best schools that offer the major you want and those might not be typical “top schools.” I googled a bit and I really can’t find a reliable list of “top” programs that doesn’t appear to be based on advertising dollars. You might do well to find someone who does the job you want and talk with them about their educational paths. Other than that, it seems you would want to be near “cities” so that you have intern opportunities. University of Cincinnati would be a good safety. Dean College would be a good safety/fit and it might be a really nice fit for you socially from what you have told us. Connecticut College might be of interest to you because its a very unique school and you could craft what you want. But its small and probably a reach. Another one you should look at that would be a reach is Carnegie Mellon. Keep in mind that you are most likely going to need advanced degrees to work in your field, so it is not a bad idea to choose a school that gives you great merit aid.
Adding based on others who were typing at the same time as me: Washington DC schools are a great idea to look close at because of the concentration of jobs in your field there.
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I don’t think Dean is a good match for this student.
If you are already talking to your guidance counselor, then you are ahead of the game. With guidance counselors, it really is a case of “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”; so keep having conversations with her about not just what might be target schools but also about such things as who you ask to write your college recommendations.
While it doesn’t exactly meet your preference in regards to size, I will mention the University of Tennessee in Knoxville (23,000 undergraduates) because of its program in forensic anthropology and “The Body Farm”, see, e.g., Fast Facts | Forensic Anthropology Center. It’s a little different than forensic pathology (which is a specialized area of medicine), but it might be something to look into.
Also, one thing to think about in regards to larger universities is that, while there can be a great number of students overall, being in an honors program or college in the larger university can make for a smaller “tribe”. Whether a larger school is something that you might consider is something that can be informed by identifying and visiting schools in person, and finding out what your comfort level is: just as a large, public university is not for everyone, neither is a SLAC (small liberals arts college).
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