<p>Does anyone have any colleges I can look at? my prospective college would be somewhere in the north, private institution, small class sizes. Financial aid is irrelevant to me at this point, I'll narrow that down later. a big campus would be cool i guess. I've been looking into Columbia but I think it's a huge reach for me. </p>
<p>Stats:
GPA: current gpa as a junior like a 3.85 and projected is probably gonna stay in that range or so.
SAT: no prep for first sat and did it this december, got a 1800 so projected sat somewhere 2200-2400?
EC: tsa (technological student association) ill probably get vp position next year
nhs (ill probably be vp too)
beta club (will probably be secretary)
blood drive coordinator
300+ volunteer hours
volunteered in nigeria to do some missionary work
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
School type: Large public school? Like 1500 people or so
Race: African-American
Gender: Male
Niches: I'm gay does that count?
income: 100k+ I think but uh we make more than the average of where we live.</p>
<p>Not to toot my horn but I think my college essays will be great. I don't know if it'll be helpful to mention that. Oh and my ideal major would probably between Philosophy, Linguistics, Physics, Math or Economics. They're inconsistent and aren't correlated, I know, but I just boiled down my passions to those 5.</p>
<p>Rutgers might be a good safety.</p>
<p>what about matches?</p>
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<p>You really can’t leave this for long. No point in getting excited about a bunch of colleges you can’t afford. Have your parents help you run the net price calculators for any colleges you are interested in.</p>
<p>I don’t know why you would project a huge bump in your SAT. Sure, you didn’t prep, but wishing for a higher score doesn’t make it so… what was your SAT breakdown? As a general rule, it is much easier to raise your math score by studying, hardest to raise your CR score (it is the long time avid readers with strong vocabularies and ability to quickly analyze written material who usually have top scores in that area). </p>
<p>It can be hard to find small class sizes in combination with a big campus. Small class sizes are most often associated with liberal arts colleges, which tend to NOT have big campuses. I know you said north, but am wondering if you said it just because you would prefer not to be in the south. What about Pomona? Good liberal arts college with small classes, but part of the Claremont consortium so there are really five small colleges right together like one big campus. It is probably a high match if you pull off the test scores you aspire to.</p>
<p>Elmhurst (near Chicago) is very gay-friendly and diverse (and/or looking for African American males). It’d be a safety.
Rutgers would be an academic safety but wouldn’t be good cost-wise (high OOS costs, no financial aid).
A match would be Muhlenberg.</p>
<p>As far as your interests go, I see a common thread: you like thinking about systems and in abstract terms.
So I’d recommend fairly intellectual colleges, like New College of Florida, Swarthmore (big reach), Reed (reach), U Chicago, College William&Mary…</p>
<p>Well, U of Chicago is as much of a reach as Swarthmore. Both are reaches for everyone. Reed not as much. So much depends on your test scores, it is really hard to tell you what is a match or safety without that information.</p>
<p>Sorry, I didn’t think of putting “Uchicago (reach)”, “W&M (reach)” because it seemed obvious, didn’t mean to cause confusion.
Anyway you probably want to find schools similar to these but a bit easier to get into.</p>
<p>turningpoint, not to be a downer but you may want to hold off on SAT score predictions. You may very well go from 1800 to 2200+ but that’s a long climb up. I wouldn’t make up a schools list based on “expected” SAT scores. Make the list based on your CURRENT SAT score. You may protest that the score is too low but right now, it’s all you have. If you make a list of schools you want to attend based on your current score and then your scores move up, well, there are your safety schools.</p>
<p>You are still a junior so once you take your SAT again (and get the score) then you can build your list of reach, match and safety schools. Finances is important!!! Don’t fall in love with a school unless you can afford it. Plenty of kids have had their bubbles burst when they can’t afford their “dream” school. Good Luck!</p>
<p>ok thank you for the whole tips on me not getting a big increase but lets say i get a 2200 or so (lets just say i DO make a huge jump) senior year with the same projected stats what would be my matches and safeties or whatever?</p>
<p>maybe i shouldve just lied and said i was a senior with these stats so you guys couldve not focused on the projected sat and more of schools that match or are safeties for this profile.</p>
<p>You can certainly apply to Columbia if you have a 3.85 and a 2200. However remember that it’s a reach for everyone, meaning that if you apply RD your odds are about 1:20 (another way to write this is to point out your odds of getting denied are 19:20…)
Therefore, as has been advised above, look for schools that would be good for you with that 1800 (or so) so that you’ll have your safeties.
Elmhurst would be a safety for instance. Muhlenberg, Macalester, or Grinnell a match. Vassar or Carleton a reach.</p>