What "Safety" college should I apply to - to make sure I get in somewhere? HELP??

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Here's my general info:</p>

<p>I lived in France from age 7-16, so my 9th and 10th year grades don't have Honors or APs since those don't exist in France. Therefore my GPA isn't high when it is cumulative (2.9) but if you look at my Junior year of HS it is 4.1. And my senior grades are looking the same so far.</p>

<p>I took 2 AP exams last year: Psychology and French, and got 5 on both.
I am taking AP European History this year and ALL Honors classes. (And i'll be taking the AP European History AP Test)</p>

<p>My counselor statement explains my lower GPA and grade situation for 9th and 10th grade.</p>

<p>SAT:
Critical Reading: 660
Writing: 720
Math: 520</p>

<p>Subject test:
Literature: 640
French Language: 800</p>

<p>I'm the photographer and web designer of my school newspaper, I babysit and do french tutoring, I do community work for the Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity, but have only done so since about a month. I play the piano and do portrait photography. I've been in clubs such as FBLA and the French Club and have also been a lead actress in drama class.</p>

<p>The essays I have been writing have info about my living in France (diversity), the culture and traveling experiences I had (I traveled throughout Europe a lot).</p>

<p>I want to major in French or Psychology.</p>

<p>Any opinion?</p>

<p>I want to go to a good school, i'm applying to schools like UW, Penn State, UNC Chapel Hill, NYU, Davidson College, Boston College, SDSU, Vassar College, UMASS Amherst, Rutgers, UNCW, Brown University, Cornell, Syracuse, etc etc.</p>

<p>Should I add any school as a safety school or should I not be worried about getting in somewhere?</p>

2

<p>A “Safety” by definition meets these four criteria:</p>

<p>1) You and your family can pay for it without any financial aid other than federally determined (FAFSA) aid and/or guaranteed state aid (Hope, TAP, Blue&Gold, Bright Futures, etc.) and/or guaranteed merit-based aid from the college/university itself.</p>

<p>2) You know for dead certain that you will be admitted because the institution posts the minimum requirements right on its website (many public colleges and universities do) OR your high school has years of records that indicate that no applicant with your profile was ever denied admission.</p>

<p>3) Your major is offered.</p>

<p>4) You would be happy to attend if all else goes wrong in the admission cycle.</p>

<p>What is your immigration status? If you are an international applicant, you have no safeties in the US. Matches maybe, but no safeties. If you are a US applicant, start by looking for institutions that meet the first two criteria on the list, and then see how close they come to fulfilling the second two. The simple fact is that for most US applicants, the safety institution will be a home-state public university or community college.</p>

3

<p>I’m a US citizen. So i’m not applying as an international applicant. I’ve been looking, but most of the schools just don’t seem to interest me, they’re either too small, or in a location I don’t like. And I would think i’d have a chance to go to a better school than a community college even with my low GPA…</p>

4

<p>The deal is that you are looking for your rock-solid safety. The place that you know will admit you. The place that you know you can pay for. For example: If you are in-state for SDSU and your parents can pay the full Cost of Attendance (COA) and your guidance counselor has told you that in his/her opinion you are in, well then that can be your safety for now. If you don’t get in there, you would have the excellent CCC system as your emergency back-up plan.</p>

<p>If you don’t know what your parents can pay, ask them. If you do know what they can pay and it isn’t the full COA for any of these places, then you need to pin down something that they can pay for as your safety.</p>

<p>If your guidance counselor has not told you specifically that he/she believes you are certain to be admitted by at least one of the places on your list, go back and have another consultation with your counselor. There are scads of smaller LACs out there that offer your potential majors and are happy to take students with your profile provided that the student is full-pay. There are others that would take a chance on you given your history, and your counselor may know some that he/she can specifically recommend to you.</p>

<p>If it turns out that your best safety for admission and financial reasons is your closest community college, then pay a visit to the counseling center there, and talk with the transfer advisor about your long-term goals. Usually they are expert at helping their students find good transfer-to options.</p>

<p>If you absolutely cannot come up with a real safety, then think long and hard about what you will do next fall if you aren’t admitted anywhere that you can afford. What would be your Plan B? A gap year? A European university? Military service? Hard things to put your mind to, I know, but well worth thinking through as part of this process.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best in this new year!</p>

5

<p>Well my parents can afford pretty much any of the schools i’m applying to right now. I haven’t heard much from my counselor as to where my chances are the highest, I think probably UNC Chapel Hill and UNCW, I don’t think they know much about the other schools i’m applying to since they are out of state. Other than NYU and a few others that some kids at my school have applied to.</p>

<p>My dad went to SDSU and he seems confident I would get in, though i’m not too sure anymore. I thought that UW, Penn State and Rutgers were my safety schools as well, but I guess I underestimated how selective they are?</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice!</p>

6

<p>You could throw in U of Oklahoma, U of Kansas, U of Colorado, or U of Alabama.</p>

7

<p>OP, I’m trying to figure out a common thread in the schools you have applied to, so that I can figure out what kind of college experience you are looking for.</p>

<p>If you are looking for schools with a “global” emphasis, have you considered Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, or the University of Denver, which has an amazing study abroad program?</p>

8

<p>I haven’t looked into those schools, no. Do you think i’d have a chance at getting accepted?</p>

9

<p>Are you in-state for UNC and UNCW? I’m sure you could get into UNCW but out of state UNC-Chapel Hill is tricky</p>

10

<p>I am in state for UNC Chapel Hill and UNCW yes :slight_smile:
So you think I might have a shot there?</p>

11

<p>Chapel Hill is always a crap shoot for anyone, in-state too. I come from a very competitive public school and there’s always a pattern between who gets in and who doesn’t. Are you taking the hardest classes in your school? Chapel Hill really looks at that. They compare you to everyone else at your school. You (and me) might not be compared because of the International/GPA situation. I think you definitely have a shot at UNCW</p>

12

<p>I see, well i’ve only taken 3 AP Classes for Junior and Senior year, other than that all Honors Classes. So I guess I couldn’t consider myself as very competitive like all the other kids at my school that are taking freaking 6 APs each year :/</p>

13

<p>Yeah, Chapel Hill admissions is a bloodbath at my school. </p>

<p>Keep your head up. You still have a chance, considering your background.
Have you looked at UNC-Charlotte?</p>

14

<p>Rutgers isn’t a safety with a 2.9 GPA. A lot of your schools are reaches or super-reaches. UNCW seems to the only safety on the list, so it is probably worth adding another.</p>

15

<p>As she explained, her GPA is low because she came from France, where they don’t differentiate between classes, it all depends on the school she went to. Colleges won’t look at her GPA much because of this.</p>

16

<p>

If you do the math her GPA from France must be in the 2.3 range. That’s bad no matter what type of GPA you are using.</p>

17

<p>I haven’t looked into UNCC too much no, I figured that two UNC schools is enough, and since i’m applying to a lot of schools I guess i’m trying to keep the application costs as low as possible.</p>

18

<p>Yes my grades were very average or low in 9th and 10th grade in France. But the grading system was entirely different, and so were the classes. We were not allowed to choose any of our classes, and they were much more difficult.</p>

19

<p>Were you in the top 10% of your class in France? In other words did your school have severe grade deflation? If so your GC might be able to include that in your recommendation. If not then that’s no different than many other students.</p>

20

<p>I don’t know which percent I was in in my class in France, they don’t rank us over there. All I know is that in my counselor statement my GC talks about the GPA situation, and the grades, and stresses how hard i’ve worked and improved when coming to the USA. My teacher rec’s are very strong as well, so maybe that will help out?</p>