What would good reaches/matches/safeties be?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>If some of you more experienced people have the time to check this over that'd be great.</p>

<p>Very upper class white male, go to a fairly large public school outside of Boston (school graduates ~500 a year, maybe 20 go to top-20 schools each year).</p>

<p>Basic Academic Stuff
SAT I: 700 CR, 790 M, 700 W (will retake in October)
SAT II: 800 US History, 770 Literature, 720 Math II (might retake Math in November)
UW GPA 3.41, Weighted 3.79 (Assuming 4=A, 3.66=A-, 3.33=B+, 3=B; +.5 for honors, +1 for AP) My school does a weird GPA where a 9 is an honors/AP A, 8 is honors/AP B or a regular A, etc.) I pretty much get honors B+'s.
Class rank; not sure, my school doesn't do it, but I'm around the 90th percentile.
My school offers only math at the honors level freshmen year, I took that, and Math/History/English Spohomore year, Math/English/Computer repair honors Junior year, and US History/Latin at the AP level this year.</p>

<p>Academic Awards/Activities
National Latin Exam: Summa Cum Laude/Gold Medal, 9, 10, 11
National Spanish Exam: 86th percentile 10, 83rd percentile 11 as a non-honors student
Member of a Mock Trials team that was 1st in state and 12th in the nation 9th grade, 2nd in 10th, and tied for 3rd in 11th. Captain next year.
National Merit Semifinalist or Finalist, not sure yet (PSAT was 226).
Member of Student-Faculty Administration, 12
I was also a state finalist in the Geography Bee but that was in 8th grade</p>

<p>I attended Massachusetts Boys' State.</p>

<p>I'm going to coach a youth basketball team with my friend this winter.</p>

<p>I just started working in the past few months, I'm a caddy at a local country club.</p>

<p>But here's the kicker: I'm a really good shot putter, 56' 9.5" if you care. I was the Massachusetts State Champ this year as a junior, and 5th in New England. I've gotten letters from a good number of colleges, including Brown, Cornell, Yale, and Dartmouth. This also gives me 2 captainships (Indoor and Outdoor Track).</p>

<p>Thanks for your time, and what do you think would be good reaches, matches, and safeties for someone like me?</p>

2

<p>You have an obvious hook with your shot-putting skill--and if you are receiving letters from a lot of Ivies, they obviously have an interest. Looking at your shot put results, you would have finished about 8th in a regional if you had competed last year--so obviously you are excellent at this sport. Plus your test scores are phenomenal.</p>

<p>Reaches, matches, and safeties are different for you than everyone else for this reason. Any school that has a decent track and field program--or wants one--will at least give you a close look. But besides the schools that are interested in you, I'd be curious in which schools you are interested in.</p>

<p>Last year the top schools in the Ivy league for Track and Field were Cornell, Yale, Dartmouth, and Columbia--but none cracked the top 15 in the east coast qualifiers. At the national level, it was Florida State, LSU, Texas, and USC. And LSU is likely to be the favorite for the next two year since their sophomore sprinting phenom Xavier Carter, who won four events, will be back again next year. While I'm not suggesting you go to LSU--my point is that you have to decide if you want the Ivy education this shot-putting skill gives you or if you want to possibly get a pretty good education at a school like LSU and also compete on a likely NCAA championship contender.</p>

<p>My own view is you should go to an Ivy with an interest--and that you are interested in--but this is your call.</p>

<p>Good luck to you. We'll look for you in the papers--and maybe on TV--who knows?</p>

3

<p>Academics is by far the thing I am looking at the most when it comes to picking a college. I'm basically looking at shot put as something that will help me get in to a school, and something fun to do while I'm there.</p>

<p>I guess what I was saying with the reach/match/safety thing is that, assuming that athletics will improve my desirability to a college by some amount, what are academically selective schools that I have probably have very good or decent chances at getting into? If anyone doesn't really know how much athletics improve my chances, could you say something based on all the other stuff and just look at it as an EC I excell in? Thanks.</p>

4

<p>I really see nothing holding you back from getting into whatever school you want, as long as the schools are interested in recruiting you. Even without shot put, you would have a decent chance at ANY school. Make some contacts with the coaches of academically selective schools you're interested in and go from there.</p>

<p>"I'm basically looking at shot put as something that will help me get in to a school, and something fun to do while I'm there."</p>

<p>That's always the way I looked at cross country. Maybe it would help push me into a better school I would not otherwise have a chance at. Again, you have a great advantage in gaining acceptance to some very good schools. Take advantage of your abilities and good luck!!</p>

5

<p>Without the shot-putting skill (or as a regular EC):</p>

<p>Your AI is 214 to 221--meaning you have a very good shot at a lot of the Ivies if your ECs are good which they are, but particularly at the lower Ivies (Cornell, Brown, Penn) and less at the mids (Columbia, Dartmouth) or upper (Harvard .</p>

<p>I would rank Cornell, Brown, and Penn as slight reaches, and Columbia and Dartmouth as slight reach to reach.</p>

<p>Other reaches: John Hopkins, MIT, Caltech, Duke, UC Berkeley</p>

<p>Schools that match your stats would be Chicago, Emory, Rice, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Brandeis, USC, and William and Mary, UCLA</p>

<p>Safe matches/safeties would be: Boston College, Washington, Syracuse, Penn State, LSU, Florida, Maryland</p>

<p>But I'm agreeing with the poster above--saying that you can get into most any school since you have the stats and they will be recruiting you for a sport. If you don't want to do track and field in college, then you can still get into the matches and safe matches above in my view.</p>

6

<p>Anyone else? Take the shot putting as an EC I excel in if you don't know much about college track/athletics.</p>

7

<p>I wholly agree with Calcruzer's informed assessment. Really a good perspective and advice.</p>

<p>You're in a different category because of your shot put ability. It will open doors for you, assuming you follow up with those letters you received. Do make contact with the coaches at the schools you have interest in. Even though the Ivies do not give out athletic scholarships, they will admit athletes that they feel can succeed academically. I am familiar with a number of students who have leveraged their athletic prowess to get into Ivies, only to eventually give up athletic committments to focus on their studies. This is OK... give it a shot (no pun intended ;)) and see how far it takes you. If after you've made the effort for a year or two, you decide to drop the track/field obligation, nobody's going to shoot you.</p>

<p>To get a comparison, as you know your PR for the SP is very good. Here in CA, there were at least a handful who threw for over 60 feet, with the top mark at over 66 feet. These are student/athletes who will get attention from competitive Div. I track/field programs, though. In your case, you are somebody who can take your athletic gifts and fit it nicely into a niche that will serve you and the college track program both.</p>

8

<p>To reinforce what NorCalDad and Calcruzer have been saying...</p>

<p>I was looking at MIT's track program (I have no idea if you're interested in them) and their shot putter was throwing consistently in the mid-50's. You are definitely in this range. All you'd have to do is make contact with the coach and if they're interested, there's that little push that could help get you in.</p>

<p>For Yale, I couldn't even find their shot putter(s)
For Harvard, they're marks seemed pretty bad. (like mid-40's)</p>

<p>Just take the great advice of the previous two posters and make contact with the coaches of the schools you're interested in. Again, best of luck!!</p>

9

<p>Bump.</p>

<p>Got AP scores back today, 5 in U.S. History and 3 in Latin Lit.</p>

<p>How will those affect me, and should I not report the Latin score?</p>

10

<p>Just wondering...do you go to Exeter?</p>

<p>I go to Andover, sounds like your grade system.</p>

11

<p>Nope, public school in Newton.</p>