Where am I on track for?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a white male, rising junior. I just completed a tour of colleges so I am a little curious as to where I can go...</p>

<p>SAT I: 2070 (M: 720 R: 700 W: 650 (11 essay)) I just finished a PR review course, and I know the writing section will be a lot higher now... reading can probably boost a little too. Might as well be a boost in math also. </p>

<p>Current GPA W: 4.43 UW: 3.72
Projected Graduation GPA: W: 4.6ish UW 3.8ish
Full IB Diploma, Math, Music, English, and History HL. Bio and Spanish SL</p>

<p>Current rank is 35/731. I'm not sure how that will change. Very competitive class. I hope to be in the top ten, or at least twenty.</p>

<p>ECs:
Marching Band 9-12
Pit Section Leader 10th, 11th, Most likely 12th</p>

<p>Lacrosse
JV 10th, Varsity 11th, 12th
Chief award in 10th (basically best hustle, effort, all that jazz)
(I'm not on a D1 level, but think I could definately be a prospective D3 player)</p>

<p>Soccer
JV 10th, 11th Varsity 12th
(not very passionate about this, I just do it to stay conditioned for lacrosse)</p>

<p>Sophomore, Junior, Senior Class Council</p>

<p>Sophomore year I taught spanish to gifted children at a local elementary school</p>

<p>Junior year I will be tutoring advanced 8th graders in biology, and also be a teacher's assistant for a few hours a week... I will probably do this senior year also.</p>

<p>Colleges I'm looking at: Amherst, Brown, Holy Cross, Boston College, Boston University, Dartmouth, Colgate, HYPS for craps. I want to do philosophy in undergrad, and hopefully also complete some sort of pre-law track. Amherst and Brown are at the top of my list because of their curriculum... plus absolutely love their campuses.</p>

<p>I have one commonapp essay done, and I've been told it's wonderful by some PR people. It made my mom cry... haha.</p>

<p>I just really want to get out of state, so please be honest with me.</p>

<p>Thank you for your time :).</p>

2

<p>Hmm... I just realized this would probably be better fit under chances. But to make it fit here, tell me a few other schools to look at. I have my platter full of schools I love, but heck, why not a few more?</p>

<p>Oh, and AP scores:
World History: 4
Music Theory: 4</p>

<p>Also:
Jazz Band: 11th, 12th
Church Band: 9-12th</p>

<p>(that's on bass guitar, my main instrument)</p>

<p>I just hope I come across as somewhat unique... I have a strength in the sciences (graduating with 6 math credits, and I started HS science early... nothing special but it establishes a personality stereotype...). Even though I am strong in these areas, I don't paticularly enjoy them, and prefer the humanities. I don't know if I'm going for an image of well-roundedness or what. But that's that.</p>

3

<p>In terms of philosophy/anthropology, Amherst is good, but Swarthmore & Williams would be much better for you. And if you loved Amherst's campus like I do, Williams is even better, try combining Amherst and Brown into one campus...a must college visit!</p>

<p>From the looks of it, you're from the Boston area and you're looking only in that area, but don't limit yourself.</p>

<p>Personally, I think you're too good for BU, and that there are better options for you. If you don't want to be that far away, atleast look at Williams, Vasaar, Tufts...oh and try Wesleyan, think you'll like Wesleyan</p>

<p>Outside of the New England bubble, there are a range of great school:</p>

<p>Liberal arts: </p>

<p>I'd say look at Swarthmore, Haverford, Macalester, Pomona, Trinity (CT), etc...</p>

<p>Universities:
STANFORD!!! Yeah STANFORD woo-yeah...sorry, impulse ;)</p>

<p>NYU
Georgetown
University of Chicago
Washington University (STL)
Villanova
Northwestern</p>

<p>Once you get a feel of the setting I can give you a better list, but I'm just guessing about the kind of school you want.</p>

4

<p>I would consider adding Williams and maybe Duke.</p>

5

<p>Actually I'm from Florida. I was just up there for a camp thing where you visit colleges, and fell in love with it. </p>

<p>I visited williams and was turned off to it for some reason... Didn't like the isolation too much. Also, I liked the whole "personality" of wesleyan, but the campus wasn't my thing. I like stadiums, not a big grassy field with a score board on a building :P. I'd didn't like tufts initially, but in retrospect, it was pretty nice. Just outside of the city, but still close to it... I was just thinking about BU because my Princeton Review course instructor went there, had similar stats, and got a full ride. My EFC is very unrealistic, and I'd be lying if I said financial aid wasn't an issue... Amherst seemed pretty generous from what I've read. I hear NYU has an awesome philosophy program, and I'll probably visit when I'm up visiting Colgate.</p>

<p>Basically, I like LACs that aren't completely removed from everything. I like universities that aren't too huge, or if they are, just look awesome... </p>

<p>Thanks for the suggestions.</p>

6

<p>How about Vassar as a match?</p>

7

<p>You have an excellent record and nothing in my post is designed to diminish or denigrate that. That being said, </p>

<p>Holy Cross and BU are matches. How are your SAT Subject Tests? Required at Williams, maybe others. I'd think that you are in serious lottery land with AWS and HYP, Brown and Dartmouth. You may be OK at Colgate and BC. You'd really be better served by looking at some schools where your SAT's will put you at the 75th percentile. Remember, don't look at averages. At most schools that bottom quartile is for recruited athletes, development admits and otherwise hooked applicants. Realistically the 75th percentile is the average for un-hooked applicants. While SAT's aren't everything, high scores do make it easier.</p>

<p>There are tons of schools for your stats that will serve you very well in the match range. Tell us more about what you like and don't like and I'm sure someone can suggest some alternatives.Good hunting.</p>

<p>Edit:I just realized you said rising junior. You should work on your standardized testing. There is plenty of time to worry about common app essays, and practice does pay off. Try looking for Xiggi's prep threads. Good luck.</p>

8

<p>Haven't taken any subject tests yet... I'll probably do those at the end of this year... (I'm going to be a junior). I'm pretty sure my SAT score will be at least in the 2200 range before the app process. When I took the new SAT I had minimal dabblings into grammar... since then I've done some intensive stuff, and my english teacher this year spends a few weeks doing nothing but PSAT/SAT grammar stuff this year. </p>

<p>I don't really like core requirements. Distribution requirements are ok, and as I said, no core at all is my preferred method. After touring the ivies, I've been turned off to them quite a bit. I prefer a school with very little emphasis on graduates. I hope to encounter as few TA's as possible. I would like a school with a pre-law track. I like campuses that are either in the city, or a campus that is kind of self-sustainable (ie yale isn't in the best city but has stuff on campus that I would go into the city for, ie urban outfitters and the like...). A beautiful campus is a big plus...</p>

<p>Thanks for the vassar reccomendation... I've looked into it a bit, and it's definately in the genre that I'm looking for. </p>

<p>Haha, it's exciting to find schools that I like that aren't reaches...</p>

9

<p>If you like Vassar think about Bard College, also. At both being male is a nice hook. You can get to the City relatively quickly and cheaply. Good looking campus ,too. Maybe Connecticut or Trinity might appeal to you,too.</p>

10

<p>Holy Cross and Colgate would be great schools.</p>

11

<p>Any more suggestions for schools?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

12

<p>Did you look at Haverford and Swarthmore, both great liberal arts outside of Philadephia, If you don't want removed, Haverford is 5 mintues from the second largest mall in the country, King of Prussia, and Swarthmore as an on campus station that is 8 minutes from UPenn and downtown Philadelphia.</p>

13

<p>I've heard a lot about swarthmore, less about haverford... I'll look into them.</p>

<p>I know it's a different genre of school, but what about Uconn? They've been courting me like a prince in danger of losing kingship... Phone calls on my cellphone and all kinds of crap. How does it compare to other state universities? Is there a possibility of merit aid?</p>

14

<p>This has been mentioned on other threads, but BU has great merit aid. The Trustee Scholarship is a full ride. They're really generous with University Scholarships, which are $15K. If your EFC is very high, this can cut your tuition costs in half.</p>

15

<p>Bump...</p>

<p>I'm definatley looking a lot at BU now. I liked it's location, and the campus seems pretty nice. I just love Boston :)...</p>

<p>So my plan now is to go somewhere that I can get decent merit aid, and try to get towards the top of the class. I'm planning on law school, and I hear that's pretty important :P.</p>

<p>I also ditched HL math for Math Studies SL. I'm just not willing to put all that work into a topic that I don't really like and don't plan on going into. I'm going to take AP Calc AB my senior year, just because I want to be a strong applicant. But I don't want to go into one of the most intensive math courses in the country. </p>

<p>Thanks again,</p>

<p>-Ted</p>