<p>I am a Junior in a public high school in Northern California, in a small college town of about 20,000, my family's net income is below $30,000, my family's income comes from a small flower farm and nursery that my parents have owned for 30 years, my cumulative GPA for the last three semesters is an unweighted 3.45, weighted 3.73, my SAT scores were 2110, 670 math, 700 writing, 740 critical reading, and I have an interest in something related to writing, or English. My extracurriculars are not very good, I did one season of crew in my first semester of this year, am participating in my school's orchestra this year, and do not participate in any clubs. Of course I have a dream school (Stanford), but realistically, it probably is not right for me. Money issues aside, I am not a very driven student. My studying for the SATs was simply doing the "Question of the Day" that they emailed me for a couple weeks before the test. I have never been worried about my grades, I am fine with a "B," though my grades are usually split between "A's" and "B's". What I am asking, is what is right for me, based on this kind of information? I have researched the subject, but I really just cannot find anything out that I want to find out. I want to go to a "good" school, I am fairly confident I can get into a "good" school, but I don't know what "good" school means.</p>
<p>You will really have to up the EC’s and involvement in school clubs, etc., if you want any kind of chance in some of the “good schools”. You need to do some type of community service as well, or work. Your SAT’s are good, but your gpa makes you come off as someone that just does enough to get by (aka “slacker”). I’m not saying this is what you are! I am trying to let you know what you may come across looking like on an application. </p>
<p>Go to college data dot com and put in colleges listed from the book The Best 373 Colleges, along with your stats. You will get a much better picture on what kind of schools you can get into. The good news is, you live in CA! The UC application places the most weight on your gpa, grades in certain courses, and your SATs, AP exam scores. EC’s are the icing on the cake, so to speak. You could possibly get into UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, Davis, imo. However, they do still want to see more involvment then you have had in activities (in and out of school). Every college wants to see some kind of motivation/passion. If you don’t know what that is yet, then try a variety of classes, clubs, etc. and see if you can’t find out what it is that you are passionate about. You don’t want to “fluff your resume” for fluffing sake, but see if you can find something you sincerely care about doing. If something is keeping you from being more active, try to organize your life a bit to incorporate something. Good luck.</p>
<p>Just because people haven’t heard of a college doesn’t make it bad. Check out Colleges That Change Lives. Also college board’s college finder, and on this site, will allow you to enter your stats and interests and return results you can research further. Good luck!</p>
<p>Pay a visit the the Financial Aid forum here, and read up on Questbridge and Gates scholarship programs. Each of them have their own sub-forum inside the Financial Aid Forum. Also, take a look at this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html</a> You have serious financial limitations with a 0 EFC, and you need to find out what some options are.</p>
<p>You should apply to:</p>
<p>some UCs…some top, middle, and lower UCs. UCs are pretty good about give aid to low income students.</p>
<p>USC</p>
<p>Chapman U</p>
<p>And, some middle tier schools that will give you big merit for your stats.</p>
<p>What is your major? </p>
<p>(Get working on your grades! What is the breakdown of your SAT? Will you test again? you should…and take the ACT as well)</p>
<p>In response to some of the points brought up, I took Honors English Sophomore year, and this year my higher level classes are AP US History and AP English Language and Composition. Next year I plan on taking AP Calc AB, AP Environmental Science, AP Gov, and possibly AP German and AP English Literature.
While I do not really have any community service (a few dune cleanups from being in Interact Club the first semester of my sophomore year), the past three summers, I have spent most of my time working on my family’s farm, and plan to spend this next summer doing the same. I have not been planning on taking the SAT again or taking the ACT, I have a better SAT than anyone I know in my grade who has taken it already, and have been told it should be sufficient and the ACT will not be required.
As I said, in relation to majors, I am unsure as to what I will do, but I have always had interest in reading and writing, so something related to that, something to do with English, perhaps journalism. I plan on entering multiple local writing contests, though I don’t know how much that will help.
As for schools, I have been wondering about recommendable schools, particularly with strong departments related to my stated interests, that are NOT UC’s. I assume there are many, but how many? With possible access to UC’s, should I look at these other colleges?</p>
<p>I forgot to mention, in relation to schools, I am also interested in small schools, as long as they have quality. My high school has somewhere between 800 and 1000 students, it is not huge, and while I would love to try living my life a bit more crowded, I am also comfortable with a good, small school.</p>
<p>“I work on my family’s farm in the summer” is GOLDEN. That is definitely something you need to mention when it does come time to work on the applications. That’s a big factor to show why maybe your amount of EC’s isn’t as remarkable as some applicants that have your same stats. Working is highly respected on applications and especially when they see that you were doing difficult work --farming is more respected that some cushy intership in your father’s law office, if you get what I’m saying. </p>
<p>Look at Pomona, Occidental, Scripps, and Whitman in WA are possibilities. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>There are some great books I would suggest too: Acing the College Application, A is for Acceptance by Michele Hernandez.</p>
<p>*I have not been planning on taking the SAT again or taking the ACT, I have a better SAT than anyone I know in my grade who has taken it already, and have been told it should be sufficient and the ACT will not be required.
*</p>
<p>It’s irrelevant that you have the best SAT at your school. You won’t only be competing with your classmates for spots at the schools that give the best aid. You will be competing with thousands and thousands of other kids. </p>
<p>You have HIGH need. Therefore you need to get into the schools that give the best aid. </p>
<p>the reason to take the ACT is that you may do better on that. </p>
<p>However, if you don’t want to test again, be prepared that your affordable choice may end up being commuting to your local CSU.</p>
<p>Sonoma State is good in English.</p>
<p>Pencils,</p>
<p>Definitely check out Questbridge!!! I think you have a very interesting story to tell and your grades and SAT score are pretty good, imo. You still have time to finish strong this semester with good grades and you could either retake the SAT or take the ACT…or not. Now, if your dream school is Stanford, you will want to get the scores up and really spend the summer doing something that you are passionate about, but Stanford is such a difficult school for anyone to get into, it’s good that you’re trying to figure out what other “good” schools are out there.</p>
<p>Check out CollegeBoard Matchmaker and compare your stats with some random schools like CalPoly SLO, Azusa Pacific, University of Washington, Pepperdine, Pomona, University of Arizona, Univ. of Texas, etc., to get a feel for where your grades and scores fall for these types of schools. Conversely, plug in some of your stats and interests and see what schools come up. So, if you like English or creative writing, plug that into the majors along with your gpa and SAT score and maybe geographical location or school size and see what schools come up on the list.</p>
<p>I have checked out Questbridge, and I think I might apply for the Pre-College Scholarship, CERTAINLY the College Match itself. Can anyone tell me anything about Reed? I have been looking more at specific schools, and this is my new dream school. No school has interested me half as much.</p>
<p>I bet you can get some good info over on the Reed CC site. I wish you well, Pencils!</p>
<p>Reed is well known for this: [REED</a> COLLEGE PHD PRODUCTIVITY](<a href=“http://web.reed.edu/ir/phd.html]REED”>Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College)</p>
<p>These describe Reed well:</p>
<p>[Articles</a> - Reed College](<a href=“http://www.myplan.com/colleges/undergraduate-colleges/reed-college/articles-209922.html?aid=1751]Articles”>Reed College :: Articles)
[The</a> Paradoxes of Reed](<a href=“http://web.reed.edu/apply/news_and_articles/reed_paradoxes.html]The”>http://web.reed.edu/apply/news_and_articles/reed_paradoxes.html)
[Reed</a> Magazine](<a href=“http://web.reed.edu/reed_magazine/spring2008/features/many_apply/index.html]Reed”>Reed Magazine: Many Apply. Few are Chosen. (1/5))</p>
<p>Reed meets full need for all four years.</p>
<p>Some who like Reed also like Carleton, Grinnell, Oberlin, Swarthmore and UChicago.</p>
<p>Vossron, thank you for the recommendations. I am now wondering, with my information, what LAC’s people might recommend? Where might I have a good chance of getting in? I am fairly certain a LAC is right for me.</p>
<p>Try this: [College</a> Search - College Confidential](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search]College”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search)</p>
<p>I back-tested with a few schools and it seemed to work well.</p>