<p>I am currently a rising senior in a top IB high school located in New York City. Only about 10-15 percent of the applicants make it into the school which has only 75 students per grade. Also, we consistently make top national high school lists so I'm hoping this helps my application. Since freshman year, my grades have been on an incline. I had a few really low grades that year but have greatly improved my grades in those courses since. What is confusing is that we are not given GPAs. All of our grades are on a 1-7 scale. I am told that colleges are not given a conversion but can estimate 5 is around a 3.5 unweighted. From 9-10th grade, I had an average around 4.3. This year, I raised that to a 5 which is simply explained to parents as "good" while a 4 is "satisfactory". This year I also took only IB classes. On my sat 1 I scored a 1330/2010 but plan on retaking and hopefully raising it to a 1370/2050. My college advisor who has been working in the school for 20 years recommended I look into schools including Georgetown, George Washington, northeastern, BU, UNC, and penn state UPark amongst others. Other posts in the forums suggest that these would be great reaches being that most students applying have 3.8+ GPAs and 2100+ sats. Do you guys have any suggestions? Additionally, I am part of various clubs and teams and will have completed 100 hours of community service by graduation. </p>
<p>What do you want to study? What type of environment do you prefer? What can your family afford?</p>
<p>I’d prefer a “lively” school with a college town and some Greek life. I plan on studying poli sci and law afterwards. My family does not have a large amount saved up but plan on taking out loans if I do not receive a decent scholarship offer. </p>
<p>UNC-Chapel Hill is a huge reach for you. It has become exceedingly difficult for out-of-state students to get into. Georgetown might be out of reach, also. Try American, Pitt, Lehigh, Tulane, Wake Forest, Davidson, Franklin & Marshall, Elon, and Clemson.</p>
<p>Agree that Georgetown and UNC are going to be out of reach. You need to start working with your parents to run net price calculators to see if you would get any need based aid and how much your parents would be willing to pay. You personally can only borrow a total of $27,000 total for four years of undergrad. Otherwise either your parents have to borrow, or you have to find someone with good credit willing to co-sign your loans. If you go to the financial aid website page for each college, you should find links to net price calculators. To me it sounds like money is going to be a big factor in your search. You probably will want to explore your SUNY options, too.</p>
<p>Also, Franklin & Marshall (mentioned above) does not give any merit aid, so you would only get money from them if you are eligible for need-based aid.</p>
<p>Definitely include some SUNYs/CUNYs on your list - affordable, good schools with different specialties.</p>