<p>I'm a senior at a public high school in Texas and I'm really not sure where I should be applying and I'm hoping someone on here could help me out. So here goes:
My grades are pretty average because I kind of blew off the first couple years of high school My GPA right now is a 4.2 out of 5 (I'm not really sure how that converts to a 4.0 scale but on the ACT when you fill out your grades and they calculate your GPA it said it was about a 3.5) My freshman year I took all regular classes and didn't really do anything and had an average of about a 92. The next year I went to Exeter and (still didn't really do much school work) my grades dropped a bit. The grades that year were all B's and C's. My parents (understandably) weren't happy about this and they brought me back home. The next year I got almost all A's (with a b or two mixed in) in all Pre-Ap and AP classes. And this year I'm taking all AP classes and I should be getting straight A's.</p>
<p>I got a 2040 on the sat (700 Reading , 680 Writing, and 660 math) and a 31 on the ACT (35 readin, 35 science, 29 english, and 26 math) last spring with no prep. Since then I've been studying and practicing so I'm thinking my scores will increase a little. </p>
<p>I am a four year varsity athlete (not good enough to play D1), I'm involved in Business professionals of america and I qualified for state last year. I am also a member of my schools diversity club and I'm a URM (black)</p>
<p>What schools should I be looking at?</p>
<p>definitely Texas and TAMU since you’re in state. What are your intended majors? That would definitely help</p>
<p>I’m planning on majoring in philosophy.</p>
<p>If you can improve your SAT score by at least 150 points or so, you could apply to Rice University (another great university in Texas, if not the best), though you have to be aware that their admissions criteria is very selective. Nonetheless, I believe you should apply if you believe you even have the slimmest of chances of getting in, because you never know what will happen.</p>
<p>You have pretty good SAT/ACT scores and being a URM is a definite advantage. I think you have a decent shot of getting in to any of the schools ranked 30-50 and you might have a shot at some of the 10-20 schools if you play your cards right. (ie: Cornell accepted an African American student from my high school class with similar stats to yours.)</p>
<p>Oh and @Future VP I would apply to A&M (I do have automatic admittance for A&M under that top 25% thing) and Texas but I feel like they’re both just too big.</p>
<p>but its still good to have safety schools, and considering you’re from TX, UT ans A&M are the most prestigious safeties you will have. I would still consider applying to them, even if they arent your first choice.</p>
<p>UChicago is a very though oriented school (or atl east it seems that way from a distance), so give them a shot (and maybe they’ll give you one)</p>
<p>You should definitely consider UT Austin as much as humanly possible. It’s a good school and I suspect you might get some scholarship money.</p>
<p>Also look at:</p>
<p>George Washington
American University
Boston College
Northeastern
Boston University
Tulane
Michigan
Carnegie Mellon
Rice
USC
Pomona / Claremont McKenna
Middlebury
Cornell
Vassar
Wesleyan</p>
<p>So we got our class ranks today and I’m only at 120 (the classes at Exeter weren’t weighted so when I got a B or a C there it counted for an entire grade point less than a B or a C here in an AP class which are much easier) out of 380. Does that change things?</p>
<p>Also I just got a 33 on the ACT (36 in reading and english but 32 in science and 29 in Math) would some colleges be able to look past my grades?</p>