<p>Haha! "Only 3.7" was definitely not how I meant to come off - my current GPA is a 3.41, and for some of the schools (like UCs) who will accept apps during this current semester (well, quarter for me) I was concerned at being at a huge disadvantage since I haven't had time to get my GPA back up. I was determined never to get below the 3.5 mark and then it just kicked me in the face. </p>
<p>I'm glad to know I should be looking up more. I would probably still choose somewhere like Fullerton over Wellesley...simply because I'm not an intense academic. I enjoy learning but I am NOT competitive. </p>
<p>It's also good to hear because I go to a CC with a lot of very, very smart students who don't really realize how talented they are and I'd love to encourage some of them to apply to some better schools (the state schools here are unquestionably good, but they're not exactly HPY - schools I know at least one student could get into). </p>
<p>How does (or did) your son like JH? What other schools did he opt out of in order to go there? Maryland is gorgeous!</p>
<p>Heavy course loads.....</p>
<p>I'm studying history, so I'm taking classes pertinent to the subject (as well as fairly unrelated topics - like econ), but since I'm not bio or pre-med, I don't exactly have any "tough" courses. The classes I am taking require a lot of studying, but I'm not taking any applied physics requirements or anything. Is this going to look bad? I do try to take extra classes to shake things up a bit and that are useful and interesting to me, but I feel like I'm at a disadvantage by studying something that's maybe not seen as "challenging."</p>
<p>I'm taking:
American History
Ancient Wolrd History
Microecon
Business Law
Managerial Accounting</p>
<p>It's quite a bit of work, but again, it's not science or math....</p>
<p>So here are my apps so far:
Irvine, Berkeley, USC, Fullerton, Northeastern, and Wellesley.</p>
<p>I was impressed by how easy and quick it was to apply to the California public schools. However, the UC's didn't seem very personable, so I guess they are looking more for students with good grades than anything.
USC was awesome - I was a bit frustrated with the lack of originality in their essay prompts, but managed to write one that I think will give me a good shot.
Northeastern and Wellesley were pretty straight forward. I don't think I'm very competitive academically for the latter, but my writing samples will probably catch some eyes. I'd like to think that I'm a fairly competitive applicant for Northeastern, but who knows?</p>
<p>I'm also planning to apply to two local schools, as I still haven't decided where I would like to live....you can get an education anywhere.</p>
<p>Erraticme, </p>
<p>I think you are pretty dead on in your assesments for the schools to which you are applying. Know that in your list, Berkeley (#1 pub. school in the nation), Wellesley (#4 LAC in the nation) and USC, are probably your reach schools. I think you are a shoe in at Northeastern from what I can gather about their programs. I must confess I dont know much about the other Cal public schools but having a brother who lived in Berkeley I can only tell you how impressed I was with the school as a whole -- very! USC (not public) was not as impressive to me, I think mostly based on the fact that so many of their students were not first time applicants -- many had been denied and sepnt time in JUCO boosting credits... it seemed strange. Either way... Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I'm not sure about some of those schools. Wellesley was recommended to me, and I was told to definitely give USC a shot. I'm not really sure why I applied to Berkeley....I don't even want to go there. I guess I just figured that with the ease of online applications for the UC system I may as well do it. I'm definitely impressed with the quality of public universities in California, which is why they dominate my list. My dad went to USC, so I have a bit of a tie to that school and thought it would be fun to apply. Northeastern is a little too expensive/far away for me, but.....we'll see. I may get rejected from all of them, but that would be okay. I've worked hard and wanted to give it a shot!</p>