<p>I am a sophomore. I go to a prestigious private school in North Carolina. I do well on standardized test. I took the PSAT and received a 180. I have taken the practice ACT but have not yet received my scores. I currently have a 2.76 unweighted GPA. My strongest asset is my extracurricular activities. I am very involved in several organizations including my church. I also have taught several science camps over the summer with my mother for years. I have started a science book club at my local library which meets once a month and does various hands on activities relating to the theme of the book they read over the past month. I know that my GPA is very low. I have slacked over over the past year and a half or so, but now realized what I need to do. I definitely want to go to college somewhere in the South.</p>
<p>What schools can you recommend for me with my grades.</p>
<p>For UNC:
I have always wanted to go to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My father when to graduate school there and taught several classes. Does this help my chances at all? I realize that UNC is quite a stretch right now.</p>
<p>Overview:
2.76 GPA
180 PSAT
25 out of 32 PLAN (pre-ACT)</p>
<ul>
<li>Played golf and soccer Freshman year and got a letter</li>
<li><p>Playing basketball this year (starter)</p></li>
<li><p>Saturday Science Book Club</p></li>
<li><p>HUGS Camp 2012:
HUGS is a camp for mentally disabled peoples.Campers ages range from 12-35 or so. I was a helper camper, meaning that I was partnered with a camper and my job was to make it the best week of his life. I was nominated for the Helper Camper of the Year Award, but did not get it.</p></li>
<li><p>HUGS Camp 2013 Helper Camper of the Year
I received the award this year. It is presented to the helper camper who goes above and beyond with his camper.</p></li>
<li><p>Dog sitting business:
I currently have over 10 regular households that employ me to care for their animals and pets while they are on vacation.</p></li>
<li><p>Summer science/crime scene activities:
There are the camps that I had referred to before. I have already received a letter of recommendation about me from the woman in charge of the business there camps are done through.</p></li>
<li><p>NHD:
National History Day is a nation wide contest in which middle and high school aged students must write a paper, create a website, or make a documentary about a topic relating to that years theme. I have made it to state twice, and to nationals once about a documentary that discussed child labor in North Carolina mills.</p></li>
<li><p>Published article:
I published an article in the North Carolina Numismatic Associations journal- one of two published yearly. I was the first minor to ever publish in their journal.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>How can I better my chances? Your answers are very appreciated. Are there any other colleges that you can recommend for me? I hope to raise my GPA to at least a 3.0 by the end of this year.</p>
<p>Are you a soph or junior? </p>
<p>Have you asked your parents how much they’ll pay each year? That answer will likely determine where you should apply and where you can afford to go to college.</p>
<p>What is your major?</p>
<p>Once you give us the above info, we can recommend some schools.</p>
<p>Since you said you are a sophomore you shouldn’t be picking schools yet, you should see what you are able to do for your Jr year and in the meantime research schools that are more appropriate for your gpa and projected test scores than UNC-CH. Take a look at UNC-Asheville. You will give yourself more options if you can bring up your grades and test scores and that is a better goal than stretching yourself thin doing EC’s. Legacy is not considered at UNC-CH for instate students, for outside the state it just gives a tip factor at best, it doesn’t mean you can get in if you aren’t qualified.</p>
<p>For research, read the long thread in the Parent’s forum "Colleges For Jewish B students’ those colleges are good for non jewish too, they just happen to have resources for Jewish students. And read the Colleges that Change Lives website and maybe buy the book to browse. There are tons of public colleges that might suit you too.
<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/”>http://www.ctcl.org/</a></p>
<p>And as mentioned above, find out what the cost constraints are with your parents sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>I was just wondering what kind of school I should be looking at. Thanks for the forum! </p>
<p>UNC-A, UNC-W, plus private colleges in the South -but try to get to a 3.0. Since your strengths lie in your extracurriculars, I’d pick a college with holistic admissions, so probably smaller colleges.
The CTCL are a good place to start.</p>
<p>Matthew, there are many colleges in this region to choose from. I agree with the posters that say it is too soon to decide on a college, but it isn’t too soon to start thinking about it. You have the region now- south, now consider things like cost, location, size. Start visiting the colleges near you, even if they aren’t on you list, to get an idea of what size college you might like. Colleges also have different cultures. Some are more liberal than others, some are in rural areas, some are in cities and so on. Also discuss the cost with your parents so that you know what they are willing to pay.
When you have specific colleges that you are thinking about and a cost range, you can post the colleges you are interested in, and other posters can comment, make suggestions of more like that. If you have some idea- size, location, culture- post that so people can suggest some ideas.</p>
<p>I appreciate the thoughtful answers, Pennylane. I definitely do know what to decide on a college now, but would like to start getting a list of potential togethers. I have been looking at Furman. Do you think I would have a chance of getting in there with my stats?</p>
<p>Furman would be a stretch with a 2.7 GPA. I hope you can bring that up. It is also hard to suggest colleges without test scores. Similar colleges that may be attainable might be: Presbyterian College and Wofford. Berry College in Georgia has similar size and selectivity as Furman, and it is on a large area of land with animal and science programs. Start with these. Hopefully others will suggest more.</p>
<p>Thanks Penny! You have been a great help! What do you think would be a GPA to have a chance at Furman?</p>
<p>I have also heard about Rollins College recently. It definitely seems like a good match. Anyone have any experience with it?</p>
<p>Rollins is a very good school academically but it has a certain drug culture (cocaine in particular) that may turn some students off.
In Florida, check out Eckerd and Flagler.</p>
<p>I definitely was not aware of the drug culture, so thank you for that. It was actually Eckerd that lead me to Rollins!</p>