<p>I goto York Prep in NYC, I know it sucks, but what are you gonna do??</p>
<p>Im a sophmore. </p>
<p>GPA 95ish... soph year 97 - freshman 94ish i think. Oh, this is an edit, im taking the hardest course work, of course</p>
<p>Student Government - rep now, will run for pos.
School Newspaper - writer now, will comepete for editor
Tutor kids in spanish
Scholars program - few smartest kids in grade
Lab Assistant
Environmental Club
And thats it for now, </p>
<p>Im taking this year SAT II World History and AP Microeconomics... feel confident in both.</p>
<p>Next year ill be taking math I, writing, Ap stats, AP american, and SAT II american</p>
<p>Did pretty bad on PSAT, 70th percentile, but this summer ill be prepping for the SAT... </p>
<p>Schools of my choice:
Yale
MIT
Wharton
Dartmoth
Brown
The usual suspects
NYU is hopefully a safety...</p>
<p>Please, dont be too harsh on me, and please, please, please make some recommendations on what i can do. Im still young... Constructive Criticism is key. My goal is to go to a good college and be happy</p>
<p>I guess this goes the same for me, but I think you'll have a better idea where you would fit in academically once you've taken your SAT and/or ACT. At the very least, maybe, you should take a practice test? </p>
<p>I'm a junior right now, and taking my first practice ACT gave me some insight. The PSAT is not a brilliant measure of how well you will do, and by the time you take the actual SAT, you will more than likely score better on it than your PSAT predicted.</p>
<p>If you keep up what ur doin' than NYU can be a match, no matter how smart you are, it's not wise to have selective schools like NYU as a safety. Ivies are crapshoots for everyone, but if you pull up ur marks by a few percent, have a high rank, take the hardest courses, get good SAT scores, and get some leadership positions in ur ECs, than the ivies would be worth applying to.</p>
<p>so basically your telling me that every school will likely be hit or miss, and Ill very likely get into NYU?? If it helps, my brother went to Yale, cousin to Harvard, other cuz to Wharton, and two other cousins to NYU (one to stern). And lotttts of family friends to NYU. All my cousins have the same last name too. And my brother finished second in his dorming hall in Yale. I really want to go to Yale, seems exactly my type of school. But I guess were all shooting for the stars here, and im sure someone is bound to hit one right?? Why not me?</p>
<p>If you're a sophomore I wouldn't worry too much about colleges just yet. Make sure you keep those grades high and study hard for the SATs (prep classes really do helpa lot). If you keep up your current record NYU looks like a safety and the others are hard to say. It's hard to chance you when there's so little information available right now.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice... During the summer, im planning on working on the SATs alot... like take a course, and ive already ordered two books. Ill work on the writing and the Math I too, as well as get started on the Stats and the Amer. hist. ill hopefully getting a great community service pos, so i can get like 300-400 hours, its fun to help others out, especially because im so fortunate, and get a recommendation out of it too. thanks again for the help and the encouragement</p>
<p>For the Ivies and MIT, you honestly need AT LEAST a 2100 (97th percentile) to be competitive. Unless you are a URM or something.
NYU will not be a safety unless you bring your SAT up to 2100, though you will still probably get in with a 1950.</p>
<p>I think at this point your choices are much too reachy. Look for some other schools that don't have quite-as-high SAT ranges such as Tufts, Boston University, Boston College and so on.</p>
<p>Anyway, while your GPA is awesome, you need to raise your test score significantly to get into Ivies. You seem to be on the right track as far as prepping for them, and you are still a sophomore so you have plenty of time. Good luck.</p>
<p>Um, Tufts' average SAT I for CR + Math (i.e., not including the writing portion) was 1430-1490. So I seriously doubt a 1950 including the writing portion will get you in there. I agree, though, that BU and BC are quite reasonable matches.</p>
<p>:confused: The 1950 comment was in relation to NYU and had nothing to do with Tufts. I also wasn't claiming that BC or BU were matches - just providing some sort of a ballpark.</p>
<p>Firstly, you seem to be exhibiting a cognitive bias where you are interpreting information in a way that confirms your preconceptions, namely that too many people underrate Tufts. It is understandable that you are sensitive to this, given that you are a Tufts student yourself. </p>
<p>However, I assure you that this is far from the truth in this particular case - my thought process in naming those schools was "Hmm, what are some respectable schools that are in the Northeast and have an SAT range lower than the Ivies." Tufts, BC, and BU were the first three that came to mind. It could have just as easily been Lehigh, Georgetown, and BU. Or Tufts, Johns Hopkins, and BC.</p>
<p>You already drew a phantom link with the 1950 SAT (which was in an entirely separate paragraph) and now you are drawing another phantom link that I am somehow putting down Tufts by mentioning it in the same sentence as Boston College and Boston University.</p>
<p>Here are BC and Tufts SAT ranges according to PrincetonReview.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Institution --- SAT Verbal Range ---SAT Math Range
Boston College 610-710 640-720
Tufts 670-740 670-740</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you don't think that these are in the same "ballpark" then I have no comment.</p>
<p>And I don't think that even if the SAT scores were closer -- even identical -- that that shows those schools are in the same "ballpark" when competing for applicants. </p>
<p>And I was not insulting BU or BC, nor implying that they are not "perfectly respectable universities." They certainly are! It's just that BU and BC are the perfectly acceptable low-match to safety schools for people who get into Tufts.</p>
<p>And it's not just because I am associated to Tufts that I cried foul (I exaggerate here for fun) -- if you had said JHU, Tufts and BC I would've said BC wasn't on the same playing field; same if you had grouped Gtown, Lehigh and BU -- Gtown is on a higher playing field than the other two. If you had grouped, say, Tufts, Harvard, and Stanford, I would've easily told you: "I wish."</p>
<p>sfgiants, I'd say Tufts is more difficult to get in than BC. On the other hand, lolabelle, I think you should have pointed out those are stats of the "accepted", not "enrolled" students.</p>
<p>I always thought of Tufts being along the same tier as Brandeis and BC? Tufts (#27) is much closer to Brandeis (#31) than it is to Northwestern (#14).</p>
<p>
[quote]
sfgiants, I'd say Tufts is more difficult to get in than BC. On the other hand, lolabelle, I think you should have pointed out those are stats of the "accepted", not "enrolled" students.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don't dispute that. But are they in the same ballpark? I think so, but my definition of "ballpark" is that if you are considering Tufts, nobody would look at you funny for also considering BC. They are both national universities. They are both in the Northeast. They are both selective. There are probably some students who have gotten into both who have decided on BC.</p>
<p>Smart Guy: Look at the stats of accepted and enrolled students at Northwestern and Tufts. Nearly identical. Acceptance rates are nearly identical (and, actually, lower at Tufts). If you think the USNWR ranking is the be-all-end-all, then I have no comment.</p>
<p>^ ^ ^ I edited the above post to say that in addition to stats, the acceptance rate is nearly identical b/w NU and Tufts (in fact, slightly lower at Tufts though it's neglible). Just re-writing it as the edit didn't post, apparently.</p>
<p>I don't think the acceptance rates are all that important. If the rankings were based on that formula, there would be considerable movement. I think you have to look at the totality of everything and just thought Tufts was more along the lines of those other schools.</p>