NJsterling

I'm a junior and have been researching schools lately. I have some that i'm interested in, but i'm not sure about the ratio of reaches/matches/safeties and which of the schools i'm applying to are r/m/s.

GPA
Freshman - 3.2 (1 honors)
Sophomore - 3.53 (2 honors)
Junior - 3.87 (3 APs, 2 honors) Sorry to be speculative, but I can't see it changing
Cumulative: 3.53
Hoping the upward trend and movement to most rigorous schedule will help

Senior schedule will have 5 APs, 1 honors

SAT:
720 Math, 700 CR, 700 Writing - 2120 (already taken)
SAT2: Math - 720 (already taken), Literature

ECs:
FBLA (10, 11, 12) - Secretary (11)
DECA (11, 12) - Founder and Co-president
Cultural Diversity Club (11, 12) - member
Model UN (10, 11, 12) - Member
Private guitar lessons - 3 years
Private piano lessons - 4 years
Hospital Volunteer - 150+ hours

Awards:
National Honor Society
Beta Honor Society
A few regional FBLA awards

Unsure of teacher recs at this point, but I have a very good relationship with my guidance counselor, which is rare because I go to a big public school.


Schools i'm interested in:
NYU (Dream school)
Boston College
Lehigh
UMich
Boston University
GeorgeWashington U
Penn State
Rutgers (I'm from NJ so yeah hahah)

Applying for liberal arts programs.

dchow08

What do you want in a college?

NJsterling

Larger schools, preferably in a city setting. I want to avoid the small LACs. Should be a good social scene, yet still competitive academically.

loweryoureyelids

Northeastern as a safety if you want to be in Boston.
American as a safety if you want to be in DC.

Sally_Rubenstone

NJsterling ... what is your racial or ethnic background? Did your parents go to college? I see that you're interested in liberal arts. Do you have a major and/or career goal in mind? These factors could play a role (perhaps even a big one) in your admission outcomes.

Ny0rker

whats ur gpa on 100pt scale (approx if you don't know exact number)

nooob

University of Washington, seattle. Great city, safer than others.

NJsterling

Asian male :l
Interested in economics
My parents both went to grad school here, college in china.

Sally_Rubenstone

As you probably already know, this profile is a very common one, and the target colleges you've named will see many applicants who have a background, EC;s, transcript, and test scores that are similar to yours. This means that you'll have to work even harder to stand out in the crowd (essays can help here, ditto an unusual interest that may not have translated into an official EC but is something you do on your own--e.g., reading all the works of a particular author or perhaps everything that's ever been written about parakeets )

You also might want to consider applying to colleges that are farther afield than the "usual suspect" Northeast institutions that already attract a lot of Garden Staters. For instance, what about Wake Forest? Vanderbilt? Case? (All are probably "Matches" for you). Notre Dame, though probably a "Reach" for almost everyone, has lower Asian numbers than most of the "name" universities, which might work in your favor. That's true, too, at Tulane, which should be a pretty safe bet. (It's really not responsible to call any college "Safe" without seeing the full picture that admission folks will see, so this is based just on what you've told us here.)

Thus, although you certainly have good odds at a number of the colleges you've already named, do keep in mind that you'll need to put some thought into how you can highlight your unique traits and strengths on your applications.

1980collegegrad

Since you are looking at schools in the Boston metro area, also look into Tufts, Holy Cross, and Brandeis,

ScottieMix

Emory might be a good match for you. Good size undergrad population, in a fun, walkable section of Atlanta and downtown Atlanta is just a few minutes away.

northeastmom

Sally, how do you show an unusual interest to admissions? Should you dedicate your essay to that, or is there another place to emphasize that interest?

Sally_Rubenstone

An essay is certainly a good way to highlight an atypical interest. This can be either the primary essay, an essay for a supplement, the mini-essay on the Common App (meaningful experience) or sometimes an extra, non-required essay (e.g., for the "Additional Info" section that's on the Common App and others.)

Sometimes, too, such interests lend themselves well to unsolicited show-and-tell submissions. Once, for instance, when I worked at Smith, we had an applicant who designed and created this cool marbled stationery. So she submitted a bunch of samples with her application. It was very eye-catching, and I'm sure it helped her stand out in the crowd. (In fact, a couple years later, when I was working with the now-acclaimed "Young at Heart Chorus," this girl--by then a Smith junior or senior--signed on as an intern and designed some fabulous costumes for one of the shows. As soon as I met her, I recognized her name and exclaimed, "Oh, you're the marble-paper person!" She got a big kick out of the fact that I remembered, and it just goes to show you how sometimes uncommon extra submissions can help a candidate get noticed.)

Interviews can be another way to mention atypical endeavors. I also urge my counseling clients to create an "annotated activities list" rather than a formal resume. These lists include a brief blurb about any undertaking that is not self-explanatory.

One common admission mistake I've seen over the eons is that sometimes students don't realize that their most intriguing interests. hobbies, etc. really are application fodder. They think that colleges are only interested in school activities, community service, sports et al. But I've seen some great stuff that doesn't fall under the traditional rubrics. For instance, there was the Pakistani girl who cleverly transformed her family's seemingly endless supply of empty burlap rice sacks into beautiful purses. And the boy from Kentucky whose sculptures made from discarded computer components ended up in a national design magazine.

So, the moral of the story is that students need to recognize that they may have talents and strengths that colleges want to know about, even if they're not the predictable ones, and then they have to figure out the best way to convey this information to admission committees.

northeastmom

Sally, you are a real gem! Thank you so much for taking the time to explain! Great information!

NJsterling

Thanks for all the responses everybody.

Emory, I believe, is a high reach for me I think due to my GPA.