SweetComedyGirl

Now that 4th quarter of junior year is officially over hopefully I can get a more accurate reading of my future

Name: Very misleading since my last name is a very stereotypical-jewish one, and I am not jewish, but seeing as im from a very jewish area it's hard to tell colleges otherwise - sobeing as that is my identity, my chances are greatly reduced already - but moving on in a more optomistic direction =)

School: 2000 student public school - my individual class is about 400. 24 AP courses offered total at my school

8th grade (Before high school.. when I was under the impression grades didn't matter):
H Earth Science: 89
H Math A: 90
H Spanish: 89
Art: 97

Fr. Year:
Design + Production Class: 96
Design + Illustration Class: 96
H English: 93
H Global: 90
H Bio: 93
H Math A/B: 89
H Spanish II: 92
Journalism: 100

Soph Year:
Arch I: 97
H Chem: 90
H English: 90
H Global: 90
H Math B: 91
H Spanish III: 94
Health: 99
SAT Prep Course: 100

Junior Year:
AP Art History: 94
AP Bio: 87
AP US History: 89
12 H Math (Pre Calc): 84 *I really messed up my final exam and it brought my overall average down a lot =(
Architecture II: 98
H English: 95
H Spanish IV: 96

Unweighted GPA: 92.87
Weighted: 95.67
Our school does not rank nor does it give the 3.X, 4.X type GPA - so I am currently unaware of what that might be.


I never included phys ed in my average, but i've never recieved a bad grade so I didn't include it in that list. All of my New York State Regents exams have been good - So far none of my top schools are in NY so I again figured I would not list them - and they are included in my overall averages listed above.

SAT's: I took them twice (March and June):
1st) M: 690 W: 720 CR: 580
2nd) M: 700 W: 660 CR: 630
Both totaled to 1990 (ouch) but after combining the top highest it's 2050

ACT's: score pending, but I dont intend on getting 31+, which is the only grade I will accept to send it - so for now we'll just pretend I didn't take it =)

SAT II's:
Math IC: 710
Bio: 640
Chem: 610

Course load for next year includes 5 AP's:
Computer science
English
Math: Calc AB
Spanish
Physics
Honors will be: Eco/Gov
Electives: Journalism II, Arch III, and possible third pending

EC's:
1) Editor in Chief of School newspaper
2) President of Spanish Club
3) President of National Spanish Honor Society
4) President of National Art Honor Society
5) Member of National Honor Society
6) Former Captain of JV Girls Tennis, future Varsity doubles player
7) Former member of Team Tutoring
8) Former member of Track and Field

Honors:
Won 2nd place at Long Island High School Press Award for Best Overall Newspaper Layout and 2nd for best School Spirit Article - hopefully aiming for some Firsts next year =) I Am very involved with journalism and would like to continue working on a newspaper in college, but I do not want to consider journalsm as a career (Newspaper design is another posibility, but I'd prefer more computer-arts and advanced programs)
Attended 4 week summer program at UPenn for Architecture
Will be attending a 4 week summer program at UPEnn for Animation
Attended a 3 week summer program at the Catholic University of America for Architecture
I've attended a few conventions at Hofstra University for journalism techniques

My volunteer service isn't too great - I have what it required for honor society by volunteering at a local library and temple and a few special cancer/leukemia society events - totaling arond 50 hours... nothing outstanding there.

Im hoping to have a career in computer arts - I'm a bit iffy on the details - but I'm doing a summer program for animation, and if I enjoy it, then I may very well consider 3d animation, but I am hoping to be very involved with computers.

My SAT tutor is also an english teacher and college councelor, so I do think she will be a big help for my college essay, and of course the amazing help here at college confidential will hopefuly give me a bunch of extra tips for my essay.

I have extensive legacy at UPenn (My father is the Suffolk County head-interviewer.. or soemthing like that.. and he and both of my older brothers went to UPenn). My dad also attendedd Lafayette College.

So.. sorry for the length.. here are the colleges I am *thinking* of applying to:
UPenn (Early.. if anything)
Lafayette
Lehigh
GW Univ.
Wash U.
Carnegie Mellon (my mom doesn't like this school though)
Syracuse
Cornell (Im not too sure about cornell, but it's still on my list)
**If you have any other ideas about schools that you think may be a good match for me please list them!! I would be more then happy to look into any new schools!!**

If you have any questions feel free to post them below or private-message me. THANK YOU IN ADVANCD TO EVERYONE FOR HAVING THE PATIENCE TO HELP ME AND GUIDE ME TO A MORE PROSPEROUS FUTURE!! =)

ses

Your CR is low. UPenn will defer you to reject you later or just reject you right away. Your legacy might help, but Penn has more than enough excellent kids. You aren't interesting enough for them to jump through hoops to take you. Ditto with Cornell.

Look at other schools. Smaller schools that will be more open to you as an individual and able to look past the numbers

Or pull your CR score up at least 50 points. And work hard on your essay.

FredFredBurger

Do you have an idea what your class rank may be? A class rank in the top 2% may be your savings grace considering your not so hot Cr score. I don't fully agree with Ses' assesment (a legacy got into Penn in my school this year with a 600 in reading and outside top 15%, however he had 800 in math and 790 in writing) but he's is mainly right. You don't have a great shot at Penn or Cornell, but it isn't impossible. Also, at the other schools... I think Wash U is a reach and CMU a high match. I'd be shocked if you did not get into your other schools. You may also want to consider Colgate, Tufts, and Wake Forest (as solid matches). Good Luck.

SweetComedyGirl

I'm definintly not in the top 2% but I'm probably well within the top 20-25%. I've decided that I am complete with SAT's and that the score I got was.. well, final - I had done a lot of preparation and between March and June that 50 point increase took a lot of effort, and I cannot put that much effort into it again over the summer - but thank you for your assessments =) I'll look into Wake Forest (Ive never haerd of that before), but my parents didn't really like Tufts, but I'll take a second look at it!!

Thank you!

mythmom

I think you should look at Colgate and Tufts as reaches. We'ew from Long Island, and it is very competitive for L.I. kids. (Is your school Jericho?)

I know you said none of your schools are from NY. Is this a preference? Because for LAC's I would suggest Skidmore (awesome art dept.), Bard (ditto), Sarah Lawrence (no SAT's accepted) and Hampshire. Purchase might be an option, too.

You might think of art schools like RSDI if your design work is exceptional.
SAT's won't matter as much.

At the university level I would suggest UMassAmherst which gives you access to Amherst, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke and Smith as part of consortium.

Good luck!

guitarhero5

For Sat's, it is to my understanding that they only count the highest in one sitting correct? So I don't see how they would count the 2050...can someone please explain?

SweetComedyGirl

Nope, I'm not Jericho, but I am one of their neighboring discticts. (lol, good guess!)

and from the college visits that I have gone on and from the dean speeches and admission people I have spoken with they have all given me the same resopnce: that they accept a Combined SAT score - thus they take the highest score from each sitting. (So, in my case, the 580 I recieved on CR in March is made null by the 630 I recieved in June). For the writing section, they do not take the higest essay score and create a new score - they just take whatever you recieved that was highest. It is to my knowledge that there is no combining of scores on the ACT's.

SweetComedyGirl

Oh, and I was at first looking for hard-core art schools like RISD (if that is what you may have ment), but after some consideration I realized I was looking for a more liberal school becuase I dont have a defininte career in mind.

If it comes down to the fact that I am required to submit a portfolio, I have a bunch of architectural models that I've done over the years and a few photoshop-projects and websites that I've done, but I have nothign formally prepared. I was hoping to just apply to a general liberal arts college where a portofilo may not be needed unless I applied to a more specific art-school.

Since the majority of long island is white and jewish, it often is more difficult for us to get into major colleges becuase we all apply to the same palces (usually). For my school Upenn gets atleast 20 applications each year - it just adds to the competitiveness I suppose. I do, however, feel that no matter where I go, Israel, California etc, I will always find someone from Long Island.

MPM5236

id say no to upenn, but yes to syracuse, lehigh and carnegie mellon.
not sure about the others

rodney

MPM: this post is from 2007; the OP is almost married....lol just busting your chops.....