PatK

Hey everyone. I have talked to guidance counselors, school staff, and others, but can't really find someone who knows how to talk to me about college choices in a way I can relate to them, so I came here. I have a list of several schools I wouldn't mind going to and need some help narrowing it down to about 9 (3 reach, 3 target, 3 safety) to apply to. I would like to stay in the mid atlantic or go into the northeast/New England, but I would go to more southern states if the financial aid was right. Here is some info about myself:

Live in the suburbs of Philadelphia
White male (eek, i know)
Low income family (parents make less than $60,000 combined per year)
Somewhere between number 4 and 7 in class ranking (out of 300, definitely in top 10%)
SAT: 700 CR, 730 Math, 720 writing (8 on essay)
SAT II: Taking them next year, probably Math 2 and US History, maybe something else.
AP's: Psych, Calc, Spanish, English, Physics, Bio
AP Scores: Psych-5, Calc-3
GPA: 103 weighted (100 scale)
EC: Bowling Team, Key Club, Student Council, National Honor Society, Film Club, Academic Decathlon, Student Newspaper, volunteered for a State Representative's campaign (Republican) and Barack Obama's campaign (Democrat)
I work as a Quality Assurance Associate Engineer in the QA/Tech department of AirClic (AirClic Mobile Business Process Solutions)
Affiliated with Lutheran Church
Liberal/Democrat beliefs
Parents divorced, live with my dad.
I am told I am very good at verbal communication, so I would probably do very well on interviews.
Probable Major: I really don't know, but I would like either something premed or mathematics (or even something pre law)

Schools I would like to go to (please help me qualify as never gonna get in, reach, target, or safety, feel free to suggest others):
Princeton
Brown
Harvard
Dartmouth
Boston College
Cornell
Ithaca
NYU
UPenn
Penn State
Temple
Drexel
Franklin & Marshall
Johns Hopkins
Rutgers


Any help that you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot!

Pat

ilovebabypink

You can definately aim for the TOP Ivies i.e. Harvard, Princeton etc. You have a VERY GOOD shot at UPenn.

Try Penn State as your safety lol

Don't worry - you're AMAZING

PatK

Thaanks a lot =D

Any other opinions?

jec7483

"You can definately aim for the TOP Ivies i.e. Harvard, Princeton etc. You have a VERY GOOD shot at UPenn.

Try Penn State as your safety lol

Don't worry - you're AMAZING"


Never take college advice from someone that does not even know how to spell definitely...

Penn State University Park is a great place. It should be put above Temple, Drexel, Rutgers, Ithaca, and Franklin & Marshall. I would also suggest you look into applying to Penn State's Schreyer Honor's College. Best of luck.

anhtimmy

HYPMS are always far reach

azngod1992

"You can definately aim for the TOP Ivies i.e. Harvard, Princeton etc. You have a VERY GOOD shot at UPenn.

Try Penn State as your safety lol

Don't worry - you're AMAZING"

Please take this advice with a grain of salt. I'm not saying ilovebabypink is lying or anything, but this advice can be misleading. UPenn has a 16% admission rate, just a couple percentage points higher than HYP (add in cross-admits, athletes, legacies, and the chances go down alot more).

Furthermore, you're not exactly the definition of "amazing" (sorry, just pointing this out). A 2150 is good, but not great for the schools you want to go to. Your ECs, although great, are not "above average" for HYP applicants.

I would say you're a high reach for HYP and reach for Upenn (and other ivies)

AKittka

where do you go to high school? (i also live in the suburbs of Philly)

Anyways, I'm looking at a lot of the schools you are and I have very similar stats. So... of course all of the Ivys are competitive. you can't really say your chances there, but you're competitive for them.
Safeties
Drexel - in, honors college, possibly free ride, Co-op
Temple - same as Drexel, in
Rutgers - in
Penn State - in, look into Honors College! (one of the best in the nation)

Johns Hopkins - low reach, definitely competitive, depends on major
Cornell - low reach

I also think there is a good possibility of admission at NYU, BC, Ithaca, F & M (good matches i guess)... you never know though.

I think financial aid is a given at this point for you. I also think you could get near full costs covered; however, i'm not an expert with financial aid.

I think you have a great list. To cut your list down though, I would take out some Ivys unless you really like all of them. You can probably throw away a few of your safeties, unless you like them all too.

good luck!

Shad Faraz

Princeton-high reach
Brown-reach
Harvard-high reach
Dartmouth-reach
Boston College-high match
Cornell-reach
NYU-match
UPenn-high reach
Penn State-match
Johns Hopkins-reach