<p>I’m a 2012 graduate hoping to attend a top college, but not sure how high I should shoot. I’m only a 3.0 (unweighted) student, but I’ve taken pretty much all honors and one AP (World History) class so far. I have three language credits, currently taking Calculus, planning to take AP Physics my senior year, and will have four years of honors English. My 3.0 is due to the fact that I pushed myself with a really tough schedule and my only other classes were engineering. </p>
<p>My high school only weights AP grades, so my class rank is in the 50th percentile. In other words, kids that took all easy classes rank above me.</p>
<p>I scored ok on my SAT’s at the end of my Sophomore year (710 math/580 CR). And so far, have taken one SAT subject test.</p>
<p>I’m a student senator and play AA travel ice hockey and varsity ice hockey and lacrosse. I also work part-time as a tour guide and volunteer with my church youth group. I’ve also taken extra classes through the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.</p>
<p>On the plus side, I tend to interview really well and most of my teachers really like me (even selected student of the month).</p>
<p>What are my odds of getting into a good school and is there anything I can do to increase my odds of impressing a college admissions officer? Many thanks for any input.</p>
<p>I think it’s great that you’re challenging yourself in high school; however, a class rank in the 50th percentile is definitely going to hurt you. The really top-tier schools are made up fully of students above the 50th percentile. So for you, if you could get your rank up to about the 70/75th percentile that would really help. Also, if you work hard to improve your SAT’s into the 2200-2300 range that could help partially negate your lower GPA. Still, the Ivies and top LAC’s are high reaches, but I definitely think if you put your mind to it, you can get into a solid, top-level school.</p>
<p>Could you be more specific as to what you are looking for in a college? Are you thinking of majoring in Engineering? Without knowing too much I could suggest looking into the following:</p>
<p>UW-Madison
UC-Santa Barbara
Univ of Maryland-College Park
Penn State
Ohio State
Virginia Tech
Univ of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Univ of Rochester
Boston University
Case Western
Arizona State</p>
<p>Most of my school years I was an A student. I did extremely well on the ISEE test and got into a prestigious prep school for my middle school years. Sadly, my Prep school was too expensive for my parents to continue to pay for it through high school. The switch to public school took some adjusting, but the counselors all agreed I should continue to be challenged with honors and AP classes. I’ve been in the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth since 3rd grade, so my parents think I’m really smart but just don’t apply myself. I read the first Harry Potter book in 1st grade, so that sorta made them think I was some sort of savant.</p>
<p>If you look at my transcript I have what I call unlucky final numbers (like an 89 which only counts as a 3.0 or a 78.5 which only counts as 2.0…always close to a full A or B). If you exclude my engineering classes, there is only one easy class (weightlifting) on my entire transcript. So, when you have all core classes, play ice hockey for two teams (two and half hours of practice/games each night)/two lax teams in Spring, work part-time, participate in school activities, and volunteer it’s tough to work in homework. But, that should not be an excuse since I’m betting that it is the people that do work in homework on top of all of that that get into the top schools. I just don’t want to waste my parents money applying to schools that are really long shots, so anyone with advice on what is realistic is welcome to respond.</p>
<p>BTW, I’m a good enough athlete to play Division III ice hockey or lax if anyone thinks that would help my chances of getting into a better school.</p>
<p>Playing hockey could definately help. One of the most available scholarships available, I have been told is for womens hockey… there just are not enough qualified players. I also believe in casting the widest net possible. Since those are only your sophmore scores, I would suggest studying for the SAT’s and get the CR score up. I wouldnt worry about class rank, especially since yours is based on all honors and AP classes. </p>
<p>Fill out all the coaches questionairs on their websites and see if that brings you any interest. I would think that you might get some interest from some Nescacs schools, trinity, wesleyan, colby, bates, bowdoin, etc… Athletic ability is also a factor in admissions… keep that in mind… It doesnt take a lot of time or effort to fill out the questionaire… and the responses may surprize you.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the school ideas and encouragement. Ideally, I would like to go to school in Colorado or New England. I’m also interested in NROTC or the Coast Guard Academy, but don’t know if those are out of my reach.</p>
<p>I’ve been told to look at Babson and Connecticut College but don’t know much about them yet. Still doing my homework on colleges, but probably should be focusing on my school homework instead…arghh.</p>
<p>Conn College is one of the Nescacs, all of which are in New England, from Maine to CT. As is the Coast Guard Academy. Send in those questionaires to the Coaches and see what happens.</p>