any schools i should think about before i get cracking?

College Search & Lists
1

<p>i posted back in the summer and got quite a few responses most of them very helpful. anyhow now that everything "stat"wise is set i’m asking y’all one more time.</p>

<p>mediocre public school, san jose, ca (to give you an idea one student was admitted to stanford ed? last year and according to senior faculty members we ship out one student to stanford once every 5 years or so, several to ucb/ucla every year)</p>

<p>unweighted gpa: ~3.8 - 3.9 depending on how you calculate it
unweighted rank: 27?/460 (a lot of people (i think like a dozen) still have straight As. i obviously do not. according to my calculations i would be tied for 2nd in class if gpa was weighted)
6 aps by time of graduation (out of 12? offered, 4 implemented this year) only one other person has taken that many.</p>

<p>sat 1: 1600 (nov.) (i think the first in school history)</p>

<p>sat 2: writing 770 (june, had gastroenteritis that week (more like month) but whatever))
math iic 790 (june)
u.s. history 730 (june)
physics 800 (october)</p>

<p>ap scores:
calculus ab 5
u.s. history 5
physics b 5</p>

<p>awards:
nat’l merit semifinalist</p>

<p>ecs:
red cross
school newspaper
school film club (founder/president)
volunteer at library/lupus foundation</p>

<p>intended major: english at the moment</p>

<p>i am applying to berkeley, la, san diego, davis and irvine (i am elc i expect to get into one), also sjsu (san jose state). i dunno what to do after that…
i was considering uchicago and dartmouth before…but ucb/ucla seem more practical, seeing as how stanford, princeton and the like are highly improbable. also, money is an issue. dad does not have job mom is restaurant manager makes ~$40,000 a year, although this year it should be around $55,000 because she received a massive settlement from her company as part of a managers lawsuit (like 120 managers signed), yadduh yadduh apparently 6 years of overtime amount to $15,000. she bought me a new watch i am happy.</p>

<p>okay thanks for reading and please post if you feel inclined. good luck to everyone else applying this year.</p>

2

<p>First, you are a good candidate at any school in the U.S. Some, like Princeton and Stanford, will be reaches for you, but they are reaches for just about everyone. So apply to a few reach schools, as long as you think they would be good choices for you. </p>

<p>Second, don’t limit yourself to UCs for financial reasons, as many selective private colleges would give you excellent need-based aid. In addition, your stats would qualify you for merit aid at many private schools. I know several students with family incomes close to yours who found it would be less expensive to attend private colleges than it would be to attend their state school(s.) That said, you have some very good schools with very good English departments in California, and no reason not to apply to them.</p>

<p>Finally, if you haven’t done this already, I would head for the library and spend a few hours looking at the Fiske Guide to Colleges, taking note of any that look good to you. Don’t skip over the small liberal arts schools, as there are quite a few that are excellent schools for English (and many other majors.) Armed with your list, I would spend some time talking to counselor about adding a few out-of-state schools to your list. </p>

<p>And good luck to you!</p>

3

<p>You have a shot at any university. You should certainly apply to Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and Yale. Also look into Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Haverford, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wesleyan and Williams.</p>

4

<p>NC State and University of Dayton are locks for you.</p>

5

<p>Still apply to chicago and dartmouth, they might give you enough aid to make it worth it.</p>

6

<p>Do you have strong preferences for one UC over another? If so, and you are admitted, you probably will be able to treat that as a safety (depending on your family’s finances). Income of $55K puts you at the cusp of where it might be difficult to predict the amount of need-based aid you would get, but you would qualify for some hefty merit money.
Stanford definitely, your travel expenses, etc. would be low. Dartmouth and Uof Chi (UChi would be another lower travel expense place), Emory (Check on timetable for Emory Scholars, but they might throw big money at you even if the deadline has passed - also low travel expense)</p>

7

<p>Princeton gives one of the best financial packages in the nation. I believe they come in grants, not loans (a majority of the money you get) because Princeton can afford it.</p>

8

<p>I would consider Claremont College Consortium, if I were you – particularly Pomona and Claremont McKenna. Like Princeton, they are supposed to offer very generous financial aid packages.</p>

9

<p>Beyond need-based aid, Chicago also gives merit aid, for which you would very likely qualify. It’s worth a try! I believe Duke does too.</p>