<p>Here are my stats:</p>
<p>Grade: Junior
Sex: Female
Race: African-American
Location: US, DC metro area</p>
<p>Scores:
My GPA’s throughout the years:
9th- W:3.29. UW: 2.88
10th- W: 3.38. UW: 3.0
11th 1st semester: W: 3.43. UW: 2.42</p>
<p>PSAT: 176
SAT: I’m aiming for around a 700 on writing, 680 on reading, and 650 on math</p>
<p>AP/IB scores: None so far, but I’m taking these classes
AP English Language and Comp
AP European History
AP Spanish
IB Biology SL
IB Math SL
IB World Religions SL</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:</p>
<p>Speech and Debate (9,10,11, maybe next year)
Track and Field (10,11, maybe next year)
Black Student Association (9,10,11, and probably 12)
String Ensemble (9,10,possibly 12)
Student Ambassador (not a big deal, just helping out at open houses and hosting 8th grade shadows)
Hospital Volunteering (Starting next week, I’m planning to continue until at least August)</p>
<p>I don’t have any fancy awards or anything stellar. I guess I’m pretty mediocre when it comes to that stuff. Prestigious schools have always interested me, but I don’t think I have the stats to get in. I want to be more unique and stand out more on my apps next year, but I’m not sure how. Any suggestions for me?</p>
<p>Northeastern, American University, Franklin and Marshall, Middlebury, Muhlenberg, Boston College, maybe Tufts</p>
<p>My mother doesn’t want me going anywhere near umd haha. UMBC is okay with her. And I have a chance at middlebury?</p>
<p>Middlebury has a hard time attracting African American students to Vermont. Historically, Middlebury has accepted as many as two-thirds of African American applicants. While the number has decreased in recent years, their acceptance rate for African Americans is still significantly higher than the overall rate (~38% vs. 18%). You might also want to look at Williams (40% acceptance rate for African Americans), Amherst (33% acceptance rate for AAs), and Wellesley (37% acceptance rate for AAs). </p>
<p>You might find this article to be of interest:
[Black</a> First-Year Students at the Nation?s Leading Liberal Arts Colleges : The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education](<a href=“http://www.jbhe.com/2012/12/jbhe-annual-survey-black-first-year-students-at-the-nations-leading-liberal-arts-colleges/]Black”>Black First-Year Students at the Nation’s Leading Liberal Arts Colleges : The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education)</p>
<p>Have you spoken with your family about how much money will be available for your education? Sit down with your parent(s) and run the Net Price Calculators at UMBC, Towson (if you are in MD), George Mason (if you are in VA), Middlebury, and a couple of other places. That will give you a good notion of the minimum amount that the places that you are considering will expect your family to pay. If your family can pay that much, you are in good shape. If your family can pay more, you are in even better shape, but if your family can’t come up with the amount of money that the colleges and universities will expect, you will need to start looking for institutions that will be affordable.</p>
<p>Your overall UW GPA is 2.Something. Is there a reason for that? Many colleges and universities use the UW GPA for admissions. If money is a serious issue, you need to be looking for institutions that will offer you merit aid based on your W GPA and your ACT/SAT scores (if they are good enough). Take a look at the threads on merit aid in the Financial Aid Forum and see if anything looks like it could work for you.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>
<p>Money isn’t an issue.</p>
<p>“Money isn’t an issue.”</p>
<p>Excellent news!</p>
<p>Spend some time with your guidance counselor and get that person’s advice about your list. Usually the counselors at the type of HS you are attending are very savvy about where their students can and can’t get in with a given GPA and courseload. Your HS also should have Naviance which will let you compare your GPA with that of recent graduates who have been admitted to different colleges and universities. You also might like to check out the “where my kid with at GPA of X.X got in” threads in the parents forum.</p>
<p>Many selective LACs (including Middlebury) do not show average entering GPA distributions in their Common Data Set files. One that does is Davidson. According to their 2011-12 CDS, 79% of Davidson freshmen who reported GPAs had averages of 3.75 or above. 94% had GPAs of 3.5 or above. Only 1% had GPAs below 3.25 (0% below 3.0).</p>
<p>Williams and Middlebury are even more selective than Davidson. So I think admission to one of these schools would be a long reach for your stats.</p>
<p>You could take a shot on a couple of these schools, but if you like the small liberal arts college idea, also have a look at some of these:
[Colleges</a> That Change Lives | Changing Lives. One Student at a Time.](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/]Colleges”>http://www.ctcl.org/)</p>
<p>I would argue that the Top 10 LACs are too big of a reach. Even minority students get declined below a 3.5 UW. </p>
<p>Colleges that change lives is a great list to start! Many of them also try to increase their diversity which would give you a great shot :)</p>