I am a rising senior, and I have no idea what caliber schools to look at…
Preferences: small to medium size, on east coast (including the south), good internship opportunities, “work hard play hard” attitude
Intended major: econ
About me: asian male, middle class, in mid-atlantic region
GPA: 88/100 at a competitve prep school with upward trend (Low A’s and mid-high B’s), taking hardest classes
Test Scores: 1540 sat, 1440 psat, 740 math ii (taking again), taking chem in August
Extracurriculars
most likely commended for National Merit
Jefferson Award for service
Presidential Award for service
550+ hours
Teacher of an ESL class
Aide at a PT clinic
Intern at a local research center
Math League Team
Science Olympiad Team
Co Founder of the Asian Student Alliance at school
served on 3 student government boards
Varsity basketball
AAU (travel) basketball
Varsity football
School orchestra
competitive youth orchestra
3 time All state orchestra selection
Thank you for your help
If you are at competitive prep school, the. best person to talk to is your guidance counselor for what would be reach/match/safeties. They’ll be able to give you a sense of how others with your GPA and test scores fared much better than CC can tell you.
There seems to be a disconnect between your GPA and SAT score which can make it more difficult to chance and find schools. Usually students with high SAT scores that are competitive for top schools have a 3.8+ UW GPA. That said, if you are in the top of your class, your GC will report rank/decile, and colleges will take your GPA in context. If you aren’t in the top, use the weakest part of your application to find your match and safety schools.
I’ll admit that “competitive” is so overused on CC, to describe high schools, that I no longer know if it means something.
Your school may not rank or provide decile. But agree that, at top private hs, the GC will be key- not just in advising you, but ensuring letters describe your merits in the best way, for your targets. You need to work with him/her. Have you had that chance?
I like many of the above suggestions as target schools. W&L is a reach. Wake maybe a low reach? My daughter has slightly higher grades and likely lower test scores. She also attends a known prep school and is a three sport varsity athlete but not recruitable. Her guidance counselor has provided a list of the obvious choices for kids like her from her school. The thing is, like you, she is pointy in music. She reached Nationals in her instrument in the MTNA competition. We are finding it difficult to sort out how much of a hook that is though. Her counselor says that at some schools it is similar to being a recruited athlete however it’s nearly impossible to know if a particular school needs her instrument in their orchestra or other ensembles. I think as a result, if an ED school does not emerge or come through, she will apply more broadly to reach schools and hope that a match will come through in EA so we can skip the safety round. In any case, I think that being a multi sport varsity athlete and being a top musician will help you stand out. It’s a fairly rare combination.
How recruitable are you for football? You probably would want somewhere that does NOT have a separate music school. Maybe, Penn (the College -not Wharton), and Georgetown for reaches, maybe a NESCAC or two, if you are recruitable.
Wake Forest, Case-Western, Miami of Ohio, for matches.
I’ve been assuming that basketball and football are not recruitable, at least at many of these schools because they are mostly D1. Nearly all top schools have an orchestra and talented players are coveted and increasingly rare. So I agree not to look at schools that have a separate music school unless you are prepared to major in music (or double major). If you do, some schools relax their academic requirements somewhat for applicants to the music school.
