<p>I am going to be a senior at a top public high school in Pittsburgh.
Here are my stats:</p>
<p>GPA- 3.19 (bad start in high school)
School does not rank</p>
<p>Junior year:</p>
<p>Hn English- A/A
Hn Am History- A/B
Alg 2- B/A
Ap Psychology- A/A
Chemistry- A/A
Spanish 2- A/B</p>
<p>Senior year:</p>
<p>Ap english
AP Euro
AP Government and Politics
AP Biology
Hn Pre-Calc
Spanish 3</p>
<p>Tests: SAT- Cr-650 M-470 (retaking in the fall- hopefully i’ll get in the high 500’s) W-690
AP- Psych-5 U.S. History-3
Will take SAT II’s in U.S History and Literature</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Wrestling- varsity letter
Track
Cross Country
Law club
FBLA
Summer Scholars program in law at Washington and Lee- should get good grades and professor evaluations
Volenteer work at retirement home and some other projects
Work- helping out at family business</p>
<p>Awards: Deans list, nominated student of the year twice at my school</p>
<p>Great essay and really good recomendations </p>
<p>I am applying to:</p>
<p>Washington and Lee (early decision-interview went very well)
Sryacuse
Pitt
Virginia Tech (legacy)
Rhodes college
Wake Forest
Kenyon
Gettysburgh
Dickinson</p>
<p>Am I wasting my time? Do I need a safety? Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Bro I dont care where you go, you should have no chance at W&L and Wake Forest… 3.2? 1120? I have around that and wouldnt waste an App. at those schools.</p>
<p>Your GPA and test scores work against you. The three things you have going for you are (1) your increasing GPA, (2) you will possibly play sports (wrestling) at one of these schools, and (3) you’ve taken lots of tough courses during your high school years. Still it will be tough for you to get into many of these schools you’ve listed.</p>
<p>Washington and Lee (early decision-interview went very well)–big reach, unless they want you as an athlete there
Syracuse–reach
Pitt–match to slight reach
Virginia Tech (legacy)–slight reach
Rhodes college–reach
Wake Forest–big reach
Kenyon–reach
Gettysburg–reach
Dickinson–slight reach</p>
<p>You need to consider applying to a school that will throw out your freshman grades, or one that will give you more credit for having taken the tougher courses. Also, I would be real sure if I were you that you are going to do well during the senior year with that tough schedule.</p>
<p>One set of schools that throws out your freshman year–and gives you credit for having taken some tougher courses is the University of California–but you need to at least have a 3.4 GPA during your sophomore and junior years to apply (since you are from out-of-state)–and you need to improve that overall SAT I score–and take at least two SAT IIs by no later than December in order to apply (and make sure your application is mailed on exactly November 1st to get priority status for acceptance). You may not get into their absolutely best campus–and as an out-of-state student you will have to pay a bit more than most students–but all of their campuses rank in the top 40 public universities in the country–and I think you could get into a place like UC Santa Cruz or UC Santa Barbara–both of which are beautiful places to live for four years.</p>
<p>Another option is to go to a University of Pittsburgh campus besides the main one in Pittsburgh–then transfer to the Pittsburgh main campus in a year or two (this is presuming you don’t get into the main campus immediately). </p>
<p>A third option is to do the same with the Penn State system–start at someplace like Erie, then transfer.</p>
<p>Another possibility is to choose a place like Indiana University at Bloomington (not to be confused with Indiana University of Pennsylvania) or a place like Michigan State University, where you still have a pretty good chance of acceptance with your current statistics. </p>
<p>Also, you might consider West Virginia University–it’s close-by and 4% of the students had high-school GPAs of 3.24 or lower.</p>
<p>Lastly, if you want to stay in-state, consider Drexel or Temple–which are easier to get into–and which you would probably have good chances at.</p>