If all goes well, what kind of schools should I be looking at?

College Search & Lists
1

<p>Hello :)</p>

<p>I’m a sophomore (read: white male) at a pretty big, somewhat competitive public high school. Because the school is so big, a guidance counselor might have around 350 students each. Our College Planning Center basically consists of two people. Obviously, I know that I’ll be able to get help from my GC, but I want to start thinking about what types of schools I should be considering. Keep in mind that everything past sophomore year is expected, but pretty likely.</p>

<p>Income: Single parent- $30,000 Combined- $55,000 (Parents are separated)</p>

<p>GPA:
Frosh.- 96%, school only gives us a #/100 which is unweighted
Soph.- 98%
Jr.- 97-98%
Sr.- 97-98%</p>

<p>Courses: 10 APs- World History, English Lang/Comp, Psych, Chem, Bio, USH, English Lit/Comp, Physics B, Calc BC, Spanish (expecting all 5’s, maybe one or two 4’s)</p>

<p>Also, anything that wasn’t AP was Honors, IB, or the highest level my school offered at the time.</p>

<p>Full IB Diploma: Courses- Math HL, English HL, Spanish HL, Biology SL, History HL, TOK I and II, Music Theory/History HL (HL courses indicate completion of SL and HL) </p>

<p>SAT I: 2340 (800 CR, 800 W, 740 M) based on College Board practice tests
SAT II: Chem 780, Bio 800, Spanish 800 (maybe more, but these are probably the most feasible)</p>

<p>ACT: Don’t know, haven’t looked at one yet</p>

<p>ECs: Math Team, Bio Club (president), Medical Club (VP), Key Club (officer), Care Club- another volunteering club, YMCA Teen Leaders- handful of kids who organize community service activities, cello player- member of the school orchestra and a local orchestra, took an online class through Cornell (3 credits) during my sophomore year, volunteer weekly at a local library</p>

<p>Volunteer Hours: Should end up something like 400-500</p>

<p>Summers:
Soph.- Six week summer program at Cornell (Bio and English courses- 6 credits), YMCA Camp employee (4 weeks)
Jr.- Biological research through the University of Rochester (10 weeks, paid- GC basically assured me that I’ll be the top competitor for this position)</p>

<p>I consider myself to be one hell of a writer, so I’m sure my essays will be above average, and I usually leave great impressions on teachers. </p>

<p>Colleges I like now: Cornell</p>

<p>Thank you for your help!! :)</p>

2

<p>Sounds like you are doing all the right things. Congrats on planning ahead too!
I think you would benefit by investing in a good college guide book or two. There will be general chapters on what you need to do in high school, how to select and visit colleges, planning timelines, financial aid etc. etc. Then you browse descriptions of colleges. I like the Fiske Guide because it tries to describe schools and the students who go there while some other guides just give you lots of numbers. There are some other threads in here recommending college books. Since you are starting early you can take your time going through them. You could also borrow these from your public library if you don’t want to buy any.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the advice! Any input on how high/low I should be aiming?</p>

4

<p>Based on your projectiond I think that you can aim for top 20 schools with a few safeties sprinkled in. Your grades, test scores, and ECs look good, it will just come down to essays, LORs, and “luck”. Good job on getting started early!</p>

<p>Sent from my SGH-T589 using CC</p>

5

<p>Thank you! :)</p>

6

<p>Bump bump bump</p>

7

<p>Bump bump :)</p>

8

<p>No one else can help? :(</p>

9

<p>It doesn’t make sense for people to be listing specific colleges at this point, it is too early. You seem to have excellent potential and if that holds true, then you can apply anywhere. There are literally thousands of colleges!
You also haven’t specified what you are looking for in a college. Perhaps it is too early for you to know that too. Have you started visiting any colleges yet, even local ones, just to start forming opinions about size, location, etc.? Potential majors?
So in addition to getting a good guidebook you could start going through some websites to help you get started such as:
<a href=“https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-started[/url]”>https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-started&lt;/a&gt;
You may need to focus on colleges that are generous with financial aid, so start reading about that angle -
[Prepare</a> for College | Federal Student Aid](<a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/prepare-for-college]Prepare”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/prepare-for-college)</p>