<p>I don’t have the slightest inkling of where I want to attend college next year. I was wondering what you guys thought my safeties/matches/reaches were? I’ll be applying to IU was a back-up, but I’d prefer an out-of-state school.</p>
<p>Gender: F (Asian)
State: IN
High School: Competitive Public School, among the top in the state</p>
<p>Academics:
GPA: 3.85 (UW), 4.1 (W)
SAT: 770 (CR) and 750 (Math) - I’m hoping these go up when I retake the SATS in the fall.
PSAT: 214
AP: I’ve taken 6 AP classes up to my junior year (4’s and 5’s on the tests). I will be taking 5 more AP classes my senior year:
Honors: 4 honors classes</p>
<p>Extra-Curriculars:
-School Newspaper: 100+ hours working on paper, News Editor senior year
-Research Mentors Club: help the local elementary students with their “disease” projects, 20+ hours throughout the school year
-Key Club: on Hours committee, 50+ hours
-National Honor Society
-GlobalGiving: Secretary, raised money to rebuild a school in China that had been destroyed by the earthquake
-Band: 9/10 year, played oboe
-HCCTA (Hamilton County Committee Tennis Association): on the Student Advisory Committee, comprised of around 10 high school tennis players; we volunteer throughout the year promoting the game of the tennis, 100+ hours</p>
<p>Tennis:
-varsity all 3 years
-Team State Championship in '09
-made All-State First Team freshman year and junior year
-Scholar Athlete all 3 years; junior year: made Presidents Honor Roll (given to varsity player with highest GPA)
-won All-District Team Tennis award freshman year
-started a recycling program among the team (part of the HCCTA)
-participated in “Pass the Plate” to help raise money for breast cancer research</p>
<p>Job:
-work behind the desk at a local tennis club; I handle invoices, membership fees, etc. and when I close, I have to make sure the club breaks even, balances, etc.
-teach tennis to junior high students at a local high school
-teach tennis at the tennis club, sub for pro’s</p>
<p>Well looks like your chances at many universities are average or above average, so there is a large range of universities. Anything specific your looking for in a school?</p>
<p>I’d prefer a larger school. I had originally wanted to attend a small, private college but realized that route would never work for me. I’m wondering what chances I have at more selective, Tier 1 schools (but not Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc. )</p>
<p>With your stats, you definitely have a shot at the Ivied and equivalent, even HYPSM. Your stats and EC is on par with many of their admitted students. Of course, with admission being the crapshoot it is, many people with similar qualities also get rejected. But you definitely have a fair chance at these elites. I would suggest that you pick 4-5 favourites in the top 20, and go for 3-4 more between 20-50. Either apply EA to all your safeties and matches, so come Dec you can apply all most selective universities since you would have been accepted to safeties/matches. Or you can apply EA/ED to all the most selective universities, so when you get in you don’t need to apply for any more universities. However, ED students often get worse financial aid than RD, so if money is an issue than you may have to reconsider.</p>
<p>OP: You have a good chance at every school in the country. We need more info about what you’re looking for besides large - what part of the country geographically, how close to a city, etc.</p>
<p>I tend to disagree with Moosey. Your courses sound good, and your grades and scores are fine, but I don’t see the kind of standout EC or intellectual passion that gets people into Ivies, unless you are a recruitable tennis player. (This may be more a function of how you have described yourself here than reality.) And are you taking SAT IIs? You will need them for a lot of top schools. Since your SATs are already good enough, I’d suggest putting your energy into scoring above 700 on 2 or 3 SAT IIs in October instead.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, you do have a chance almost anywhere. So you need to narrow it down somehow. Is there anything that interests you strongly other than tennis?</p>
<p>I’ll be taking my SAT II’s in the fall, so I will have those ready for when I apply. </p>
<p>I’d really like to leave the whole “farming, agricultural, rural” setting behind; I’d prefer a college in a more urban, culturally diverse environment. I’m leaning towards the east coast/west coast schools because I’m so tired of the Midwest. </p>
<p>Tennis-wise, I’m not DI material, so I won’t be recruited by any DI schools looking for tennis players, but tennis won’t be my top priority in college. I’d rather attend a school that’s more academically challenging than one that excels in sports. </p>
<p>Also, I have no idea what I want to study now, so a college that would allow me to switch majors rather easily would be more preferable.</p>
<p>So we’re looking at larger, more urban schools on either coast, basically?</p>
<p>East, which I’m more familiar with: BU, NYU, GW, GWU, American, Columbia, Barnard if you’re a girl come to mind. Is having a distinct campus important to you?</p>
<p>Schools with an open curriculum like Brown, Smith or Amherst is great for undecided major. Do you have any preference for the size of the school? Do you need financial aid? </p>
<p>I still think that you have a shot at the Ivies and equivalent. Again, I’ve seen better, equal and worse get accepted and better, equal and worse get rejected. Of course no one’s a shoe in at any of those universities, but your stats are high enough to have a chance. There are a lot of intangibles and luck involved in college admission and you can’t control that, maybe things will go in your favour. Everyone need reaches right? Just don’t be like those people who only applied to top 20.</p>
Just don’t be like those people who only applied to top 20.</p>