What potential colleges should I consider with these statistics?

College Search & Lists
1

GPA: 3.6 (weighted)

Rank: Top 50% (out of 550 students)

SAT: 1600 out of 1600 (New SAT) (essay included

ACT: 36 out of 36 (essay included)

SAT Biology: 800

SAT Math 1: 800

Leadership Positions: 6

Clubs: Science Olympiad, Amnesty International , Mentoring Program, Operation Smile, Environmental Science Club

Obstacles Faced: Yes

APs Taken: 1 in junior year (rest are honors), 2 in senior year (rest will still be honors)

Honor Societies: 4 by the time I apply

Intended Major: either Psychology, Biology, or Environmental Science.

Preferred College Location: City

Consistent: Freshman year was BAD, sophomore year was better, junior year might be slightly better

BTW, people have been asking me if my test scores are made up and the answer is NO

2

Also, I am mixed Asian and White.

3

Home State? Budget? How rigorous of a HS schedule: Honors/AP/IB or DE courses? Reason for lower than average GPA is compelling and worth elaborating on your essays and by your Counselor?

4

Budget?

Safeties : Truman state, UAlabama, UMN Morris (not in a city but strong academics compared to ease of access), Eckerd,
Matches : Pitt, Temple, DePaul, Hamline, St Thomas (St Paul), UMN Twin CitiesTulane, SUNY ESF (for environmental science), Clark, UVermont, SDSU
Always apply to the Honors College.

5

Why the low GPA (that’s weighted?), and why did you take another standardized test when you already had a perfect score?

6

Potentially free tuition at LSU:

http://www.lsu.edu/financialaid/types_of_scholarships/entering_freshman_scholarships/index.php

Your task is to spin your hardships and the reason for your 3.6 GPA into an extremely compelling story that college admission officers will find irresistible.

7

I live in Virginia , willing to spend $35 thousand dollars or less on college, reason is cause bullying and rigor for gpa, honors in total would be 9.

8

If you had all honors and AP in Junior and Senior year, how do you have a 1600 on SAT and 36 on ACT while still having a 3.6 weighted GPA?

1)I find it incredibly hard to believe that such a smart person (full score on SAT and ACT) could somehow do so poorly in school that their weighted GPA is a 3.6

2)If you had a full score on the SAT, why did you take the ACT? And vice versa.

9

I thought the highest you could get on the new SAT was a 1520 or 1540

10

@citymama9, it’s the PSAT that has a top score that’s less than 1600. I think it’s 1540, but not sure.

11

Florida State University might be a decent choice. Out of state COA is $37k, which is fine. It is going to be a little hard for you to get in but it depends on how well you can explain your GPA.

SUNY Geneseo would be a solid safety school. It is going to be safely inside your price range, and you would almost definitely get accepted.

James Madison would be another good safety.

University of Richmond would be a good place to look at. I’m not familiar with their admissions criteria but they appear to be well-regarded and would be affordable for you.

12

Florida State would not only likely let u in, with a 36 act you would likely get significant financial aid. Alabama, W. Virginia, Kentucky, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ok. State, Texas Tech, Kansas would all likely give you significant aid for that 36.

13

As I mentioned, my freshman year was not great, but I improved a lot during sophomore year and junior year. Also, the teachers at my school are HARSH and give too many pop quizzes which I never do well on.

14

OP, first and foremost, great job in the upward trend in your GPA. Second, with your scores you have the ability to do great things if you keep the upward trend going through your college years ahead. That said, given your discontent between scores and GPA, you should work closely with your GC to put together an achievable list of schools as it won’t be a straight forward process, but a top-50 university is achievable.