What to do what to do

College Search & Lists
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Hi everyone,

Before I ask for your sage advice I’d firstly like to thank all of you that participate in helping people like me on these forums. Seriously, it’s so much work to do this research for just myself so it’s gotta be harder for strangers on the internet!

Ok, a little bit about me: I’m an 18 year old girl living in Connecticut. I graduated June 2018 and I’m currently taking a gap year working at a movie theatre and taking two community college courses. I’m hoping to travel next semester, but we’ll see where life will take me. If you guys have any ideas for a gap year that would also be greatly appreciated!

My high school career was a bit unstable, since I changed schools 3 times and especially because I wasn’t doing so great towards the end of my senior year. My SAT score is 1160 (650 English, 510 Math… yeah, I should probably retake this one…) and my weighted GPA is 3.5.

I have no idea what to do with myself, but I think I’m more interested in pursuing a career in film production, education administration, or counseling and social services. I’m less interested in, but will still work in management or hospitality services. I know my options are already limited here, but additionally I’d rather be in an urban/suburban area unless the campus is close to water/mountains/downtown. Size doesn’t matter, except when it does, as long as it’s more than 1,000 undergrads. I’d prefer to attend a liberal arts college since they seem to have a stronger sense of community which is super important to me! I’ll happily attend a research university or whatever other kind of school if they have a similarly friendly and welcoming student body, so student life and atmosphere is the #1 priority. I’m not even a very social person, but I am just incredibly unhappy when I can’t find “my people.” I think I click more with the kind of kids who are witty and free spirited and all that jazz.

What are your suggestions? So far I have a huge list so maybe you guys can help me narrow it down or add ones that would better appeal to my circumstances.

My reach schools are NYU, St Lawrence, Fordham, Syracuse, Boston University, and Emerson. My match schools are Ithaca, University of Denver, UMass Amherst, Providence College and Clark. My safeties are Endicott and Drexel. Also might apply to Brown, Columbia, Yale and University of Pennsylvania so that I can get rejected.

I’m one hundo percent a perfectionist who wishes to be an overachiever but intrinsically is not. Please help me. :slight_smile:

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I would suggest retaking the SAT or trying the ACT if you have not yet done so. My daughter scored much higher on the ACT than the SAT. I see Clark is on your list; I would look at other Colleges That Change Lives schools. There are many good ones, and you’d be a good candidate for most of them. What is your budget? Will you need merit? I agree NYU and BU are reaches, and I probably wouldn’t bother with any ivies. I think you actually have a good shot at St. Lawrence, though, especially if you can bump your test scores. There are a lot of great LACs in PA… you might want to check those out.