<p>Say I have a 2,300 on the SAT Reasoning Test and an 800 on the Math II, Physics, and Spanish (with listening) SAT Subject Tests. I’ve taken around 18-20 college-level courses as a dual enrollment student and have a 4.80 weighted GPA. I know that nothing I do can guarantee my admission into top schools. Nevertheless, what else can be done to get as close to this imaginative perfect chance of acceptance? Most of what I’ve done is start and run a chess club at my local community college for the past year. Other than that, I’m stumped. </p>
<p>You’ve done what you can for admission. Now you need to think about paying for your education. Sit your parents down, and have the big money talk with them. Once you know how much they are able and willing to pay, and under what circumstances, you will know how hard you are going to have to look for your financial safety schools. If money is in issue, spend some time in the Financial Aid Forum reading up on merit-based aid.</p>
<p>Rather than focusing more on resume burnishing, spend more time thinking about what your educational and professional goals are and how they match up with a specific school. A lot of those schools will have a ‘why us’ essay and a generic answer is not going to help you. Reseach the programs, the faculty and their areas of research/expertise, the unique aspects of the school that play to your strengths, etc…Reseach why you might be a good fit for them and what you can contribute to the campus that they might value(apart from being smart and hard-working). If money matters to you, do some research on scholarships - both school specific and independent. Applying for those can be very time consuming but can make a big difference financially. You might also want to spend some time finding a safety school or two that will satisfy you in case your top school dream doesn’t come through.</p>