<p>First off I’m going to be a senior in public school next year, I’m from Texas, and I have very little idea of where to apply to college. I’ve taken the SAT once and I got 720 Math 800 Reading 760 Writing, I’m NMS commended, top quarter (not sure if I’m 10% but probably not), going for the full IB diploma, and I have a 6.19 gpa on a 6.5 point scale. I’m not sure where I can get into or where I should go. I don’t do too much extracurricular except for a couple clubs, groups and stuff to get the required IB hours. The only colleges I’ve looked at specifically are Trinity University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Colorado at Boulder, Middlebury College, and Dartmouth College, but I’m not sure if I really want to go to or could get into those. I’d like to know any suggestions for colleges to look into, I’m especially interested in the midwest and northeast; really just colder climates in general. Also if someone could tell me exactly where I stand on where I am capable of getting into it would be helpful! Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated, thanks!</p>
<p>What do you want to major in?</p>
<p>That’s the problem, I don’t really know. I wouldn’t mind a liberal arts education, it can go either way</p>
<p>Maybe look into Wesleyan, Vassar, Carleton, Macalester and Grinnell.</p>
<p>Pniks</p>
<p>Your SATs are excellent. Your GPA is on an unusual system so I may be misinterpreting, but I think they are very good. Unless you are in a very competitive school I would be surprised if you aren’t in the top 10%. If you are in a very competitive school not being in the top 10% might not matter. Being from Texas will help you for many colleges in the east as it improves their diversity. You have great potential for getting into an excellent school.</p>
<p>That being said you know you have problems. Your lack of ECs will hurt your chances at the most competitive East Coast schools, e.g. Dartmouth and Middlebury. Your lack of an area of focus for your studies, will make it difficult to identify the proper college arts and Sciences, engineering, social sciences, for the larger schools, and will make it a bit more difficult for you to stand out in the application process.</p>
<p>Even more important, while it is common to not have clearly identified your ideal major, you come across as particularly unfocused on that topic. You don’t list three or four areas you have trouble choosing between, or a general category of interests. This lack of focus, and skepticism about your place in class when there is every reason to think you should be doing very well in school, remind me of myself at your age. I was depressed at that time, and wonder if you are also suffering depressions, perhaps low grade. Am I way off base? If I am not I may have some suggestions.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response. If I HAD to narrow down my interests in majors I’d say German and biology are what interest me most, and math and English are what I’m best at. My EC isn’t completely hopeless, being in IB forces you to have at least 150 hours of… anything really including at least 50 service hours, at least I think, and I’m getting most of that done in bits. Just nothing that really stands out. I did forget to mention that I’ve been holding down the same job since last September as well, for about 12 hours a week. As for depression, I wouldn’t say I’m any more depressed than an average teenager, just pretty apathetic and unsure. My school isn’t that competitive, but is unusually small for a Texas public school (~115 in my class) so it only takes a couple of kids to knock me out of the top 10%. Thanks again for your advice.</p>
<p>To not be in the top 10% you need to have 11 kids better than you, not a couple. Your unusual grading system suggests that they weight harder classes more than easy ones, so someone getting straight As in easy courses should be ranked below you. At that small a school you should know everyone in your class. Do you really think that there are 11 kids better than you?</p>
<p>The part time job will help you. You don’t have the time for ECs that other students have, it shows a different form of responsibility, and schools will generally recognize that. Middlebury and Dartmouth are reaches for you, but not extreme ones. You don’t mention computers or engineering, so I would not focus on highly technical schools. Check out some of the better LACS.</p>
<p>Macalester, Carleton, or how about St. Olaf’s?</p>
<p>Pniks, you need to think a little more systematically about what characteristics of a school matter to you, especially if you don’t know what you want to focus on academically. Do you want to be in an urban, suburban or rural location (or don’t care), do you want a large, medium sized or small school (with the associatiated impact on faculty attention, choice of classes, resources, etc…), does financial aid matter to you, do you care about the extent to which frats/athletics/arts/religion are prevelent on a campus, etc…How do you describe yourself to others? Schools have ‘personalities’ and while you can be a happy ‘minority,’ its often easier to be part of the dominent culture.</p>
<p>Visit a large public school, a small liberal arts college and a mid-sized private school-what feels right and way? Read some of the school description catalogs like Fiske. </p>
<p>If you can define the characteristics of the school you want to attend, coming up with a few names is a lot easier.</p>