<p>I already posted this in another forum, but I really value the opinions of people who have gone through the process and know much more about this than I do.
I’m in sort of an interesting situation for college admissions.
I have a 3.82-3.83 UW GPA, which puts me just barely in the top 15% of my class, but I also somehow managed to get a 2400 on the SAT, first try, one sitting.
My family/GC/the few other people I told were all shocked and pretty happy for me, but I still don’t really know what to make of it.</p>
<p>Basically, I have no idea where to apply for college. I’m open to anything, basically. I like small schools, large schools, schools in large cities, schools in the country…I guess I’m not very selective
Still, I want to go somewhere that will really challenge me, and I just don’t know what my options are. My extracurriculars are fine, but not amazing or anything.
Thanks in advance for your responses!</p>
<p>I think you need to be fiercely honest with yourself about why there’s a disconnect between your grades and SAT score. Your answers will tell you where to apply. </p>
<p>Any parent here will give you completely different advice depending on whether you have a diagnosed learning disability, or ADHD, or had some health problems in high school, or started off slow as a freshman but had increasingly better grades as the years went on, or vice versa, or you just slid on through high school with a minimum of effort and never really had to study, or were heavily involved in sports… </p>
<p>Congrats on the 2400. However, don’t rest on your laurels in thinking that you are a lock for any school that you are considering sending an application. There are tons of threads where students with perfect scores and grades have been shut out. Is your GPA based on an upward or downward trend?</p>
<p>First I think that you need to sit down and have the money talk with your parents. You need to run your numbers through the FAFSA4caster, College board calculators (using both the federal and institutional methodologies)and some Net Price Calculators. After your parents see the numbers, you need to talk about how much they are realistically willing to pay or borrow for your education.</p>
<p>In addition, you need to know now if there are any parameters that they are setting for you regarding location, mode of travel etc.</p>
<p>You really still need to have a bottoms up approach and identify a couple of most likely, sure bet, safety schools that meet the following:</p>
<p>You will be guaranteed admission
Preferably have rolling admissions/EA
Offers the program you are interested in pursuing
Is a financially feasible option for your family
And if this is the only school that you are admitted to (or that the money works out for) you would be happy to attend.</p>
<p>After that apply broadly to schools where you can get guaranteed merit, toss in some match schools, and a few reaches.</p>
<p>@eastcoascrazy
Great, that’s exactly the impression I didn’t want to give The thing is, although I’ve taken some pretty hard classes and don’t always work as hard as I should, I definitely haven’t been coasting. Now I’m worried that I’ll be seen as a “smart slacker” stereotype who doesn’t try in school, when that’s not really true.
I think the 2400 was really just a fluke.</p>
<p>Am assuming you are a junior or possibly a sophomore? In my opinion, your GPA is not bad, and it sounds like you are bright enough to improve it. There are plenty of challenging schools out there so it sounds like you need to work at narrowing your criteria. Financially, can your parents afford to send you to a private school? Can they afford to send you far from home? If not, that helps you narrow the list.</p>
<p>If finances are not a big issue, then the door is truly wide open. Talk to your parents and your GC to get their thoughts about schools to go visit over the summer. Do you know some college freshmen (maybe older siblings of your friends, etc.) who are smart and feel happy and challenged at the schools they chose? Maybe they could give you some ideas.</p>
<p>Congratulations and enjoy the search…as you start to visit colleges, you’ll be able to get a better feel for what kind of school and location suits you best.</p>
<p>As you’ve figured out, your GPA and rank will hurt you at many top schools.<br>
Apply to some “just to see”, but have a good assortment of matches and safeties, just in case.</p>
<p>What are your financial needs? How much will your parents pay? The top schools (which may reject you) are the ones that give the best aid. </p>
<p>However, with your stats, you could get large merit at some mid-tier schools. What is your situation?</p>
<p>how did you do on the PSAT? What state are you in?</p>
<p>My parents can probably send me to a private school, but, unfortunately, I’m a junior, and I don’t have much time to raise my GPA.
I’m really looking forward to visiting colleges this summer I’m going to go look at Occidental, the Claremonts, UC Berkeley (out of state).</p>
<p>Financial aid won’t be a huge issue, but it’s still important. My parents have told me they’d pay for a private school, but I can tell they’re worried about the cost.
I’m in Pennsylvania, and I made a 229 on the PSAT.</p>
<p>What kind of grade inflation is at your HS? At my kids school that GPA would have you in the top 10%; kids with your grades and scores go to the most competitive schools in the country admissions wise- not that you should care, you need to find a good fit what you want, but i can’t believe one B per semester has you worried about admissions!</p>
<p>I think your teachers and GC should address the rigor of the courses you took and how you challenged yourself; I think you need to take a solid academic load senior year; I think then you can think about where you could flourish at college.</p>
<p>You have lots of options. but I agree- have a serious talk with your parents first about the money. There’s a difference between “we can pay but it will painful” meaning raiding their retirement, going without dental care, and 'we can pay but it will be painful" meaning going without a vacation next year and driving a 10 year old car (which most of us full pay types on CC have been doing throughout the college years!)</p>
<p>One be every semester isn’t so bad at all. That’s what my grades were like (aside from straight As senior year). I was barely in the top quintile and had no issues getting into top schools. That said I applied to all LACs which are best known for their holistic admissions policies. What are your academic interests?</p>
<p>Congratulations on both your perfect SAT and your PSAT! </p>
<p>Since you will be a NM semi-finalist, definitely look into schools that offer great $$ for NM.</p>
<p>What are your interests? Do you have any parameters on size, location, majors, etc?</p>
<p>What about letters of recommendation? Will you have great ones?</p>
<p>Also, can you write great essays? Are you a good communicator?
Do you have some passions/long standing commitments to activities? Do you have awards/honors at a certain level? (School-wide, citywide, statewide, nationwide, etc.)</p>
<p>Do you have any leadership experience?</p>
<p>I think your gpa is pretty good but I’m not an expert in gpa’s vs. admissions.</p>
<p>I think you should apply to a variety of schools, high reaches, reaches, matches, and safeties. </p>
<p>If you think your parents are worried about cost (perhaps you’re in the category of enough parental income that they can pay for school, even 50k a year, but that it would be difficult for them), definitely look for schools that offer NM scholarships.</p>
<p>Many years ago the son of a friend of mine was in a similar pickle, perfect SAT scores, so-so grades, only I’m pretty sure his grades were worse. I know he was on the track team. He’d also done some dumb stuff like fail gym for forgetting his uniform. He got into SUNY Binghamton, rejected from Bennington. Ended up getting into Colby off the waiting list. </p>
<p>I agree finding a couple of safeties and applying EA are good approaches. Also find out what your parents parameters are.</p>
<p>His main issue was ADHD. He’d do homework and leave it at home. Also a bit of arrogance, he was somewhat impatient about busywork. At Colby he started off as a math major, but quickly discovered that being good at math in high school doesn’t mean you have the chops to major in it in college. He had to regroup, but ended up fine and is gainfully employed now.</p>
<p>Well, I’ve been pretty intensely involved in art for all four years of high school, but besides that, not really.
I’m interested in linguistics and economics. I think I’ll do a double major.
My letters of recommendation will probably be great, and definitely not generic, if that helps.</p>
<p>First of all, you have a very good GPA. One B a semester is not the end of the world. But your SAT is off the charts. Two million students take the SAT every year and if memory serves me correctly only somewhere between 300-400 get a 2400. The fact is that will put you in the middle of any admissions conversation. But what schools you get into will also be influenced, perhaps heavily, by information you did not provide. What about your SAT II’s? What about AP courses? How challenging was your curriculum? What did you get your B’s in? What kind of teacher and counselor recommendations will you get? How will you do on your application, Common and supplemental, essays? What kind of EC’s do you have? FYI, my science/math-oriented son had an unweighted GPA almost identical to yours (it was 4.262 weighted) and a 2350 SAT and is starting at Caltech in the fall. My guess is that if you can come up with reasonably positive answers to the questions I posed above you should get into a lot of top schools, some of which will offer you money, if you need it. Don’t be afraid to reach; just make sure you have at least one good solid safety school on your list.</p>
The thing is, although I’ve taken some pretty hard classes and don’t always work as hard as I should, I definitely haven’t been coasting. Now I’m worried that I’ll be seen as a “smart slacker” stereotype who doesn’t try in school, when that’s not really true.
I’m going to go look at Occidental, the Claremonts, UC Berkeley (out of state).</p>