<p>This perfect SAT/less than perfect gpa is similar to son’s. He didn’t always do the work and some of his grades suffered for it. His public HS graded fairly. He went on to not always get A’s in college since having perfect grades wasn’t as important to him.</p>
<p>Schools may look at your gpa as an example of not studying and therefore be concerned you won’t have good study habits to succeed in college. Definitely apply to your flagship/top public U and the honors college/program. Your state school should take you. Be sure your first semester senior grades are your best. Apply to some dream schools, you do have a chance and even perfect gpa/test scores students don’t get in. Write essays that show your passions and great interest in schools you apply to.</p>
<p>I think the first step to have clear is whether you need to chase merit money. That will affect your schools. Otherwise, does your school have Naviance? I would see where some others with your stats were accepted. </p>
<p>If you were my kid, I would suggest some lacs because of your interests. Some of the ones that come to mind for a writer are: Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin, Kenyon, Colby, Bates, Hamilton, Sarah Lawrence. I will admit that the top few might be a bit of a reach, but I think you could aim there as long as you’re happy with the other schools. If you’re female, I would look at Barnard and Wellesley. Not sure about big Us but I do think Chicago could be a possibility.</p>
<p>You will have a stronger chance at top schools if your school does not report class rank. Otherwise top 10% is key for top schools and top 5% is even better.</p>
<p>cd6hb8,
I advise you to apply to USC BEFORE Dec 1, so you can be considered for their FULL TUITION scholarship, as that is their merit scholarship deadline. Know that the chances of landing one of those scholarships is about the same as being accepted at Harvard, but its worth trying. [You WOULD get a 1/2 tuition NMF scholarship at USC, if accepted, as long as you let NMSF know that USC is your first choice after you decide to go there.] You will need to show a strong interest in USC in your essays, as well as a passion for learning. Almost 40,000 applicants applied this year for 2300 spots. </p>
<p>I also encourage you to apply to Chicago and Yale , but WHAT EVER you do, do NOT Fall in love with ANY college where you have a statistically very small chance of acceptance [ i.e. Ivys, MIT, etc, etc] That almost always leads to disappointment.</p>
<p>My B+/A- kid with lopsided scores 790CR/690M got into Chicago (EA), Tufts, and Vassar (as a boy). He did have the advantage of ranking in the top 6%. He had 8 APs I think, very rigorous schedule, tons of music. So lots of plusses too. I do think his very good essays, and probably stellar recommendations helped. His math teacher wrote an amazing one even though he’d gotten I think a B+ in that class. He had B’s or B- in Latin, and a bunch of B+'s in English. I certainly think you can aim high. He had American as a safety, and when he got in to Chicago early that was his other safety. Everywhere else he applied was a reach.</p>
<p>He was so terrified of falling in love with anything except American (which he really did love), that come April he had a really, really hard choice!</p>
<p>If math isn’t your forte you might consider taking Statistics which in the long run is probably more useful. But your school can advise you better on that. It might be better to wait and take statistics in college.</p>
<p>My DS had 2350 SAT score, all B’s his Freshman year, then all A’s his last 3 years. He had 7 AP’s, rigorous schedule, lots of Music , wrote fabulous essays [ after the weak ones that got him deferred, and rejected at Stanford] and fantastic LOR’s. His school did rank but he was at the top end of the 2nd quadrille [ because of Freshman year] He also was accepted at Chicago and at every other college he applied. He attended USC on a full tuition scholarship. </p>
<p>OP , Dont overload your Senior year schedule with classes you dont want to take but feel you must in order to “look good”- there is no AP arms race and you will find that applying to college is in ITSELF a part time job! Take the rigorous classes that you know will be “easier” A’s for you. Make your essays shine.</p>
<p>“If I were you I would do some research regarding which schools offer good scholarships for NMSF/NMF and start your search with those schools.” - I agree. </p>
<p>For example, look into Northeastern in Boston. It has terrific co-op programs and in past years has offered a deal of full tuition scholarship for National Merit Finalists.</p>
<p>That 3.8 is unweighted you say…do not compare yourself to kids that come on here and talk about 4.0 weighted or higher. There is a difference. There are alot of schools who have all kinds of classes labeled all kinds of things that boost GPA. Colleges know how to look at transcripts and yours will have lots of As. You will be competitive at many, many, many fine schools. Look for a few where you will get some great merit money (for your parents) and look for some schools that appeal to you and are a reach. And don’t forget your safety school.</p>
<p>I wanted to add to the voices that say that a 3.8 unweighted is not bad at all! That is better than an A- average and you take difficult courses. The other reason you could be in the top 15% and not top 5 or 10% besides grade inflation is because you go to a school full of high achievers. The colleges will probably receive a report from your high school with your transcript describing your school and community. There it will say what the students are like and what the rigor of the courses is (how many honors and AP are offered and in which departments). The fact that you are passionate about art is great. Do not sell yourself short! Do not apply to all reach schools, but definitely I think you have a shot at wherever you want to apply. And keep up the good work your senior year. The colleges will get your first quarter grades.</p>
<p>At a minimum, I think you need to cast a wide net. My had a great SAT score, but mediocre grades. There were schools I felt were clear matches, that rejected or waitlisted S in part because I think they wondered why this kid who could, didn’t. OTOH, there were other schools throwing money at S.</p>
<p>"for those schools that you really like, don’t forget to show interest in them via visits, occasional emails. "
that may be a minor factor that tips the scales in your direction when applying to colleges that do track interest. However, the higher ranked the college, and /or the more applications a college receives relative to the number of spots, the less a students "interest’ matters to the admissions committee. The exception is if a student is applying ED, which is the strongest indication of "interest, but this should NOT be done if he/she needs a lot of FA in order to be apply to attend college.</p>
<p>OP, I believe Adcoms will consider number of AP courses you took, the type and when you took them etc. compared to others from your school and not automatically assume you are academically weaker than 14% who ranked higher than you. So, if it seems to an adcom that you challenged yourself and as long as your SAT subject & AP test scores etc are in line with your SAT Reasoning scores I believe you have a shot at all the top schools. Since there is no way for you to know, what percentage has been managing their GPAs I would apply to the top schools.</p>
<p>If you are looking for schools that would probably give you merit money, I suggest Fordham in NYC which gives most NMSFs full tuition scholarships and has a great sounding honors program. U Delaware also has a respected honors program and gives a lot of merit money to students with grades and scores like yours. If you are interested in a womans college, Bryn Mawr gives a few merit scholarships each year to students with high scores and grades.</p>
<p>2400 SATs and a 3.8+ GPA doesn’t sound too far out of sync for a high school with reasonable academics. In fact, I don’t know anyone who’d consider a 3.8+ GPA average or mediocre…unless your high school pads GPAs to the point many kids are graduating with 4.2, 4.4, etc. </p>
<p>If you really want out of sync SATs vs GPAs…it wasn’t unheard of for kids to routinely have 1200-1400+/1600 pre-1995 SATs…and the equivalent of 1.6-2.8 GPAs (71-82 out of 100) at my urban public magnet.</p>