What are some good "reach" colleges? (Ivy etc.)

[TheVrolok]

Originally posted by: mugsywwiii

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
1520 SAT, 740+ on my SAT II's, 4/5's on AP's, weighted 4.71111111111 GPA, unweighted 4.0. Varsity Football, starter. Took a class before school started on TV Video Production, member of NHS, FBLA, Amnesty International, and Key Club(although not too active).

You forgot to add "anal retentive to the point of taking GPA to 11 decimal places" to that list.

It was actually just amusing to me because our school is so ridiculous that they'll go as far as they need to (decimal place wise) in order to rank students. We had the top 5 students separated by hundreths of a point. It was asinine. And I don't really believe my GPA had a repeating 1, but it amused me at the time, so I put it there

 

[Ophir]

Originally posted by: mugsywwiii

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
1520 SAT, 740+ on my SAT II's, 4/5's on AP's, weighted 4.71111111111 GPA, unweighted 4.0. Varsity Football, starter. Took a class before school started on TV Video Production, member of NHS, FBLA, Amnesty International, and Key Club(although not too active).

You forgot to add "anal retentive to the point of taking GPA to 11 decimal places" to that list.

HAHAHAHAHA. HS GPA watchers / SAT comparers are about the most annoying people I've ever met.

I would say your choice of good "reach" schools depends on your major - but I would consider Michigan, Cal, UCLA, Penn, Northwestern, and Cornell some of the better, more well-rounded schools to consider (you should also consider the fact that you'll probably be changing majors). I know there's more, but these are just off of the top of my head.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: Darien
I go to USC right now. It's pretty nice. Unlike UCLA, there aren't a million hills and it isn't super huge. But if you are requird to get a meal plan, UCLA dorm food > USC dorm food.

actually UCLA is the smallest of the UC's

you are right about the hills, there are quite a few but we arent in the ghetto

 

[RabidMongoose]

Originally posted by: sciencewhiz
You realize that UCLA only admits 24% of applicants, right. And that the average GPA is 4.11

:Q

I've been wondering about this for a while...do CA schools give high grades out all the time? Are they easy or hard? Just from my personal experience, if you had a 4.11 GPA from my school, then you were probably easily qualified to go to a top 10 school. Even people from my school with a 3.8 were often qualified to go to a top 25 school. Of course most of the people here that had high grades also had decently high SAT/ACT scores, but it seems that now everyone graduates with a 10.02 GPA somehow.

Maybe high school has changed a lot...

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: fyleow
If you guys don't mind, could you tell me a bit about your high school academic stats? I'd like to know what it takes to get into these schools...Post GPA (weighted/unweighted), sports, SATs, clubs etc.

If it's too personal I understand, but I'd really appreciate it.

If you got in, would you go?

Yes, depending on how much financial aid I can get. My parents can cover some of the expenses and I'm willing to work to help pay my tuition and living expenses. I'm fairly stingy with my money as well and I can save like no tomorrow.

I suppose UCLA is a very good school to aim for, since I am a Californian resident (cheaper tuition).

i had a 4.0 in high school, a bunch of APs, 1480 on SATs and such blah blah blah, i got into carniege melon and UCSD, i chose to goto ucsd against the protests of my parents and i think its one of the best decisions i ever made.

the one piece of advice i would give you is go visit the campus of whatever school you are considering and try to imagine yourself happy there. if you can, go for it, if you cant forget about it.

 

[Chuck1234]

Originally posted by: fyleow
I'm going to be applying for colleges soon and it would be nice to have one or two "reach" schools (as we like to call them). Something harder to get into than UCLA or UCSD, but not in the league of MIT and Stanford (where I'll have no chance at all). My friend picked Vanderbilt and Rice but those seem pretty high caliber too. Are there any colleges that are in between?

how about Berkeley? Good school!

 

[Nebor]

Last I knew, Vanderbuilt was such a freakin party school... Not at all what you'd expect. Anyways, I knew a pretty smart guy who went there... It sure did corrupt him fast.... heh.

 

[Sachmho]

hey that us news link that got posted, doesn't it say "doctoral" at the top of the page? wouldn't that be a little diff. from undergrad. admissions?

 

[CanOWorms]

Originally posted by: Nebor
Last I knew, Vanderbuilt was such a freakin party school... Not at all what you'd expect. Anyways, I knew a pretty smart guy who went there... It sure did corrupt him fast.... heh.

It is. The campus is over 50% greek. But if you're a nerd, it will be bad for you. It's a pretty materialistic type of university (I know everyone probably says this about every university). There aren't that many nerds, even in engineering. It warps your perceptions of reality. Everyone has the latest fashions and trends. I wouldn't even hesitate to say that at least 75% of the campus works out on a regular basis therefore is in excellent physical condition. The university was actually recommended by Seventeen magazine for being the place to go to for fashion/style/whatever & education or some weird crap like that.

When I was a freshman, the average family income of a student was ~$150k. The income bracket with the highest percentage of students (something like 33%) was $200k-something.

So if you're the stereotypical nerdy computer site visiting person, you will look very out of place and feel uncomfortable with your Wal-Mart clothing, anime talking, video-game playing skills. If you're a social person, it's a good place to go to.

 

[Doggiedog]

Is my HS the only one that uses the 0-100 scale? We didn't have weighted or unweighted grades either.

 

[sciencewhiz]

Originally posted by: Sachmho
hey that us news link that got posted, doesn't it say "doctoral" at the top of the page? wouldn't that be a little diff. from undergrad. admissions?

It was for colleges that grant doctoral degrees, but it was rating their undergraduate programs. For example, the college that I go to (RIT) is very well rated, but doesn't grant doctoral degrees, so it isn't on that list.

 

[SyahM]

Washington University in St. Louis is a good college, http://www.wustl.edu.

 

[nitsuj3580]

I got into University of Rochester which is like Top 30 I think.

I had a 97 unweighted gpa, 30 on the ACT's, 1200 SAT (i just sucked at that test for some reason), all county varsity track and baseball, NHS, Who's who, all those things. All county piano and trumpet player.

I had the baseball coach at U of R on my side also so I don't know if that helped

 

You should try for the University of Michigan. Great campus, sorta frat/sorority oriented, but other than that, great people. Also, Cornell and Dartmouth are my two favorite Ivys - they're great schools, in small towns, and they're not totally overexposed like the others.

 

[shopbruin]

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: Darien
I go to USC right now. It's pretty nice. Unlike UCLA, there aren't a million hills and it isn't super huge. But if you are requird to get a meal plan, UCLA dorm food > USC dorm food.

actually UCLA is the smallest of the UC's

you are right about the hills, there are quite a few but we arent in the ghetto

UCLA = only school you can go up and down a hill to get to class or back to the dorms. WOOOOOO!

 

[Regs]

Man I'm such a lazy ass. Just looking at your GPA's make me hurl of disgust of how much I wasted my life....

What pains me more is all these credentials and people out there are still not able to find a job. After spending 100+ grand on higher education, you can't even find a job to pay the loans back.

*Goes to jump off a very tall bridge

 

[hdeck]

if you are a white male you will not get into rice.

 

[austin316]

In your guys' high schools, what was a B in a A.P. / Honors course worth? At my school, an A in a regular class was much better than a B in an Honors course. BTW, we had no plus or minuses. Straight 90,80, 70 scale.

 

[Hammyton]

When everyone is comparing GPA's are you guys just counting your sophmore and junior years? I was under the impression that was all that counted... and how to honors courses weigh into this? Do they count for the "5 for an A", like AP classes do?

 

[kaizersose]

Originally posted by: fyleow

Originally posted by: littleman

Originally posted by: fyleow
Something harder to get into than UCLA or UCSD,

holy sh!t, whats your GPA, sat's etc? :Q

Uhh weighted GPA is over 4.0, hopefully I can get SATs above 700ish for each category....like I said these are "reach" schools. I highly doubt I'll get in but I would like to try anyway.

do you realize the AVERAGE numbers for the entering class at UCLA are 4.13 and 1400? might want to redine reach.

go bruins

edit: just looked up actual numbers: 4.23 and 1320

 

[RabidMongoose]

Originally posted by: hdeck
if you are a white male you will not get into rice.

Why not? There are plenty of white males at Rice.

 

[TheeeChosenOne]

Are you out of your f*cking mind? UCLA is one of the best schools in the world.

If you do well there, you can go to basically any grad school you want. You know how many people want to go to UCLA?

It's academics are top-notch. If you want smaller classes, there are liberal arts colleges you could look into. But in terms of pure academics, you're in the A list.

Don't put it down b/c it's a state school or b/c they're not charging you an arm and a leg like private schools. If you get into UCLA, being Californian, you better have a very compelling reason (i.e. full-ride scholarship) for not going there.

In college your grades matter MORE than what college you went to. You can go to CSU and still get into Berkeley or Ivy grad with good grades. I see many stoopid Ivy students not get into good grad schools b/c they screwed around. (I should know, as I went to a top Ivy and witnessed what happened to many friends).

Save your money and go to UCLA.............that is, if you can get in....