A Mexican's chances of getting into some top school

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Here are some of my stats: </p>

<p>17 year old Mexican American Junior(family makes less than 50k/year). First Generation College Student</p>

<p>Cumulative GPA: 4.5 (as of the end of my sophomore year)<br>
Unweighted GPA: not sure really(make A's above 96's usually)
Rank: 1</p>

<p>AP Classes </p>

<p>Junior Year: English, US History, Spanish 4, Calculus AB </p>

<p>Senior Year AP Classes I plan to take:English, Gov't, Economics, Biology, Calculus BC, Computer Science, maybe Spanish 5 </p>

<p>SAT, etc: Haven't taken them yet, but i got in the 90th percentile in pSAT (not as good as i wanted, but will get better for SAT's). Havent taken the ACT yet. </p>

<p>Extras: </p>

<p>*Come from a brand new high school that had 8,9,10 grade its first year.
*Play the Bassoon in the Wind Ensemble(all 3 years so far)
*Have made All-District Band, and All-Region Band(twice). I plan to make it to All-State next year.
*Have been on the School's Drumline, once in the Front Ensemble, and the the past two years on the bass line(section leader). I plan to play snare next year.
*Have been in many UIL academic events
*Been President of NJHS, Crime Stoppers
Been in Student Council for all of high school(been treasurer twice)
*Have won some school awards in web design and world history
*Then I've been in a few smaller school clubs for a year or so, but my main things are StuCo, Band, and Academic Stuff. </p>

<p>Schools: I'm not really sure yet, but I'm thinking about the University of Chicago, UCLA, Duke, Rice, and basically any Ivy League school(Harvard?) and of course UT (my back-up). </p>

<p>So, what do you think?</p>

2

<p>4.0 unweighted? Seems like grade inflation to me.</p>

3

<p>so far so good, but we can't give you a good analysis without more school and standardized test scores.</p>

4

<p>yeah, i wasnt sure about it, but i guessed. I make straight A's, usually 96 and above. They only give us cumulative GPA at our school.</p>

5

<p>"4.0 unweighted? Seems like grade inflation to me."</p>

<p>Huh? If it was 4.0 unweighted and the OP was ranked like 15, then you can yell grade inflation. Ever heard the tale of the boy who cried wolf? </p>

<p>To the OP, you're looking very good. Try your best to achieve a high SAT, that will be your most telling accomplishment to the colleges. If you can manage a 1400+ you will be a great candidate. Study as much as you can to get your best! The SAT will make (and it certainly will make your chances seeing as you're a first generation Mexican) or break your chances at top colleges. Good luck!</p>

6

<p>90th percentile for the psat's is like 188~, cuz i was 90th percentile. and no offense but for top tier ivies, they like high schools that are known, meaning if this is the first year your school has been established, it wont really help you. but being ranked 1 is always good so just get over 2100 to show your school doesnt inflate grades.</p>

7

<p>yeah, im aiming for at least a 2100 on the SAT's. Im just not that great at critical reading</p>

8

<p>alexgs08:</p>

<p>Assuming you are a California resident,
UCLA: Safe Match</p>

9

<p>Actually, im from a rural Texas town...Does that hurt my chances at some schools?</p>

10

<p>No, it does not hurt your chances, actually it helps.<br>
Congratulations to you for working so hard and accomplishing so much.
Think Georgetown and Notre Dame. And, Ivy leagues are not outside of your grasp.
Good luck to you. I was the first of my family to attend University so I understand., perhaps, much of your questioning.</p>

11

<p>Oh yeah. Being from a small town in Texas is *definitely *gonna help you dude.</p>

<p>I feel like I should congratulate you already!</p>

12

<p>Thanks for the input. Anything else I should maybe work on?</p>

13

<p>alexgs08:</p>

<p>UCLA: Match (out of state)</p>

14

<p>Oh yeah, i found out that my GPA is actually closer to a 4.63(Weighted), since i got a 5.3 GPA this past semester. </p>

<p>Let's say I made over a 2100 on my March 10 SAT's. What would my chances be then of getting into some of the before mentioned colleges?</p>

15

<p>I'm ****ed...how do you get a 5.3 GPA...this will probably be reconfigured on a 5.0 weighted scale as max when you apply for colleges</p>

16

<p>I'm not sure, but it's probably because AP classes at my school are on a 6 point scale, pre-AP on a 5 point scale and regular on a 4 point scale.</p>

17

<p>If you do good on the SAT then you'll be able to get into all of those.</p>

18

<p>Most of those schools will probably be fine for you. However, with the Ivy Leagues about 80% of their applicants are very academically solid, and what separates people are those hooks in extracurricular activities. Although your EC's are impressive, I don't know how much those Ivies would feel you may contribute on campus (ex. a ton of world class musicians apply to Harvard, etc.) Most of the time there needs to be something extremely impressive on the application. </p>

<p>I wish you luck in your application process!</p>

19

<p>Yeah, i know what you mean. I'm really trying to make it into the All - State Band this coming year. For two years in a row, I have been 1 chair away from advancing to the All State level auditions. Plus, this summer I'll probably have an internship at a local university (Texas State). Not really sure if that will help a lot though.
Now that I think about it, I won't be able to make it into the All -State Band until sometime in late January or early February of next year, which won't be in time to put it on my application....oh well.</p>