<p>Well I have almost finished all my college applications, and I figure it is a good time to get chances on my college list.</p>
<p>State: Texas
White male
GPA: 95.1 Unweighted, 99.3 Weighted 3.98 GPA UW
Rank: 31/617
SAT: 2180 (760m,670cr,750w)
ACT: 32 (34m,34e,32r,27s, 11 essay)
AP Tests: 5 on Psych, Eng.Language, USHIST 4 on WHIST
Senior Schedule: AP-CalculusBC,Statistics,Chemistry,Physics,Government,Economics,Literature
Prospective Major: Electrical Engineering/Chemical Engineering, (Finance at Chicago), (Engineering Psychology at Tufts)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
2 years subvarsity basketball
1 year work (16 hours during school year, 32 in summer)
Young Republicans
National Honor Society
1 year debate
Physics Teachers Aide
1 year UIL Current Issues
One of two National Merit Commended at my school
AP Scholar w/ Honors</p>
<p>Hook: Father hasn't been part of my life for 7 years, I've been morally supporting my mother like an adult ever since. After my sophomore year I had to quit basketball to get a job to help my mom because she dated a con man who ran up thousands of dollars in debt for her. After my parents' divorce, my family had to go get free food from a local charity for a little while.</p>
<p>List of schools:
Rice ED
Tulane EA
Notre Dame EA
Tufts
NYU Poly
Penn
Cornell
SMU
Ut-Austin
Alabama
Boston University
USC
Vanderbilt
WUSTL
Chicago
Santa Clara
Georgetown</p>
<p>^ Not so fast, demaesthetics. While the test scores of his profile are weak, taken in context (as adcoms view all applicants “holistically” as long as they indicate the ability to be academically successful) his chances are significantly higher. </p>
<p>Consider that swarms of top applicants are products of suburban parenting and super-rich families - kids who have never faced adversity and show no signs of being able to overcome challenges.</p>
<p>OP, full disclosure: I’m only a junior so I may not be the most qualified person to “chance,” but if you can highlight the personal obstacles you faced and how you’ve matured as a young person through those learning experiences (and not merely whine about how unfair they may be), I think you have a solid shot at most of your schools.</p>
<p>I have a 95 avg. with all AP classes and a 32 ACT, which is median at Rice and Cornell? I don’t understand how the median score that they accept is WAY too low? Just because I am a white male going into engineering? I guess that would make sense, but WAY too low? I know that my ec’s are weak, but won’t they look at my situation and see that since I lived and breathed basketball my first two years and had to schedule everything around my job my junior year (which I needed because of family problems) that I wasn’t able to commit my time to much else? I almost got fired for scheduling a couple Saturdays off for the academic comp. and the debate tourneys. I mean I was involved in debate and the Young Republicans, made time to participate in an academic comp. where I did pretty well by the way, all while having a job… How could I have possibly been expected to do any more with my time?
And as far as the ACT goes, I will be retaking this upcoming weekend. I got 34s on math and eng. a 32 on the reading, and the only reason I didn’t get a 33 or a 34 was b.c. I missed a couple too many questions on the science. I will get a 33 or a 34 when I retake. You really think that I don’t have a chance to get into a Cornell or a Rice b.c. I didn’t get a 36 ACT and I wasn’t a world-class cellist or something?</p>
<p>You are in the possible range for all those schools. But the only ones who can give you a realistic assessment of your chances are the members of the admissions committees at those schools, and then only when they have your complete application package in front of them.</p>
<p>In other words: nobody on CC or anywhere else on the Internet can accurately predict your chances at any selective enrollment school.</p>
<p>This message is MIT-specific, but the principle applies to all selective colleges:</p>
<p>Make sure your college list includes some safeties - schools where your stats are well above the norm, that you can pay for under most pessimistic FA assumptions, and where you’d be happy.</p>