<p>Hello everyone,<br>
So, my family moved to America nine years ago from Somali. I have taken the most rigorous classes so far. I will have taken 9 AP classes by graduation. I have a 3.6 uw GPA and 25 ACT( i know its low), but I did this all onto of learning a new language. My ECs are OK. I hold close to a full time(30 hours a week) job because my family needs the money, intern at a current political campaign and in two school clubs. If it helps I come from a really poor family, like less than 20,000 dollars/annually. Here are the schools I am applying to:
Yale
Columbia U
Middlebury college
U of Chicago<br>
NYU
Boston College
other smaller, safety schools </p>
<p>What do you guys thinks my chances are? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>try to get that act up. to be honest i think it is very low BUT i mean it is VERY rare to have someone work 30 hours a week. That is incredibly impressive. If you have strong grades to support that and a stronger act (do it again and study for it) and you right a kick ass essay that shows your special situation and the fact that you are supporting your family i think you have a chance. Never stop dreaming. I went from a low 1200s/ 1700 sat to a 1480 / 2130 SAT you CAN do it just believe in yourself and STUDY. Now i have a very interesting background but my story is no where near as interesting as yours i can tell you that. CAPTIVATE the admissions officer you have me captivated already. I hope you EDed at some college that would have dramatically improved your chances. And try not to think of any school as a “saftey school” try to imagine yourself being there. remember that you may very well end up there and you do not want ot have an inferiority complex when attending whatever school you end up attending.</p>
<p>If you are applying as an int’l student, you should read Northstarmom’s post on ahte “high gpa, low SAT” thread – is short, she urges an int’l applicant to focus on paying for college.</p>
<p>^True. If you don’t have permanent residency or citizenship, it will be harder for you to get into those colleges, as well as pay for them.</p>
<p>Northstarmom’s advice about concentrating on paying for college is quite worthwhile.</p>
<p>You should also think about the cost of simply applying to all of those colleges. Application fee is around $65 per, which comes to $390 for the reaches you’ve listed here, not including the safeties and matches. If you can get fee waivers, go ahead, but if not, it might not be prudent to spend hundreds of dollars on a lot of huge reaches. Take a look at those colleges and decide which aspects you really want in a school. Especially when the schools are in the same area, like NYU and Columbia, try to eliminate one.</p>
<p>I don’t know when you’re planning to retake the ACT, but if you get your scores back before apps are due, you might want to not apply to the less realistic reaches, just to save money.</p>
<p>OK, to start off thanks for all the comments. Just to clear some stuff up: I recently became a US citizen, so I cant apply as an international student. I will be retaking the ACT again, this time I hope to get a 27 or 28. Will that help at all or I screwed anyhow?</p>
<p>kafkarrborn,
Thanks for your comment, I really appreciate that you have that much faith in me. That was kinda of an inspirational speech. haha. thanks again.</p>