<p>I'm an African-American male (from California) in high school with a 10-12 GPA of 3.25 NW & 3.40 W (completely slacked off first semester of sophomore year with a 3.1, got it up to a 3.57 second semester, and turned it around first semester of junior year with a 3.71). There were no AP classes offered freshman year, only one offered sophomore year (history - one of my weak points), and two offered this year (history & english - my two weakest points). I have some extracurriculars and have taken a few summer school classes at the nearest Community College (Santa Monica College) where I earned A's in all of them. By the time senior year rolls around, I will have taken 4 math honors classes (my strongest & favorite subject) and one AP math class (AP math classes aren't offered until senior year). Everything else has been a regular class.</p>
<p>I'm in National Honors Society this year and part of Amnesty International. I plan on starting a foundation this summer for my favorite aunt who died in February for people who need medical care but don't have insurance.</p>
<p>I got a 1900 on my SAT (plan on getting a 2050 or so when I take it again) and a 28 on my ACT (plan on getting a 30 when I take it again) and will have about 120 hours of community service. </p>
<p>I'm looking to major in business (finance) at a school that is good for job placement afterwards.</p>
<p>Do I have any slight chance at any these schools? :(</p>
<p>*If I don't have any chance at any of these schools, can you recommend some to me that I do have a chance at?</p>
<p>And do colleges look more at improvements or overall GPA? It took me a while to mature and actually care about colleges, but once I did, I turned it up a notch from freshman & part of sophomore year.</p>
<p>I’ve been a professional actor since I was 5 months old (when I got my agent) and I booked my first job when I was a year and a half.
I’m looking to have a major in Finance or Real Estate and a minor in Acting.</p>
<p>My top choice in all honesty is UPenn (because of Wharton) or USC (love everything about USC), but looking at others who have gotten rejected… I’ve given up on UPenn.</p>
<p>Out of these though… UVA is supposedly the second best behind UPenn, so probably there or USC (love everything I’ve heard about Texas though besides their ranking against schools like UPenn, Virginia, Notre Dame, etc.)</p>
<p>Wouldn’t mind going to any of those schools on the list though. :)</p>
<ul>
<li>I’m sort of iffy on NYU just because I hear they don’t have much of a campus.
If they don’t have a campus and there’s 21,000 undergrads, what do they have?</li>
</ul>
<p>Even looking at NYU though in this college book I have with the 368 most popular colleges, it says the average high school GPA is a 3.6… so don’t they accept people above and below that average?</p>
<p>^ what ??<br>
of course they accept people with better/worse GPAs ? thats why its an average!
you said your favorite subject was math, then you should know what an average is… theyre saying that people get in with higher(obviously) and lower GPAs, and that 3.6 is the average</p>
<p>But do colleges look more at your race to decide whether you get in or do they base you strictly off of grades, without considering race?</p>
<p>For example, will Person A get accepted before I do because they have a 4.4 and are Caucasian/Asian even though the school has too many Asians? Or will they start branching off towards other races to fill up the slots with less qualified students?</p>
<p>it really is impossible to say… sure theyd want to get more african americans in, but theyre not gonna say no to a good GPA/SAT/Essay caucasian to take in a C-average guy because hes african american…</p>
<p>however, if 2 candidates have similar tests scores and GPA, they have similar essays, and are seen to have the same potential, then they will probably choose the african american over the caucasian… </p>
<p>Do you really have a decent chance at these schools because my stats are a good amount above yours but I still thought I would be below these schools…at least all of them except for Texas are really strong schools maybe I am just aiming too low. I have a 3.85W 3.5UWgpa and scores 1350/2130 on my sats. I also have good extracurriculars. I am interested in finance as well would I have good chances at these schools?</p>
<p>athlete1010 -
yea you do, its not all 4.0 people … you ahve a good W gpa, UW gpa may be a bit low, but can be made up for by activities… your sats are pretty good too good essays and youd have a good shot imo :)</p>
<p>id say mainly at NYU, USC, UT, UMICH, BC, UVA, and i guess its a bit harder at berk</p>
<p>BaddyCaddy09, you are correct. NYU does not have an actual campus, but it’s more of a collection of buildings in the city (buildings are near each other but there is a considerable amount of walking). If you don’t like the city environment, I don’t think NYU is the best school for you. </p>
<p>As someone before me said, African Americans are an under represented minority while on the contrary, there are too many Asians with superb stats with a limited number of slots available in the incoming student body. Keep in mind that colleges, especially those you seem to be interested in applying to, are striving to create a diversified student body.</p>
<p>So at least being an under represented minority is working in my favor.
Am I shooting too high with schools like this on my list? Personally, I feel like I am… but I’m not sure.</p>
<p>Most state schools are not allowed by law to give a boost based on race while almost all private colleges give such a boost. If money is not a major issue, you should focus on private colleges.</p>
<p>If money is an issue, run your family’s numbers through some financial aid calculators. Private schools that meet full need or have generous aid are often cheaper than your state schools if your family is low income. OOS state schools can be the most expensive as most offer little aid to OOS students.</p>
<p>berkeley doesn’t practice affirmative action so i don’t think your race will help you there but you’ll be really happy about it for admisson at other places</p>
<p>Your GPA is going to be your downfall. If I were you I would submit the ACT score, and do not worry about re-taking the SAT. I would put a great deal of effort to improve the GPA, and complete as many CC classes as possible. OK, you have a solid shot at UMICH, and the rest of the schools will be a bit more competitive. I have seen USC make some pretty odd decisions per their acceptance patterns of minority students, specifically African-Americans. As an in-state application, you will be competitive at UCB, what about UCLA? UT Austin? One of the lowest rated on your list, but it is extremely competitive for OOS applicants. UVA is going to be tough, but you need to draft an extremely powerful essay to connect with the panel. I am a USC fan, so I hope that they admit you, it is truly becoming an amazing university. BC might be a fit, but, again the GPA is going to pose a problem. However, you have a bit of time to make improvements, have you considered Babson College, Boston University, Pomona College, not typical per you list, but it is a true academic university. If you score a 2000 or greater with a 3.5 GPA, I would add an ivy to the list…Darthmouth or Brown.</p>
<p>UVa is really nice. I felt kind of bad about not going there.
As long as you bring your grades up, you shouldn’t worry about it too much. SAT/ACT is rather a big deal, though. And don’t forget subject tests.</p>
<p>But therein lies the problem - I’m already in the second semester of my junior year with a 3.4W GPA, and I’ll probably end up with a 3.7 (or somewhere around there) this semester, which only boosts me GPA to about a 3.46. Do CC courses count towards your HS GPA? If so, I’ll take as many as I can this summer… I just hope there’s some way I can get my GPA to about a 3.6.</p>
good essays and youd have a good shot imo :)</p>