Anyone want to help out a rising senior?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>So anyway, as is the case most rising seniors, I have been receiving a crazy amount of letters in the mail and e-mail from colleges from all over the country. Some of them seem very flattering (Dartmouth, Northwestern, JHU, etc.) but I have been scared that these schools are only encouraging me to apply to benefit their low admission rates. Anyway, I was wondering if you guys could help match me with a good college according to my stats because I really don't know what schools are in reality obtainable for me.</p>

<p>Gender: Male
State: NJ
Intended Major: Physics (maybe Astrophysics)
Hooks: Hispanic
Low Income Family
First Generation to go to College
A long history of family problems that I could write about in my essay</p>

<p>My school is a Catholic Private School.
GPA:3.5 UW (my school does it on a 100 scale and I have around a 90 so this might not be 100% accurate)
Ranking: My school doesn't rank but I'm pretty sure I'm within the top 10-15%
SAT: 1810 (600CR,600m,610W)
SATII's:650 Physics, 740 Spanish
AP Scores: AP Spanish Lang: 5
I'm planning on taking the tests for Calc AB, Physics B, Comp Sci, and maybe AP World History this year.
Letters of rec: Will be getting one from my English III teacher and probably my Pre-Cal teacher. I had A's in both classes and both teachers liked me and I'm sure both of these will be great.</p>

<p>Courses Taken/Taking:
Math: Algebra I Honors, Geometry Honors, Algebra II Honors, Pre Calc Honors, AP Calc AB
English: English I Honors, English II Honors, English III Honors, AP English Lit.
Science: Bio Honors, Chem Honors, Physics Honors, AP Physics B
History: World History Honors, US I and II Honors, AP World History
Foreign Language: Spanish for Heritage Speakers I and II (supposedly a harder class compared to the Honors 1-3), AP Spanish Lang.
Electives: PE for two years, Rock/Jazz workshop, AP Comp Sci
Additional: I also took 4 years of Religion classes as required by my school but I don't think these will count.</p>

<p>ECs:
Over 100 Hours of community Service (most of it involved working with after school programs)
Chess Club
Robotics club (Treasurer)
Polish Culture Club
Japanese Culture Club
National Honors Society (I also do tutoring for this)
I also have a scholarship that only about 50 seniors have that requires doing twice as much community service as normal students as well as keeping a 90 average and only taking rigorous courses (Honors/AP) with exceptions of electives.</p>

<p>Next year I will not only run for more leadership positions, but I will also join:
Science League (couldn't this year due to family needs coming first)
Math League (same as above)
I might also start a little Starcraft Club with two teachers and a few friends but this is more for entertainment purposes so I will probably be leaving this out of my college app =P</p>

<p>Now let me get a few things clear before hand. My SAT score is very low because not only did I not practice, but I had a couple of things going on at the time and I was unfocused, unprepared, and running on about 2 hours of sleep. However, I have spent a bit of my summer preparing for my retake this October and so far I can score a bit above the 2000 range so I think I'll be fine for my next take. My Physics subject test was also taken in a bit of a stressful time with not enough preparation so I plan on bringing that 650 up to at least a 700 if need be. I'll also be taking Math II subject test when I re-take Physics. I also plan on using my Senior year to bring up my GPA a little but I can't guarantee that. As far as my essay goes, I am going to write the best essay I can explaining how even though I have had a hard life, I have always worked my hardest to get good grades and how I dream of being able to contribute something to the world the way people like Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking have.</p>

<p>So far, my safeties are Rutgers NB and Stevens Institute of Tech. My dream schools (which have sent me letters and e-mails which maybe shows I'm somewhat of an interesting candidate but see my opening statement about my skepticism) are probably UChicago and Northwestern, but my current stats make these schools way to big of a reach. </p>

<p>Now my question to you guys is what schools do you think would be good matches for me not only in terms of undergrad Physics but also for getting me to a good Grad School? Also, please keep in mind that I will need Financial Aid, which I know is a big deciding factor with schools like NYU and CMU. </p>

<p>As always, any input is greatly appreciated.</p>

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<p>bump… anyone? =/</p>

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<p>After looking at your stats/accomplishments this is what I think (remeber this is purely opinion):</p>

<p>Academics: Your GPA is a little underwhelming in regards to what NW and UChicago look for in their applicants but it doesn’t dicount you from either school. Also your course load is challenging so no worries there. Northwestern puts more emphasis on GPA than UChicago</p>

<p>Tests: With the test scores you have right now, I highly doubt you would get accepted considering they fall well below both schools averages. Hope you do well on the retake!</p>

<p>EC’s: Nothing is really jumping out at me although it is solid enough to where you have the “bases covered”. If you get some leadership positions this coming year that would greatly help.</p>

<p>Misc.: Being a first-gen Hispanic will help you slightly (More so with UChicago)</p>

<p>Well, I hope I was of some help and I wish the best of luck to you. Regardless of what anyone says you should always apply to your “dream” schools.</p>

<p>UChicago-Low Reach
Northwestern-Mid/High Reach</p>

<p>Chance me? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/974534-chance-me-my-final-list-colleges.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/974534-chance-me-my-final-list-colleges.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Are you planning on retaking the SAT? And I don’t really know how to give you a chance because there’s not any colleges on this post lol.</p>

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<p>@BabyRudy: Yeah I know my stats are a bit underwhelming but as I said I do plan on increasing them. I plan on getting at least a 1400/1600 on this retake for UChicago and hopefully somewhere above 2000 for NW. Thanks for your input and I’ll be sure to look at your thread.</p>

<p>@elbeen: Yes, as I previously stated I plan on retaking the SATs and scoring at least a 2000 (I feel confident after taking so many practice tests). Also, I understand that I didn’t really put many schools up since I honestly don’t know where to apply but I guess my list would look a little something like this:</p>

<p>Reaches:
U Chicago
NorthWestern
U Michigan
Purdue
Possibly one of the UC’s</p>

<p>Safeties/Matches:
Rutgers NB
Stevens Institute of Tech
Rochester Institute of Technology</p>

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<p>UCs and Michigan will not work if you need aid. Your safeties are not safe unless you can afford them. </p>

<p>You need to focus on schools that meet 100% of need. This will be much easier if you bring your SAT score to over 2000. Search this site for the list of meet need schools and dig in.</p>