As an African American Male, how are my chances in being accepted?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I am a senior who is hoping to major in Chemical Engineering in college. My information is as follows:</p>

<p>Reach
~MIT
~UC Berkeley
~UCLA
~Stanford
~Harvard</p>

<p>Target
~University of Southern California
~University of Michigan
~University of Delaware</p>

<p>Safety
~Penn State University Park
~Pitt (Already Admitted Fall 2010)</p>

<p>Now for my info:
Current GPA: Unknown UW/ 3.71 W</p>

<p>SAT II: 1800 (Math: 610, Writing: 620, Critical Reading: 570)
SAT Subject: To be Taken (Math Lvl. II, Chemistry, World History)</p>

<p>APs taken:
~Chemistry: 3, Macroeconomics: 3</p>

<p>APs Currently Taken
~Environmental Science, Physics</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
~Varsity Cross Country all 4 years (Captain Junior and Senior)
~Varsity Winter Track (Captain Senior Year)
~ Varsity Outdoor Track (Captain Senior Year)
~President of the Class Junior and Senior Year
~Model United Nations Secretary (10th) Vice President (11th) President (12th); Honorable Mention UNAUSA Conference (National Conference)
~Honors Courses in: Biology, Chemistry, English, Algebra 2, Trigonometry
~SADD Lookin Out Member (9th and 12th)
~FBLA Member (9th)
~Chorale Member (9th-12th) Multiple Solos
~Employee of the Month at Local Restaurant: August 2009</p>

<p>Experience:
~Born in foreign country (Zambia until 3 months old)
~Spain trip to be taken Spring 2010
~Visit in Engineering Weekend at Penn State University
~USC Interview: November 2009</p>

<p>I'm really curious to hear people's upon on getting into some of these choice schools, USC and Michigan in particular, I'm fairly confident being from PA I can be admitted to Penn State. I wont bother to kid myself that my race may or may not be a factor in admissions to college, but I would like to hear what others opinions are on my chances in being accepted. I've worked hard in school and hope that drive and involvement in the community can help bolster my admissions factors.</p>

2

<p>Your chances at Harvard, Stanford, and MIT are poor unless you raise your standardized testing scores.</p>

<p>If you care about your future, you’ll spend as much time practicing as you need.</p>

3

<p>Cool profile.</p>

<p>MIT is crazy hard to get into, even with higher scores, but I don’t know, if you demonstrate something cool to them to prove your innovativeness and skill, you may have a slightly better shot.</p>

<p>Unless you are in-state, DO NOT APPLY TO UC SCHOOLS OR MICHIGAN! They will sock you with a 50k per year or more price-tag. This is the reason I am doing a gap year now. I couldn’t afford Berkeley or Michigan, and they only offered peanuts for financial aid. My family had been saving for me to go to college since before I was born, we still couldn’t do it.</p>

<p>Nice activities, but make sure to get something else more chemical engineering-related and maybe some more service.</p>

<p>A private Kaplan course to prepare for SATs is expensive, but totally worth it. I improved my scores significantly, and they tailor the tutoring to suit your needs, so you don’t waste time and get the most of it. With a Kaplan tutor, you could improve nicely.</p>

<p>Born in Zambia, eh? What does that mean to you? How has it affected you? What can you teach the admissions committee about being Zambian-American, about Subsaharan Africa, and about being the child of immigrants? Compelling essay topics, friend. Just don’t count on compelling topics alone to help you. Make the essay shine, take it to a lot of people to help you, and send it in. </p>

<p>Interview as many places as possible. You sound fascinating and that is always a plus in interviews. Talking to an interviewer can crystallize for you your reasons for wanting to go to these schools. Showcase your life and why you want to study chemical engineering. </p>

<p>Pitt is pretty sweet. Glad you got in. Isn’t it harder to get into than Delaware and USC?</p>

<p>Harvard is tough. I got WL’d last year and was inspired to reapply this year by my admissions officer from last year. Nobody has a good chance there, but they look at so much and really stare deep into your character and way of thinking, so there are many factors they can consider. I can’t claim you’ll have a great shot of getting in there, but still go for it!</p>

<p>Best of luck, friend. Can you chance me? Mine is called Crossing My Fingers. I’d appreciate it. Thanks.</p>

<p>Peace.</p>

4

<p>Well, your stats are middle-of-the-road for Michigan, and being an out-of-stater, it’d normally be an uphill climb, but you’re black, so you’re in there at least. Good luck!</p>

5

<p>I think you have an accurate list. I wouldn’t really even bother applying to Harvard, MIT or Stanford though.
USC might also be more of a reach</p>

6

<p>Is that your “UC GPA”. I don’t usually “chance” folks, but unless you’ve overcome some serious adversity ( the only way race might play a role at Cal publics is if it’s tied to some serious adversity) , UCLA and Cal are highly unlikely…but us taxpayers would love to have your money!</p>

<p>You should check out <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/african-american-students/638464-actual-results-thread-african-americans.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/african-american-students/638464-actual-results-thread-african-americans.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>As much as I’d love to be able to retake the SAT’s I dont have that option, I’ve taken 2 ACT’s and unfortunately I cant superscore or else I would have a 29 on ACT. My recommendations seem to be legit (having a UPenn Literature grad as a counselor and a VTech AP Physics/Regular Physics teacher as 2 of my three recommendation writiers). I’m not sure how selective Pitt is considering I applied with a 1210 SAT average than (CR: 620 M: 590) but if that statement is accurate in a way, I’d hope that it would mean I could be accepted to USC (my first choice college). As far as I know, Pitt is based off rolling admissions, and I submitted my application in early August to Pitt, while for UD I’ve been sitting on it a bit, trying to build up more (waiting til November 24th to see my SAT II Math Scores), before I send that application along. I’m really curious if anyone from the California area whose currently attending USC Viterbi School of Engineering may know more about how diverse it is, and if they use affirmative action in any way?</p>

8

<p>My GPA is the schools given GPA, granted I’ve taken 5 Honors courses, and 4 AP’s and achieved a C in only one of the Honors courses I feel that may be helpful in some way. That Honors Trig/Pre-Calc teacher was a nightmare. Thank god she was fired.</p>

9

<p>If you are still interested in UC’s ( BTW, my D, also African American, was rejected from UCLA with a 4.0 plus GPA, and a 2000+ SAT, plus ECS, etc.), go to the UC admission page to calculate your UC GPA. You only calculate 10th and 11th grade, and you can get an extra point for AP’s, but not honors if you are out of state</p>

10

<p>I’m definitely applying to UC’s in hopes of getting into a California school but not banking on being accepted noting them as my reach. I have no calculated my UC GPA but I only took one Honors course freshman year, so that may be helpful for me. Really my main hopes are leaning toward USC if anyone out there knows anything on Southern California?</p>

11

<p>Affirmative action anyone?</p>

12

<p>I would suggest you add some target and safety schools where being an African American is a hook. Most public colleges can not consider race.</p>

<p>There are many very good private schools where you would have a shot where you have a hook.</p>

13

<p>I’ve gotten some safety schools that havent been listed (Pitt PSU are almost guaranteed because of being from Pennsylvania) Tulane is also a good chance at Safety for me that I applied too as well as University of Colorado: Boulder.</p>

14

<p>Be careful about the whole affirmative action boost at UMich. I think (may be wrong, though) that UMich was sued for clearly giving boosts to minorities (or reverse discrimination toward asians, something like that)- even taken to the supreme court. Therefore, I don’t think state schools will give you a boost in admissions because of that (especially UMich). That said- </p>

<p>I think your scores put all of the ivies and UMich as pretty significant reaches. For sure. I don’t know about Pitt or Delaware, but you could get in to Tulane, but realize that you aren’t in their higher realm of scorers either. USC is likely a reach as well, but it wouldn’t completely shock me if you got in.</p>

15

<p>Granted my knowledge of college admissions is limited, I would not, as somebody stated earlier, bother with Harvard or MIT. You look like more of a match for USC and BU. Also, I’m not sure how far the significance of this …</p>

<p>“~Born in foreign country (Zambia until 3 months old)”</p>

<p>extends. Are you saying that you were born in Zambia and then moved to the United States? While the experience that you had in Zambia as a newborn to three-month-old will seem pointless, how the Zambian culture (in your family or in other places) transferred over to your life in the U.S. could be meaningful.</p>

16

<p>Born in Zambia, moved here after 3 months, stayed in Lusaka/Lubumbashi for 3 months when I was 10 as some background information I used in various essays I applied to at these institutions. </p>

<p>I dont know how significant it may be, but both Princeton Review and Collegeboard placed me as matches for USC and CU. Also, I sent an email to an educational counselor from USC Viterbi who cc’d some of my information to the Associate Dean of Admissions for Viterbi, which seemed to be helpful to get my name into the Dean’s memory as he goes through applications.</p>