Average Student. African-American. What are my chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey everyone! (This is my first CC post so I’m super excited).

I am currently a junior in high school. And I’m already stressing out about college apps.

I know there are so may variables when it comes to college apps but I would like to ask you guys (especially those of you who have been accepted into college or are attending a college) what you think my chances of getting in are.

Stats: 3.68 cumulative GPA. My school doesn’t give a weighted but according to my calculations, it’s 3.83. 1750 SAT. (Although I just took the SAT last weekend after a prep course. I hope to see my score improve.)

Ap/Honors Classes: Chem Honors (Soph), Physics Honors, AP Lang. and AP US history.

ExtraCs: Editor of newspaper section (and good chance of managing editor next year). National Honors Society. Key Club. Page Turner Book Club. Tutor at elementary school. Volunteer in various community activities.

Misc. My parents migrated to the US from West Africa in 1980-95. Divorced when I was three. My mom’s income is below $30,000. Dad works two jobs (we were previously on food stamps). Three older half siblings went to college (UCLA undergrad and Stanford grad, San Francisco State and Cal Poly Pomona). I will be first on dad’s side to go to college. I am also one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

I started working sophomore year to support myself and ease parent’s burden. I also started a small baking business last year for additional income.

Also, how much will the fact that I’m African-American weigh into my application? I know some schools are looking to diversify so some make the claim that that this increases the chances of minority students. Others don’t agree.

And finally, my college list:
UC Irvine
UC Los Angeles
UC Davis
Cal Poly SLO
San Diego State
Azusa Pacific
Mills College
UW
Univ. of San Francisco

SuperReach:
Georgetown
NYU
Stanford
UPenn

Can’t wait to talk to some of you guys

2

UCs and CSUs do not consider race or ethnicity in admissions (CSUs other then CPSLO are by the numbers using a GPA and test score formula called the eligibility index). Other schools may be different.

UCs and CSUs use only FAFSA information to determine financial aid, so only the parent you live with has his/her (and his/her spouse’s, if remarried) income and assets counted. You can check the net price calculators on their web sites for estimates. Other schools often do require both parents’ (and their spouses’, if remarried) income and assets.

Out-of-state publics are unlikely to give good need-based financial aid, although some may give large merit scholarships. NYU is generally known for poor need-based financial aid. Again, you can try their net price calculators.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html contains links to lists of automatic and competitive large merit scholarships. Improvement in your SAT or ACT score can qualify for more of them. You may want to have both an SAT and ACT score before the end of your junior year, to give you more information for searching for colleges and to give you another chance to retake the higher one with more preparation in senior year, if desired.

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/profiles/ indicates that your selected UCs may be reaches. You may want to add some additional ones like UCSC, UCR, UCM. CPSLO is also quite selective, so you may want to add additional CSUs.

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If you can raise your SAT to 2250+, and I think your GPA is too low. You should put more effort in your last junior and senior year. I am saying this for Stanford’s, NYU’s, UPenn’s, and Georgetown’s stats. For UC’s You can get in with 2100+, but right now getting to UC’s is tough.

UW a SAT 2000+ and a GPA of 3.5+ will be enough.

Cal Poly Slo a SAT 1250 SAT combined math and reading with a GPA of 3.8

Asuza Pacific well you can get in with 1000 on the SAT combined math and reading so it will be safety.

For SDSU a 1200 SAT combined math and read will be enough. Also their GPA average is 3.82

Mills College and U of San Francisco a 1900+ on the SAT and your GPA with 3.70+ you will have a great shot.

Most of those schools also look for strong EC’s, recommendation letters, and other things.

4

Have you looked for good aid schools?
@bakeacupcakeor2‌

5

Definately have your siblings help you with navigating this stuff. If you are applying with SATs instead of ACTs you will need SAT 2s. Try some practice ACTs, make sure you time yourself. They may be better for you.

If you are first generation college for both parents that is good. The immigration thing is good. Try to focus on finding need blind schools. Do the net price calculator on the web sites. Sometimes a private school that is need blind or gives merit money will be less expensive than a public school. There are tons of scholarships for URMs as well

There is a thread about Asians having a more difficult time getting into top colleges and that the average scores of Asians are 50 points higher than whites, and it gave the statistics for AA and Hispanics as well. It was interesting, based on some study, I tried to find it, should be here somewhere. Good Luck

6

Speak to your HS guid counselors. Really, you should strike Stanford from your list. It’s the most selective school in the country and you state that you’re only average. Average student (black or not) ≠ Stanford acceptance.

7

1750 is too low to think about Stanford, NYU, and UPenn. You are not going to go from 1750 to 2300+.
Also use the Supermatch tool here on CC (see over on left) to see how you would fit with your desired schools.

8

“1750 is too low to think about Stanford, NYU, and UPenn. You are not going to go from 1750 to 2300+”

Maybe not but if he does not apply he definitely will not get there. He has a number of hooks besides being AA, first generation, immigrant, probably interesting and unusal family culture, legacy at Stanford.

NYU has a million different progams and schools. The problem is they are not so generous with FA but can sometimes be very generous in merit situations. It is really Stern and some of the science programs that are competitive, they have that college with a weird name G something where you make your own schedule and do not have to submit test scores.

I know people that raised their ACTs from 24 to 30 and from 28 to 34. SATs can go up 300 points especially if you have good coaching and did not study the first time. Sometimes they do not, my relative had all the coaching in the world and could not break 2000. The person who got the 34 got a 180 on the PSATs and never bothered with the SATs. I know more than one person IRL on the top end who went from 2150 to 2350. Some administrations allow you to make more mistakes than others, depends how it is curved

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I guess I didn’t mention that I’m a girl. Lol. I was actually born here but my parents migrated. But I really appreciate your positive outlook. And thank you for posting.

10

Your SAT and GPA are too low for the super-reaches you listed. They all look for 3.8+ and 2100+. I’d focus more on likely schools.

looking at your scores as they stand today:
UC Irvine: Raise SAT by about 200 points
UC Davis: From what I can see right now, you’re below the middle 50% of applicants
UCLA: See UC Davis
Cal Poly SLO: Raise that SAT 150-200 points to have better chances
SDSU: Decent shot right now, keep it up
Azusa Pacific: Good shots, keep it up

Try looking into the lower UC’s or look into CSU’s in case your SAT scores don’t go up. Good luck!

11

UC Irvine: Acceptance
UC Los Angeles: Reject
UC Davis: Acceptance
Cal Poly SLO: Acceptance
San Diego State: Acceptance
Azusa Pacific: Acceptance
Mills College: Acceptance
UW: Acceptance
Univ. of San Francisco: Acceptance

SuperReach:
Georgetown: Reject
NYU: Acceptance
Stanford: Reject

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By the way, you should definitely remove NYU because they are horrible with aid. Even if you got in, they’d make you pay way too much.

13

I say don’t listen to those who said don’t apply to blank school. apply to every school you want to if you can, like one person said, you definitely won’t get in if you don’t apply. raise that sat score if poss., take the act to see where you stand, have ECs and APs senior year, write a killer essay, have killer teacher recommendations. i wish you the best of luck!!