<p>hey! we ran a 24 hr relay in our school as well! Boy, was that tiring.</p>
<p>Harvard- big reach
Princeton- big reach
Yale- big reach
University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)- big reach
Northwestern- reach
Stanford- big reach</p>
<p>those are all big reaches to reaches with your sat II and AP and Sat scores. look into more realistic schools.</p>
<p>you have no idea what you are talking about ranger. samson same opinion with those SAT II scores.</p>
<p>4s on APs? rather low SAT II? You don't know what you are talking about haithman.</p>
<p>Why dont you read over his stats again? 1550 SAT I, African American, 1500 hrs of community service, 4's and 5's on all AP exams, tons of activities, LEAD, 790, 740 and 700, and 3.8 GPA. You have to be a fool to think he should look into more realistic schools. I can probably even guarantee him Wharton.</p>
<p>minority status doesn't help much anymore with so many more minorities applying, most iviers got straight As not 3.8. i stand by staying they are reaches.</p>
<p>Not only are you black, but you also have awesome stats and 1500 hrs is just WHOA! Yea, I predict 80% that you'll get into an ivy.</p>
<p>ethioman00, I would try to make the other parts of ur app stand-out. I personally think that teacher recs are really important. It's the best way that adcoms can get an opinion of what others think about you. So, nail those teacher recs and essays, and you'll probably get in.</p>
<p>thanks for the advice man...my recs r from two teachers who absolutely love me so i hope that will help...but my essays iono i have one really good one about recovering from my knee injury but my others are kinda afterthoughts...i will spend some time in these few weeks before these apps come due to make them a lil better i guess</p>
<p>Ethioman, like I said above, nobody is a shoe-in at H,P,Y, M or S. Your friend was rejected by Yale. So what? So do 90% of the perfect people who apply to Yale. You cannot expect an acceptance from such a high-demand/low-supply university. But you are also significantly stronger than your friend who was rejected. There is a huge difference between a 1420 and a 1550 on the SAT. You have a decent shot at H,P,Y,M and S, but you have a great chance at any other university in the country.</p>
<p>what other universities would you recommend I apply to?</p>
<p>also, do you think my "hook" should be my knee injury? or should I focus on the community service?</p>
<p>ranger... i think minority status does help a lot... I got into a top 40 school ED over a person who had a GPA .4 points higher than me and i credit it alot to being hispanic</p>
<p>wow i didnt think it mattered THAT much....anyways what do u guys think i should use as my hook in my app? (deadlines fast approaching)</p>
<p>where did you get in? i hope it was your first choice</p>
<p>damnnnn man. i know its been said before, but youre wicked impressive, all the stuff you do. and usually i tend to see URMs on this site have slightly lower stats than others because the race card can make up for it. however, regardless of race, u still totally ownzed high school. good luck dude, id say youre a really good shot. i mean i understand u may be modest and stuff, but honestly, from a man who doesnt take BS, id say youve got a much better chance than most. good luck!</p>
<p>How many times are you seriously going to post this? I'm anxious about admissions but we already told you that you're in at atleast 1.. what else are you looking for?</p>
<p>i suggest you work on the community service.
if you injure your knee cz you were saving a boy in a firing building, go for it.
but everyone can injure his knee in playing soccer/football, right?
in terms of community services: highlight your dadication and leadership.</p>
<p>This is extremely impressive ... there is very little to say.</p>
<p>As far as affirmative action not helping people as much as one would think ... the rule is, if you have strong scores and grades and if you're a minority, DO NOT ROCK THE BOAT. You should be in at nearly every college in the country unless there is something seriously wrong with your application, essays, or recommendations. Unless there is a disciplinary/honor question, signs of intolerance and bigotry are shown, or teachers cannot find anything positive to say about you, I just can't even see how a URM would be rejected with strong stats.</p>
<p>The simple truth is, it is very challenging to find qualified minority candidates. It was once posted on this site that fewer than 2000 African American students score above a 1300 on the SAT each year. Now, consider the average % of African American students at any Ivy League college. It's approximately 10, or at least that's a number the colleges are going for. Now, for a quick calculation, there are somewhere around 16,000 seats at Ivy League colleges. Ten percent of that is 1,600. That's nearly the number of African American students that score above a 1300 on the SAT! Now, imagine if you have above a 1400, or above a 1500. Think about how desirable you look to a college as a minority with strong stats. The Committee is looking for reasons to accept you at that point. It is searching in your application for other things that would justify an admission. It wants to admit you.</p>
<p>The numbers will spell it out plainly and simply. Even when minority students go to most highly selective colleges, they statistically do not perform as well. Consider that the math scores of the average African American student at MIT are about the top 10% nationwide. Now ... consider that 25% of African American students at MIT fail to graduate. Consider also statistically, that these students are particularly likely to graduate in the bottom 10% of their class. I believe these statistics are from Glenn Loury, former Harvard economist ... althouth I'll find the webpage later. To get the right numbers, MIT has to admit minority students that can't quite hack it out.</p>
<p>And I just used African Americans as an example. I'm sure the same thing could be found about any other group who recieves benefits from affirmative action.</p>
<p>I would be very very surprised if you did not get into every one of those schools with your stats. Even the most highly selective colleges cannot afford to reject minority candidates with stats like yours. Your choices, I am sure, will be enviable.</p>
<p>Joey</p>