Can I get into my schools?

Applying to College
1

<p>Help! I am so worried about this whole college process because 1. I am not naturally competitive and 2. my parents are pressuring me to aim for schools that I KNOW are too high beyond my reach. </p>

<p>My first choice school is NYU, and then Tufts. My parents are pushing Brown and Penn. I go to a VERY competitive private all-girls school and I am soo overwhelmed. </p>

<p>Stats:
African-American, F, 3.289 GPA
Intended English Major
SAT Is:
Verbal: 610
Math: 480 (eesh, I have a tutor. No worries)
Writing: 690</p>

<p>SAT IIs:
Literature: 600 (not spectacular...I will probably take it again)
World History: tbd</p>

<p>ECs:
Varsity Tennis for 4 years (Captain in 11th and 12th grade)
Yearbook- Lower School Head Editor</p>

<p>Clubs:
Yearbook, Political Awareness Club, SADD, Social Committee, Dance Club, Admissions Club, Independent Film Club (head and founder) </p>

<p>I do 25+ hours of community service a year with underprivalaged children and I also volunteer at an animal hospital as well as at a humane society. </p>

<p>My college essay is about racism and I am trying my hardest to make it amazing. Do I have a shot??!!?</p>

2

<p>DO NOT WRITE ABOUT RACISM! It's just to cliche. I would REALLY recommend you write about sth else.</p>

3

<p>ugh. i deff dont want to be cliche but i seriously think that my life is too boring to write about anything else. im not kidding. i live in a bubble.</p>

4

<p>If you go to a private school and live an upper middle class life, You won't get into top schools with those scores, even being a URM.</p>

5

<p>yeah you are exactly right none of those schools are in your reach at all... I am also an african-american and if i was an adcom and picked up an essay about racism i would probably burn it so thats such a no no if you want to do something on race write about the importance of diversity or encouraging diversity or something and dont focus on a specific race or class or anything.....
Here are some schools you could go for:
Middlebury college (reach but you have a chance with better sat scores)
Indiana Univ-Bloomington(i would say that your in)
Ohio Univ.-Athens(amazing school with a great journalism school, I highly recommend this school)
Im sure I can give you some more schools but i cant think right now</p>

6

<p>thank you so much for your honesty...</p>

<p>i also forgot to mention im an enrolled native american. ok thanks :-)</p>

7

<p>You are black AND a native american? I am confused.</p>

8

<p>for your essay, maybe look for something obscure about you or something you've done that you feel strongly about. i feel like i lead a pretty boring life, but i wrote about the fact that my name is a sentence and my affinity for words, etc. and i think it turned out really well.</p>

9

<p>My great grandmother is 100% Mexican and my grandmother lived in Mexico. Technically, I am Mexican-American but I don't say that I am. Or can I? My cousin looks VERY mexican and she has the same amount of mexican blood as I do. With the exception of my hair color; I also have some Mexican looking traits (eye color and shape). So where do you draw the line?</p>

10

<p>lol well my mom is native american. and my dad is black...sooo techincally i am both, see? it not like a looks thing.</p>

11

<p>thanks bethlikesun...i'll try and work on it. its not about racism straight out, i mean it deff has that theme. i mostly used the prompt thats like "describe a defining experince". we'll see how it turns out. i had another essay that i started, but i just hated the way it was sounding so i dunno..</p>

12

<p>right, racism is sooo 40 years ago... but seriously, there has to be something that has occured to you in your life that you can build on and describe. I mean you've lived roughly 6500 days, there has to be something that has changed you that took place at least during one of those handful of days/</p>

13

<p>That is cool. You probably have a lot to offer.</p>