Can I get into these schools with a 27 ACT? Mainly Stanford?

<p>I just looked at my scores online and I received a 27 composite score on the act. I received a 33 in math, 23 in English, 23 in reading, and a 27 in science. I would really love to attend any of the following colleges: stanford, Harvard, rice, UCLA, USC, ut at Austin, Baylor or uc at Berkeley. Now my act score may not be the best, but I believe my high school record and personal experiences that I write in my essays will get me in to some of these colleges. I am a Mexican American, and am ranked 20 out of 582 in my class. I have a 100.25 gpa. I am very involved in running (track and cross country), art, spanish honor society, fbla, and nhs. I have many great extracurricular awards. My essay is very strong, and I mean STRONG! The only thing that concerns me is that I haven't won national awards for anything that I have done and my act score is a bit below average. Most of my awards I have received within the region. Math is my strongest subject and I hope to major in business and engineering. English is a bit harder for me. So what do you think are my chances and how can I improve them as the deadline for applications is nearing. I would take the act again ( I have taken it twice by the way), but I have a bunch of stuff going on. Any help would be greatly appreciated!</p>

<p>A 27 is low to begin with, but your score is also very unbalanced (23 in two subjects). I mean, I would ask your guidance counselor, but I’d say it would be difficult to get into most of your schools (especially Stanford and Harvard). Bottom 25% at these schools are still higher than your score.</p>

<p>Harvard, Stanford, and Rice I know are reaches based on your ACT … Consider the SAT?? Good luck! I hope this doesn’t hold you back because your GPA is incredible and you deserve to go to these schools! </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1196782-chances-brown-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1196782-chances-brown-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Unless you’re being recruited for running, you do not have a shot at Harvard, Stanford, or UC Berkeley. UCLA and Rice are probably out too. I strongly suggest getting rid of any of that “stuff” that is not absolutely essential (if you work a job to support your family / have to take care of someone, that is pretty much what I mean by absolutely essential) and find time to take the ACT. Your English and reading scores are extremely low (to the point where I question how strong that essay really is) and your science is very low too, even though you want to major in engineering. Your math is good but not great, and may even be bad for someone whose strongest subject is math, because those schools are super selective.</p>

<p>Bottom line: Go ahead and apply, but you have essentially no shot at the schools I mentioned; I don’t know about the rest.</p>