Chance a 3.4 GPA?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm an African American male from SoCal living in a single-parent, low income household. I will be a senior in the fall.</p>

<p>I plan on majoring in business (finance preferably; possibly economics).</p>

<p>Stats:
- Cumulative GPA: 3.4 (RL issues freshman and sophomore year; I'll elaborate on my applications. Everyone says I have "a story to tell." Junior year GPA: 3.64) Senior year GPA will hopefully be a 3.8-4.2.
- ACT: 30
- 4 honors courses and 1 AP course - all math classes; taking Honors Precalculus and AP Statistics for senior year. I've taken Public Speaking and Spanish III at my local Community College and earned A's in both; taking Introduction to Business this summer.
- I plan to start an non-profit organization this summer for lung cancer patients who don't receive the right treatment due to not having medical insurance (in memory of my aunt).
- I've been a professional actor with an agent since I was 5 1/2 months old. Since then I've established a pretty long resume and been in numerous TV shows, commercials, billboards, print ads, etc.
- I'm in NHS and CSF.
- Will have great essays and recommendations (I hope).
- If it helps to create any sort of diversity, I will major in Finance and minor in Acting.</p>

<p>Chance me at:
Boston College
UPenn
U of Notre Dame
USC (1st choice)
UT Austin
UVA
UC Berkeley
UMich
UCLA</p>

<p>I know I'm shooting high for some (if not all) of those schools. There are no safeties on that list - suggestions?</p>

2

<p>I think URM will help you a lot at Upenn, and the other privates. Not sure on the other publics but UCB and UCLA don’t look at racial/minority status. </p>

<p>If you can continue that upward GPA trend, it’ll really help you. Especially paired with your “story to tell”.
If you want you could work on your ACT, but that’s up to you.</p>

<p>Any idea what your weighted GPA is?</p>

3

<p>It’s actually a 3.3 UW, 3.44 W.</p>

4

<p>How much will URM help at UPenn?
I’m afraid that even with the small glimpse of hope I have of getting in, I’d end up getting in and not being able to major in what I want to major in (probably at Wharton).</p>

<p>I guess I should be looking more at private schools, coming from a low-income single-parent household.
Are there any prestigious, merit-based private schools that look past numbers to the actual person and the background they come from?</p>

5

<p>I’m not sure but… URM should be a pretty big factor. I’m sure UPenn will also consider your background. If you want, you could write about it in your essay. Or mention it somewhere? Lol.</p>

<p>Uhh. What do you mean by “merit based … but look past numbers to the actual person”? it seems kinda contradictory to me.</p>

6

<p>Did you take the hardest courseload available to you at school? How is your GPA in comparison to others? Rank?</p>

7

<p>I wouldn’t say the hardest - no APs offered freshman year, only AP English and AP History offered sophomore year (english is my weakpoint; no excuse for not taking history…felt like it would be too much), and only AP English and AP History for junior year as well. Other than that I’ve had honors math each year and I’ve decided to double up senior year to take Honors Precal and AP Stats.</p>

<p>School doesn’t rank, but I’d probably say… maybe top 20-25% :/</p>

8

<p>Bumpity bump bump?</p>

9

<p>

</p>

<p>that’s the OFFICIAL rule. now, down in the deep crevices of The Office (or down to the dark depth of the adcom mind), the opposite may happen… (uh oh…)</p>

<p>caddy, u want to be the caddy for The Lemon? :stuck_out_tongue: jk. :stuck_out_tongue: Ya, you have a good chance on UCLA… Not too sure about UCB… just in case your “dream school” rejects you, always have a strong academic senior year grades to help you on the appeal…</p>

<p>LEMON</p>

10

<p>What’s your UW and W GPA?</p>

11

<p>WELL im going to be blunt, i really dont think you can get into UPenn or ND and Berkeley is a huge reach, USC is a good match and the others are all high match/low reach schools for you </p>

<p>chance me back at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/735932-chance-me-i-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/735932-chance-me-i-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>Hmm thanks guys. Any other opinions?</p>

13

<p>And is my acting a hook?
I have an agent and a long list of things that I have been in. I’m also on IMDB.</p>

14

<p>Bump is spelled b-u-m-p.</p>

15

<p>that’s definitely a hook…</p>

<p>Boston College, UVA and Umich are more your range. UPenn and Notre Dame are definitely reaches, but focus on your essay A LOT at UPenn, they will be more open to “the struggles and growth” that you might’ve gone through rather than Notre Dame. (Same with UVA…reallllly focus on the essays.)</p>

<p>Chance back?</p>

16

<p>your stats actually sound a lot like mine, only my acting career is competitive instead of professional. I’ve done quite a bit of research on colleges outside of CC, so I can give insight by numbers on some of these.
Boston College- high reach here, they are incredibly selective at a 29% rate, and the URM status wont help here too much, as they get such a large pool of applicants. your ACT score falls in range, but the GPA may be a bit low, but shoot for gold cuz ya never know.</p>

<p>UPenn- NO, UPENN is an ivy school, so its all a numbers game. try finding some major hook and then itll go to a reach, what makes you more special than everyone else?</p>

<p>U of Notre Dame- REACH, tough to get into but they do feature a holistic approach to the admissions process, which means a lower than standard GPA wont hold you back entirely.
USC (1st choice)- Match, you’re in state, a URM, decent enough GPA, generally good ECs, fine ACT score, the only thing that could hold you back is the rigor of your classes, for instance your rigor is in spanish and math, but not english, social studies or science. so you’re picking and choosing, but I say Match for USC.</p>

<p>UT Austin- Ill go with low reach, you seem to match up pretty evenly with their students from what I can see, andthey’re a VERY good school, I dont know about business, but as far as education and engineering goes, they’re one of the best.
UVA- absolutely no idea here.
UC Berkeley- not so much, even in state.
UMich- Annarbor, OOS no… they’re extremely critical in their admissions process.
UCLA- go for it. In state makes it that much better.</p>

<p>Anyways, don’t take any chances TOO seriously because ADCONS always have their own reasons for admittting someone or rejecting them, and I think regardless of whats on CC, you should apply to the schools you want, just try to find more of a safety in there. chance back if you feel like it, if not, dont.</p>

17

<ol>
<li><p>Boston College: admits 26% of applicants. Minority status might help. I am not too familiar with the school- although I know its Catholic. </p></li>
<li><p>UPenn: admits 17% of applicants. URM status definitely helps.</p></li>
<li><p>U of Notre Dame: admits 27% of applicants. Obviously catholic. Maybe if you’re catholic and URM- it would really help you out?</p></li>
<li><p>USC (1st choice): I think you have a great shot if it is your number one. I think they’re selective- they admit around 22% of applicants- but they get around 30,000 a year.</p></li>
<li><p>UT Austin: I don’t know. I know they admit all top 10% students from texas- I guess they have to be more selective for OOS students.</p></li>
<li><p>UVA: Also super-selective for OOS students- but if you get in, you might get some good aid and OOS tuition waivers. </p></li>
<li><p>UC Berkeley: I am not too familiar with the school- but I think they’re very number driven.</p></li>
<li><p>UMich: A good chance if you were in-state I would say. OOS is kind of a negative.</p></li>
<li><p>UCLA: I think they’re similar to Berkeley, very number driven.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>There’s a lot of great colleges and universities in California, especially since you are from California- that’ll be a great plus when applying. That would be my only advice.</p>

18

<p>There’s really no other universities or colleges in California that I’m all that interested in other than USC and UC Berkeley (only because they have excellent undergraduate business programs).
Do I stand a chance at the U of Illinois or Penn State University Park?</p>

<p>I’ve changed my list around a bit, but there’s still only 7 schools on my list that I want to apply to.</p>

<p>Boston College
Penn State (only UP campus… not interested in any others)
USC
UC Berkeley
UPenn
UIllinois
UVirginia</p>

<p>I don’t really know who to apply to as far as safety schools. I want a decent sized university that has school spirit and is big on college athletics. Preferably Division I.</p>

<p><strong>EDIT</strong>
And I would be applying Early Decision to UPenn. Still no chance?
And I probably need a school that’s willing to grant 100% of financial based need. My dad contributes nearly nothing to child support and my mom doesn’t make much.</p>

19

<p>Bump bump bump.</p>

20

<p>hmmmmmmmm</p>

<p>since u live in cali,</p>

<p>i believe that USC is a great shot for you</p>

<p>other schools are kinda selective just like others said about OOS students</p>

<p>but i live in cali also, and i plan to go to college in cali</p>

<p>there are UCLA and Berkeley, but in my opinion by looking at your post
i think USC would be the best choice</p>

<p>write a good essay on your stuff! lol i heard essays are the decisive factor in the end</p>