Chance a Brotha!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey all :slight_smile: i’m a Jr from the NorthEast

GPA : 3.6

WGPA 4.2

The reason my GPA and WGPA are kinda low is because i was not focused Freshman Year, my grades then were horrid.

ACT- 29 Composite (First time)

AP (current) - AP Bio (A), AP Psych (B)…i’ll change that B though

Senior Year- AP Environmental Science, AP Art History, AP Comp Gov, Calc w/ App, and Hon English

Hooks: Black Male, might be able to pay full tuition (idk if that is even a hook), Big School? Also Ranked 50th Best High school by USNEWS in 2013

EC’s: Spent my entire sophomore year studying at a school on the outskirts of Lagos Nigeria. This was really significant because I used to be a rich snobby kid and in Nigeria I didn’t have much electricity, warm water, I had to hand wash clothes, avoid malaria, typhoid, and Boko Haram, everything you would expect in that country lol. It truly changed me as a person. It was a boarding school and I had an Aunt nearby, my family remained in the US. My goal is no longer to just make sh*tloads of money. I want to go back to Nigeria and do my best to help the people there. My dream is to bring/expand the natural resources industry there…the pollution there is horrendous. Also I made a lot of brothers there that will always be in my heart and I can’t possibly allow them or anyone else in that country to suffer like they do now. SORRY FOR RAMBLING lmao, anyway…

Piano, Varsity Soccer, Varsity Track,Years of Club Soccer, President of Black Student Alliance Club, Officer of International Student Alliance Club, Camp Counselor for Disable Kids, Student Model/ Advocate for my School in Nigeria, Tutoring kids, MY PLANS: NHS for Science, Summer Program at CMU, Teach myself Chinese, Maybe some research here and there in Bioinformatics, Start a club for Political Debate and another for Interests in Globalization and Natural Resources

So these are the schools :confused:

Carnegie Mellon
UMD
Johns Hopkins
UPenn
Tufts
NYU (Stern)
Harvard (my mom did med school here so she’s dying for me to go…eh)
Penn State
Duke
any UC’s …?

Please feel free to suggest schools or EC’s or anything

Also i’m really interested in Dual or Joint programs for MS in Environmental Sciences and MBA, any recommendations?

Thanks so much CC :slight_smile:

2

With current ACT (chances will increase if you improve), here are my guesses (obviously don’t take them too seriously they could easily be wrong)

Carnegie Mellon: idk
UMD: Low Match
Johns Hopkins: Reach
UPenn: Reach
Tufts: Reach
NYU (Stern): Reach
Harvard: Reach
Penn State: Safety
Duke: Reach

3

What do you plan to major in?

4

@divisionexpert Either Buisness, Enviromental Sciences, or Biology

5

Carnegie Mellon Match
UMD low low low match
Johns Hopkins high match - low reach
UPenn high reach
Tufts reach
NYU (Stern) reach ( need more business courses like econ and shit )
Harvard prodigy helps, but you need more EC’s that show your interest, and a Higher GPA so reach.
Penn State low match
Duke high reach. ( stats of Princeton tbh so its like tough even with your hopeful EC.)

I would recomend looking at your grades a tad ( you are fine tbh ). But expanding on your EC’s a bit so that you can wow these tough colleges. You definitely have a shot at all of these. Good Luck ( ACT needs a bit up ) You should write about helping Nigeria in your essay, your passion is evident and Colleges like to see that.

6

Thanks @divisionexpert ! Do you recommend any specific EC’s for me to look into?

7

Your ECs are great and the story (that’s for your essay too, I presume?) has a nice, unique ring to it, though your scores are a bit low (the colleges you’re looking at are huge on GPA and standardised test scores).

Carnegie Mellon: Reach
UMD: Low Match
Johns Hopkins: Reach
UPenn: Low Reach
Tufts: Reach
NYU (Stern): Reach
Harvard: High Reach
Penn State: Safety
Duke: Reach

Best of luck.

Chance me? :slight_smile:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1744008-chance-me-ill-do-it-back.html#latest

8

UMD:Match
Johns Hopkins: Reach
UPenn: High Reach
Tufts: Reach
NYU (Stern): Reach
Harvard: High Reach
Penn State: Safety
Duke: High Reach
Raise your act score to around a 33 if you want your chances to honestly improve, but not a bad applicant at all good luck!

9

bump

10

writing about how your experiences in Nigeria changed you will definitely help you stand out.

11

If you make the Lagos experience the cornerstone of your application, I’d say you have a decent shot. The ECs as you present above are a bit scattered. Focus on building a story about how the Nigeria experience changed your life. Also get your SAT/ACT scores up a tad.

Duke has a joint program with the undergraduate school (Trinity) and the Nicholas School of Environment. Good luck

12

I think that your “hook” is strong enough to compensate, in part, but I recommend taking the SAT, and re-taking the ACT. Even a slight uptick in scores could make a difference. As long as you have a few safe and match schools, there’s no reason not to aim high.

13

i think you have a chance of getting into one of the reach schools you listed with your current scores but you should improve the act score, take some subject tests maybe, and definitely bust out a solid mid-year report. if you do these things, your chances will improve greatly.

14

chance me back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1718582-chances-of-getting-into-upenn.html#latest

15

Bump

16

Your ACT composite result MUST be improved for you to be competitive at Hopkins, Penn, Duke, Harvard and probably Tufts and NYU, as well. Your potential “hooks” will not overcome an ACT score that’s glaringly substandard, simply because so many other applicants with similar “hooks” will not have this deficiency.

17

@TopTier I’ll definitely work on getting it above 30. Thanks

18

I think you have a very good chance at almost all UC’s and all the other schools you listed except Harvard. You are definitely on the right track to Harvard, I recommend spending a lot of time on your essays and then you will have a very good shot at Harvard! :slight_smile: good Luck

19

Suggestions anyone?

20

Carnegie Mellon reach
UMD match
Johns Hopkins reach
UPenn reach
Tufts low reach
NYU (Stern) reach
Harvard (my mom did med school here so she’s dying for me to go…eh) reach
Penn State match
Duke reach

You’re ACT and GPA are very low and your ECs look like a laundry list with no passion or focus. The only thing you have going for you right now is living in Nigeria and URM. However this will no compensate for a low ACT score and GPA. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were rejected from all your reaches. Get your ACT to 32 and then you actually have a legitimate shot.