Chance a Hispanic for Notre Dame, Northwestern, UChicago?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hispanic junior from a large, competitive public high school in North Texas.
Middle-class background.
Male, if that makes any difference.</p>

<p>I plan on majoring in international relations, public policy, or journalism.</p>

<p>-SAT: 2280 (800 R, 720 M, 760 W)
-SAT II: took them yesterday, expecting 800 on World History and US History, 700+ on Literature
-PSAT: 230 (80 R, 70 M, 80 W)
-GPA: 3.89/4.0 (unweighted), 4.4/5.0 (weighted)
-Rank: 12/1187 (top 2%)
-AP (so far): Human Geography (5), World History (5), European History (5), US History (5?), English Language (5?), Computer Science (4?)
-AP (senior year): English Literature, US Government, Comparative Government, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Statistics, Environmental Science, Psychology, French (possibly)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-Academic WorldQuest (10, 11, 12) - member of team that won nationals this year, will be highlighting this on application
-Junior World Affairs Council (10, 11, 12) - goes with the above, but more service-oriented
-Quiz Bowl (9, 10, 11, 12) - member of A team, will be competing in National Academic Championship next week
-Academic Decathlon (12) - not officially on the team, but selected to compete for a spot on A team next year
-Hispanics for Higher Education (11, 12) - co-founder, club that helps Hispanic students (and others) with college applications
-Debate (9, 10, 11) - president in 10th grade, wrote current events tests in 11th grade; can't continue in senior year because of AcDec
-Student Congress (11, 12) - ran a campaign for another member who was running for class president; he didn't win, though
-Junior State of America (10, 11) - vice-president in 10th grade, attended summer institute at UT Austin
-French National Honor Society (9, 10, 11) - 90th percentile on National French Exam
-Writers' Club (10, 11) - co-founder in 10th grade</p>

<p>Volunteering:
-Assisted living center: 150 hours
-Habitat for Humanity: 50 hours
-Knights of Columbus/church-related activities: 40 hours
-Peer tutoring: 20 hours
-Obama 2012 campaign: will be volunteering this summer</p>

<p>Awards:
-National Merit Semifinalist
-AP Scholar with Distinction (I hope)
-Regional History Bee - 2nd place
-Regional Citizen Bee - 3rd place
-UIL Social Studies - 3rd place
-Fete Francaise, culture test - 1st place
-Texas French Symposium, culture test - 3rd place</p>

<p>-selected to attend Hart Global Leaders Forum in 2010
-selected as one of 40 students to attend Latino Community Leadership Seminar at Notre Dame
-don't know if this counts for anything, but I think I'm still an administrator at Wikinews; haven't been there in a while, though</p>

<p>Schools I am planning on applying to
(to which I am planning to apply; suck it, grammar):
-Notre Dame
-Northwestern
-UChicago
-Georgetown
-George Washington
-Tufts
-Johns Hopkins
-UT Austin (safety)</p>

<p>Sorry for making you read through all this. Thanks in advance, and as an incentive, I'll gladly chance the first person who chances mine. :)</p>

2

<p>I’d say that you have an excellent chance at every school you listed, though many of those schools (notre dame, northwestern, chicago, gtown) are reaches for all qualified applicants</p>

<p>Wonderful ECs (Wikileaks, Obama campaign!!!)</p>

<p>Make sure to write a kickass essay and get some good teacher recs (more info on that if you want) and I’m confident you’d be among the stronger candidates even for HYPSMC, the other ivies, and the other very top schools.</p>

<p>If you want, I can give you some advice on how to bring up your SAT I score a little more, but it’s not really necessary.</p>

<p>Keep us posted, I’m confident you’ll have many great offers.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the input. I’m not too worried about the essays because I consider writing to be one of my strengths, but I am kind of concerned about teacher recommendations. </p>

<p>The reason being that I’m not one of those people who makes a conscious effort to make friends with my teachers. I basically just show up to class every day, do what they ask me to do, then leave. I’m not on bad terms with any of them, but I don’t feel like there’s any teacher at my school who knows me well enough to write a recommendation that stands out, that truly reflects who I am.</p>

<p>So I know it’s a weird question, but do you have any advice for getting along with my teachers? Maybe it’s somewhat cynical to be viewing friendship as a means to an end, but at this point I don’t really care, I just need a decent recommendation.</p>

<p>Also, when you talk about my SAT scores, are you only referring to math, or writing as well? I would’ve gotten a 790 on writing if not for the essay - it was my first time taking it, so I didn’t know how to pace myself. But as for math, I have a feeling that 720 may be the highest score I’ll ever get.</p>

4

<p>you are one smart hispanic. in at all those schools, congrats.</p>

5

<p>I’d say just participate more in class. Share the insightful ideas and questions that I’m sure you have.</p>

<p>And if you see something cool, email it to your teachers. Or email them questions or after-hours thoughts you have. </p>

<p>Thats what I did.</p>

<p>Keep in touch over the summer.</p>

<p>And when you ask them to write your recs, make sure to include extra info about yoruself so they can make it more personal (if they dont already ask) and maybe specify what youd like them to highlight</p>

6

<p>^ When should one ask his or her teacher? End of junior year? Or beginning of senior?</p>

7

<p>I’d say wait as long as possible, leaving plenty of time for them to write at (give them two and a half to three weeks). Get a second opinion on that though, as with everything else you read on here.</p>

8

<p>No, I mean when should I actually tell my teacher I’d like her to write it? Now, so she has the summer? Or beginning of next year, so it’s fresh in her mind? (I’m going to have her again as a teacher next year; also, at conferences my dad suggested I may ask her so she kind of already knows I guess)</p>

9

<p>Yeah that’s not a bad idea I guess. They could start looking for things to write about and may begin seeing you in new lights as they pay more attention.</p>

<p>Good idea actually, I take it back.</p>

10

<p>So…ask this year, before summer?</p>

11

<p>You’re good to go man! </p>

<p>Dude, I highly suggest that you apply to Harvard/Yale/Princeton. I think that you have a great chance!</p>

<p>Chance me: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1158525-chance-me-brown-ed.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1158525-chance-me-brown-ed.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>If you already have a really good relationship, maybe. You know your teachers and your relationships with them much better than I do, so I think you’d be able to make a much better judgment.</p>