Chance a Junior (Ambitious but nervous)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Mario Bolanos
Class: 2010
School: Jesuit College Preparatory (Dallas, TX based Catholic private school)</p>

<p>I’m a Hispanic and belonging to a family of four. Our income is at least $100,000 and may even be $150,000</p>

<p>I just got my scores back from my first SAT, so now it’s time to buckle down in this whole process</p>

<p>GPA: 3.71 (After 3 years)
SAT: 570 CR 620 M 650 W
ACT: Not taken yet
Class Rank: Top 15% (Class size: 252)
AP Classes: 6 (British Literature and Composition, English Literature and Composition, Spanish, Biology, AB Calculus, and Government)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars (This would be after 4 years)
4 years of football (2 varsity; Senior year captain; recruited by DIII schools)
4 years of powerlifting (4th place as a junior was best showing at a meet; very high chance that I can win a meet as a senior)
1 year of track
Freshman Initiative Team (Leadership group for freshmen)
Sophomore Initiative Team
PALS (Junior leadership group)
Big Brothers
National Honors Society
Senior Class Student Council (Homecoming Chairman)
Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Retreat Group Leader (all separate retreats)
Best Buddies (organization that’s heavily involved with Down Syndrome kids)
Jesuit Multicultural Student Union/Latino Unidos
Mentoring and Guiding Ignatian Students (Mentor program that pairs me with a Latino student at a private school in the area.)
Campus Ministry
Anchor Club
Jesuit ESPN
Employment: Fieldhouse USA (scorekeeping for 2 years), Spanish Language Academy (Student Assistant for 2 years), Walters, Balido, and Crain Attorneys at Law (office work for 1 year)</p>

<p>Community Service
White Rock Lake Cleanup (Freshman Year)
Elves in Disguise Christmas Project (Sophomore Year)
PALS CPS Christmas Drive (Junior Year)
I haven’t found out what my senior service site is yet, but I’m thinking it’ll be along the lines of Community Development Programs (e.g., Meals on Wheels)</p>

<p>Total hours of community service: At least 170 hours</p>

<p>I’m also going to apply to be a National Hispanic Scholar (which I hear looks GREAT for colleges)</p>

<p>I want to major in something relating to pre-law studies and I obviously plan on going to law school afterwards.</p>

<p>My schools (In no particular order)
Vanderbilt
Wake Forest
Santa Clara
UT Austin
Georgia
USC
Loyola Marymount
Clemson
Boston College</p>

<p>By my own research, I can safely say that I’ll be accepted in Santa Clara and Loyola Marymount; I’m also considering applying to Oklahoma and/or Arkansas as a safety school. </p>

<p>PLEASE, I need your honest opinion: Am I being realistic here? Or do I need to come back down to Earth? I'm taking the SAT at least two more times and the ACT at least once. Also, if you know any schools that are similar to any of the schools I listed, feel free to post them and I’ll gladly check them out. I need all the feedback I can get. Thanks.</p>

2

<p>bumpp de bump</p>

3

<p>Try out the University of Florida. Ten percent of applicants are out-of-state, ten percent admitted out-of-state. Your SAT scores stack up pretty well against their standards, not terribly hard to get into, but for out-of-state, prices are higher, could be problem. Wish I could help w/ more but I’m a junior too. Great work. Rock on.</p>

4

<p>I think you need to retake the SAT if you want to have a shot at Vanderbilt. </p>

<p>I would suggest taking the ACT, which you might perform better on! </p>

<p>You sound like a pretty good candidate to me, though!</p>

5

<p>good candidate overall. assuming your private school is highly regarded, the gpa won’t hurt you (it would if you were at a public school), and your extracurriculars are phenomenal. You need to bring up your sat though to make your schools more realistic. If you can get it in the 2000 range, that should be sufficient, but some of those schools are pretty tough to get into.</p>

6

<p>With good essays, UCS, Vanderbilt is bit out of reach.</p>

<p>Other than that, you seem to target most of your schools.</p>

7

<p>Yeah I kind of took a sort of “get your feet wet” approach to the SAT…I can be a lot more aggressive for sure. I’m thinking about taking both the May and June tests.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot though, keep the feedback coming.</p>

8

<p>Also, would it be too late to take the ACT for the first time in September?</p>

9

<p>The SATs are kind of weak. Also, I’d suggest that you don’t post your real name on message boards.</p>

<p>The EC’s are pretty good.</p>

10

<p>Since you’re an URM, if you increase your SAT score by at least 30 points in each section you’ll probably be in everywhere except USC and Vanderbilt.</p>

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<p>What would it take to raise my chance of getting into those two last schools?</p>

12

<p>with those grades, florida would be a very far reach. Thats one of, if not the hardest state school to get into. 8% of their students are out of state, which makes it hard for him to get in.</p>

13

<p>Thanks a lot, keep 'em comin</p>

14

<p>I would try and get your SAT’s up so that the schools on your list turn out to be more matches and less reaches. Overall, I still think you are a competitive applicant for the schools you are applying to.</p>

<p>Chance me? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/695607-wrong-me-fall-love-these-schools-chance-me-tell.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/695607-wrong-me-fall-love-these-schools-chance-me-tell.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

15

<p>UT Austin should be a piece of cake.</p>

16

<p>I think financially, UT Austin would be ideal because of in-state tuition, but if I get a good scholarship somewhere, I’d consider it.</p>

17

<p>bumpp again</p>