Chance a Worried Hispanic Girl!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>So now that regular decisions are done, it's crunch time for juniors, myself included. Am I a strong applicant? </p>

<p>Applying to:</p>

<p>Yale EA (If accepted, I won't apply anywhere else.)
Princeton
Harvard
U of Penn
Columbia
Dartmouth
Cornell
U of Chicago
Northwestern
U of M
Johns Hopkins
Georgetown
Boston College
Vassar</p>

<p>Location: Michigan
Ethnicity: Hispanic immigrant (Cuban)
Sex: Female
First generation college student, low income.</p>

<p>GPA (W): 4.06 (My school's weighted GPA is strangely designed so that the highest a student can receive is a 4.2, which I'm pretty sure has never happened. The highest colleges will see my GPA will be a 4.08.)
Rank: 1/442</p>

<p>I've taken the hardest courses available at my school, which by the way is very urban and inner city. We are considered by Johns Hopkins to be a drop out factory, which pretty much says it all. </p>

<p>ACT: 26 (Will retake in June and expect a 30.)</p>

<p>Will take the SAT Subject Tests in US History, World History, and Lit.</p>

<p>APs:
10th
AP US History (5)</p>

<p>11th
AP Biology
AP American Gov.
AP Spanish (Self-study)
AP Psychology (Self-study)</p>

<p>I'm certain I received 5s in all except Bio.</p>

<p>12th
AP Environmental Science
AP Statistics
AP English
AP European History
AP World History (Self-study)
AP Art History
AP Comp Gov.</p>

<p>ECs:
*Editor-in-Chief of high school newspaper
*Academic Decathlon
*Excellers (President)
- Chief Coordinator or a school-wide International Day that showcased diversity and cultures. The club itself is devoted to diversity and community service.
*County Youth Commission (Secretary)
- Co-Chair of the Community Service Committee
- Chair of the Government Education Committee
*NHS (Vice President)
*4-H Peer Mentoring Program
- Created a peer education workshop program for middle schoolers and high schoolers with Michigan's 4-Hon college preparation.
*"Girls to Women" Conference
- Created, and in the process of organizing, a conference on issues young girls have to combat as they reach womanhood.</p>

<p>Possible Major & Minor:</p>

<p>Sociology, with a Minor in Women's Studies</p>

<p>Other:</p>

<p>History</p>

<p>Community Service
221+ volunteer hours</p>

<p>Work Experience:
Library Page at a local library; 10 hours/week.</p>

<p>Awards:
Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution Student Fellow
- I was the only student selected from Michigan to go to this convention for high school journalists in Philadelphia. The entire trip was covered, so it wasn't one of those run-of-the-mill youth programs you get in the mail.
Honor Roll
Ventures Scholar
Sophomore of the Year (School Award)
Academic Decathlon 3rd place in Speech
Academic Decathlon 3rd place in Interview
Academic Decathlon Highest Team Scorer</p>

<p>Well... chance away!</p>

2

<p>if you get that 30 then maybe</p>

3

<p>Bump...</p>

<p>Anyone out there?!</p>

4

<p>you need more safeties.</p>

5

<p>Everything looks really good, the only thing I'd worry about is that ACT. If you're only going to choose to take the ACT, you WILL have to improve your score.</p>

<p>good things: you're hispanic, so you have a little bit of a boost (I don't want to start any controversies but hey, I'm just being honest here). Add that to the already great mix of many AP's and presidencies at clubs, and if you write good essays and can get good recommendations, I see no real problem getting into any of those schools.</p>

6

<p>Boost that test score! (It's all about practice.) And try the SAT. Some kids do much better on it-less time pressure, no science section, etc...</p>

7

<p>hate the way this sounds but it's true. you're hispanic, and you're a decent student. who cares about that 30? you'll get in anywhere anyway!</p>

<p>"self-study" ap spanish?? lol....</p>

8

<p>^ Hey, you'd be surprised it wasn't as easy as you would expect. =) Yes, I will definitely improve my ACT. I didn't study the last time and I raised my score 4 points, so I think a 30 is more than possible. What other safeties would you suggest? I would like to go to school in the East Coast and one which has a small to medium student body.</p>

9

<p>you should apply to a much broader range of schools, there are no safe or match schools on your list.Even if you bring your ACT score up to "30" you must add to your list. Keep up the good work!</p>

10

<p>Come on folks! URM first-generation valedictorian with rigorous courseload, demonstrated academic initiative and a wide variety of leadership positions in ECs? If you can raise the ACT to 31ish, you don't need safeties.. You'll be at Yale =)</p>

11

<p>Well, does my list seem really congested? I already have 14 schools; does that seem a little too much? Would NYU be a match?</p>

<p>Also, I'm self studying AP Art History and AP Comp next year, if that makes any difference.</p>

12

<p>Go for a 32, it will put you in the 99th percentile</p>

13

<p>I wouldn't say NYU would be a match. Your stats are well above the typical nyu CAS applicant, probably on par with higher level stern applicants.</p>

14

<p>oh and i forgot to say that those higher level stern applicants are also strong applicants at the ivies, so you're pretty much set.</p>

<p>try out the sats just for kicks, and if you manage to get 30-32 then you probably wouldn't have to worry about not getting into yale.</p>

15

<p>Thanks everyone! So, what about my ECs? Are they on par with top schools? I will definitely expeand on these during the summer.</p>

16

<p>Please, please, apply to places lower than NYU. If you're instate, U of M would be good, but realize that even though you're a great applicant, sometimes things go really badly for great applicants and it's going to be super competitive next year. Apply somewhere rolling (if you can with EA Yale), and get in early to ease some of the pressure off yourself.</p>

17

<p>I think I'm set with U of M. Being in-state really does help, and I would apply even before Yale, which I think I'm allowed to do. That's one of my safeties.</p>

18

<p>haha harvard or stanford should be your safety=)</p>

19

<p>You are going to need to pull that ACT score up significantly. If you don't, you must dial back on how many reaches you apply to and add in some that aren't quite so tough to get into but still very good (ie Macalester?). Make sure to cover yourself, esp if you need to compare financial aid.</p>

<p>If you can, take a non-humanites SAT II. Two histories and a lit doesn't show much range.</p>

20

<p>After you retake that ACT (and get a 30 or higher) I think you'll be fine. Latina, first generation is going to look great (I'm one too! :) ) but you can't rely on that for everything, especially at all those reaches you're applying to. But you are a great student and I will honestly be surprised if you don't get into A LEAST a few of those school! :) Buena Suerte!</p>