Chance for Carnegie Mellon/stanford/uchicago?

<p>So I am a junior looking to go to Carnegie Mellon university, and I'd really appreciate your guys' help
Chance please?
Grades- So I did really bad Freshman year. It wasn't a good time for me, with family issues, and I'm writing an essay about it
Honors Bio B/A
Honors Geometry C/A
AP Human B/B
Honors English A/B
Spanish A/A
Orchestra A/A
Gym A/A</p>

<p>Sophomore year:
Honors Chem B/A
AP European History A/A
Honors Algebra 2 trig B/A
Honors English A/A
Spanish A/A
Orchestra A/A
Gym A/A</p>

<p>Junior year
APUSH A/
AP Bio A/
APEng3 A
Honors Precalc A
Orchestra A
Gym A
GPA so far-4.3 w, 3.8 unweighted, i hope to make it a 4.45 by the end of the year
Ec's
Science Olympiad-Varsity, went to state for a trial event last year and medaled, hope to place 1st in my events-anatomy and physiology, designer genes, and entomology
Scholastic Bowl- Varsity-hope to make nationals this year
Tennis Varsity
Orchestra
Junior Statesmen of America
Model Un
recommended for National Student Leadership Conference
Leadership positions
I'm VP of Science olympiad
Jv captain for Scholastic bowl
I'm on exec board for model un
I've accumulated a few hundred volunteer hours for volunteering at the temple</p>

<p>I want to major in Biology/biomedical engineering
I'm freaked out because of my frosh grades</p>

<p>can you guys match me with others?</p>

<p>So… not chances or school advice, but on your essay. Don’t write your common app essay or even supplemental essay about your family problems just because you are worried about your freshman grades. Those essays are to show your personality and most interesting qualities, and possibly why the school is a good fit for you in the supplemental essays. Ask your guidance counselor to mention your family issues in their recommendations for freshman year, or put a BRIEF paragraph in the Additional Info section of the Common App about it. It doesn’t make you stand out as a person and applicant to focus your essays on it.</p>

<p>And don’t worry about your grades… a 3.8 UW is enough for any of those schools, after that they look past that for good test scores and interesting/stand out ECs. U of Chicago in particular seems to want interesting people.</p>

<p>What is your financial situation? Other schools to consider - Johns Hopkins, U of Michigan.</p>

<p>Thanks so much!
I really appreciate your advice
Well the general income in our household is about 130k per year.
I’ve been scouting for scholarships and loans to help my parents since honestly I’d feel really bad if they had to finance my college education.
I also forgot to mention my scores
I have a 32 act and I’ve been trying to get it higher</p>

<p>I’m also asian by the way</p>

<p>Case Western gives good merit aid, you could consider them.</p>

<p>I’ll look into them! thanks a ton!
I was also thinking about Northwester since it’s really close to where I live
I also am considering
UCLA
UCberkeley
Rice University
chance me for those?</p>

<p>UCLA and UCBerkley are not going to be very affordable for an out of state student. Nor is Michigan. State schools give most of their aid and scholarships to in-state students. What state do you actually live in (Illinois)? What kind of savings do your parents have for college? They are in that tough spot – making enough money so your EFC is probably going to be quite high. Your best financial deals are going to be either in-state colleges, or else colleges where your stats are on the high end so you have a shot at good merit aid.</p>

<p>For any schools you are considering you should work with your parents to run the net price calculator before getting too attached to the school.</p>

<p>CMU is not known for merit aid. Also, CMU does not consider freshman grades.</p>