Chance for ED & RD!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
1

<p>General: Rising Senior, Male, Alabama.</p>

<p>Ethnicity:I'm 1/16 Cherokee, so I'm going to register as Native American.</p>

<p>Career Interests:Dentistry, culinary arts, broadcasting. </p>

<p>School Info: Our school first opened in 2005 when I was a Freshman. I'll be apart of the first four-year graduating class. My school became an IB school this past year, however, you have to be a Freshman when you begin the IB program, so I wasn't able to participate in the program.</p>

<p>School Stats: GPA: 4.0 Unweighted. 4.083 Weighted. This year was the first year we could take APs, and I got an A in both of those classes (AP US/AP 11 English). Senior year I should have 4 AP classes, and an honors Spanish 5 class which'll be on a 4.5 scale? lol. That's just what my Spanish teacher told me. Anyway, If I get all A's again, I should complete high school with just over a 4.2 weighted GPA. Toughest courseload offered.</p>

<p>Rank: 1/200+ (not sure on exact #, obviously).</p>

<p>Testing:
I just saw my score today and I got a 30 (4 point improvement from February). Words can't describe how I felt. 18.5 hours of studying! LOL</p>

<p>EC's:
-National Honor Society (1 year; Senior year)
-National Spanish Honors Society
-Spanish Club President (4 years; President - Senior year)
-School Webmaster (1 year; Senior year)
-Varsity football Quarterback. (Freshman year we just worked out because we didn't get a coaching staff in time. Sophomore year I was the Varsity backup (although I did play in some Varsity games), started JV and was the captain of JV. Junior year, I was the starter and team captain and was second on the team in touchdowns---only behind our all-metro WR/RB. Senior year...I doubt I'll play. All of our coaches were fired and I knew back in November that I was done. I worked harder than anyone, and I was just sick of the BS. I was no longer happy playing, so I will just move on. Yeah, the attention that goes along with being the quarterback is cool, but that's not what matters. Happiness matters, not highschool "fame".<br>
-I had a Private quarterback coach for football for 2 years. I would go to school from 8-3:10. Football practice from 3:30 to sometimes 6:30, and then a two hour session with private QB coach after that. I did that in the football season and in the summer for 3-4 times a week.
-Art. I placed 3rd in state for a 2D art contest. I also got honorable mention in state for this "Post-Card" contest.
-Quiz Bowl (2 years - fresh year we didn't have it, soph year I did it, this past year I tried to do it but it was SO unorganized, and I'm going to do it Senior year).
-If I don't play football, I'm either going to do Mixed Martial Arts, play Piano, or play Baseball or Soccer in the spring. A job is a possibility, as well as getting a trainer at the gym (lol, only feels right considering I won't be playing football).</p>

<p>Community Service:-This summer I'll get around 150-200 hours with Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I've gotten around 70 at my Uncle's golf course, and another 10 or so with Spanish-club related stuff.</p>

<p>**Possible Hooks?<a href="I'm%20not%20too%20sure%20if%20all%20of%20these%20are%20hooks,%20but%20I%20suppose%20some%20are%20possible">/b</a>:
-I live with my father; he will make about 100k this year, but we use to be poor and nobody else is contributing to my college fund/expenses other than my father.<br>
-Mother has had all sorts of health problems; cancer being one of them.
-Native American (<1% is Native American/Alaskan Native at Vandy).</p>

<p>Awards:
-Letter from the Mayor acknowledging my achievements in highschool due to seeing me featured in the newspaper.
-Principal's Award.
-A honor roll.
-As stated before, 3rd in state in 2D art competition, honorable mention in another contest, and 2nd in state in this QuizBowl-esque thing for this Spanish competition (same event that I won 3rd in state in for Art). </p>

<h2>-This year I will be named our school's "Most Oustanding Spanish Student". Only 1 kid per school is named this.</h2>

<p>So yeah! Chance me for both ED & RD, please! I'm hoping to get good aid/merit so my dad will only have to pay 15-20 max a year.</p>

2

<p>I personally feel that it is wrong to put down an ethnicity unless it is a major part of your life. For example, I also am 1/16th Cherokee, but since I have never registered in the tribe, taken part in any sort of cultural tradition or even thought about my native American blood outside of the college application process, I decided it would be wrong for me to put it down on my apps, even though I would certainly have had far more favorable results. That being said, I still think you have a great chance without the minority hook, with fairly good test scores, a phenomenal GPA and class ranking, and solid EC's. I'm not going to judge, but I'd leave the Native American part out, unless you feel it is an important aspect of your life, then by all means, put it down (and maybe write an essay about it!).</p>

3

<p>It actually is an important part of my life, and I'd like to represent my culture. My grandma is a 1/4th, her dad is half, and her grandmother was 100%. So, when I went up there to visit, I'd get a taste of where atleast part of me came from. So, by doing that, I wanted to do more/know more. And yeah, it went from there.</p>

4

<p>Good stuff, best of luck to you man.</p>

5

<p>rocco if you step your own game up, you dont have to worry about others, I can't believe you would even say something like that, like it wasn't enough that we stripped nearly the entire Native American population out of their homeland and forcefully moved them, killing the majority in the process. He has full Native American blood pretty close up his family tree, put that down on your app, do what you gotta do as long as it is honest, and this is. I hope I see you at Vandy next year, good luck, I think you have a strong chance of getting in.</p>

6

<p>Everyone ********s their application rocco. If you think you're so high and mighty by being completely "honest," you are the one being dumb.</p>

7

<p>Wow, this definitely turned into something it shouldn't have been. If he is 1/16th Native American, he is legally allowed to put it down and should! It's a HUGE hook, btw. To be honest, I feel like you have an amazing chance at any college in the US because of not only that, but also due to your hard work which has led to an amazing GPA, a decent ACT, and solid extracurriculars. </p>

<p>I just had a question though. Were you saying you only studied 18.5 hours a week? Or that 18.5 hrs was a lot? I hope the former, b/c depending on your path/major, you might wanna get ready to start putting that much in per week at vandy.</p>

<p>One last comment: apply to every school you truly feel will be a good fit for you. If that's Harvard, then apply there, if that's your state school, then apply there. B/c to be honest, I think you have a shot at those schools and everywhere in between w/ the native american status and w/ ur stats to back it up. Best of luck.</p>

8

<p>18.5 hours was a lot in comparison to how much I studied the two prior times I took it (probably around 2-4 hrs of studying the first two times).</p>

<p>For my Anatomy class, I had to study for about 10 hours in one day/night (it was a half day, so I had extra time) for my final to get an A in that class.</p>

<p>I'll do whatever it takes when my back is against the wall, so to speak.</p>

9

<p>/that's what she said.</p>

<p>LOL</p>

10

<p>Many schools will ask for your registration if you claim to be native American. There are ever so many of us with native American roots, but very few registered. So be prepared to deal with that issue. A lot of kids have tried that route and it is embarrassing and damaging if you do not know about the registration process and where you are in terms of it.</p>

<p>You do have a shot at Vandy, but merit aid there is not going to be easy. Schools like Vandy will want financial statements from both parents, and you will have to qualify for financial aid. You may want to run through a PROFILE calculator, preferably one on the Vanderbilt site to see what you can expect from them. </p>

<p>As a southerner, you would be a good "catch" for some north east schools that do not see many kids like you. Take a look at some schools like Manhattan College, Fordham, Wheaton College, Goucher, Vassar, Skidmore, and some schools in Ohio.</p>

11

<p>Yeah, I'm working on the registration thing. If I can't find the "proof" needed, I'll just put down "Caucasian".</p>

<p>By "PROFILE calculator", do you mean EFC calculator?</p>

<p>Anyway, I can't find it on Vandy's site.</p>

12

<p>Vandy does not have one on their site. We found their need based aid to be excellent, though.</p>

13

<p>If you don't mind me asking, what was your financial situation, Kels?</p>

14

<p>We are in that group of people who make too much for most aid, but we qualify for aid at the <em>best</em> aid schools --- Vanderbilt is one of these schools. Without giving away too much, D would not get aid in state at UMich & we will pay less at Vanderbilt this year than we would pay if she went to UMich. Last year, D received aid packages from 8 schools. Vanderbilt was the most expensive school, but it provided enough grant aid that it cost just a bit more than some of the few-thousand-less expensive LAC's from which she had received merit scholarships. She went to one of these LAC's & is transferring to Vanderbilt this year. Her aid is even better this year, although our situation hasn't changed (less money in bank, though, after paying last year's costs!).</p>

<p>When the aid reports come in the spring, you have to remember to compare apples to apples. Vanderbilt will give you the full cost of attendance in their aid report. Most other schools do not. It might look like Vanderbilt is more expensive, but if you pull out just tuition/room/board and subtract all non-loan aid ... Vanderbilt might look better, after all.</p>

<p>As is always the case for aid, no one knows what they'll get until the award actually comes. However, you can look at the breakdown of aid at Vandy to get an idea of how well they meet need by looking at this link:</p>

<p><a href="https://virg.vanderbilt.edu/virgweb/CDSH.aspx?year=2007%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://virg.vanderbilt.edu/virgweb/CDSH.aspx?year=2007&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>