Chance for NYU, CMU, UMich, URoch

Applying to College
1

<p>Asian male who immigrated here at age 8
Attends one of NYC's private Ivy League Preparatory Schools</p>

<p>Freshmen year grades
Bad 4 c's
Sophmore year grades
AP AB Cal- A-
chem A-
Game Design and Programming A-
english C+
french C
Speech B-
History B+
Music Theory A</p>

<p>Junior year
AP BC Cal A
AP Physics B B+ Caught off guard at first, also my tutor messed me up, however, got full marks second Semester</p>

<p>AP Computer Science A B+ changed teachers 4 times, including a college student and a c++ programmer, not a java programmer. Really confusing</p>

<p>AP US History C+ ( one term paper brought me down from a b+ to a c+)</p>

<p>English B- - did bad first semester, nearly failed. However, got a B+ second semester by learning from trial and error</p>

<p>French C+ - My teacher taught by speaking, hardest class I've ever taken because I could not understand the grammar rules when she isn't drawing diagrams or writing the sentences on the board.</p>

<p>SAT I: 2080, expecting 2200 or more next time.
SAT II: Math IIc 800, Chem 760, Physics 760 (could have done better), US history 730</p>

<p>Recs and essays are between middle and excellent, leaning more towards excellent</p>

<p>APs are all 5's except for comp sci, which I got a 4</p>

<p>Senior year load
MultiVariable Calc/Theoretical Calculus
AP Chem
AP Physics C
iOS Programming
English
American Politics/Econ (each 1 semester)
Getting all A- except for b/b+ in english</p>

<p>ECs:
sports manager for 2 years
school newspaper for 1 year
math team/club for 2 years
peer tutor for 1 year
NYSSMA level 6 piano player
Did 5 years of medical research, but on record it is 2 years due to age restrictions</p>

<p>Planning to Major in Math/Applied Math w economics, CS, Biochemistry, Business/Finance.
Everyone(including my counselor) says that they are clueless because my case is too extreme. So please let me get an idea of schools
Chance of getting into
NYU-Stern
NYU-CAS
CMU-Tepper
CMU-SCS
UMICH-LSA
UMich-COE
URoch-Arts and Sciences
UIUC
UWISCON
GATECH</p>

2

<ol>
<li><p>What’s your actual GPA?</p></li>
<li><p>What’s your approximate class rank?</p></li>
<li><p>Quit making excuses. Admissions officers won’t like it, and

just sounds ridiculous. If you were doing well, you wouldn’t have needed a tutor, and it’s hardly your tutor’s fault you didn’t do well. Accept responsibility for your actions, your failures, and your successes where responsibility is due.</p></li>
<li><p>Not sure about most of those schools, but your grades make it pretty evident that you don’t really have much of a shot at UMich LSA, much less UMich CoE.</p></li>
</ol>

3

<p>Agree with Redsevens … your excuses screamed louder than anything about your classes or grades. Your attitude is terrible but you are clearly smart. Focus on what you can control and how you respond to life’s challenges. From a grade and SAT perspective, you’re on the edge for UofRoch and at best a waitlist for NYU. Many folks that include UofRoch and NYU also have Boston U. What is it you want to major in? As long as it’s not languages, you could be okay. In the future, as in your senior year or college, don’t blame others for your grades. If you can’t understand how to learn from a certain style of teaching, you will just have to double up your efforts. You can’t blame your results on a teacher’s style or a tutor. And FYI … the fact that you have a tutor and go to an Ivy League prep school screams of privilege. Kids not in NYC or not near a great prep school don’t even have that as an option, regardless of finances. Take advantage of what is in front of you and stop whining. (I’m a parent and I expect no less of my S who is also a senior.)</p>