Chance for UChicago, NYU, and USC

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey, everybody. I'm about to enter my senior year, and I'm way excited/extremely anxious about the college app process. I tend to alternate between the extremes of "How could they possibly NOT let me in??" and "Ahh, every school is gonna reject me!!"</p>

<p>I'm going to apply to some big names (HYP, Columbia, UPenn [Wharton], and MIT), but I also have three hopefully-less-selective schools on my list. And then, of course, I have my state school as an ultimate safety. Lol.</p>

<p>So, you don't need to chance me for the Ivies or MIT, cuz I know that those are almost impossible to predict, and trying to would be a waste of energy. But could anybody please enlighten me as to my chances for my three "target" schools? Maybe alleviate some of my anxiety. Haha.</p>

<p>Basic Info:
[ul]
[<em>]Female Asian (Filipino)
[</em>]Emigrated to the US when I was four
[li]Middle-class community, so-so public school; upper middle-class family asking for financial aid[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Academics:
[ul]
[<em>]PSAT: 236 (R: 80, M: 80, W: 76)
[li]SAT: 2320 (R: 800, M: 770, W: 750) - 1st try[/li][li]SAT II: Literature: 800, Math II: 800, Biology E: 760 - 1st try[/li][li]AP: World Hist: 5, English Lang.: 5, US Hist: 5, Calc BC: 4 (AB subscore: 5)[/li][li]G.P.A.: 4.625 (4.00/4.00) - Have been ranked #1/812 since freshman year and (hopefully!) will remain so this year[/li][</em>]Have taken a full day's worth of classes every year (even senior year), and have taken many Honors and AP classes (albeit, not every single one that my school had to offer).
[/ul]</p>

<p>ECs:
[ul]
[<em>]Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA): 9, 10 - Treasurer (10) - Won 3 regional, 3 state, and 2 national awards during my first year (9)
[li]Academic Decathlon: 10, 11, 12 - Co-pres (11), Pres (12) - Won many local scrimmage awards, a few regional awards, and 1 state award; also, my role as pres is pretty hard-core. I basically act as the teacher for the entire class period--I stand up in front of the class and teach them everything they need to know for the competitions.[/li][li]National Honor Society (NHS): 10, 11, 12 - Deadbeat member. Lol. Stopped caring after my first year, barely went to any meetings, and will likely not get enough volunteer hours to wear the coveted white sash at graduation (I won't mention all of that in my app, though, of course! xD).[/li][li]Speech and Debate: 11, 12 - Only went to one competition as a favor to a friend in my first year. Hoping to get more involved in competing this year.[/li][</em>]Summer job at a movie theatre (concessions/usher) after freshman year. Not much to brag about, but it does connect well with the next bullet point.
[<em>]Wrote/directed/edited/acted in a short film during the summer after my sophomore year. It got into the state student film festival.
[</em>]I'm very self-motivated and big into self-study, so a lot of my fave hobbies and interests, I've delved into all by myself. E.g., I learned guitar from a book, I taught myself filmmaking from a book and the internet, etc. If I mention that in the "extra info" section of my apps, would that weigh well in my favor?
[/ul]</p>

<p>Essays:
[ul]
[li]I'm pretty confident about my essays. I'm going to really inject my personality into them and show intelligence and a sense of humor. I'm fairly confident about my writing skills.[/li][li]Teacher recs: I'm not sure about this one. I rarely talk in class, so my teachers don't know my true personality very well. I have two teachers who I like to think really like me, but I'm not sure how good they are at writing, and I have one teacher who is the best writer I've ever met in my LIFE. Unfortunately, she's also the one who has most prodded me about my constant lack of class participation. :\ So this is a mixed bag. Just assume that they'll be good. If you're optimistic, assume that they're going to be great. Haha.[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>So that's about it. Any insights anyone could offer me would be greatly appreciated! Oh, and some other questions I have:
[ul]
[<em>]1. Do you think my race will factor in my favor at all? I'm Asian, but from the Philippines. That's third-world Asian. Lol. That would certainly add to the cultural flavor of a college, don't you think? xD
[</em>]2. Could you perhaps chance me for UCLA also? I've heard that it's really difficult for out-of-staters to get in there. Also, is its financial aid crap? Cuz I'd like as much money help as I can possibly get... :(
[li]3. In fact, how does the fin aid look for all three of my target schools?[/li][li]4. How do my ECs look--not just for my targets but for the Ivies and MIT as well? I'm worried because they're all academic, and I'm afraid that colleges won't think I'm "well-rounded" enough... :\ I haven't done any volunteer activities or sports, but I promise that I'm still a good person and very concerned about my health. Haha.[/li][li]5. Oh, and I know that I said not to worry about chancing me for the Ivies/MIT, but if you'd like to anyway... :]][/li][/ul]</p>

<p>Once again, thank you for any help/advice you could give me. :)</p>

2

<p>I think they are solid match schools for you, although from what I’ve heard, Chicago’s admission process is much more self-selective. That is, it’s more based on your essays and stuff. You should be fine for USC and NYU if you put effort into your apps.</p>

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<p>oh my god!
i can’t see you getting rejected from too many places, sorry i don’t know anything beyond that lol.</p>

4

<p>**@bdl108: Yeah, I’ve heard that about Chicago too. Luckily, I’m pretty confident about my essays. I’m a big humanities geek, so I think that I’ll be able to convey my love of learning pretty well. Thanks very much for your advice!! :)</p>

<p>@HonorsCentaur: Rofl. Aw, thank you! You’ve made me feel a whole lot better. Haha. :)**</p>

<p>Oh, and for anyone else who might want to reply, I forgot to put this in earlier:</p>

<p>Specifically, I’m going for NYU Gallatin or Stern and USC Marshall Business School. Does anyone know how difficult Gallatin is to get into? Is it tres selective? I haven’t researched much into it yet, but my interests tend to be on opposite sides of the creative-practical spectrum (I’m an artistic person who is considering becoming a financial analyst. Lol), so I like the idea of being able to completely customize my major…</p>

<p>Also, if NYU were to reject me from Gallatin, would they still let me into CAS or, preferably, Stern? Or is the one preference school you put down on the app the only thing they’ll consider you for? :&lt;/p>

<p>Does anyone know how hard Marshall is to get into?</p>

5

<p>Wow those are amazing stats. I think you have a great shot at all of those schools, and you may get into a few of your top choices as well.</p>

<p>As for financial aid, I’m not sure how much you can get, probably not much depending on how much your EFC is. Also California schools tend to not give great aid to OOS students.</p>

<p>Chance back?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/758832-chances-i-begin-my-apps.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/758832-chances-i-begin-my-apps.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>@Secret Asian Man: Thanks for the advice! And yeah, I’ve heard that UCLA’s OOS aid isn’t very good. :frowning: Oh, well. I’ll just apply to USC and my other choices and compare aid packages later… And I just chanced you–you have amazing stats yourself! Haha. :slight_smile:</p>

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<p>omg ur so lucky. i wish i had higher sat scores : [ i hope i get into usc…its basically my dream school. : / if i had like a 2200, id have a better chance</p>

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<p>**@babygrl9205: Thanks! :slight_smile: And I hope you get into your dream school! Maybe you could study a lot and then take the SAT again if you’re not happy with your current score. I read through the Princeton Review SAT book, and I thought that it was really helpful in preparing for the kinds of questions that are on the test. I also used Princeton Review for my SAT IIs and AP tests. I think it’s a great series.</p>

<p>Anyway, good luck to you, and thanks again for replying to my post! :)**</p>

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<p>technically, you would be just fine at any of the schools on your list. But the process is very arbitrary so you never know. Good luck.</p>

<p>Great stats, though.</p>

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<p>**@Lobzz: Yeah, I’m lucky that I was able to get a good start grades-wise in high school, and so I’m strong on the academic front. It’s the ECs I’m really worried about; I hope that no volunteering and no sports won’t hurt me too much. I’m really banking on a combination of great academics and great essays to push me through. Lol.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot for your input! :)**</p>

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<p>hi, NYU student here.</p>

<p>if you are rejected from the school you apply to, you are rejected, period. you get one shot to get into Gallatin.</p>

<p>Gallatin isn’t as competitive as the other schools. (i’m in Steinhardt.) if you write an amazing essay and explain why Gallatin is seemingly the only place where you can study what you love, you’ll get in. Gallatin loves offbeat majors.</p>

<p>i’m Filipina and it didn’t seem to make a difference. heh.</p>

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<p>Wow, your stats are very similar to mine…I got a 2320 SAT and am AcaDec captain too…I know how much responsibility that is. I know how much time that takes, and I know it prevents me from doing more ECs because of the time commitment…I’m honestly not sure how it will affect our admissions.
Anyways, I’d say USC, NYU and Chicago are probably matches for you, so long as you write good essays (then again, I am hardly an expert, so take what I say with a grain of salt). As for the Ivies, I suppose that it’s usually anyone’s guess, really, but I guess that you’ve got as good of a shot as anyone, and it’s good that you’re aiming high. Maybe you should throw in a couple of safeties, though?</p>

<p>Anyway, chance back, if you’re interested.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/761194-chances-good-stats-so-so-ecs-incoming-senior.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/761194-chances-good-stats-so-so-ecs-incoming-senior.html&lt;/a&gt;
I’m not sure yet how to do links on here, so yeah.</p>

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<p>**@missamericanpie: Hm, that just made me a little more nervous about my NYU app, but I actually am pretty confident that I can make a good case for why I’m worthy of going to Gallatin. I like to think that my planned major is pretty offbeat. Haha.</p>

<p>And aw, that’s too bad. Oh, well; it was worth asking, I guess. Lol. xD Thank you so much for your advice! I really appreciate that you answered some of my specific questions, rather than just doing a general chance. Salamat! :)</p>

<p>@geofreak: Wow, that’s a pretty cool coincidence! I just chanced you, and our academic profiles sound fairly alike. Thanks for the advice! And I think my ultimate safety is gonna be my state college. I’m pretty sure I’d get a lot of merit money if I went there. I just REALLY don’t want to go, because I’d much rather go to a school that, shall we say, puts a higher value on learning for the sake of learning. Lol. But finances are also a big issue, so I narrowed down my final list to colleges that have good financial aid or were in a city that I like. I can’t really deviate from it much now, unfortunately. College tuition is a real pain. X_X**</p>

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<p>I think you will get into NYU and USC, but I cannot say the same for Uchicago, simply because i am not acquainted with what they are looking for. It could be that you lack of non-academic ECs might hurt you there. But definitely apply, you have a great chance. i would say uchicago is a low reach, the others are matches, and the lower ivies are low reaches as well. (HYP… high reaches for all applicants). Your stats are extremely strong, and your numbers make a loud statement on your academic competence, so if colleges reject you, it will only be because of your ECs, not your stats.</p>

<p>chance me back please.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/758364-moved-singapore-need-perspective.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/758364-moved-singapore-need-perspective.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>@Abetterlife: Thanks for the advice! And yeah, I’ll definitely chance you. :slight_smile:</p>