| CHANCE ME? | Average Florida Student. | Discouraged & Fearful! |

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello! My name is Nate, and this is my very first post here on CC. I've visited this website hundreds of times over a period of a year, and I am familiar with what goes on around here. I would greatly appreciate my very first "Chance Me" replies to be somewhat encouraging. I am in an emotionally differentiated state on how my educational future will play out. Thanks for any and all help!</p>

<p>Gender: Male
Location: Florida
Ethnicity: Hispanic (Puerto Rico), White
High School: Creekside High School, Public
High School Type: Sends some grads to top schools.
Will apply for financial aid: Yes (FASFA)</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 3.10 | Expecting a 3.3 end of semester.
GPA - Weighted: 3.35 | Expecting a 3.6 end of semester.
Class Rank: Top 50%
Class Size: ~400-500</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>SAT taken 5 times, 1570 Superscore
ACT taken once</p>

<p>SAT I Math: 500
SAT I Critical Reading: 540
SAT I Writing: 530
ACT: 24 | Essay 8/12</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work:
75 service hours, in-school class intern
~15-35 service hours, public library service worker
~10 service hours, miscellaneous
Member of a Christian Youth Group at Mandarin Presbyterian Church
Assist in local peer tutoring
Instruct Networking students how to assemble classroom computers, as well as installing any necessary software.</p>

<p>Christian Church Youth Group Food & Clothing Drive</p>

<p>OTHER: Family/Work obligations mentioned in all applications. Severe, private, and too long to post on CC.</p>

<p>Honors and Awards:</p>

<p>Made final four, Rotary Youth Exchange Program, did not study abroad.
Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association Health, Safety, and Food Handling Certification</p>

<p>Employment:</p>

<p>Line Cook at an upscale Italian restaurant. Employed for two years. Exceptional pay for an 18 year old. Very, very stressful. Insanely demanding. 20-30 hours a week.</p>

<p>Colleges of Interest:</p>

<p>Flagler College, Private, Status: Applied/Pending (FALL EARLY DECISION)
Florida Atlantic University, Public, Status: Will Apply
Florida Gulf Coast University, Public, Status: Will Apply
Florida State University, Public, Status: Applied/Pending
University of Central Florida, Public, Status: Deferred
University of Florida, Public, Legacy: Yes (20 year old brother/Current Google Software Engineer), Status: Will Apply</p>

<p>University of North Florida, Public, Status: Deferred
University of South Florida, Public, Status: Will Apply
University of West Florida, Public, Status: Will Apply</p>

<p>Family Income Level: $200K+/yr | 2 parents, 2 siblings, 1 attending UF
Importance of cost: NONE</p>

<p>Through four years of same high school, I've had 4 honors classes, 2 AP classes, HOPE, one full-year intern class, 1 full-year study hall, two consecutive foreign languages, all other graduation required classes, and 3 years of a computer networking academy.</p>

<p>I am excited to see the results and am eager to heed some new advice!</p>

<p>Thanks!
- Nathan A.</p>

2

<p>Bump!! Bump!!</p>

3

<p>Flagler ED: Low match
FGCU: Low match
UF: Reach
FAU: Low match/Match
FSU: Reach (but lower than UF)
UCF: Reach
UNF: Match
USF: High match
UWF: Low match</p>

4

<p>First off, </p>

<p>Calm down! Relax! You’re thinking of college! To think that 70 years ago minorities couldn’t even have a chance of going to college! Your scores are average, and the colleges I see on your list are finely matched with your scores. Your going to succeed, whether its in school or not. Be happy!</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the advice, but how on earth am I anywhere near close enough to have a chance at UF? They want like a 4.2 gpa!!!</p>

6

<p>Thanks for the advice uscgabound!</p>

7

<p>I think UF and FSU are out of reach but if you feel like it you could apply ‘just to see’ keeping expectations low. I’d agree with catria for most the only difference would be that I’d see FGC and UWF as safeties.
if you’re willing to apply outside Florida - and since money is not a huge concern apparently look into some private colleges out of state. Many are looking for male applicants and further north being Hispanic can be advantage if some colleges are trying to diversify their freshman class. In particular look into Colleges that change lives since most deliver an excellent education and would be accessible with your stats. If the complicated family matter mentioned prevents you from going too far you can still check out Rollins, Barry, Stetson, UTampa, Florida Southern, or Bsc up in Alabama .</p>

8

<p>Thank you MYOS, your advice is greatly appreciated and well thought out. I do apply to some schools for the “just to see” option, but my parents and my guidance counselor seem to be discouraging that.</p>

<p>So far, the only private school I have applied to is Flagler; I have not actually looked into any other private schools at all. As much as I would really like to move out of state, especially for school, I don’t think that would be an option for me, only because my parents are very strict on staying in Florida. If I can convince them otherwise, I will most likely open a separate thread.</p>

<p>Thanks for your help. Replies greatly appreciated!</p>

9

<p>Bump! #10char</p>

10

<p>I actually think your odds are fairly good at Flagler ED so don’t worry too much.</p>

<p>As for your parents, I guess they may not want to pay for an oos school. Check with them. Do they have a limit to how much they’re willing to pay ($30,000? $20,000? $45,000?) and would they be okay letting you attend college out of state if you found colleges that admitted you and made you pay what they’re willing to fund, and you got scholarships to cover the difference?
Your stats aren’t strong enough to get merit aid to out of state publics, so your obvious choice is to check out private colleges - as I said, check out “colleges that change lives”.
However if your family makes $200,000+ it’s dubious you’d qualify for need-based aid, so your financial aid would probably be merit (what do you offer of value to the school? geographic diversity, being male, being Hispanic, your cooking skills, your personal/severe obligations that presumably taught you responsibility, duty, resilience, etc. ie the kind of characteristics colleges like to see in students).
Public universities are “by the number”. All these awesome qualities just can’t appear when a university has 50,000 applications to get through. So they enter your GPA, your SAT scores, AP/IB courses, and only if you’re a special case do they look at something else.) That’s why you’d have a better shot getting admitted to a private college where admissions are holistic.
That’s also why I think you have a decent shot at Flagler ED.
But the colleges I named before are all worth considering. Check them out.Fill out the “request information” from the colleges that sound interesting to you. They could be a Plan B if Flagler doesn’t pan out. In addition, check out “Colleges that change lives”. If you need more suggestions, let us know, I’m sure people here would have lots of ideas.
As far as merit aid goes, Hendrix College is very good with merit money but your stats aren’t that great so I’m not sure you’d qualify. You can always check it out and/or apply. (It’s a very good school and they’re on CommonApp).</p>

11

<p>Bump! #10char</p>