<p>Hi all. I currently attend a community college in North Carolina. I will have 41 credits completed by the time I apply. </p>
<p>I am applying to USC (communications), Boston University (Journalism), Northwestern (Comm) UMich (communications, may switch to poli sci though), Georgetown (Gov major w/ journalism minor), Cornell (communications), and UNC Chapel Hill (Journalism).</p>
<p>HS Stats: 3.5 weighted GPA. Had a 3.1 unweighted with an upward trend until senior year when I took AP Calc/Bio and bit off more than I could chew. 26 ACT, 1640 SAT (nothing to be proud of).</p>
<p>College stats: 4.0 GPA</p>
<p>EC's: </p>
<ul>
<li>Started my own sports blog</li>
<li>President's list twice</li>
<li>(HS) FBLA member. Helped organize and participate in a small scale fundraiser for veterans.</li>
<li>(HS) Helped organize/participate in "trunk or treat"</li>
<li>Phi Theta Kappa member</li>
<li>Part time job. Will have been there a little under 2 years by the time I apply. Received a promotion in March 2014.</li>
<li>(HS) Roughly 40 hours of volunteer work spread out between a local soup kitchen and retirement home.</li>
</ul>
<p>My letter(s) of recommendation will come from an English professor I had last Fall. He always complemented me on my writing, I figured that would be good as a journalism/comm major. Also going to ask my Communications professor from last Fall as well.</p>
<p>What are my chances? Any advice? Thanks guys!</p>
<p>You know how it works on here, all of the listed schools are reaches for everyone with the exception of BU. Though for you, UNC-Chapel Hill isn’t a reach because you are coming from an in-state community college. University of Michigan is substantially more difficult to get into from out-of-state. Northwestern, Cornell, and Georgetown are hard for everyone and USC tends to prefer in-state community college students on the trojan plan. The good news is that with 30+ college credits, these schools will probably look at your college grades more than your high school grades. The bad news is I don’t see anything here that would truly set you apart from all of the other 3.8+ community college students, myself included. ACT/SAT doesn’t really matter after your first year of school because you have proven that you can survive in a collegiate academic environment. May the odds be ever in your favor.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. Is UMich really that hard for OOS? I didn’t think it was extra difficult. Anyway, Do you have any tips for setting myself apart in my essays?</p>
<p>It is unfortunately, but very doable and a 4.0 will go a long way. I would honestly suggest finishing the A.A. as bigger schools really like to see that. It will give you more time to get more EC’s and make a convincing and persuasive case for why you would be a good choice. It’s funny because a 4.0 ordinarily is perfection but at these top schools, it is more of an expectation that an achievement. </p>
<p>Georgetown and Northwestern are not going to happen but if you really are in love with the Cornell name (nothing wrong with that), consider applying for transfer to the ILR school, AgSchool, and HumEc School. They are state-sponsored colleges which receive a LOT of cc transfers. I’m just trying to save you an application fee. Sure, you hear improbable success stories but those happen with CONNECTIONS or are extreme circumstances. I would really wait until you finish the A.A. which would be only one more semester after when you originally intended to apply. As an in-state, I would seriously go with the UNC-Chapel Hill option because you will basically be in, because of the preference of state universities to admit their own community college graduates as transfers, if you keep up your good performance. UNC Chapel Hill is heavily respected. No one is going to care whether you went to Georgetown vs UNC-Chapel Hill, we are talking about the top 1-2% of colleges here. Plus you will save a lot of money and UNC-Chapel Hill will accept all 60 of your credits if you finish the A.A. from a state CC and fulfill all your prerequisites instead of having only half of your credits being denied at NU and G-Town.</p>
<p>All I’m saying is that as someone as bright as you should be able to put 1 and 2 together to figure out that UNC-Chapel Hill would give you the biggest bang for your buck and you could basically start mapping out your academic time plane post-transfer because of your likelihood of admittance.Those are my two cents.</p>
<p>I know I have a good shot at UNC at this point, but the reason that it’s the only school i’m applying to in-state is that I’d ideally like to go to college somewhere in the Northeast (where I’m from) or California. I’m looking to get out of the south, and the majority of graduates tend to stay in the triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, etc.) (according to USNEWS) or in Charlotte, which isn’t desirable for me. </p>
<p>I’ve been told my chances for Georgetown could be positive with a strong essay, so I’m focusing on that. I also think I have a shot at NU because I have a pretty compelling reason to go there in my opinion and I plan to show it in my essays. Also Communications isn’t too competitive at NU so there’s also that. I understand they are hard schools to transfer into, but to say they wont happen is a bit ridiculous in my opinion.</p>
<p>NU’s communication program is one of the best communication programs in the nation (don’t know who told that it wasn’t competitive because that is BS). Secondly, the overwhelming majority of people who apply to G-Town write a “strong” essay. I never said you won’t get in but you have to be realistic. The only time G-Town and NU seriously consider community college students is when they are URM/older student, low socioeconomic background/disadvantaged up-bringing, or post-military. I don’t want to sound like a complete ass but basically, you’re going to have to convince these two top 20 schools that you are better than the 90% of other applicants (acceptance rate of 10%) who applied from mostly 4-year universities with more advanced coursework and “strong” essays plus good high school grades to begin with. Unless you have an incredible life story or are a celebrity, it basically won’t happen. Hypothetically it could but let us be honest. On CC, it seems to me that anybody with a 4.0 from a CC feels that they can just want into a top 20 school. I hope you take my advice to save yourself lost time, waiting anxiety, and rejection frustration. You are very bright but the numbers are against you.</p>
<p>You’re basically in at UNC-Chapel Hill because you’re an in-state community college student and you have a 4.0. I would honestly recommend just finishing your A.A. and going with this plan, UNC-Chapel Hill is great even though it is in the south. Although the majority of graduates end up staying in the triangle area, you don’t have to. You have all your life to live outside the South. Also, just because someone tells you that you have good chances doesn’t mean you do, it just means that someone thinks you do. Especially with Georgetown, because you are applying as a government major and they get way to many of those applications from transfers. They probably already have too many government students in their current freshman class.</p>
<p>You have picked probably the most selective majors at both of these schools coming from your situation GPA-wise, test score-wise, and current school rigor.</p>
<p>I’d go the full 60 if I were you just to finish the A.A., it really makes a big difference. Especially for cc students because it shows that they took all the required maths/english/science and could follow a set of graduation requirements.</p>