Chance me for Texas A&M and UT Austin?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hello could you chance me for admittance into UT Austin or Texas A&M? Both are my first choice schools for a wide variety of reasons, so I'd like to know where I stand on getting in. I know I am just an average student, but I need to try my hardest to make the rather poor application stand out. Lastly, what are some ways so make my application stand out, and is there anything I can do before the deadline (Dec 1st, Jan 15th)? Here are my stats:</p>

<p>Texas resident
Race:50% white, 50% asian
Academics:
94.0 GPA
195/700 Class rank (top 27%)
Semi Rigorous high school schedule consisting of 6 AP classes, AP micro economics, AP World History, AP US history, AP spanish 4, AP English, AP US Government
27 ACT (What would be the best way to get this to 30 for the December test date?)
1800 SAT, (570 math, 600 Writing, 630 Critical Reading)
"AP scholar" award</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Spanish Club (11th, 12th)
Vice President of Business Professionals of America (12th)
Treasurer of Art and Design Club (12th grade). Designed artwork for two school plays that was used for tshirts and pamphlets.
100 hours of volunteering
Member of Green Cord Community Service club (12th Grade)
Member of Church youth group. (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)
Member of a Karate organization for (9th, 10th)
Played Guitar and taught guitar lessons (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)
Ran my own web design company that hosted, developed, and created dynamic content for local companies. (10th, 11th, 12th)</p>

<p>Supplementals:
Expanded resume
4 letters of recommendation (one from World History teacher, one from mathematics teacher, one from guidance counselor, and one from employer)
2 well written essays</p>

<p>Also, I had a bout of mono that killed my grades during Junior year. It knocked me from the top 15% of my class to the top 27%. I missed 21 total days and was almost forced to repeat the school year. Should I mention this on the app, if I do how should I mention it, and will it give me any benefit?</p>

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<p>I go to Ut. You will not get into the engineering, business, or communication school. To be honest with you I know you won’t get in at all if your in state. Like 90+% of the in-state kids here (like me are top 10%) due to the top ten percent automatic admission law. I think its top 8% now. If your out of state this doesn’t apply to you and you have a better chance.</p>

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<p>YEs you should mention any extenuating circumstances also. Put it in your essays.</p>

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<p>OOS actually has more dismal chances than instate at UT FYI. You may get into A&M but UT is a long shot. I would mention the mono on the app and get a letter confirming it.</p>

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<p>OP, so sorry about your bout with mono and the impact on your GPA/class rank. I think admission officers understand how hard it can be to recover from such a set back, especially when you are tackling AP-level curriculum. It is impressive that you earned AP Scholar–presumably based on AP test scores at the end of your mono-impacted junior year.</p>

<p>UT and TAMU both offer Essay C to explain special circumstances. Read the description and tips on the Essay page of both websites. Do you think this would be a good vehicle for you to talk about what happened? If so, take advantage of it. Think about your approach. Understand there will be students who relate horror stories compared to yours. I am not trying to diminish what happened to you. But you should keep that in mind as you consider how best to tell your story. Is there a bigger picture about your life, your family circumstances, your college dreams, etc. that you can paint, weaving in this hurdle, how you worked to get over it and what you learned from meeting that challenge that will make you a better college student and person generally? </p>

<p>I’d talk with your counselor about this issue ASAP. He/she may have a recommendation about how to handle this. Also, would your counselor include a sentence or two in his/her rec about the impact of your illness on your junior grades and rank and how hard you worked to recover from it?</p>

<p>You’ve got a lot of great things going for you. Shoot for your dream schools, but develop a list of “match” and “safety” schools that are looking for students like you and where you’d be thrilled to be a student. We are lucky to have a lot of good choices in Texas.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

6

<p>bump10char</p>

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<p>Bump10char</p>