Chance me for UCLA, big merit aid at USC, LMU, Pepperdine?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Basically, my parents' income does not qualify me for any sort of need-based aid, so I'm depending on potential merit based scholarships from private schools I will be applying to. I'd really appreciate it if you could chance me for admission to the above schools, and also for the possibility of receiving major merit scholarships (i.e. full tuition) from the privates. Any advice would be great! Thanks!</p>

<p>Current Grade: rising senior
HS GPA (school weights weirdly): 4.2459
UC GPA: ~4.44
Class rank: 7/661 --> 98.94th percentile
Ethnicity: White (Iranian-American if that makes any difference...)
Gender: F
Prospective major: Biochemistry</p>

<p>IN STATE </p>

<p>SAT I: will get score on June 26th, expecting somewhere between 2200 and 2350
PSAT - Sophomore: 198
PSAT - Junior: 218 (76 CR, 70 M, 72 W)
SAT II: US History - 800, Math II - 790, Bio M - 760 </p>

<p>GRADES: </p>

<p>Freshman: </p>

<p>Algebra 2 - A/A
Chemistry - A/A
English 9 - A/A
World Cultures/Media - A/A
Spanish 1 - A/A
P.E. - A/A
Health (online) - A </p>

<p>Sophomore: </p>

<p>AP Bio - A/A
AP Euro - A/A
Honors English 10 - A/A
Honors Spanish 2 - A/A
Math Analysis - A/A
P.E. - A/A </p>

<p>Junior: </p>

<p>AP Calc BC - B/B
AP Enviro - A/A
AP Lang - A/A
AP US History - A/A
Honors Physics - A/A
Honors Spanish 3 - A/?A</p>

<p>Senior (prospective): </p>

<p>AP Stats
AP Physics C
AP Lit
AP Gov/Honors Econ
AP Spanish Lang
Ceramics </p>

<p>AP Exams: </p>

<p>AP Bio - 4
AP Euro - 5 </p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS: </p>

<p>Founder and President of Charitable Hearts (non-profit organization assisting relief efforts in times of natural disaster) since junior year
Co-President of Human Rights Watch Student Task Force junior year, President senior year. Member since freshman year.
Animator (basically a teacher) of a Bahai children's group since sophomore year
Member of WonderWomen club (raising awareness for women's rights) since sophomore year
Member of Shelter Helpers (community service related to animals) since sophomore year
Member of Best Buddies (providing companionship for our school's disabled students) since freshman year
Peer volunteer tutor for math, science, English, history, and Spanish since freshman year
Summer intern at local pharmacy since sophomore year.</p>

2

<p>For USC, students who get merit scholarships (the good ones) usually have 2300+ on their SATs and have already achieved a great deal in their prospective major in terms of ECs. The way that USC uses its scholarships is to attract students with high test scores and GPA to pull up their average numbers. Therefore, you really need 2300+ or 35+. If you get really lucky, you may get the presidential. The full-tuition one is really rare and very very random, so I wouldn’t count on that at all. Tbh, I dont know much about merit scholarships besides the ones that they offer at USC, so I can’t help you much there. Btw, your parents may qualify for financial aid and you might not know it. I would suggest running your family’s numbers in the calculators of some of the colleges that you’re interested in (if you haven’t already). I would also suggest applying to wealthy LACs and other top privates, since these schools have great endowments (possibly leading to more generous aid packages).
Btw, you need to diversify your ECs (too many clubs in there). </p>

3

<p>How would you suggest diversifying my ECs? Any other opinions?</p>

4

<p>UCLA–match
USC–match, not sure about merit aid, but i think you will at least get something
LMU–safety
Pepperdine–high match</p>

<p>chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1691955-what-are-my-chances-top-tiers-west-and-east.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1691955-what-are-my-chances-top-tiers-west-and-east.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;