Chance Me for UPENN and other colleges; NY resident, 3.8 GPA, first generation, low income

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Chance Me for me getting into Ivy League Universities. And I am a Rising Junior

  1. Rising Junior
  2. 3.8 GPA Unweighted and 4.1/4.2 Weighted or 93 Average
  3. Classwork/Rigor: Have taken 3 APS so far those being - AP Seminar, AP World History, AP Spanish Language. Also have planned to take 7 more AP’S Those being AP Research, APUSH, AP English Lit, AP Government, AP Biology, AP Pre-Calculus, and AP Computer Science and Principles.
  4. ACT/SAT: Not Taken Yet
  5. Class of 2025
  6. Race or Demographics: Male Hispanic/Latino (Dominican), First Gen, Low-Income Household
  7. Somewhat Competitive High School
  8. ExtraCurriculars: Leader of the School’s Varsity Baseball Team, Leader/Founder of the School’s Christian Club, Participated in a Mock Trial Tournament, Lead Participants in the School’s Singing/Vocal Club, JROTC, Founder of the school’s Chess Club, and competed in school-based tournaments, Accepted as a Core Business Apprentice Intern to Ernst and Young through CareerWise, Drama Club, Gaming Club Member, Participated in Breast Cancer Walk (Community Service), Men of Strength club member, Students in Action (Community Service), Volunteered at Local Little League Team as a T-Ball Coach, Worked at a Gas Station, Family Obligations. Finally, I have served over 40 hours of Community Service.
  9. Awards: AP Scholar, Principal’s Honor Roll, Chess Champion, Social Studies Award, Mathematics Award, Valedictorian (MS), Advanced Regents Diploma.
  10. Intended Major: Criminal Justice or Computer Science
  11. State: New York
  12. Class Rank: Top 10% out of about 270 students
  13. Early Decision to UPENN being my Dream School

My College List: Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, Fordham University, Harvard University, New York University, Pace University, Penn State, Princeton University, SUNY Stony Brook University, University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University, Yale University, Baruch College, John Jay College for Criminal Justice.

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Your unweighted GPA is a little low for Penn and the other T20 schools on your list, but if you have an upward trend and/or can bring it up a little this year, that will help you. Even with the GPA being a little low, I think you have a chance being in the top 10% and also your hooks of being an URM and FGLI student. Applying ED is definitely the right strategy. Other advice I have for you is to make sure you work on your relationships with teachers this year so you can get some good recommendations. Also, start your essays early over the summer and make sure you have someone to read over them and help you edit. Good luck to you!

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If you are low-income, you may want to apply to U of Penn and some of the other schools using Quest Bridge. I think the application closes soon.
https://www.questbridge.org

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You’re too early to chance.

What will be your highest level math ??

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Like all other high-achieving students with at least equivalent stats, your odds are >90% that you’ll be rejected because they get more than 10 times the number of great applications than they can accommodate.

It’s okay to aim high, of course. So I would plan on picking maybe two or three highly selective schools that you feel the strongest about and absolutely do give those a try with carefullly tailored applications that show your strong interest in each of these schools - but mostly, work on finding some more “likely” colleges that you’d enjoy going to. Right now, your list is too “top-heavy” - it would be crushing to get 9 rejection letters in a row (no fault of yours).

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