Chance me (Hispanic Student) Muchas gracias!!

Student Lounge Hispanic Students
1

<p>Can someone chance me to any school? Thanks for taking your time!!</p>

<p>ACT: First Time: 29 (English: 34, Math: 29, Reading: 26, Science: 25) 2nd Time: 27 (English: 28, Math: 30, Reading: 24, Science: 24)
SAT II Spanish w/Listeing: 770
AP World History Exam: 5
Unweighted GPA: 4.0/4.0
Rank: School doesn't rank, but about 5%
Class size: About 200
School type: 26th best high school in nation</p>

<p>Awards: -1st place in state on the 2010 National Spanish Exam- Level 2: Bilingual Category
(Gold Award: 99th National Percentile)
-5th place in state on the 2011 National Spanish Exam- Level 3: Bilingual Category
(Gold Award: 95th National Percentile)
-2nd place on the Vanderbilt MLK Commemorative Essay Contest 2011-2012
-1 of the 12 students in the nation to receive the 2012 National Spanish Exam Junior Travel Award.
-A bunch of school awards</p>

<p>Course Load:
9th Grade:
H Biology- A+
H Geometry- A+
H English I- A+
We the People- A+
PE- A+
Visual Arts- A+</p>

<p>10th Grade
H Chemistry- A+
H Spanish IV- A+
Wellness- A+
H Algebra II- A+
H English II- A+
AP World History- A+</p>

<p>11th Grade (Grades so far)
H PreCalculus w/Trig- A+
AP Spanish Lang- A+
AP Chemistry- A+
AP US History- A+
AP English Lang- A+
H Physics-A+</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-Math Team (Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus) 2009-Present
-Student Government Association 2010-Present
-Science National Honor Society 2010-Present
-Mu Alpha Theta 2011-Present
-Spanish National Honor Society 2011-Present
-St. Thomas Science Scholars Program 2010-2011
-Sabor Latino Club 2009-Present
-Secretary (Will be President next year) 2011-2012
-Tennessee State University Exploring Education Program 2010-2011
-Vice President </p>

<p>Community Service:
-Teach English to Spanish native speakers at El Gran Yo Soy church almost every Saturday. (Co-Founder of this program)
-Guidance Worker (2010-Present): Answer phones, run errands, give tours, volunteer at Freshmen Orientation.</p>

<p>Work Experience:
-Private Tutor (Taught English to a student)
-Babysitter
-Server (summer job at a hispanic restaurant)
-Intern at a clinic during the summer
-Custodian (help my parents clean buildings)</p>

<p>Summer College Program: Governor's School for Prospective Teachers (highly selective: only 28 students in TN were selected to participate; earned 6 units of college credit; lived in UT Chatt for 5 weeks)</p>

<p>Other:
State: TN
Ethnicity- Hispanic (Mexican- born in Mexico)
Income: Less than 25K
Other- First Generation</p>

2

<p>What schools are you thinking about? Are you an international student?</p>

3

<p>I just want to get an idea to which schools I should I apply to, and I live in Tennessee (US).</p>

4

<p>^Which do you want:</p>

<p>Help with developing a realistic list of admissions and financial safety, match and reach schools.</p>

<p>or</p>

<p>Input/guesses on your ‘Chances’ at various schools.</p>

<p>These are two very different things and often the people responding to one type of request will not reply to the other.</p>

5

<p>I want: Help with developing a realistic list of admissions and financial safety, match and reach schools.</p>

<p>By the way entomom, I think that what you’re doing is awesome and not a lot of people would do this. Thanks for helping me and ALL the other people you have helped! :)</p>

6

<p>You’re welcome! I hoped you were looking for help constructing a list. I think there are many members here who can help with input.</p>

<p>First, let’s clarify a couple of things [note: I’m asking a lot of questions to get a better idea of what schools might be good for you. BUT, if you feel uncomfortable answering any of this, then please don’t, you shouldn’t post any sensitive information; some information can be given backboards if you prefer]. </p>

<p>You are a US citizen or resident, correct? When you say that you are first gen, do you mean that your parents never attended college, in the US or elsewhere?</p>

<p>Next, what are you looking for in a school:</p>

<p>Location (region of country, rural/suburban/city, etc.)
Size (small LAC, mid-sized (5-10k), large public)
Possible academic interests - not always important, but sometimes good to know if your interests are in specialized fields like engineering, architecture, music, etc. And from a financial POV, it’s good to know if you are considering grad or professional school in the future.
Social scene (Greek life, hipster, etc.)
Other important factors?</p>

<p>What is your financial need for college? What can your parents afford to pay per year? Do they have substantial assets (eg. equity in a house, savings, investments)? Do you have substantial money in your name (savings, custodial account, etc.)?</p>

<p>It looks like you will qualify for need based FA, but depending on the college, that could range from lots of loans to close to full need supplied with grants (even the most generous colleges ask for student self-help in the form of summer earnings and WS; but it looks like you have lots of work experience which is great).</p>

<p>Are you planning on applying to some outside scholarships for low income or Hispanic students? Have you looked into Questbridge yet?</p>

<p>Do you consider UTenn your admissions and financial safety? Do they offer substantial merit aid to IS students? How do you feel about attending there?</p>

<p>Your grades look fantastic, congrats! Along with gpa, the rigor of your coursework in relation to what your HS offers is important. Do you think your GC will mark that you have taken the ‘most’ or a ‘very’ demanding schedule of classes? What does your tentative sr year schedule look like?</p>

<p>You probably already know this, but your ACT score is out of kilter with your gpa, particularly since you say you are attending a competitive HS. When did you sit the tests and how much prep did you have each time? Would you have substantial time to prep this summer to retake first thing in the fall?</p>

<p>I see on your other thread that you’re thinking of also trying the SAT. If so, you’d also have to take at least one more Subject test. I would recommend taking 2 more since Spanish is your first language. With your jr year schedule, the Math 2, Chem, USH and English are all good possibilities for this spring.</p>

<p>Did you take the PSAT? If so, do you think you’ll qualify for NHRP?</p>

<p>What have I forgotten? Hispanic parents and students, please chime in if you can think of anything else.</p>

7

<p>Okay here we go :)</p>

<p>-I am a Dual Citizen (Both a Mexican and US citizen).
-My parents did not go to college (they only finished elementary school)
-Location of college: New England, West Coast, or here in TN. (Definitely urban)
-Size: Not too small or not too big–medium size
-I want to go into the education field; I am indeed planning to do grad school. I also want to open up a charter school for minorities in the future.
-Social Scene: I really don’t know: I would LOVE to be in a diverse (culturally, etc.) college.
-My parents would not be able to pay anything…and we have none of that (savings, investments, ect.)
-Yes, I am planning on applying to lots of scholarships (since I will be needing them) and I have looked into QB (I actually applied to the College Prep Scholarship)
-Honestly, I would not like to attend a UTenn school…
-I am pretty sure that my GC would mark one of those :slight_smile:
-Senior Year: AP Spanish Lit, AP Calculus BC, AP Government/AP Econ, AP Environmental Science, PE/Personal Finance, and either Senior Capstone or AP Physcology.
-The average in my school is 26-29 (ACT), and I will have lots of review time during the summer.
-I am going to take SAT II USH next month and either Math I or II (depends).
-I did in fact take the PSAT and scored a 186 (I don’t know if I qualify for NHRP</p>

<p>Thanks for all the help!!</p>

8

<p>I’m curious about a few things. How does dual citizenship work for college admissions? Does anyone know?</p>

<p>Also, will you be taking AP exams in May?</p>

9

<p>sbjdorlo: I will be taking AP exams in May and I am expecting two 5’s and two 4’s.</p>

10

<p>Well, if you can get that ACT up to a 31-33, you’ve got more than a decent shot for Vanderbilt, and it seems to fit all of your criteria!</p>

11

<p>^ If his/her ACT got up to 31+, he/she would have a good shot at Stanford and the like (considering URM + perfect grades).</p>

12

<p>

If one of the “duals” is US (as with OP), then student is US citizen for admission and financial aid.
The other citizenship might be a bonus, because some schools like to list all the countries in which their students have citizenship.</p>

13

<p>Unfortunately the Southern region is high and the NHRP cutoff was 193 last year. But since you are low income, you have other options for scholarships.</p>

<p>Given your gpa, background, SES, first gen and ECs, I think that if you can get into the low thirties on your next sitting of the ACT and write good essays, you have a good shot at just about any school. That doesn’t mean you should apply to only reach schools, that could be a recipe for disaster. But I think that you can include some of the top schools that have extremely generous need based FA. In addition, you should apply to match and safety schools where you have a decent chance of getting large merit awards. I understand your not wanting to attend your IS public (my kids didn’t either), but unless you get into a school early/rolling with a financial package (either need based or merit) that would be doable, you need to keep it as your rock solid safety.</p>

<p>Here are some thoughts on which schools you might want to look at. I hope others will chime in because my list will necessarily be biased based on the type/location/etc. schools that I’m most familiar with due to what my kids were interested in. Not to mention I could miss an obvious school ;).</p>

<p>Here are some to look at based on size, region, urban & generous FA or substantial merit aid:</p>

<p>H
Y
P (near NYC but in rather a small cloistered town IMO)
S (more suburban than urban)
Columbia
Brown
Pomona
Tufts (I don’t know about their FA; more suburban)
Swarthmore (I don’t know about their FA)
Georgetown (I don’t know about their FA)
USC (Trustee)
Brandeis (don’t know the current status of their merit awards)
Case Western Reserve (several)
BU (Trustee)
Pitt (general, Chancellor’s)
NEU (Eli, Bruche, Lewis)
Also possible merit, I don’t know much about them:
Fordham
Santa Clara
Villanova</p>

<p>Some major schools I’m leaving out: Midwestern (WUSTL, UChicago, NU, UWisc, UMinn-TC); southern (Duke, Rice, UVA, UNC-CH, Emory, Vandy, Tulane, UMiami); LACs that are not in a consortium; rural (Dartmouth, Cornell)</p>

14

<p>That’s really good to know!! :slight_smile: I also have another question: should I apply to schools early action through Questbridge (but rather do regular decision) or should I just apply SCEA to a particular school?</p>

<p>Thank you for all the help!!!</p>

15

<p>I have to admit, I’m not familiar with the ins and outs of QB. Have you checked the QB forum (under Financial Aid & Scholarships)?</p>

16

<p>Yes, I have. What I am trying to ask is that it better to apply SCEA to a school as an URM and low-income student?</p>

17

<p>I have new updates:</p>

<p>NEW Awards: Yale Book Award, 2nd place in state on the National Spanish Exam Level 4: Bilingual Category (Gold Award: 98th National Percentile), QuesBridge College Prep Scholar w/ a Full Scholarship to Emory University Pre-College Program, and more school awards.</p>

<p>Also, I think I am going to get a 3 on the AP Chemistry exam (will that hurt me a lot even though I am not going into the science field?)</p>

18

<p>Congrats on all of the awards and accomplishments! Have fun at Emory this summer.</p>

<p>While I do think adcoms take AP scores into consideration (why else would they ask on the application?), I don’t think it’s a large part of the decision and one score won’t be a make or break factor. I think they are mainly considered in relation to your score in the class, because although the material is standardized, there can be wide variability in how well it is taught, both between teachers and schools. </p>

<p>JMHO, I’ve never seen anything from colleges stating how they use the AP information.</p>

<p>Also, check out the new sticky thread for the Class of 2017.</p>

19

<p>This is my updated profile:
I am still in the process of composing a list of the colleges I am going to apply to. </p>

<p>ACT: First Time: 29 (English: 34, Math: 29, Reading: 26, Science: 25) 2nd Time: 27 (English: 28, Math: 30, Reading: 24, Science: 24)
SAT II’s: Spanish w/Listeing (770) US History (760) Math Level 2 (730)
AP’s (with scores): World History (5), Spanish Language (5), US History (5), English Language (4), Chemistry (4)
Senior Year Courseload: AP Calculus BC, AP Spanish Literature, AP Environmental Science, AP Government/AP Economics, Enlgish IV Honors
Unweighted GPA: 4.0/4.0
Rank: School doesn’t rank, but about 5%
Class size: About 200
School type: 49th best high school in nation</p>

<p>Awards: -1st place in state on the 2010 National Spanish Exam- Level 2: Bilingual Category
(Gold Award: 99th National Percentile)
-5th place in state on the 2011 National Spanish Exam- Level 3: Bilingual Category
(Gold Award: 95th National Percentile)
-2nd place in state on the 2012 National Spanish Exam- Level 4: Bilingual Category
(Gold Award: 98th National Percentile)
-2nd place on the Vanderbilt MLK Commemorative Essay Contest 2011-2012
-Recipient of the Yale Book Award
-QuestBridge College Prep Scholar (Full scholarship to Emory Pre-College Summer Program)
-AP Scholar w/Distinction
-1 of the 12 students in the nation to receive the 2012 National Spanish Exam Junior Travel Award.
-A bunch of school awards</p>

<p>Course Load:
9th Grade:
H Biology- A+
H Geometry- A+
H English I- A+
We the People- A+
PE- A+
Visual Arts- A+</p>

<p>10th Grade
H Chemistry- A+
H Spanish IV- A+
Wellness- A+
H Algebra II- A+
H English II- A+
AP World History- A+</p>

<p>11th Grade (Grades so far)
H PreCalculus w/Trig- A+
AP Spanish Lang- A+
AP Chemistry- A+
AP US History- A+
AP English Lang- A+
H Physics-A+</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-Math Team (Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus) 2009-Present
-Student Government Association 2010-Present
-Science National Honor Society 2010-Present
-Mu Alpha Theta 2011-Present
-Spanish National Honor Society 2011-Present
-St. Thomas Science Scholars Program 2010-2011
-Sabor Latino Club 2009-Present
-Secretary (Will be President next year) 2011-2012
-Tennessee State University Exploring Education Program 2010-2011
-Vice President </p>

<p>Community Service:
-Teach English to Spanish native speakers at El Gran Yo Soy church almost every Saturday. (Co-Founder of this program)
-Sunday school assistant teacher
-Guidance Worker (2010-Present): Answer phones, run errands, give tours, volunteer at Freshmen Orientation.</p>

<p>Work Experience:
-Private Tutor (Taught English to a student)
-Babysitter
-Server (summer job at a hispanic restaurant)
-Intern at a clinic during the summer
-Custodian (help my parents clean buildings)
-Paid summer internship with Metro Government.</p>

<p>Summer College Programs: -Governor’s School for Prospective Teachers (highly selective: only 28 students in TN were selected to participate; earned 6 units of college credit; lived in UT Chatt for 5 weeks)
-Emory University Pre-College Summer Program </p>

<p>Other:
State: TN
Ethnicity- Hispanic (Mexican- born in Mexico)
Income: Less than 25K
Other- First Generation (my parents didn’t finish primary school)</p>

20

<p>I got into Princeton University with a full ride (QuestBridge)!!! :)</p>