<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): Never taken
[</em>] ACT: 1- 29 comp (30 E, 24 M, 33 R, 30 S, 26 W) 2- 29 comp (31 E, 26 M, 31 R, 28 S, 29 W)
[<em>] SAT II:
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.87
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): n/a<br>
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): none
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): none
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: Honors Physics, Honors Latin II, Honors Critical Thinking, Honors Womens Writing, Pre-Calc
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none
[/ul]
Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Horseback riding, photography
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Ultimate Fitness Plus (certified personal trainer and group exercise instructor) 2008-present, approx. 20 hours per week
Sonic Drive In (carhop) 2006-present, approx. 20 hours per week
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: Undercover Project Coordinator, Therapeutic Horsemanship Volunteer, Library Volunteer, Heifer International
[<em>] Summer Activities:
[</em>] Essays: Work-related & what it has taught me (determination, etc.) How working as a personal trainer inspired me to pursue dietetics
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: former public school gifted teacher, very good
[</em>] Counselor Rec:
[<em>] Additional Rec: good letters from both bosses
[</em>] Interview: n/a
[/ul]
Other[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): Missouri
[</em>] Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type: Homeschooled/Distance. I am enrolled in a distance and independent study program though the University of Missouri. I take online courses through them and also complete traditional homeschool work on my own, which I submit to them for credit. I will receive an official high school diploma.
[</em>] Ethnicity: Caucasian
[<em>] Gender: Female
[</em>] Income Bracket: Low
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): It was necessary for me to work 40 hours per week because of my familys income (live with my single mother) Able to maintain good grades while more or less teaching myself. [/ul]
Reflection[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: good essays, recommendations, I think my application shows very strong work ethic and determination
[<em>] Weaknesses: No awards, lack of community service (no time!) act score could definitely stand to be higher
[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:[/ul] Accepted: Saint Louis University, University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire, Ohio State, UConn, James Madison, Purdue, University of Alabama</p>
<p>This is probably something I can answer better than almost anyone else here because I came out of homeschooling to get into college just as you are. I’ll try to address your stats overall and then the subjective aspect as well. First off, you neglected to mention which program you applied to here, that’s important because each has different standards. I’m assuming something related to health sciences because you mention dietetics?</p>
<p>-ACT: This may hurt you a bit. As you recognize, it could be a bit higher. Moreover, it’s just beginning to catch on with East Coast powerhouses. It’s always been considered something of ‘the SAT of the Midwest,’ but a lot of applicants always included ACT <em>along</em> with their SAT scores or just their SAT, rarely ACT alone. Those who do often take the SAT IIs to indicate a greater breadth of interest/subject mastery. This may not hurt you too much, but a less-than-stellar score + no accompanying tests isn’t optimal.</p>
<p>-GPA: Considering that you’ve got a hybrid home/cyber program, this is pretty strong. You’re basically sitting on a 3.9 as administrated by Mizzou, and that lends tremendous credence to your high school profile. In my case, mine was entirely administrated from home along with the yearly evaluation my state requires, and with every Tier-1 school there was the recurring question ‘how can something so inherently subjective and autonomous stack up against a traditional high school experience?’ A 4.0 on paper from some random homeschooling program raises some flags as you can probably imagine. You ought to be able to bypass that almost completely, and it may even end up working in your favor because of all the subjective aspects of your application that made performing so well in an independent study program challenging.</p>
<p>-AP/IB: Don’t worry about this. They recognize the whole mess homeschoolers run into trying to take AP exams without having access to the resources of a chartered school. In most states you simply can’t sit for the exam without being registered to a school district, regardless of whether you’re willing to self-study or not. IB is even more complicated than that.</p>
<p>-Course load: Not as huge a factor as many think, absolutely stacking your last year with 8 APs and Honors classes like some kids do in an attempt to impress the admissions committee isn’t as impressive as someone who excelled in every single class for the full 3.5 years they have before applications are due. That being said, Honors coursework is always a plus. The science demonstrates a quantitative aspect that may offset your low math test results, Latin’s usually a plus (they love classical languages, I did 8 years of this growing up), but pre-calc may be a bit of a problem.</p>
<p>Subjective:
I think you have a tremendous story. I’m sure they will too. The fact that you’ve done as well as you have with such adverse circumstances is pretty powerful, and it truly seems to have made you more mature a person than most kids leaving high school or applying to school are. You have real-world experience, hardly anyone else can say that, and from personal experience, I’ll say it will help you tremendously wherever you go. On that note, while it’s tremendous that you’ve gotten into as many schools as you have and definitely speaks to the strength of your application, not many of those schools are on the level NYU is. Of them, UConn is probably closest (69 nationally). If anything, all that would do would demonstrate how appealing a candidate you are if you completed the self-reporting form that tells schools where you got in/where you are going; I think that comes at the end of senior year though, so it probably won’t factor into NYU’s decision.</p>
<p>All in all I say you have a damn good chance and I really wish you the best. One thing to consider is that the financial aid here is absolutely atrocious, we have the lowest per-capita endowment for any Tier-1 school in the nation. It definitely makes going here tough, because the fees they post in all the rankings (i.e. $38,900 for tuition and fees) is simply inaccurate. My freshman year cost $58,000+. Of that, I got about 40-45% in scholarships/grants and paid the rest out of pocket. This year and the next will be loans. It isn’t a pretty picture. You may qualify for Pell grants which is something you definitely ought to look into if you haven’t yet, but I doubt (definitely hope though) the school will be able to give you something substantial. I know of one girl who got a full-ride as a first-generation college student, but the need-based aid packages here tend to be substandard.</p>
<p>If you do end up getting in feel more than free to ask any questions you have, I may not be able to reply here but just post in my thread, I check that often. <a href=“Current Stern Sophomore: Ask Me - New York University - College Confidential Forums”>Current Stern Sophomore: Ask Me - New York University - College Confidential Forums;