Chance me please! 3.4 GPA, very few ECs, Black dude from a dodgy area, interested in Journalism?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey! I’m new to the forums, but I hope that you guys can chance me for some colleges that I’ve been looking at recently (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northern Illinois University, New York University, and MAYBE University of Michigan/Northwestern but it’s a bit of a stretch).

I’m currently a junior at one of the top high schools in my city with an unweighted 3.4 GPA, and as of right now I’ve taken 4 total AP classes (including the 2 that I’m taking right now), with all of the rest of my classes (barring PE) being Honors. I haven’t taken the SAT yet, but my sophomore PSAT score was 1220 (94th percentile, a 620 in Math and 600 in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing).

My main problem is, though… I haven’t done any major ECs for most of high school. I did do some summer enrichment programs during the summers of my freshman and sophomore years and I hopefully plan to do a journalism course at Northwestern during my junior/senior break, but I’ve done basically NO ECs at my high school. I’ve tried to do some clubs during my freshman and sophomore years, but I’ve always dropped out of them due to lack of interest. I’m currently signed up to two clubs for junior year, but as of right now I’ve barely attended any meetings. I’m also a member of my school’s National English Honor Society, which I hope to use in my college app + the fact that I’m a black first-generation college student coming from a pretty rough area of my city.

Will the lack of ECs significantly affect my college app? I also haven’t done any volunteering during high school, so I’m kinda worried that’ll also bite me during the admissions process. I’m also kinda scared to ask any of my teachers for rec letters, although I trust my counselor enough to provide these schools with a decent rec letter and I have at least one teacher (my current AP Language teacher) that I trust enough to also give these schools decent rec letters, but beyond that I’m not really sure.

As stated above, I plan to major in Journalism at one of the schools I mentioned up top. My dream school is Columbia, but I’m also realistic and I realize that it’s already hard enough for some with a literal 4.0 unweighted GPA to get in that school, so I’ve narrowed by choices down to these four main options:

1.) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2.) University of Illinois at Chicago
3.) Northwestern University
4.) University of Michigan
5.) New York University

Is this realistic? Hopefully I can get a good enough SAT score, some volunteer work over winter break, and boost my GPA up to 3.5.

2

First things first, and with college the first thing is money: what can you afford? For example, NYU is famously stingy with money and it is breathtakingly expensive (always in the top 10 most expensive). They do give a few meaningful scholarships- but your stats make it extremely unlikely for you. Guessing that you are an Illinois resident, so out of state (OOS) for Michigan- which is again, expensive. So, what can you afford?

Second, yes ECs matter- a lot- BUT lots of things besides school clubs count as ECs. In real life, where does your time go? The more selective the school the more they expect that you are the kind of go-getter who is always doing something constructive with their time. For example, you mention journalism- what are you doing about getting started in that field? there are lots of ways to be doing that right now, and not just through the school.

What colleges look for from your ECs are things like ‘what does this student bring to the college community?’ ‘has s/he shown that s/he can get involved in something and stick with it over time?’ ‘is the student a leader / strong team player?’.

They are all proxies for: will the college be better for having you there? will you work and play nicely with others? can you stick with something over time (ie, can you finish what your start/weather the bumpy parts- a proxy for can you stick with college and graduate in good time).

About references: virtually all teachers will be honest with you. Look at your teachers, and think about classes that you genuinely like and/or excel in. Engage with those teachers/classes - starting right now. Let them see your interest in the subject, that you are willing to do that bit more to do good work. Keep track of your successes in those classes. In the late spring, approach the teachers and ask them if they would be able to write you a recommendation. If they say yes, quickly and immediately - great! ask them how the timing works. Most likely they will ask you to remind them / give the list of colleges by a date in the autumn.

When you do, you give them a page with info about you & your goals. Bullet points about what you are looking for from college, examples of things you did in their class that stood out for you (ie, reminding them of moments where you shone- you might think that they will remember, but remember they have a lot of students!), and possibly some relevant facts about your life. That takes time to create, but it is oh-so-worth it, because it makes the teachers job writing the LoR so much easier- and it helps you create a clear narrative across the whole of your application.

Apply your journalism focus to your application: you are creating a (true!) story for the reader- ie, the adcomm person reading your application. Each element of your application- your grades, test scores, LoRs and essays- should add to the overall picture of who you are as an applicant and future member of the college community.

Finally,

It is true that there is typically a bump from being a URM (underrepresented minority) and often from being first-gen- but it’s a bump, not a pass, so be careful about overweighing it in estimating your odds.

3

The best thing you can do for your application is to rock your classes and standardized tests. Getting your GPA up and your SAT at 1500+ will give you the best shot at these schools. ECs are secondary to GPA, rigor, and test scores.

It’s too early to say if your list is realistic.

That said, NU, Columbia, UMich are going to expect engaged and involved students. You got some great advice in reply #1.

4

For journalism, Mizzou is one of the best schools and the grades should be well in line.

Either Arizona or ASU is supposed to have a top journalism program as well and will be more realistic than your other choices.

5

Loyola New Orleans “Maroon” newspaper has garnered all kinds of national awards. Admission stats are pretty lax.

6

Are you not involved with student publications at your school? No interest?

7

Have to agree with this – determine what you can afford (talk to your parents), and run the net price calculator on each college’s web site.

Going into a lot of student loan debt would not be a good idea if you intend to go into a lower income profession like journalism.

8

While it’s still early, right now your GPA will not get you into most of the schools on your list. Getting it up to a 3.5 doesn’t really change that. You can go to the schools’ websites and they will give you admission statistics like average GPA, SAT/ACT scores. The bottom 3 on your list have average UNweighted GPAs at 3.8-3.9 and average SAT scores in the high 1300s to 1500s. The top 2 on your list might be attainable if you get your GPA up to around a 3.6 and get the SAT up about 100 points. I don’t mean to be harsh, but I’m sure you came here for honesty. And the bottom 3 schools will want lots of ECs-a big deal is not just how many ECs but how long you have been involved. They are looking for longevity. Joining a club your last year or 2 of high school doesn’t look good. You got some good advice in that you should look at some other programs that are more realistic. You have time to get your scores up and if you take a lot of APs that will really help, too. You definitely should apply to whatever schools you want-people get into their reach schools every year. Just go into it being realistic about your chances.

9

Have you looked at Questbridge and Posse to see if you qualify… Posse might be a great fit since they are looking for students who might otherwise be overlooked, although they are looking for demonstrated leadership.

10

No, although I do have a bit of broadcasting/editing experience from a summer program I did between sophomore/junior year.

Thank you for all of the responses! I also have another question: since I don’t have any volunteering experience, should I try to prioritize volunteering over actual work experience during junior year whenever I can, or will colleges accept a more lax resume (no real vol work, some ECs/job experience over the summer, and membership in my school’s National English Honor Society) as long as my grades are on point?

11

Just go for it! And add Lehigh University to your list!

12

The OP’s GPA is a bit low for QB, and a student needs to be nominated for Posse. The OP can maybe can get his counselor to nominate him, though. It all depends, though, whether the OP’s high school is in a Posse city, Since the OP is from Illinois, the school needs to be part of CPS.

A few more things. First, of the OP’s choices, only UMichigan is paired with the Chicago Posse, and only for STEM students. Moreover, Posse tends to pair students with colleges in which their academics are a good match. However, Chicago partners also include Denison, Depauw, and St Olaf, all excellent colleges and they have journalism majors.

The biggest issue, though, is that chances of becoming a Posse Scholar are pretty slim. This year 2,900 or so students were nominated in Chicago areas, up 400 from last year. About 120 are selected (122 were selected last year), which puts the stats at about 4% of Posse nominees who become Posse Scholars.

13

@MWolf Thanks for the insight into the Posse program - I didn’t realize how competitive it was!

14

Broadcasting might make Syracuse an option. But it’s expensive.

15

You should look into Mizzou and ASU #1 and # 2 for journalism. Apply to the honors colleges there as well. You will get money from either school.

16

1° you need to start “prepping” for the SAT or the ACT right now. Use online resources and dedicate one hour to it each day. You have six months to bring that score way up.
2° get involved in student publications or broadcasting/radio/podcasting, preferably both on the technical side and the creative side. Do it now. Can be at school, in your neighborhood, or anywhere else that’ll take you. A workplace for adults (ie., community or city-wide) is better than school-based, but without experience you’re unlikely to be hired.
3°Why do you want to be a journalist?
4° What’s your EFC? (If you don’t know, use FAFSA4Caster) What is your parents’ budget for college?
5° Why is your GPA a 3.4? Is there an upward trend? Did you start out in a lousy middle school then tested into your current school?
6° Which 4 AP’s? What math are you currently taking? Foreign Language? Have you taken AP CS Principles, graphic design, media studies… (in addition to AP English and such).
7° Mizzou, ASU, Ohio University, Denison, DePauw, St Olaf are all good possibilities academically as long as you can raise these test scores and that GPA, but until you know your EFC and parents’ budget, it’s impossible to know whether they’ll be affordable.
Point Park U in Pittsburgh would be an academic safety but I’m not sure it’d be affordable. Same thing for St Bonaventure.

Without a 3.7 nor a strong background in journalism outside of class (and public recognition) Northwestern, Columbia, and UMich are out of reach. However there are lots of other possibilities for you.
For UIUC, my guess is that you’d need to bring your GPA to a 3.5, have a 1300 SAT and some EC’s in journalism/communication. That’s achievable. And UIUC has Illinois Promise, so if your EFC is zero, you’d qualify for a full ride if you are admitted.