Chance me please, sr. w/ high gpa, low scores (will return favor!)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Female
Hispanic, 1st generation
Location: Florida
College Class Year: 2013
High School: Public school that rarely sends grads to top schools
Financial aid: Yes
Major: Choices: Pre-Med, Neuroscience, International Relations</p>

<p>GPA UW: 4.0
W: 4.62
Class Rank: 1/327</p>

<p>12 APs total by end of 4 years</p>

<p>Senior Courses:
AP Eng Lit
AP Macro- & Micro-economics
AP Calculus AB & BC
AP US Govt & Pol.
AP Comparative Gov/Pol
Forensics
Ceramics</p>

<p>Scores (not the best test taker :[ )
ACT (first time, taking again in Oct.)-
Composite-25
SAT (will retake in Dec.)-
660 CR 580 M 650 W
1240/1600, 1890/2400
Taking Bio, Math II, and U.S History SAT II's Nov. 1st</p>

<p>Extracurriculars/Leadership positions:
I moved to Fl from NY after 10th grade, couldn't really get leadership positions in clubs.</p>

<p>Treasurer of World Awareness Club
Team Development Chair- American Cancer Society
Head of Tutoring Committee- National Honor Society
Treasurer- Spanish Honor Society
Beta Club (Service Club with 3.5 GPA requirements)
VP- Spanish Club
Mu Alpha Theta (Math Honor Society)
Co-founder/VP Muslim Girls Youth Group
Track & Field (9,10)
JV Lacrosse Co-Captain (10)</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work:
Hospice
Local Museum
Relay for Life
Local Elementary School</p>

<p>Jobs:
Held 2 jobs in 9th and 10th grade all year</p>

<p>Honors and Awards:
NSHSS <--
Who's Who <-- I don't know if these count for anything?
National Student Honor Roll <--
Highest Avg AP World History
" " Span. II,III,IV
AP Scholar
National Honors Society Membership
Spanish Honors Society Membership
Math Honors Society Mmbrshp</p>

<p>Colleges I'm applying to-
Columbia University -always a dream of mine, love the campus, love the city
UPenn
Brown
Georgetown (Not sure yet)
University of Florida
Florida State University </p>

<p>I know I have too many reaches, not enough matches/safeties but location is imp. to me, any suggestions?</p>

<p>These threads get annoying but I'd greatly appreciate any advice, suggestions, comments, or anything you have to offer, and I will return the favor. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Your scores are really bringing you down. If you can get your SAT up to around a 2100, you'd be in much better shape, but even then, most of the schools you have listed are reaches. I guess being hispanic will help, but still....</p>

<p>I'd definitely add in more matches and safeties. What about BU, Penn State, GW, NYU, BC, and Villanova? Those might be more like match schools for you.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the post! My problem (besides my SAT scores) I really want to stay in either the northeast or Florida. I also am only looking into schools that offer 100% need-based scholarships. Unfortunately, I don't think the schools you listed offer good enough finaid packages :( I would definitely apply to BC if this wasn't the case.</p>

4

<p>I'd say don't send those ACT scores (only if you do better tomorrow). The reasons they are pretty much all reaches are due to your test scores.</p>

<p>Columbia University -reach
UPenn-high reach, test scores
Brown-reach, due to test scores
Georgetown (Not sure yet)-reach, apply EA.
University of Florida-reach, as they care a lot about test scores, not much else.
Florida State University-good shot/in</p>

5

<p>Thanks Emp! Do you think I should apply EA to Columbia? Or perhaps Brown since I may have a better shot there?</p>

6

<p>well, I would if that where you really want to go. But I believe both schools you just mentioned only have ED, not EA.</p>

7

<p>how does a val manage to do that badly for sat?</p>

8

<p>yaa its crazy.. its my theory that to top the sat, you need luck + swift brains.
but to be a val, you need to put in consistent hard work AND be smart (though slow smart rather than swift smart can be fine, in fact it would be an advantage due to greater analysis).</p>

<p>So low sats but val shows a very hard worker (unless the school is pathetic and there is grade inflation).</p>

9

<p>In at FSU and probably UF...unless your school is REALLY weak. The rest are kinda reachy, given your stats. Good luck!</p>

<p>Chance back?
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/585120-i-m-applying-yale-tomorrow-so-chance-me.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/585120-i-m-applying-yale-tomorrow-so-chance-me.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

10

<p>srrinath: The val at my school got an 1880.</p>

<p>It's not that she's not smart, she has like a 94-95 average and is taking the hardest classes. She's just not the greatest test taker and she doesn't work well under pressure. The SAT doesn't measure smart-ness, it mainly measures test taking abilities, IMO.</p>

11

<p>The people who say that are usually the ones who do badly. The SAT isn't a perfect predictor, but it is a pretty good indicator of intelligence.</p>

12

<p>Well to give some sort of explanation, I am lazy and never really prepared well enough and thought that I couldn't since I don't have the money for SAT prep classes but I never realized all the free resources I had in front of me and now it's too late. Also, I am the longest test taker, always the last one to leave the class during a test, so I have trouble finishing any section on both the SAT and ACT. I guess I'm not the average val, which isn't a good thing..</p>