<p>Junior
GPA : 3.5ish freshmen year then transferred to a better private school 3.0 Sophomore year and 3.5ish Junior year. 3.8ish(projected) senior year Unweighted
No honors no APs. Senior year will have two honors
My school is very screwed. Its private and the administration is trying to eliminate as many APs as possible. And its also really hard to get into APs not just A- in the previous year but also with recommendations from the teacher and have to take math exam.
Class Rank: NA
SAT II"s:
Math 2: 800(projected)
Physics: 800(projected)
Chemistry: 750(projected)
Extreme confident about the SAT 2 Scores</p>
<p>ACT
34
So my test scores are much better than grades.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars
Investing in market
Made from 100k to 300k
Worked at bank
Worked at stock firm
National Games of the People’s Republic of China 70 hrs
A 501(c)3 non profit in SoCal to help under privilege children in education
Qinghai charity project to help provide children with educational materials in a township for four years
Created a club called Investing Club</p>
<p>Summer before Senior:
Boy state California
Pepperdine University Youth Citizenship seminar
Babson Entrepreneurship program</p>
<p>Schools:</p>
<p>Reach:
USC
NYU Stern
Carnegie Mellon</p>
<p>Safety:
Babson
Boston University</p>
<p>My main concern is: Can i get into Boston very easily or would I have to need to smash my head to get in?</p>
<p>For my recommendations, I have a really good relationship with my counselor. I also made some contribution to the school. My english teacher will write most likely about how i improved over the junior year in my efforts and grades. I will have a recommendation from the 501(c)3 program as well.</p>
<p>My college essays will also be superb like A+++.</p>
<p>What are my chances?</p>
<p>if you’re recs and essays are solid, then i’d say you’re in. USC probably. NYU high chance. CMU is a definite reach.</p>
<p>Thank you so much! USC Marshall and NYU Stern? I am so excited</p>
<p>One of your extracurricular activities involved making over a quarter of a million dollars? Why even go to college unless you’re going purely for personal enrichment?</p>
<p>i don’t think money is a factor for anything even at my school. Everybody is rich at my school they do not all end up going to top schools. Money can’t buy me into college unless its 100 Mill. Do i stand a chance for USC and Stern?</p>
<p>I meant, why go to college if you can sustain yourself with a 250k+ income at such a young age. </p>
<p>College isn’t strictly vocational school to some people.</p>
<p>Yeah and BU isn’t really considered a school for spiritual and intellectual growth; it’s a massive, impersonal research university - one doesn’t really go to BU to “find themselves.” @Vlklngboy11 </p>
<p>Most people who go to BU (especially those in SMG and ENG) are there solely so they can make the type of money that OP claims is one of his extracurricular side jobs. </p>
<p>Any college you should be able to experience intellectual growth. I know I have at BU and I know I’m not alone when there are twenty other people taking class in philosophy even though most of us are minoring in it. It’s only impersonal if you don’t reach out to make personal connections. You don’t go and are not planning on going to BU anyways preamble.</p>
<p>I am not saying that it is impossible to experience intellectual growth at BU - I was saying that students who are actively seek out schools solely for spiritual or intellectual growth aren’t going to be drawn to BU - schools like Williams, Amherst, Harvard, [insert any other academic powerhouse], etc come to mind. Not slamming BU - it was my top choice for a very long time; just no denying that BU isn’t very well known as any sort of epicenter for culture or a close knit communal feel which may be more intuitive to spiritual/intellectual growth.</p>
<p>And all of those schools are higher ranked than BU… the students’ who get into other schools can’t possibly experience intellectual growth right?</p>
<p>The first line of my most recent post literally said that I did not think it to be impossible to experience intellectual growth at BU - I said that smaller LACs are more conducive to spiritual and intellectual growth (rather than vocational training) - there are plenty of smaller, close knit LACs in New England (and around the country) that are less selective than BU. If your aim is to gain self knowledge (and not vocational training - which OP apparently doesn’t need), going to a smaller LAC would be ideal, rather than actively seeking out a massive, sprawling research university in Boston. Unless you were going to BU for a very specialized, unique major (like any of the sub departments/majors in the Classics program, for instance) a lot of your classes at BU are probably gonna be in impersonal 150+ person lecture halls, at least for the first year or so. </p>
<p>There are huge introductory classes for things like Chem 101 at even LAC’s. It seems like you are making a lot of assumptions about BU when you don’t even go there and never will. The biggest college in BU is CAS which is full of majors that aren’t pre-professional. In addition there is CGS which is essentially a liberal arts program your first two years. You can also take core at BU if you want a liberal arts style education. </p>
<p>Everything is relative and that still doesn’t defend BU as any sort of epitome of intellectual pursuit. </p>
<p>I also don’t fully understand the implication of me “never going” to BU - I was accepted to BU with substantial aid (enough aid that I wouldn’t be contributing to the statistic of the bloated average indebtedness of BU grads) - but I pursued other options. I might very well attend BU for graduate school or even transfer if that is to my liking - it isn’t as if BU is terribly selective in any sense of the word. I am still familiar with BU - I’ve lived in Boston all my life and BU has always been a consideration for me in terms of college; enough so that it has prompted me to interact with administrators, students, and faculty to enough of an extent that I can realize that a lot of the negative stigmas that BU shoulders are partially (or entirely) true. </p>
<p>So a top 50 university in the US isn’t considered selective at all? You live in some weird world. Why are you even on this page? You haven’t attended a class here so how can you evaluate the intellectual rigor? Go enjoy your new college.</p>
<p>I said “terribly selective” - and it isn’t terribly selective. Why would you think BU is terribly selective? Is it selective to some degree? Yes. All colleges that don’t have open admissions are selective to some degree. Obviously varying degrees, but nevertheless, all colleges that don’t have on the spot admissions are selective to some extent. </p>
<p>Also - I spent a lot of time on this thread my Junior year and the first part of my Senior year - a lot of my worries were resolved by my admissions cycle at BU compared to that of my friends and classmates - I frequent this thread to share my own experiences and to remedy prospective applicants/applicants of some of their concerns. </p>
<p>That’s all fine and great but its disingenuous for to act like you know the culture and education of BU when you haven’t attended a class.</p>
<p>I’ll just leave you to your BU brand of intellectuality - fine, BU is the American Oxford. In fact, it’s better than Oxford. Hell, Harvard can’t even hold a candle to it. BU is the epitome of higher education on Earth. Powerhouse. Epicenter of cultural prowess. Go sox! </p>
<p>Guys, lets not take this to an offensive level. I personally want to get into a school that is higher ranked university. What do you guys think about me getting into USC and Stern</p>