Chance me thread (New to this site =P)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>So a friend of mine introduced me to this site around March shortly after the SATs when he was trying to predict his score (He ended up getting a 2360 while I got an 1810) and ever since then I have been using this site more and more to see these college application processes through the eyes of other students. Although I may not have stellar grades, ec's, or a near perfect SAT score, I still believe that I am somewhat of an above average candidate for decent/good colleges but I would love to see what you guys think. Anyway, on to my stats:</p>

<p>For starters, I am male and 100% Hispanic and I am a rising senior. I want to be a Physics major and possibly double major in some type of engineering (so that I can find a job to help pay for Grad School)</p>

<p>GPA Weighted - 3.86 (something around here)
GPA unweighted - somewhere around a 3.5-3.6</p>

<p>SATs -1810 (only taken once)
Math- 600
CR- 600
Writing- 610
I plan on retaking SATs again in October and at the very least increasing my Math score well above a 700. These scores are relatively low for me but it was because of some personal problems I had around the time of the test.
SATIIs (will get scores tomorrow but these are my predicted scores):
Spanish- 790/800 (got one wrong)
Physics- 750+
Math II- 700ish (Funny thing is I'm usually a good math student I don't understand why I bomb standardized tests.)</p>

<p>Classes
Freshman Year:
English 1 Honors
Algebra 1 Honors
World History Honors
Biology Honors
Spanish for heritage speakers I
Religion class (catholic school)
PE</p>

<p>Sophmore Year:
Algebra 2/ Trig Honors
Geometry Honors
Spanish for Heritage Speakers II
Chemistry Honors
English II Honors
Religion Class
PE</p>

<p>Junior Year:
Pre-Calc Honors
AP Spanish
Physics Honors
English III Honors
US History I Honors
Rock/Jazz Workshop
Religion Class</p>

<p>Senior Year (courses I selected for next year)</p>

<p>AP Calc AB
AP Physics B
AP English Lit
AP Comp. Sci
AP World History (seminar class)
US History II Honors
World Religions (seminar class)</p>

<p>My EC's include:
Japanese Culture Club
Polish Culture Club
Chess Club
Robotics Club (hold officer position)
National Honor Society Member
National Honor Society tutoring
Over 200 Hours worth of Community Service which included working with kids at my local Rec Center, at a Rec Center in another town, and in an after-school program at my old school.</p>

<p>Next Year I plan on joining:
Science League for Physics (meant to join this year but I had some conflicts in my schedule)
Math League (same as with SL)
Will probably join some other clubs since I will be driving and will no longer be dependent on my school bus/friends/parents</p>

<p>As a little side note, I have had a scholarship from my school since freshman year that requires me to do more service hours than normal students, take all honors classes where available, and take seminar classes. I also have another scholarship from my Archdiocese for low income family and grades.</p>

<p>When applying to college, I plan on writing the best essay I possibly can explaining my how my financial situation, family problems (very bad divorce that tore my family apart and distracted me from studies), and ethnicity have always motivated me to work to the best of my ability and how I love physics.</p>

<p>Now my problem is I don't know what school I should apply too... I obviously know that the Ivys would all be huge reaches for me but maybe some other top school could be possible. This is my current list and any input/chancing would be much obliged.</p>

<p>Reach Schools:
Carnegie Mellon
UC Berkeley
NYU</p>

<p>Targets and Safeties (don't really know what I could consider them):
Stevens Institute of Technology
Rutgers (NB)
Rochester Institute of Technology
Boston University</p>

<p>I'll update this list tomorrow after I see my SATII scores and I will do my best to chance back!</p>

2

<p>NYU is notorious for being REALLY bad with financial aid, so that’s something you might want to keep in mind</p>

3

<p>Your list is not a good one for a low incoome student. You have Berkeley, which is over $50K/yr and gives no institutional money to OOS students, and schools like CMU, NYU and BU which are notoriously bad at meeting need. </p>

<p>You need to focus on schools that meet 100% of need. They are mostly top shools, so higher scores would help, but as a Hispanic candidate if you select well and prepare a good application you will get into some.</p>

<p>Use the search function here to find a list of schools that meet need.</p>

4

<p>Thank you both for your input… I was unaware that those Universities didn’t offer much financial aid =O. As a side note, if I’m applying to a reach with good financial aid then should I try Brown? I was thinking of applying to Brown before but it felt as though I wasn’t up to standards… but you think my ethnicity and potentially good essay could make me a possible candidate? </p>

<p>In any case this is why Rutgers is probably a safety. If I don’t get into any of my reaches or if I am unable to financially afford them then at least I know I can most likely get in to Rutgers and even with absolutely no Financial Aid (which I doubt would be the case), I could afford it.</p>

5

<p>Brown would be a significant reach without higher scores–shoot for minimumm 2000, 2100 as a Hispanic candidate from the mid Atlantic would be mmuch better.</p>

<p>Are you male or female? NJ resident?</p>

6

<p>male, NJ resident. As I said before, I felt like the personal problems I had at the time of the test may have been the reason why I scored so low. In October I will be shooting for at least a 2000 (have all summer to go through practice tests and whatnot). Again thanks for your help. Now I know my chances would be increased slightly if I applied ED to Brown but with my financial situation would it be better to just apply RD?</p>