Currently a Junior, here are my stats:
SAT I (breakdown): 760 M 720 W 680 CR (2160)
SAT II: Bio 750 Math II 750
Unweighted GPA: 3.7
Weighed GPA: 3.95
Rank: School dont rank
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc AB, AP Bio, Italian 5 Honors, English Composition 1 Honors
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Model United Nations 9-12th grade
Job/Work Experience: Kmart Cashier
Volunteer/Community service: 100+ hours at hospital
Summer Activities: volunteering and work
Essays:(8/10)
Teacher Recommendation:(8/10)
Counselor Rec: (9/10)
Applied for Financial Aid?: Will do
Intended Major: Biomedical
State (if domestic applicant): NJ
School Type: PUBLIC COMPETITIVE
Ethnicity: Middle Eastern
Gender: Male
Income Bracket:$80k - $90k
First generation college
APPLYING TO: Boston U, Drexel, Cornell (Engineering), Rutgers (Engineering), UPENN, Penn state
Please honest opinions only, and what I can do to get better as I still have time to retake SAT and whatnot.
If you can, list scholarship chances for Rutgers and Cornell, Thank YOU! Post your thread and I WILL chance back!
Hi fellow junior! (I am one too lol)
SAT’s look fine (maybe you should try and raise SAT to 2200+?)
GPA’s a tad low, keep in mind that the engineering program is VERY competitive.
Is Model UN your only extracurricular? Trust me, it looks good you’ve been in it ever since freshman year and if you won awards that’s great but I would try and join something else. Maybe make a club if you have time?
Write KILLER essays and have a fantastic interview. Also try and get an internship this summer, if you can (although those can be hard to find)
Could you also chance me? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/1740430-chance-me-for-ed-cornell.html#latest
Thanks could you clarify what schools my Gpa is low for thanks
@Gunblood222 oops sorry I didn’t clarify 
I would say Cornell and U of Penn but if you’re taking hard level classes, it’s a competitive gpa
Like what @PaigeyPoo189 said, even though it looks great you’re consistent in ECs it’d help if you had more to compensate for what you feel you lack (although, it seems like you have a decent amount of things to back yourself up, especially since you have an entire school year to beef up what you have as well!) I’d have to say a match for schools like Boston U if you can strengthen your ECs and continue taking high-level courses, although I’m a little iffy on University of Penn your GPA falls a little short.
Chance me? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1740546-boston-university-wesleyan-am-i-doomed.html?new=1
Academically you’re fine. Maybe your GPA is kind of low for the ivies. However, I still think that your major challenge are ECs. Since you are a junior try to get some strong activities and some Community Service.
A couple of outstanding activities and a little improvement in your GPA (Try to sit for the SAT II again) will get you in.
Chance me back please: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1736352-chance-me-please-updated-will-chance-back-if-you-want.html#latest
Try and bring up your SAT superscore > 2250 at least. And try and bump your GPA up too. Strong upward trends look good on resumes even if you had some low points. Remember with EC’s go for depth not breadth. That means focus on a few good ones and make sure you contribute a lot to them
Chance back?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1739819-junior-looking-at-some-competitive-schools-programs-chance-me-and-ill-chance-back.html#latest
Thanks for the input guys, can I consider Rutgers engineering as safety, Boston match, and the others are reaches?
I forgot to add a few things
More EC’s:
Youth Council 9-12th
Model UN 9-12
JV wrestling one year (yeah ik it sucks)
I play the piano and did a bunch of electives for it but idk if that counts
My grades show a positive trend:
Freshmen (One honors) 3.85
Sophomore (5 honors) 3.85
Junior (5 honors) 4.1
Senior (2 AP, 4 honors) 4.3
I think I could possibly have a 4.0 gpa if they count the first semester of Senior Year.
@Gunblood222 yeah that’s a pretty accurate grouping. Do you know where you want to apply ED?
Electives, such as choir, orchestra, theatre groups, and band count because there are performances outside of school but others, such as art, human rights and conflict (sorry just thinking of random ones offered at my school) don’t count.
I think it’s good you’re trying to show an upward trend.
I would include piano on your resume.
@Gunblood222 also, if you don’t get in to your first choice school, you can always transfer the following year
@PaigeyPoo189 Thanks, would it be bad if i join a bunch of clubs senior year next year, also should I include the one year of wrestling or is it a waste? I did piano electives however I also play piano on my own no concerts or anything though. Do extra curriculars need to be by the school?
@Gunblood222 Yeah they wouldn’t be as meaningful. I would join maybe one club, two at the most. If you join more, colleges will perceive it as you trying to “pad” your resume.
Ehh I wouldn’t unless you take it up again. Unless you’re continuing it? If you are this year, why not.
Yeah just say piano lessons.
Nope, you can put EC’s outside of school on your resume. But they can’t be like “performed Mozart at my church” or something like that
@PaigeyPoo189 Oh okay, because I did recreational basketball in my high school years and I did recreational soccer my middle school years. Would it look weird if I worked with my dad for a little bit doing basic stuff as he owns an engineering company? Also what can I say about NHS, i missed the deadline for it but I was eligible. Thanks!
@Gunblood222 wouldn’t include soccer (unless you’re still doing it) but would count basketball, if you’re playing on a team. If you’re just playing it as a hobby, don’t include it,
No that’s fine! That could probably go under work experience. My friend works at her dad’s business too so it’s totally fine if you put it on the common app.
I wouldn’t mention it, try and get it though next year so you can try and put it on the common app
Beware: transferring isn’t so easy, unless it’s to your state school and you got no scholarships freshman year. THe best financial aid, especially scholarships, goes to freshmen. Therefore as a transfer you’ll get lousy aid. You won’t qualify for any merit, you’ll definitely lose any scholarships. It makes transferring much harder. The exception is to your flagship (ie., Rutgers in this case).
Colleges aren’t interested in the quantity of your EC’s, but their quality. How good are you when you find something you’re interested in? How much of an impact do you have in your community?
Dw I’m not transferring . All the schools are undergrad. Well I have gone and participated in several model UN committees including national and local ones . I do hospital volunteering for the community aspect .
So how are my EC’S now ?
I was responding to Paigey suggesting you apply to a school, and if you don’t like it, “just transfer”. It’s really not that easy 
Beside Rutgers, include Rowan for engineering. Rather than Drexel, which is overpriced, look at UCincinnati for their excellen co-op program - it’d be cheaper and if you apply early (by dec 1st) you may have a shot at the Cincinnatus scholarship, which is a competitive full tuition or full ride.
Penn State won’t be affordable, it’s 46k and no financial aid whatsoever.
Penn and Cornell are reaches but not impossible since you’re first gen.
What should I improve for Cornell? Does going to a large public competitive school help? I think im like top 10% of my class but my school doesnt rank.
Thanks for the input tho, Ill look into Rowan now
Yeah and im starting to look back on Penn.
UPenn and Cornell are reaches but not out of reach, and, as I said, if you apply early enough, you could be in the running for full-tuition/full ride at UCincinnati (which has a terrific co-op programs, one of the best in the country). If you like co-ops, though, look into Northeastern, and of course Waterloo for CS is tops. UAlabama would give you an automatic scholarship that includes guaranteed admission to College of Engineering, full tuition, $2,500 stipend every year, honors dorm, honors college (and the honors college is really good - see the thread titled something like “colleges your child refused to go to Alabama” in the Alabama thread) -and there are competitive honors-within-honors you could apply to, too.
Rowan would be a safety and you may get a good scholarship there - if you can, go visit, their engineering facilities have become very good. TCNJ’s School of Engineering would be another great choice.
After that, you can look at the super-hard schools, like HarveyMudd, CalTech, MIT, Olin, Princeton… see if you like one of them, and apply to one “just to see” (keeping in mind that even if you’re first gen, which will cut you a break, they’re really “lottery” schools for all). Yale promised to enroll more first gen students and their College of Engineering is quite good, so you may have a better shot there than at the ones I just named.
Don"t forget to run the Net Price calculator on all of these, even if you’re not “that” interested.
Finally, if you go the CS route rather than Engineering, you’d have even more choices. I know it’s quite different, but if you’re interested in technical stuff, it may be another good possibility for you.
Would you consider Rutgers Engineering as a safety with Scholarship? I heard Cornell engineering is amazing, but its so expensive . The UAlambama looks amazing, I might have to reconsider what other choices I have, thanks!