Chance me!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Some background: I come from a very tiny school in a very tiny town, and I don't see many people like me on this forum. Many colleges claim to not hold your high school against you, but I do not know how true this is. There has only been about 5 kids in the last four years to attend a university from my school. The rest either work, go to community college, or do nothing.</p>

<p>Schools I plan to apply to for engineering: UIUC, UMich, Purdue, UVA, Northwestern, Cal, UCSB, UCLA, USC, MIT, Cornell</p>

<p>Also mildly considering; GATech, PSU, and Wisconsin</p>

<p>Since all these schools are quite competitive, I am wondering if I should include some schools where I am guaranteed admission in case the doomsday scenario of me getting denied across the board is a possibility. </p>

<p>White male, Illinois, among first generation attending college, <$20,000/year household</p>

<p>UW GPA -- 4.0
W GPA -- 4.26
Rank 1/24
ACT #1 -- 29 (28 E, 30 M, 26 R, 33 S)
ACT #2 -- 33 (30 E, 32 M, 33 R, 35 S)</p>

<p>Important courses taken
Science -- Biology, Physical Science, Chemistry
Math -- Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, Trigonometry
Social Science -- Psychology
Foreign Language -- 3 years of Spanish
No English classes except for the required 4 years and 1 semester of speech</p>

<p>Important Senior courses -- Physics, Pre-Calculus, (we don't offer calc :(), Anthropology</p>

<p>My school doesn't offer AP nor Honors courses, so I have not taken any.</p>

<p>ECs -- Quite weak. I have 4 years of basketball and around 25-30 hours of volunteer work. </p>

<p>I am taking SAT II's next month.</p>

<p>Thank you for any help, it is much appreciated!</p>

2

<p>I really hate bumping but… bump?</p>

3

<p>sigh… BUMP</p>

4

<p>UIUC - safe
UMich - reach
Purdue - safe
UVA -reach
Northwestern - reach
UCSB - safe
UCLA-target
USC - high target
MIT, Cornell - reach</p>

5

<p>Unfortunately you seem to be quite limited by the fact that your school doesn’t offer APs, or Honors courses. It looks to me as though you have done as well as possible in such a situation (ex: rank 1), but that may not be enough to get you into competitive universities like UVa. I highly encourage you to apply to your top pick schools, just make sure that you have safety schools as well. Another thing is interviews, if you could get interviews with some of these schools then you might be able to explain your situation which will help.
Good luck in getting into your top picks!</p>

<p>Chance me? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1562128-ivy-chances.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1562128-ivy-chances.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>What would you consider to be safeties for me? My top pick, other than the high reach that is MIT, is probably UIUC because it is so close to home and I really like college towns.</p>

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<p>UIUC and Purdue should be good safeties.</p>

8

<p>Okay, thanks!</p>