Chance me?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>These are schools I'm planning on applying to next year. I'm really not sure what I want to major in yet, but I want to go into a STEM field for sure:</p>

<p>UVA
UNC-Chapel Hill
U Wash
Florida Tech
George Mason</p>

<p>I'm also pretty interested in NYU, Carnegie Mellon, and Columbia but I know that all three of them are most likely too far of a reach for me unless I can significantly bring up my SATs.</p>

<p>I am currently a high school junior. I live in VA and go to a fairly small high school and a half-day Governor's School.</p>

<p>Number of AP classes to be completed upon graduation: 5-6
APUSH (11th), AP Psychology (11th), AP stats (11th), AP gov (12th), AP macro (12th), AP physics B (12th- if they offer it next year)</p>

<p>DE classes taken/ will take before graduating:
pre-cal I-II: 6 cred hrs (sophomore yr)
college chem: 6 cred hrs (junior yr)
college composition: 6 cred hrs (junior yr)
college math/computer science: 6 cred hrs (junior yr)
college math analysis: 6 cred hrs (junior yr)
college bio: 6 cred hrs (summer of jr year)
college microbiology: 6 cred hrs (senior yr)
college research: 6 cred hrs (senior yr)
college english lit: 6 cred hrs (senior yr)
calc I/linear algebra: 6 cred hrs (senior yr)</p>

<p>Will have enough college credits (If I receive passing AP scores in all classes) to graduate with an associates degree from my local CC when I graduate HS)</p>

<p>GPA: 3.72 UW 4.32 W
Rank: 6/~170
SAT: 1750: 540 M 570 CR 640 W (I have major test anxiety issues and I hope to improve this greatly)
Taking the chem and USH SAT IIs in June.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Sr. Beta Club (9-12, won runner up in the poetry competition at state convention 9th grade year, possible officer position next year)
Scholastic Bowl (11-12, will be team captain next year)
Science Bowl (11-12)
Internship at my local PFLAG chapter (11-12)
Interact club (9th grade, 12th grade)
Junior Marshall (11th)
I co-founded and help run a website/forum. (does this actually count as a EC? I've never gotten a straightforward answer about it)</p>

<p>Sports:
None so far, but if I have time next year I really want to run XC and track.</p>

<p>Volunteer:
Assistant coach for middle school instructional league volleyball (75 hours, 9th grade)
Boy's and Girl's Club volunteer (25 hours, 11th grade)
Assistant at local library (40 hours and growing, 11th-12th)</p>

<p>Other:
First generation college student
I am a pretty good writer, so I believe my essays will be strong
I will be able to get great recommendations</p>

<p>I am just now really starting to dig deep into the college search process. None of my family knows much about it, so I'm basically on my own for right now. I'd love to get into a really prestigious school, but I know my SAT score is holding me back tremendously. </p>

<p>I want brutal honesty with this, honestly I'm thinking all of these schools are reaches at this point. Also, are there any similar colleges that could be matches for me that have pretty good science/engineering programs? Thanks for taking the time to read and answer.</p>

2

<p>UVA: high match
UNC-Chapel Hill: reach
U Wash: match/high match
Florida Tech: low match
George Mason: match</p>

3

<p>Thank you. I’m pleasantly surprised that UVA is a high match school for me. I know it’s pretty difficult for most to get in, but is there anything you can think of that I can do to make my chances for UNC a little better?</p>

4

<p>UNC is extremely difficult to get into if you are out of state, they have a legal cap at 18% of OOS (I think it’s something like that). You have to be an outstanding applicant if you want to get in, definitely more-so than if you were instate. But I think if you raise your SAT scores and GPA, you should have a fair chance :slight_smile: </p>

<p>UVA: high match/low reach
UNC-Chapel Hill: reach
U Wash: match
Florida Tech: match
George Mason: match</p>

<p>Plus, I definitely think NYU is a high match/low reach right now, and if you bring up those SATs it may definitely be a possibility :slight_smile: Good luck!</p>

5

<p>I’m also a student in VA, however, I’m a senior. A lot of my friends actually applied to these schools and got in with lower GPAs than yours (2 of my friends got accepted to UVA with 4.13s). However their test scores were in the 2070-2100 range for the SAT and 31-33 range for the ACT. So make sure to work hard at bringing those scores up and I think you will be golden. Here are my current predictions:</p>

<p>UVA: low reach
UNC-Chapel Hill: reach/high reach
U Wash: match/high match
Florida Tech: low match
George Mason: safety</p>

6

<p>@rachelshay</p>

<p>Thank you. I figured UNC would have some sort of oos cap, didn’t think it’d be lower than UVAs 33% though. I’m really studying hard to bring up that SAT and I’m also going to try out the ACT some time this spring. I always get really anxious taking huge tests like the SAT and get really over analytic and it’s just bad.</p>

<p>@TechHopeful34</p>

<p>Thanks. Two of my friends that are seniors were just notified a few days ago that they got into UVA early decision. One had I think around a 1900 SAT and about the same GPA, maybe a tad higher, and same caliber of ECs, which definitely makes me feel better about it. The other one has gotten straight As since 1st grade and has taken nothing but very difficult weighted classes since his sophomore year all while working a part-time job and volunteering for a couple of organizations, so we all knew he was getting in.</p>