Chance me???!??!?!?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Age:16</p>

<p>Public High School, Currently a Sophomore</p>

<p>Class Size - 400</p>

<p>My rank - estimated around top 25% (our school is really weird based on ranking to hard to explain.)</p>

<p>Back ground: I was born in Afghanistan, and have moved around a lot my whole life due to the fact my father used to be a Secretary of the Embassy of the UAE. (United Arab Emirates)</p>

<p>Languages Spoken: I speak English, and Persian. And somewhat fluent in Arabic.</p>

<p>Current GPA = 3.4</p>

<p>SAT : Taking next year Probably going to get 2100+ (getting tutored and etc for it).</p>

<p>Classes I will be taking Junior Year:</p>

<p>AP U.S History
Honors Pre-Cal
Honors Chemistry
Computer Science
English 3 lvl 1
French 3
Digital Imaging
Electronics</p>

<p>Possible Senior Year Classes(hopefully):</p>

<p>AP Human Geography
AP Computer Science
AP Calculus (BC or AB don't really know the difference if someone could explain)
French 4
AP English
AP Physics
AP Statistics
Western Civilization (taken at University of Connecticut UCONN)</p>

<p>EC's:</p>

<p>Sci-Fi Club - 9th Grade
Student Senate Treasurer (I am running unopposed :) )
Young Liberal Committee
Track and Field - Until Senior Year.
Doing Cross Country this fall and until senior year.
Founding the Science Team (will be competing this fall in tournaments and etc)
Founding Geo-Team. (competeing starting this fall)
Apple Pi Robotics Team (joining this fall)</p>

<p>Applied for the Columbia SSP. Got rejected from Harvard SSP.</p>

<p>Volunteering at local Clinic.
Volunteering at library.</p>

<p>Where I have worked:</p>

<p>Subway
Big Y </p>

<p>Colleges I am thinking about:</p>

<p>Harvard
Boston U
William and Marry
Princeton
Columbia (i am in love with this my dream college next to Harvard)
Washington U
MIT
NYU
Boston College
Connecticut College
Cornell</p>

<p>*Let me know if theres any others that would be I should look into.
*My GPA will be a lot higher during my junior and senior years.
*I think my ethnicity will help me a lot (I know I shouldn't depend on it but I think I good use it to my advantage)</p>

<p>*Sorry If I messed up on anything I am new to the forums and this is my second post.</p>

<p>Thank you for your time and reading this.</p>

<p>P.S. If you have any helpful information that would be great.</p>

2

<p>What awards do you have? According to the stuff up there. Unfortunately, you don't have too much of a chance in MIT, Harvard, and the other top schools. Unless you have some other amazing awards not listed up there. But don't give up hope. Just continue to work hard and do wat u love. Also, Calculus BC is more advanced than AB. I would recommend taking BC</p>

3

<p>Thats the thing. My ec's aren't that good. How do i get awards just being good at what I like or joining competitions and etc? Can anyone help me out with this. Because I do have good grades. But my ec's are holding me back.</p>

4

<p>in order to give you a better idea of what your chances might be, you need to give us just a bit more information.</p>

<p>Are you a US citizen? What ethnicity are you? Do you have family members that attended any of those schools?</p>

<p>your background makes you stand out -- but that isn't going to overcome a lower than average (for the top schools you listed) GPA and class rank.</p>

5

<p>Harvard = very high reach
Boston U = low match
William and Mary = match
Princeton = very high reach
Columbia = high reach
Washington U = reach
MIT = high reach
NYU = match
Boston College = match
Connecticut College = low match
Cornell = reach</p>

6

<p>u.s citizen = yes
ethnicity = afghan
family members attend these schools = no</p>

<p>I know i can get my gpa to 3.8+. I am going to be taking alot of tutoring so I can excell more at my classes. what mj93 said kind of made me depressed because I know harvard, columbia, and pricneton are high reaches but I want to do whatever I can to get into these colleges. If you guys have some tips I would really appericate it.</p>

<p>Should I get more involved in community , clubs?</p>

<p>Take extra classes?</p>

<p>how can I make myself stand out more than just being afghan.</p>

7

<p>If you have a 3.4 GPA now and then 4.0 GPA in junior and senior year, that's only a 3.7 at most, assuming you can get all A's. </p>

<p>Unless you can get A+'s in all/some of your classes, I don't see how it can reach 3.8.</p>

8

<p>the colleges I am really interrested are in:</p>

<p>w & m
columbia
and mit</p>

<p>I am really looking to major in Physics and or Astronomy. If those are possible.</p>

<p>If you guys know anything that might help please let me know. </p>

<p>is there any other colleges that would be good matches for me?</p>

9

<p>Harvard = no chance even with 3.8 and 2100
Boston U = low match
William and Mary = match
Princeton = HIGH REACH
Columbia = HIGH REACH
Washington U = reach
MIT = HIGH REACH
NYU = match
Boston College = match
Connecticut College = low match
Cornell = reach</p>

<p>ur gpa is insanely low for the top colleges ur insane...
afghan or not even though it might help you sorry without 2200+ and 3.8+ think about some lower UC's or like UCLA.</p>

10

<p>you got a point gaffe.</p>

<p>btw if this help my school does not count freshman year and our gpa is kind of wierd. ours gpa is based on class rank / ap classes / and all our classes are based on a scale of 0 to 18. i think its called like qga. but i asked my gc and she said it would be currently around 3.4. </p>

<p>ehhhhh.... just got to try harder.</p>

11

<p>well anyways thank you for all your help guys.</p>

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<p>where do you live in conn?...you have pretty decent stats and your ethnicity could help- to improve your ECs put a lot of efffort andwork hard to get rtecognition or prizes in them</p>

13

<p>Once again don't give up hope, and u still have plenty of time (wow I sound so mature for a freshman that skipped a grade... and had the option to skip 10th LOL). I decided not to skip 10th grade to develop EC's. Well, I am planning to develop EC's by doing wat I love. My passions are math, science, band, and i guess kind of community service. I have spent a LOT OF TIME planning how I can develop my passions and take them to teh next level. Anyways, good luck! And try to bring tat GPA and rank up to have any chance.</p>

14

<p>oh sorry the end where I went "to have any chance" was refering to top colleges. Your stats are fine for many other good colleges.</p>

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<p>wow thx medicalmania17 that really cheered me up. i am sitting behind my laptop right now depressed trying to get my english homework done. and i am very impressed that you skiped a grade thats sick. maybe even 10th that would have even been more sick. lol.</p>

<p>and deffinatly i am going to work 110% my junior and senior year to get all a's.</p>

<p>smcnair21 i live in guilford. i dont really like my school nor my town. eh i never really liked public schools. </p>

<p>p.s thx med for the cheer up lol.</p>

16

<p>np medical</p>

17

<p>you may not be correctly reporting your GPA so that everyone here can give you an accurate picture of your chances.</p>

<p>This is how you compute your unweighted GPA (which is what colleges generally look at).</p>

<p>only look at core/academic courses (not gym or art). Only count the grades that will show on the transcript (usually semester grades -- 2 each year)</p>

<p>A = 4.0
B = 3.0
C= 2.0
D = 1.0</p>

<p>add up the points you earned and divide by the number of grades.</p>

<p>for example -- </p>

<p>9th grade
English A B = 7.0
Math A A = 8.0
Science B B = 6.0
French A A = 8.0
History B C = 5.0</p>

<p>total points = 34.00 and divide that by the number of grades (10) = 3.4 GPA</p>

<p>GPA is a huge factor in admissions -- it shows that you not only understand the concepts but that you do the work. colleges look at that as good predictor for success in college. You have to also remember that colleges won't see your second semester senior year grades and they may not see your first semester senior year grades, depending on when your school issues grades and when you send in the application.</p>

<p>If your GPA is accurate and your class rank is closer to 25%, I think you are being unrealistic to apply to numerous ivies. Although being Afghan is unusual, that fact that your father is a diplomat and not a poor tribal member doesn't give it quite as much umpff.</p>

18

<p>Being from Afghanistan and a diplomat's son could possibly help you at a few schools that focus on International studies and Foreign Service.</p>

<p>Three schools that come to mind are NYU, Georgetown, and American University. The average GPA at these schools are 3.6, 3.7, and 3.35--so your odds are much better at these than at the Harvard's and MIT's that require 3.8 and 3.9 GPAs minimum.</p>

<p>The first two of these are still considered some of the top schools in the country--and American is not bad, just not in the same range as the first two.</p>

<p>P.S. Let me give you a little tip here. My own son is at Indiana University (average GPA to get in is around 3.35), but he has taken courses there and at Univ of Virginia (average GPA to get in is 3.7 to 3.8), and he prefers Indiana. </p>

<p>The entire college experience is what counts--not just the admission numbers. Also, both of these schools are very good--and I'm not knocking Virginia here--my point is that the right school for you depends on you--not some arbitrary rating or the school's reputation. (I'm sure there are many students that would prefer Univ of Virginia over Indiana Univ).</p>

<p>There are over 1400 colleges in the US--and the fact that my son is at Indiana for his regular session courses (ranked 74th) and not at Virginia (ranked 23rd) doesn't bother me. They are both excellent schools. </p>

<p>In other words, look at the school that is best for you--not what your father or some magazine or some counselor told you was the "best". Choose your school based upon lots of criteria--not just admission stats.</p>

<p>For example, my son picked Indiana because of its excellent finance program, the fact that you could take Business Law as a major through the business program, the fact that it has the largest student union in the country, the fact that its library system was ranked #2 among colleges worldwide for accessibility and ease of use (yes, this actually gets ranked by a group in Norway), that it's business faculty was ranked as the best business faculty in the US by the Wall Street Journal, and that it provided him with a small scholarship and was not extremely costly compared to other out-of-state schools. Indiana is not ranked higher primarily because it has no engineering program at all--but that's fine with my son because he doesn't want to take any engineering classes.</p>

<p>So what interests you? Do you want to study journalism, international business, medical sciences, linguistics, political science, or economics, or another particular concern. There are colleges that are excellent (top 5 nationally) in each of these various areas, but yet aren't in the top 20 schools overall. For example--Journalism (Univ of Missouri), Chemistry (Univ of California at Santa Barbara), pre-med (University of Rochester and the Ohio State University), Accounting (Univ of Illinois and Univ of Texas), Mechanical Engineering (Purdue), etc.</p>

<p>Find the right one for you;--it doesn't have to be Harvard.</p>

19

<p>you have an extremely interesting background, do use it to your advantage i.e. essays :D and your ECs aren't outstanding among all the other crazy people applying to harvard and MIT, but there have been people who get in with ECs like that. you have a chance if you get your grades and SATs up there. you're gonna need at least 2250 in your case.</p>