<p>Hi guys. I already know I shouldn't be optimistic, but I just want to know what yall think.
Just as an explanation for my freshman and sophomore grades, my parents were going through an unexpected and relatively tumultuous divorce, and I wasn't really in a place to care about school. Anyways, here goes.</p>
<p>Freshman year- All Bs
Sophomore Year- All Bs</p>
<p>Junior Year
American Lit: A/A
AP American History: B/A
Advanced Physics: B/A
Pre-Calculus: B/A
PE: A
Filmmaking: A
Latin: A/A
Theater Company: A</p>
<p>GPA: 3.4 :/ But I'm hoping that they'll look at my grades as a junior more.</p>
<p>APs: 5 on AP American History and AP American Gov.</p>
<p>SAT I: 2230: 700M 730CR 800W</p>
<p>ECs
-Theater Company Junior and Senior year
-Tutoring at inner-city school Sophomore year (my school canceled the program after that year)
-Founded my school's mock trial team during my Junior year
-Interned with a state superior court judge over the summer</p>
<p>So yeah, I know my shots are low, but I figured I may as well ask.</p>
<p>Well, your scores (standardized) are really good. And you do show an upward trend junior year. If you put in the box on the common app (I believe its at the bottom of the writing section) that your parents were going through a divorce freshman and sophomore year then it might help the colleges realize that you’re a better student than you seem. 10 As and 3 Bs is not bad (I’m looking at the year that your parents weren’t getting divorced). I don’t want to get your hopes up though. It’ll be a long shot, so if you get in your essays are going to have to be STELLAR. Like, best thing ever written. Ok maybe a little short of that…</p>
<p>2230/2400 is really good. But UofC actively dismisses the writing portion of the SAT, so they’ll view your score of 1430/1600. Still good, but more would be better.</p>
<p>Your ECs are good. I would try to leverage the mock trial team and internship on one of the essays to show your depth in that area.</p>
<p>They actively dismiss them because they don’t believe what you are able to write in 30 minutes is comparable to the two main essays plus one or two supporting essays they have you write on your application.</p>
<p>There are people who are accepted with lower GPAs than you.</p>
<p>Essays and recommendations are important! Put your passion into them (well, the essays…) and who knows.</p>
<p>UofC is unique (at least among the schools that I’m considering) in the number of essays they are requesting. It is my belief that UofC feels that they can better evaluate your writing by reviewing these (3) essays rather than taking CollegeBoard’s word for how you did on the writing section of the SAT.</p>
<p>But if you did well on the writing part of the SAT, you should be able to hit home runs on all of the UofC essays!</p>