chance this middle-eastern girl for U Penn!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey everyone! I am really excited to apply to colleges but I want to know what is considered a reach for me.</p>

<p>Ethnicity- persian/iranian (I've been living in the states for 4 yrs, am I a "URM"?)
Income - 60-70K, family of 4. is this considered "low"? could i get financial aid?</p>

<p>GPA: 4.76 W, 3.88 UW
Rank: 1/389
SAT: 1860 540 Cr, 680 M, 640 Wr (highest score after 3 attempts. i m planning to take it again in October.)
SAT IIs: 660 Math IC, 680 Chem, 720 Math IIC</p>

<p>AP's
World history 5
USH 4
Bio 3
AP Scholar</p>

<p>EC's:
Track for 1 yr (10)
---I quit in 11th grade to focus on school
Speech
---1st place regionals 10th grade (highest place--- i didnt do so well this yr)
Academic Bowl (10-12)
Iranian Youth
--organized local meetings/games for the few iranians in my area
Humanitarian group (10-12)
Multicultural Club Vice-president
NHS</p>

<p>Awards/Honors</p>

<p>Chemistry Student of the Year (10, 11)
Spanish I, II, and III Awards (9,10,11)
Distinguished Honor Roll - all years
Scholarship for my outstanding performance in math/sci (11)
IB student of the yr (11)
AP History Award (10)
IB/p-IB English award (10-11)
Elected to attend Leadership conference (10)
Waitlisted for VA life sciences governor's school (:() = very competitve program only admitted 30 out of 300+ applicants
Questbridge Prep Scholarship winner!!!--- the counseling award (one of 40 out of 3200 applicants to win the award)</p>

<p>Hooks: my ethnicity? and I can write a rlly good essay abt the hardships I faced moving to a new country from Iran. I had to move for political/educational reasons so technically i m a "refugee". I plan on majoring in chemistry and/or languages. I am fluent in farsi, and proficient in arabic and spanish. </p>

<p>Colleges:</p>

<p>U Penn (arts and sciences)
Yale
Princeton
Swarthmore
Wellesley
Trinity
Wesleyan
UVA instate
William and Mary
JMU</p>

<p>do i need more safeties? is UVA and W&M good enough as "matches"?</p>

2

<p>right now, i'd put all your focus into your SATs, which are well below the accepted average at your top 5 schools. while being valedictorian is great, adcoms will be curious as to the disparity in your test scores and grades.</p>

3

<p>Have you considered taking the ACT? You might be able to do better on that. Based on SAT scores most of the schools you have are reaches, but being val does help. You might want to thrown in a few more safeties. I think you're definately in at JMU though.</p>

4

<p>Study like crazy for the SAT. That is the best advice I can give to you right now.</p>

5

<p>valedictorian with a 1860 SAT? that's...interesting</p>

<p>of course i'd like to get a 4.76 W GPA regardless of my SAT</p>