Chanceme (UT Austin, Texas A&M, Rice, CU Boulder)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey! Im wondering what my chances are of getting into schools such as UT Austin, A&M, Rice, and CU Boulder. I’m not sure if these schools are too easy or a bit of a reach for me to get into. So I would appreciate it if I could get some feedback and maybe some college recommendations. I’m definitely interested in applying to more competitive schools but I feel my extracurriculars may not allow that.

I’m currently a junior in high school at a pretty competitive school. It’s in the top 10 for all boys schools in the United States, and also top 10 for Catholic schools in the United States. I didn’t do too well freshman year; I got three B’s a semester. This saw a dramatic change my sophomore year when I ended up getting straight A’s for the first time all year.

3.8 Unweighted GPA
4.2 Weighted GPA
School doesn’t rank us
1440 SAT Practice Test ( Will take real one this year )
29 ACT Practice Test ^^^^^

I didn’t take any APs my freshman year, but took AP Comsci Principles my sophomore year and got a 5 on the exam.
Junior Year AP/AC Courses:
AC Algebra II
AP English Language And Comp
AP Chemistry
AP Macroeconomics
AP U.S Gov and Poltics

Extracurriculars:

NHS
Altar Server since fourth grade
Started playing lacrosse reshman year ( Most improved player freshman year & A team captain of varsity sophomore year)
-Essay may be over this because I improved quickly with hard word, face hardships etc.
-Planning on doing some sort of internship the summer before my senior year (science/medical related)

I plan on majoring in Biology or some form of engineering (Chemical or Aerospace)

I’m also half Asian & half White which shouldn’t matter but it does I guess.

2

Congratulations on the upward trajectory in your grades! It will be important to maintain that momentum this year even as you begin prepping for your actual ACTs /SATs.

As matters stand now, your provisional test scores would make you a strong candidate for admission to Colorado and A&M, and a competitive candidate for UT. However, those scores are well below the bottom end of Rice’s middle 50% range.

Fortunately, test scores can be raised substantially with a concerted effort at preparation. For example, my daughter (who is now at Rice) was able to raise her SAT (on the 2400 point scale) by a solid 100 points after a couple of weeks of self-study during the summer. Good luck!

PS: Given the increasingly competitive nature of STEM admissions, you should also start considering such schools as Texas Tech, UT-Dallas, U-Houston, etc.