Chances at Dream Schools (and some safety schools-i hope)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Right now I'm looking at some awesome schools, which I hope are somewhat realistic for me to apply to, and some which I'd still love to go to, but aren't my top picks. Here's my information:</p>

<p>If you have any other college suggestions, they're always welcome too.</p>

<p>Background:
Location: Illinois
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
School Type: Public, sends many grads to top schools
Major: Undecided, likely science, engineering or business</p>

<p>Stats:
GPA: 3.65 UW, 4.2 W
SAT: Taken once: 1600/2270 (800 math, 800 critical reading, 670 writing: I'm bad at standardized writing)
ACT: 35.75 when superscored, 35 when not: (34,36,32,36), then (36, 33, 35,32), so tt'd be (36, 36, 36, 35)</p>

<p>Top 6% of class (actually, exactly @ 6%), but probably not reporting it, as it's optional. Should I?</p>

<p>Extracurriculars/Volunteer/Work Experience:
1. Academic Bowl: 4 years
2. Robotics (difficicult to get into): 2 years, 2nd place in finals.
3. Junior State (helped start up): 3 years (only existed for 3)
4. NHS-Junior and Senior
5. USO volunteer
6. Soup Kitchen Volunteer
7. No work experience (how much does this hurt?)</p>

<p>Other Accomplishments
NHS Finalist (assumed, given my score and state cutoff scores from past years. At least I'm commended if I don't end up being a finalist)</p>

<p>Colleges( in order of my interest):
1. U of C
2. Caltech
3. Northwestern
4. WashU
5. Rice
6. U of I at Urbana (engineering Department)
7. Boston College
8. Rensselaer polytechnic
9. Purdue</p>

<p>Thanks a ton for taking the time to read this!</p>

<p>Edit: As a note, All of the classes that I took were the highest level available, except for skipping out on Ap euro and taking debate and Honors Compsci instead.</p>

2

<p>BC- match
RPI- low match, lots of merit aid = bonus! </p>

<p>The rest…no clue. Sorry. :)</p>

<p>Awesome ACT and SAT’s, work on pulling that GPA up senior year!</p>

<p>Report the rank if your class is big (400+) and it’ll work in your favor. Otherwise it might make no difference/hurt you.</p>

<p>No work experience is common for people with stats like yours. It won’t hurt- just make sure your nonpaid EC’s make up for it. I’d siggest joining an in-school club or two- tutoring, math team, something!</p>

<p>I’m sending you a PM…please chance me back!</p>

3

<p>Thanks, I found it on your “all threads by” section. I’ll post there.</p>

4

<p>Eh…I’ve added some stats since then, and I already sent the PM. :P</p>

5

<ol>
<li>U of C-idk this</li>
<li>Caltech-uh idk thats iffy just cause of the school</li>
<li>Northwestern-probably in your GPA isnt that great</li>
<li>WashU-see northwestern</li>
<li>Rice-see above two</li>
<li>U of I at Urbana (engineering Department)-in with money</li>
<li>Boston College-in</li>
<li>Rensselaer polytechnic-in with money</li>
<li>Purdue-in with money</li>
</ol>

<p>your GPA is kinda low for some of those schools, that is the only thing i can see holding you back, good luck</p>

6

<p>Thanks for the “chance”-ing. As for the GPA, yeah, I know it’s low, but my school’s got pretty rigorous academic standards, and they don’t exactly hand out A’s in the AP classes (which is strange, since I most likely got all 5s on my AP tests), but I know some of it’s the result of a bit of academic apathy on my part.</p>

7

<ol>
<li>U of C- Low Reach, depends on your essay but the fact that they don’t consider the writing section on the sat helps you a lot.</li>
<li>Caltech- Reach</li>
<li>Northwestern- Low Reach</li>
<li>WashU- High Match</li>
<li>Rice- High Match</li>
<li>U of I at Urbana (engineering Department) Safety</li>
<li>Boston College- Match</li>
<li>Rensselaer polytechnic-Low Match</li>
<li>Purdue-Safety</li>
</ol>