Chances at NYU, USC, Brown, and UC: I overreached

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a Senior and just finished applying to schools. It should be noted that although I have a large list of what would be considered reach schools, my safeties are art schools, which I have already been accepted to and will use as backup for if I don't get into any of my top choices. </p>

<p>Female, 1/2 French 1/2 Swedish duel citizenship to France (doubt this matters)
State: California
School: Public
Income: LOW!!!</p>

<p>GPA UW:3.74<br>
<a href="Sophomore%20year%20there%20were%20circumstances%20as%20to%20why%20my%20GPA%20fell%20but%20it%20should%20be%20overlooked%20because%20I%20addressed%20it%20in%20the%20%22Additional%20Comments%22%20section%20and%20my%20counselor%20also%20mentioned%20it%20in%20the%20SSR.">Freshman year- 3.86, Sophomore- 3.45, Junior- 3.93, Senior (1st semester) 3.87</a>
GPA W: (9-11th)-4.04 (9-1st semester of 12th)- 4.1
Senior year courses: AP English, AP Gov/Pol, AP Psych, AP Euro, Physiology, AP Studio Art.
SAT:
CW- 700
M-610
W-570 / 610
TOTAL- 1880 SUPERSCORE- 1920
ACT: 30
SATII: (the only schools it will matter for are UC's) US History- 680, English-650.
AP: USH- 4, English Lang- 4, Bio-4, French-5</p>

<p>EC: Mock Trial, editor of school newspaper, vice president student body, employed by Getty Museum, volunteer at children's center 70+ hours, volunteer at assisted living center 50+ hours, art outreach teacher 100+ hours.
Awards/Honors: Published in several art magazines, art featured at Getty museum, essay published LA Times, Scholastic Award, National Congressional Art Award, several other small art awards. </p>

<p>It should be noted that the schools where I apply for art with a portfolio base 50% of the decision on talent. </p>

<p>Brown (Duel degree with RISD)
NYU (Art, portfolio required)
USC (Art, portfolio required)
UC Berkeley
UCLA (Art, portfolio required)
UCSB
UCSC</p>

<p>Art Schools already accepted to:
RISD, Mica, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, and SAIC. (Still waiting on Cooper Union)</p>

2

<p>So the “average” ACT score for UCB and UCLA, according to the UC website, is 30. Similarly, the middle 50% of USC ACT scores is 30-33. I can’t seem to find NYU or Brown statistics. I looked at collegeboard.com and the averages they offer seem way off.</p>

3

<p>bummmppppp</p>

4

<p>For portfolio plus academic admission based universities it is difficult to chance a student without knowledge of your portfolio. Assuming you have a stellar portfolio my guess is you have a good chance at most of these schools. Brown might be a high reach. USC does look at the SAT II scores.</p>

<p>Search posts by Wheaty. His gifted daughter applied to some of the same universities. He has some great insights which should be of interest to you.</p>

5

<p>Thank you, I will search it. Although of course I would like to think my art is great, objectively, I would consider my portfolio pretty strong based off the fact that art schools have already accepted me and I’ve won several awards. I will definitely look up those posts, thank you! </p>

<p>And, from USC’s website…
“We only require SAT Subject tests from freshman applicants who do not attend a regionally accredited high school (e.g., home school, some non-accredited parochial or community based programs, even some newer schools). These students must submit three SAT Subject exams, including one in mathematics. For all other applicants, these exams are optional, but recommended. We find them helpful in evaluating applications for merit scholarships.”</p>

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<p>bumpppppp anyone else?</p>

7

<p>Brown - reach
NYU - depends on portfolio so anywhere from match to reach
USC - depends on portfolio but i would say reach
UC Berkeley - reach
UCLA -depends on portfolio, math/reach
UCSB - match
UCSC - safety</p>

8

<p>Since you have safeties already and some match possibilities, I don’t think you over reached at all. You did a good job in picking your schools. If you have some good solid schools in your pocket, reach for the stars, by all means.</p>

<p>My only concern is if you are covered in terms of financials. Most of your reach schools do not guarantee to meet need and if you are accepted, meeting the cost could be a big problem. Hopefully your safeties are affordable.</p>

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<p>@cptofthehouse: i know brown claims to meet full need, nyu is historically awful and i’m not sure what kind of reputation usc has. i know usc has a huge endowment but i didn’t apply for scholarship consideration deadline because it was before i retook the SAT/ACT and it’s based on those test scores and gpa. i should be able to get a pretty good finaid package from any uc though. i’m definitely crossing fingers, it’s one of my biggest concerns. art school safeties have offered me good $$ packages though.</p>