<p>Race:Black
Gender:Male
GPA:3.8UW
Rank: 4/90
ACT: 28 (retesting and expecting at least a 30)
High school: Inner-city school, sends no one to top schools.
State: Michigan
Income bracket: 30k</p>
<p>Art Club -- Founder/President
FIRST Robotics -- Pneumatics Electronics Team Leader and Mascot
National Honors Society
Member of Non-Profit Organization
Full-time job
Stage hand for several local theatre productions
100+ Hours of volunteer work (includes a lot of activities)</p>
<p>No APs/Honors (Not offered)</p>
<p>Reccs -- Decent</p>
<p>Essays -- Good to Great</p>
<p>What are my chances at:</p>
<p>Brown
Dartmouth
Vanderbilt
UPenn
Princeton
Northwestern
Amherst
Williams
Pomona
Duke</p>
<p>Get that ACT to 32+ and you're basically in at all of those.</p>
<p>those are tough schools, so I wouldn't say that your automatically into any of them... nobody is, but I agree with sinistercharity that if you raise up your ACT, you've got a good chance at all of them. Universities won't hold it against you that your school doesn't offer AP / Honors classes</p>
<p>I was hoping that the colleges I apply to would take the quality of my school into consideration when looking at my scores. </p>
<p>Either way, I'm aiming for a 32+ this time.</p>
<p>If they do take into account the quality of your school, it will not be positive for you. Having a high class rank in an unknown high school that never sends kids to top schools discredits much of your accomplishments there.</p>
<p>Sure, I couldn't take AP or Honors classes but I did well in the classes that I could take. </p>
<p>Besides, I have a standardized test score to my credit. While it might not be high for the typical Ivy League students it's very high for someone from my school district, where the average test score is 14 points lower. I would think that my 28 from Poor Ghetto High, with its cramped classrooms and underwhelming curriculum, would be worth more than a 30 at some top-notch private school. I would think that my 3.8 GPA, would mean something too. It shows that I didn't fall victim to the academic lethargy that plagued many of my classmates their entire high school careers. If you looked at the grade distribution of my class you would think that our school was grade deflated. Educational engagment just wasn't a part of my school's culture. In a non-competitive environment the only person that pushes you to succeed is yourself; I pushed myself.</p>
<p>I'll have to disagree with you sinstercharity. I don't think my high class rank from an unknown public high school discredits my academic accomplishments. I think it validates them further.</p>
<p>There are two ways of looking at it, and colleges usually take the second. On one hand, your ACT score is excellent, especially given the difficult schooling situation that you are in. You are right, a 28 from your high school is worth far more than a 28 from Exeter or TJHSST.</p>
<p>However, it also lowers the prestige of your excellent GPA and class rank. The reasoning for it is that, in poor high schools that have never sent students to top colleges, someone's going to have to be ranked 1 (and 4, in your case). A class rank of 4 at your high school means almost nothing compared to a class rank of 4 at a prestigious private or magnet school. It's called grade inflation and colleges have to look out for it.</p>
<p>However, in your case, I think the two circumstances largely cancel each other out, and my prediction stands: you have a decent chance at every one of your choices.</p>
<p>i really liked your response, GapYear'd. It was written really well lol. Write like that in your essays and you'll have really good chances</p>
<p>You're right -- my school was severely grade inflated. The only difference between an A student and a D student was consistent attendance. </p>
<p>I'll just try my best to show the colleges that my education didn't end in the classroom.</p>
<p>Thanks eating food. I'll definitely concentrate on those essays.</p>
<p>BTW: I really wasn't being sarcastic when I said that the only difference between an A student and a D student was consistent attendance...</p>
<p>...I'm not telling adcoms that.</p>
<p>**shameless bump.</p>
<p>Another shameless bump.</p>
<p>from what i see you should go early decision at brown and you will have a good chance.</p>
<p>cool, ED brown would be nice.</p>
<p>Go ahead, believe in yourself.
you've already somehow qualified since you stand out from your high school which has never sent student to ives.
i bet you will get in</p>
<p>Have you tried taking the SATS? ACT tests on what u learn in high school, and since u did not goto an extremly competitive school, your SAT (which tests more reasoning and logical abilites) might actually be higher. Who knows maybe its worth a shot? I took a physics course one time and the TA was a senior at caltech really smart, who also went to a very poor school where he was the smartest by far, so your chances might be pretty good.</p>
<p>I know it may seem like a wonderful dream to go to any Ivy...but I think you should ask yourself whether you'll be able to handle it. If the education at your school is as lackluster as you seem to believe it to be, then perhaps you aren't ready for an education at one of America's top universities. This is the thinking I would use as an adcomm. And, ironically, rather than hurting you, they would be saving you from misery. Consider your state schools as worthy alternatives to Ivy-Leagues. There's no shame in going to a lesser known university if you make the best of it. Good luck in whatever path you decide to take!</p>
<p>Well see if u go on to get a masters no one cares where u go for a bachelors. SO the best would be to goto like a state college then do well and try to apply to an ivy/top college cos then u would be able to handle an ivy.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.brown.edu/Administration/George_Street_Journal/vol27/27GSJ07i.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.brown.edu/Administration/George_Street_Journal/vol27/27GSJ07i.html</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/education/27grad.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin%5B/url%5D">http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/education/27grad.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin</a></p>
<p>If Anthony Jack (Amherst College) and Cedric Jennings (Brown University) can graduate with Honors despite their educational backgrounds, I can too. </p>
<p>I know that going to a top-tier school from a poor high school is hard. But I've never been one to let a challenge deter me: why should I start now? I'll be applying to two instate universities -- Michigan State University and the University of Michigan Ann Arbor -- along with Amherst, Pomona, Brown, Dartmouth and some match schools like Lawrence University.</p>