Chances for a very lost senior ><

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm not a very smart kid and i'm really not ready for college right now. But i gotta get the ball rolling; it would be great if you could estamite my chances of getting into a few colleges... here are my stats:</p>

<p>Asian-American Male
California, Bay Area Resident</p>

<p>GPA: 2.9 UW/3.3W (heh, D in spanish one year, never good at spanish. My grades are very skewed, mostly As + Cs... this is because i dont try if i dont respect the teacher/ feel he/she is BS. Wasn't the best attitude ><)</p>

<p>Harder classes: Pre calc H, Chem H, US History AP, Bio AP, Calculus BC, English AP (Currently), Gov AP (Currently), Econ AP (Currently).</p>

<p>SAT Is:</p>

<p>Math: 800
Writing: 690
CR: 650
Overall: 2140/1450</p>

<p>I'm going to retake SAT Is November and make a shot at ACTs as well.</p>

<p>SATIIs:
MathIIC: 790
Biology: 680
History: 710</p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>Work Experience:</p>

<p>Meridian Pacific - did partisan research for the Special Election (State Referendem initiated by Arnold)from June - September of 2005</p>

<p>Local Republican Party - 20 hrs a week for the summers of 2005 + 2006.</p>

<p>Local Golf Course - worked for 11 months</p>

<p>Activites:</p>

<p>Local Chapter Red Cross Youth Board Co-Chair
Officer at Club Red Cross Club
Officer at Club March of Dimes Club
Officer at Club Young Republicans Club
4 year member Speech and Debate, couple Congress + debate awards.
2 year member of JSA
1 year member of Mock Trial
300-500 hrs community service (never really recorded, unless a club did it for me, didnt care too much)
Local Youth Court Attorney + Juror
One year Varsity Cross Country
One year JV Football
One year Varsity Basketball
5 years piano (but quit... how bad would that be?)</p>

<p>I desire to major in either Poly Sci and then go into Law or Business... leaning toward business right now.</p>

<p>Here is where I am applying... I'm not really sure which of these are reaches/matches/safeties or whatever... pretty lost as title denotes :). Also, if you think there is somewhere i should apply to, it would be great if you could recommend it. Thanks.</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon
NYU
Boston U
UC-LA
UC-San Diego
UC-Irvine
UC-Davis
USC
Loyola Marrimont U
U of Chicago
U of Texas at Austin
U of Maryland - College Park
Babson
Umich - Ann Arbor
Whitman
Carleton
Occidental
Pitzer
Emory
U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
UPenn</p>

<p>Thanks for taking time and reading this :)</p>

2

<p>In CA you can retake classes and change your GPA. Since you're not ready for college yet, take a gap year and work and replace some grades. The combination should get you into a much better college than you'd get into now. Presently you'd have almost no chance for the better schools on your list.</p>

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<p>A lot of those schools simply aren't happening with your GPA. Notably UPenn,Emory, etc.</p>

4

<p>hmm.. i really dont want to stay behind a whole year.. where would i have a good chance at?</p>

5

<p>I suggest you try UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, UC Merced and Loyola Marymount. You at least have a shot at those schools.</p>

<p>P.S. I don't understand why you would retake your SATs and/or take the ACT. Your test scores are not the problem--your problem, which you have already described here, is that you do poorly in a class if you don't respect the teacher--which is an attitude issue. Hopefully, you can get this resolved before you go to college.</p>

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<p>calcruzer: ehh, theres nothing i can do about those scores now. The only think i can really do to increase my chances is to retake my sats/acts.. i'll study this time and maybe i'll do a little better. every little bit counts. Would those be considered reaches?</p>

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<p>I would consider UC Riverside and UC Merced matches. I would consider UC Santa Cruz and Loyola Marymount very slight reaches.</p>

<p>Your test scores give you a very good chance at the last two schools. You might try reaching for one other UC, such as Irvine, Santa Barbara or Davis, but I consider you a longshot for those schools.</p>

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<p>would everything else be completely out of reach?</p>

9

<p>bump bump bump</p>

10

<p>San Francisco University
University of the Pacific
University of Redlands
Santa Clara University
St. Mary's College
Seattle University
Whittier College
CSU Northridge</p>

<p>I wouldn't completely rule out Occidental or LMU.</p>

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<p>Okay man you have geat SAT grades and a bad gpa. You know what that tells me? That YOU ARE SMART but LAZY. Not only will the schools not accept you with your gpa, but dont go to a school based on name. Go because your going to get the most out of it. These schools have large workloads. From what it looks like, you put to much into ECs and to little into work. Not good man. Retake courss if you wana go to these schools or go to lower ranked schools.</p>

12

<p>You may have a chance at some of the smaller private schools, since you do have great scores. I don't see the better public schools taking you with that GPA at this point. Maybe you should replace some of your impossible schools (UT Austin, UMaryland, UIUC, U Chicago, Emory, UCLA, Carnegie Mellon, UMich Ann Arbor, UPenn) with smaller private schools.</p>

13

<p>any suggestions? would the other schools on my list that Mom didnt mention qualify as decent reaches?</p>

14

<p>Run, you are obviously smart. Is there some reason your grades don't match your test scores? If you have a home situation that explains it, or a minor learning disability, or you had to work through school, or nearly any other defensible reason, a lot of schools might overlook your lower-than-average grades. If you got slightly deficient grades for no particular reason, why not apply to a couple of CSUs or some place like UC Merced? Despite what a lot of teenagers think going to CSU Northridge or CSU San Diego will not doom you to a life of failure and poverty. (Honest -- I work on a tech team of 40 people and I think I only know where two of them went to college. After the first year of work it just doesn't matter anymore.)</p>

<p>Make sure you explain the descrepancy somehow. If you don't, admissions officers might just decide you are "lazy" -- something that I doubt from your resume. Good luck!</p>

<p>(Personal anecdote - I have an MBA from UC Irvine. I could have gone to grad school practically anywhere -- it was before the competition level at B-Schools went into the stratosphere and I had a great GMAT score. I ended up at Irvine because my wife worked in Irvine and I didn't see myself driving back and forth to UCLA or USC to go to school. I graduated fourth in my class and went to work for Andersen Consulting. You DO NOT have to go to Harvard to have a successful life. Honest.)</p>

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<p>Rick, thanks. I understand what you are saying, but still i would perfer to go to a better school than not.</p>

<p>I think the thing is... i really value a lot of other things more than school academics. For instance i can count multiple scenerios where i decided to prep for my debate tournament rather than study for a test. Not the best "excuse"</p>

<p>Also, i have worked at a few places... but the thing is i did for my own needs. (since parents didnt give me much money) I really had to earn the things i wanted... while other things i did such as my political internships + Red cross where out of person desire. Often I spun much more time in these places than i should to be academically healthy.</p>

<p>Also, how do i explain these descrepancys, assuming they qualify (refering more the 2nd one i guess)</p>

<p>NOTE: Despite what people are saying i am still applying to many of these places. i sent in my USC part 1 app today. Chances aren't good, in fact, very bad... but it really doesnt hurt to try.</p>

<p>Actually it did cost me $10... haha just kidding :)</p>

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<p>If you're interested in it, apply to Occidental. I think you'd definitely have a chance there with a reasonable story for your low GPA.</p>

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<p>where would i incorporate this story?</p>

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<p>Run47:</p>

<p>UCLA: Reach
UCSD: Slight Reach
UCI/UCD: Match</p>

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<p>ty flopsy.. any other opinions?</p>

20

<p>bump bump bump</p>