Chances for Out of State Student ... Help is appreciated

<p>Basic Info:
White Male from small town outside of Pittsburgh
Public School. Current Junior. (Don't know if it helps but my school rarely has people apply to top schools, everyone usually goes to University of Pitt).</p>

<p>Rankings:
I'm currently 3/190 but will probably graduate 2nd.
I have 4.1 but my school doesn't offer many AP Classes and Honors classes aren't waited much. I still take the hardest classes my school has to offer and I get all A's with the exception of English which is either a low A or very high B. My GPA will probably go up to a 4.2 senior year.</p>

<p>Classes:
Senior year I will be in:
AP Calc II ... My school actually had to create this class for me and 2 other students.
AP English
Physics II
French III
Accounting
Current Issues</p>

<p>SATs:
My big downfall. I have only taken them once and got 600's across the board with a 10 on the essay. I know I can do better than this and will be taking them at least 2 more times along with the Lit and Math II Subject Tests. I'm aiming for a 1900-2000 min.</p>

<p>Others:
I'm taking Calc I for college credits from University of Pitt and will do the same next year with Calc II. I also applied to the Pennsylvania Governor's School for Global Entrepreneurship this summer and am hoping I get accepted.</p>

<p>I'm involved in French Club, TFIM (student career exploration program), Guitar Club (Vice-Pres), school academic competition team, golf team, Boy Scouts, History Club, Junior Engineering Technical Society and I created a stock-market competition to be held at our school for about 15 high schools in the area. Senior year I will be in the NHS. I have also accumulated around 85 service hours.</p>

<p>I'm very confident in my essays and teacher recs.</p>

<p>Boy, that was a long post! Glad I stumbled upon it a few minutes later. I am a mom who should be sleeping but instead am cruising CC. My daughter has applied to UVA and had an interview for the Jefferson Scholarship (but didn't get to the finals). If you choose to get some tutoring this summer for the SATs, or tutor yourself, and get your scores up a little, you should have a decent shot, especially with your ECs (that stock market thing should get their attention!). Make sure to talk to your guidance counselor about nominating you for the Jefferson Scholars competition. Its a separate application due by early November, but if you win one you get a free ride to UVA. Check out their website, <a href="http://www.jeffersonscholars.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.jeffersonscholars.org&lt;/a>. Every high school can nominate one person, and if you have such a high rank, that should be you. Best of luck and keep your grades up. By the way, we are from the other end of the state. Go Pennsylvania!!</p>

<p>I applied RD this year so I haven't gotten a decision yet and therefore I am no expert but from what i can see your class rank is awesome and an increase in your scores would make you more competitve...good luck</p>

<p>Thanks I appreciate it. What besides my SATs are holding me back? Can an out of state student get in with low SATs or is anything below 1400 a long shot? Sorry for these questions but all I've been thinking about since about middle school was getting into UVA.</p>

<p>One more thing. I'm getting those college credits for Calc but I was wondering if I should bother taking the AP test. UVA takes the credits but I was wondering if taking the test will look good.</p>

<p>SATs over 1400 would give you an excellent chance. You could still be fine with something over 1300 if the rest of your app was very strong. Below 1300 and it's truly a longshot. </p>

<p>UVA won't care about the AP test especially if you are already getting credit from Pitt.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>Irishblues: Have you visited Charlottesville? It's quite different than Pittsburgh. Since you're a junior, I'd urge you to be sure to visit the campus and sit in on an admissions info session.</p>

<p>That's good since I don't really like Pittsburgh. My neighborhood sickens me and I want to go to more of an intellectual atmosphere. I plan on going down to visit this spring.</p>

<p>Well two other schools I've been researching, CMU and UNC. I want to major in Business/Finance so hopefully I will have a better chance at these schools. Other schools are NYU & Boston College, but UVA is still top choice.</p>

<p>I would say that you need to raise those SAT scores to 1300. Its not TOO hard to do that. 650 each. Essays are important. Remember that. If your school is underrepresented, thats also good. If you are on the lower end of the economic ladder, thats also good. You really need to raise those SAT scores because there is a huge divide between ur grades/rank and SAT. You have plenty of time. Take the SAT again in October and take a summer course. Do work/intern/volunteer over the summer to boost your resume!</p>

<p>Thanks. Yeah I know my SATs are really the scar on my resume. My school is very underrepresented and I would be the only one in my grade applying to a school that is on the same academic level as UVA. I'm trying to get into Governor's school this summer for entrepreneurship and I'm really hoping I get into that. If not I'm trying to think of other stuff I can do to help my resume. My school doesn't have many clubs or a lot of AP classes. Any suggestions on things that can stand out on the resume?</p>

<p>Again I really appreciate the help. I</p>

<p>i think its important that ur skool doesnt have opportunities that most elite UVA students have at their top notch skools....they will definitely take that into account...just make urself stand out.....think about y do u want UVA...how u connect with its mission, and how u would contribute to the UVA community...that all should be conveyed in the essays</p>

<p>Thanks I really appreciate the help. My essay is probably the one thing I am very confident in.</p>

<p>irishblues~ you have many impressive qualities! you should be proud. and they'll never hold it against you if your school doesn't offer what others do. and i think the Pitts. thing is also good. my concern would be your low SATs...low as in low for UVA and low especially for an out of stater. they do require more of those out of VA...as we are. good luck!</p>

<p>Irishbles - Good luck to you! Ironically, there are VA in-staters that have gotten into UVA and are tired of VA and have gone elsewhere, including schools where you live! :) Hope you'll have the chance to visit Charlottesville. UVA does take the "holistic" approach when reviewing applications, so there's hope...</p>

<p>^ Most of my family lives in VA and almost all of them came to colleges around where I live for college.</p>

<p>So you don't like Pittsburgh, but you're interested in Carnegie Mellon?</p>

<p>Well my parents are making me consider at least one school in the area. I talked them out of that and am now considering UVA, Villanova, Boston College and UNC.</p>