Chances for URM ?!?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Personally, I think My chances are are slim...very slim....What do you guys think</p>

<p>18 years old URM, Black
Parent are well-educated, but internal and international conflicts practically ruined the family.</p>

<p>cademics:</p>

<p>4.0 weighted GPA (3.5 unweighted)
Rank 38 out of 138 students (the most competitive class in our school)
620 Verbal, 570 math , 610 writing
670 U.S History, Math I 550
AP U.S.History: 4
AP Statistics: TBA
AP Economics: TBA
AP Government: TBA</p>

<p>APs Taken: 4 (We have Accelerated block schedule + Choir Takes the majority of my schedule.)
AP Statistics
AP Economics
AP English IV
AP U.S. History</p>

<p>Extra-Curriculars:</p>

<p>Speech and Debate
• Speech and Debate member (16 hours a week, 10th-12th)
• Degree of Merit and Honor from National Forensic League
• Currently attains two state points for Texas Forensic Association State Tournament.</p>

<p>Varsity Choir
• Varsity Choir member (7.5+ Hours a week, 10th-12th)
• Vice-President
• Member of the 04-05 Texas Music Educators Association Region Choir.
• Member of the 05-06 Texas Music Educators Association Region Choir.
• Currently a 05-06 Texas Music Educators Association All-State Choir Finalist (Competition on January).
• 04-05 State Finalist on University Interscholastic League Solo & Ensemble (2nd Division).</p>

<p>UIL Academics
• Member of the UIL Current Events & Issues team. (16 Hours a week, Starting on 2nd semester. 10th-12th)
• 1st Place Team 04-05 District & Region University Interscholastic League Current Events & Issues.
• 4th Place Team 04-05 State University Interscholastic League Current Event & Issues.</p>

<p>Class Officers
• 2006 Senior Class Vice-President.</p>

<p>French Club
• “Mr. French Club” (Club Spokesman).</p>

<p>Outside of School</p>

<p>YMCA Youth Basketball League
Member of 03-04 Alief YMCA Youth Basketball League 2nd place team. (9 hours, 10th).
• Team Captain.</p>

<p>LAFABAH: (Non-Profit Organization).
• Member of LAFABAH (6 hours a week, not including volunteering activities).
• Assistant Treasurer (9th-11th)</p>

<p>Sears, Roebuck, and Co.
• Employee (Salesman) of Sears, Roebuck, and Co. (Summer of 2005: 23 hours a week, 9 weeks. School year: 22 hours a week).
• Among top salesmen for month of August 2005.</p>

<p>Other stuff:</p>

<p>Basketball
• Practices 12 hours a week.</p>

<p>Selling and Advertising.
• Set up an online book store during summer of 2004.
• Best seller for 04-05 Varsity Choir Annual Fundraiser.</p>

<p>Languages
• English
• French (Fluent)
• Spanish (Not Fluent).</p>

<p>Excellent essay and recs. Hopefully, the counselor recs will as good as the others.</p>

<p>What are My Chances for:</p>

<p>-Columbia (Dream School)
-Rice
-University of Texas
-Cornell
-NYU
-Penn State</p>

<p>Sry for the long post. Basically, academics are killing me, but considering what all the stuff I do outside of school, I just can't totally focus on them. ECs are my only hope I guess...</p>

<p>Your Thoughts guys?</p>

2

<p>Your scores are very low for most of the schools on your list, and for that reason, I think that all are big reach schools except Penn State and perhaps UT (though your rank may be low for them) since you're instate.</p>

<p>Your ECs are OK, but I don't see anything that is so extraordinary that it would outweigh your low SATs particularly since you come from a well educated background. If your parents were born outside of the US, that also would hurt you as you'd be competing against much higher scoring African American children of African and Caribbean immigrants.</p>

<p>Your odds would be better if your reach schools were ranked 20 - 50 in the top tier.</p>

3

<p>Bump! (10 Characters)</p>

4

<p>I cannot say anything until your ACT/SAT score pops up</p>

5

<p>well educated parents = ?
undegrad? grad + ?</p>

6

<p>I think Columbia is a reach but Cornell is within your reach. As for the others with the exception of Rice, you have good shots. Rice can be unpredictable with Texas applicants-- less forgiving. Unfortunately you dont qualify for automatic acceptance at UT. ( I am assuming you are a texan with your UIL merits) I would emphasize your UIL Current Events, because making it to state, let alone placing in the top 5, is nothing to take lightly. (with music as well) If at all possible, get your SAT math in the 600s. Your extra-curriculars and talents look great, especially to schools who care more about people than numbers.</p>

7

<p>just cause you're black doesn't give you the right to apply to really good schools. I'm sick of affirmative action.</p>

8

<p>Only a white person would say that.</p>

9

<p>yeah, really, nhs. henry, URM stands for under represented minority. black people are under represented at many of this guy's schools. he's not saying "oooh let me in and waive all standards cuz my skin is dark!!!" by acknowledging the fact that he's a URM, he's saying, hey "i will add something to your campus which is lacking...diversity." And he has "the right to apply to" wherever the hell he chooses, whether he's white or black. personally I think he has a great chance at Penn State and UT...his extracurriculars and GPA are decent.</p>

10

<p>I'm hoping Henrym288 is kidding. Everyone has the 'right' to apply to 'really good schools'. Considering that his gpa is a 3.3, I find it really funny that he's criticizing someone...</p>

<p>That being said, your work schedule/EC list is impressive, but your scores are low. Columbia will be harder to get into, but you have good shots at the rest of them.</p>

11

<p>I'm not trying to be offensive but don't you think the notion of affirmative action is illogical? From my understanding, AA attempts to help minorities because of their lack of education and priviledges. There are several million extremely impoverished white children, who are even worse off than blacks. Why not help them? Wouldn't it make much more sense to ignore race and focus on socioeconomic reasons, so that everyone is equal?</p>

<p>Furthermore, blacks are rightfully angry of their prior harsh treatment during the slave days and the Civil Rights Era. They argue that the "white man controlled them." Isn't the so-called "benevolent" government doing the exact same thing by utilizing AA? Aren't we just aiding blacks, while we should be helping them become more independent? Affirmative Action, despite what people say, works against the black people and just relegates them to a dependent, needy position. If we were to dispense of Affirmative Action, we would give blacks a chance to become more independent from the government. This goes for welfare as well, but that's a different story.</p>

<p>I am often unsettled by several well-off blacks who abuse affirmative action to gain admission to some of the top schools, including the ivies. It's just not right. Why should an average black person, just because he is black, be able to attend a great University and take the spot of a much more deserving, educated white person? In a sense, these great universities are compromising their superiority and ability to produce great leaders by accepting undeserving people, just to "add a little diversity." Where's the logic in that?</p>

<p>That said, a person of any color or ethnicity has no right to attend an ivy league school with stats similiar to the person above. It undermines the institution's integrity. In conclusion, I believe that Affirmative Action is extremely ineffective in its attempt to "help out minorities."</p>

12

<p>Your stats are pretty low for Cornell or Columbia, and still below average for NYU and Penn, but URM might help get ya there</p>

<p>Out of curiosity, do you guys think it would be more fair to everyone if they just removed the place where you put your race from the application? That way it would be race blind?</p>

13

<p>and my username is my soccer position, not political affiliation..</p>

14

<p>points to henrym...was that a debate speech? lol</p>

15

<p>no, I just like to write, especially about ineffective liberal-minded ideas.</p>

16

<p>haha a fellow conservative. what schools are you appying to? i'm worried i'm going to be a URM at most schools...being conservative and all</p>

17

<p>I'm applying to Michigan, Wisconsin, Boston College, Cornell, UNC, Georgetown, UVA. </p>

<p>Haha, and yes, I'm worried, but I tend to surround myself with people of similiar political beliefs, so i think ill be ok.</p>

18

<p>we have similar colleges, I'm applying to Georgetown, Boston, UNC, NYU, Columbia. I read on one thread that "Columbia is a wonderful, accepting place to come out" (for a gay person) haha I was like whoa let me rethink this</p>

19

<p>Mai gawd...since this is a debate on a semi-anonymous college forum, let's do this, henrym:</p>

<p>"'m not trying to be offensive but don't you think the notion of affirmative action is illogical?"</p>

<p>The problem is, blacks aren'T in the same position as whites were in the 60s and 70s. The benevolent government was working in favor of the already (relatively) privileged whites. Now, the government treats both blacks and whites the same...but the thing is, blacks and whites aren't in the same socioeconomic situations yet. Treating people equally isn't treating them fairly. Disadvantaged kids, black or white, are like the kids with bad eyesight. The advantaged kids are those with natural 20/20. AA puts the kids with bad eyesight near the whiteboard so they can see just as well as the kids with perfect vision, who don't need any special treatment from the teacher.</p>

<p>"From my understanding, AA attempts to help minorities because of their lack of education and priviledges. There are several million extremely impoverished white children, who are even worse off than blacks. Why not help them? Wouldn't it make much more sense to ignore race and focus on socioeconomic reasons, so that everyone is equal?"</p>

<p>Actually impoverished white kids can and do get helped just like any other impoverished children. It's just not called AA, it's called financial aid and waivers, etc. So it's not like only people of color are getting "special treatment." Anybody who is in a bad situation deserves help and can get it.</p>

<p>"Furthermore, blacks are rightfully angry of their prior harsh treatment during the slave days and the Civil Rights Era. They argue that the "white man controlled them." Isn't the so-called "benevolent" government doing the exact same thing by utilizing AA? Aren't we just aiding blacks, while we should be helping them become more independent? If we were to dispense of Affirmative Action, we would give blacks a chance to become more independent from the government."</p>

<p>Well, to quote you yourself, what about the impoverished white kids who want aid to go to college? Wouldn't it help them become more independent if we denied them $ and told them to go get night jobs or something? So even you have agreed that financial aid is there for a good reason. And AA has the same reasoning behind it. We're helping people so they can help themselves.</p>

<p>"I am often unsettled by several well-off blacks who abuse affirmative action to gain admission to some of the top schools, including the ivies. It's just not right. Why should an average black person, just because he is black, be able to attend a great University and take the spot of a much more deserving, educated white person? In a sense, these great universities are compromising their superiority and ability to produce great leaders by accepting undeserving people, just to "add a little diversity."</p>

<p>There are people that abuse the system in every case everywhere. But that doesn't mean AA is fundamentally a problem. And what's all this about superiority? Example: A poor black kid, or even a poor white kid, who goes to a inner city public school and gets a 1900 on his SAT. Then the rich black/white/yellow/purple kid who is middle class and gets a 2200 and can afford college comfortably. Don't you think the AdCom should consider the situation of the 1900 kid? Maybe the fact that he couldn't afford a better school or test prep or maybe that he didn't go home to a computer and well-educated parents?</p>

<p>"A person of any color or ethnicity has no right to attend an ivy league school with stats similiar to the person above. It undermines the institution's integrity. In conclusion, I believe that Affirmative Action is extremely ineffective in its attempt to "help out minorities.""</p>

<p>Colleges don't use AA to help the minorities. They do it to help themselves. Ivy league schools are private institutions that have their own standards, one of which is usually diversity. They want their campuses to be representative of the diversity of American society. They don't pity the blacks and therefore lower their standards in sympathy or something. They just weigh the benefits (black kid adds diversity but doesn't have the highest scores, hmm) when they build their classes. That's what they're doing: building classes, made up of diverse students. And I like that.</p>

<p>And no, I'm not a liberal either.</p>

20

<p>Well said, Jimbob! I knew someone would step up to the plate. I was going to, but decided not to waste my time. :P</p>

<p>I especially agree with your last point. Universities accept minorities through AA not to help minorities, but to help themselves. As a student, I wouldn't like to go to a college that isn't truly representative of the American population. Why? America is a diverse country with vast differences in ethnicities, wealth, sexuality, and so on. How can you face the 'real world' without being able to interact with them? Isn't college the right time to experience different ideas/cultures? IN my opinion, being in a diverse environment will help me achieve my education goals.</p>