<p>Hey guys, I understand that the number of these admissions chances threads is astronomically high, however it seems necessary because no two portfolios are the same. I am currently a high school junior, these stats are projections of what I would have by college application time (middle of senior year). Before I begin I would like to mention that I am a student at GSMST, the 3rd best high school in the nation as ranked by USNews. </p>
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<li><p>My GPA is rather low, by sr year probably a 3.4-3.5 because I messed up freshman year. My grandmother died then, and issues from my parents divorce came up, therefore, school took a back burner and I failed lots of classes and made a 1.7 GPA freshman year. Realizing the gravity of my mistake, I studied hard and turned myself around, I got almost all A's sophomore year (3.875 GPA) and Im about to make a 3.9 GPA this semester of Junior year. If I continue to get all As until end of Jr year Im looking at a 3.3-ish GPA, I plan on taking some extra courses over the summer to boost my GPA, so by admission time, my projected GPA is 3.4-3.5.</p></li>
<li><p>My projected SAT score is 2050. I took the pSAT and made a 195 (1950 actual SAT score) and I plan to study more and take more PSATs therefore a 2050 doesnt seem too out of reach. By the way, its the math that always brings me down, I always make 700s on reading and writing and 500s on math. </p></li>
<li><p>My extracurriculars are pretty strong. I worked as a lifeguard for the past 2 summers and plan to for the next 2, so thats part time job experience. I also was on a swim team since 8th grade, however I never qualified for county. I am a member of several clubs, including newspaper (a writing-intensive club), debate, ModelUN, and I plan to be president of a Muslim Student Association I am currently working to create at my school. I am also about to be an Eagle Scout, I am currently working on my community service project required for the rank, I already have completed everything else, so that means lots of volunteer hours. (I would say about 400 hours throughout high school, most of them from Boy Scouts). Also, my Eagle project is about building a prayer garden for a local church, meaning that between that and my schools MSA that I'm working to create, I have played a big part in my communitys interfaith relations. I am also an active participant in my schools soccer club. (Since we are GSMST, we dont have any sports teams, so instead the students formed sports clubs.) My school is unique in that it mandates internships for all of its students, Jr. year I am interning at a sports medicine clinic (I hope to become an orthopedic surgeon) and next year I will probably intern at a hospital. </p></li>
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<p>About myself, I my family hails from Egypt and English is my second language. I am Arab and therefore a minority, I will also occasionally label myself as African-American (Egypt is an African country, after all). Every little bit helps. </p>
<p>So I am hoping to attend some of the top schools, ie HYPS, Emory, NYU, Columbia, etc. I also need financial aid for college, since I come from a single family household and my mother has 4 kids; 3 of us will be entering college at the same time, and the poor woman couldnt possibly afford the 40k+ a year at private universities. </p>
<p>I would like to mention that for universities that dont count your freshman year GPA towards admissions, I would have a 3.9ish GPA with a pretty good SAT and rock solid ECs. I apologize for the long post, but the college hunt consumes my life right now and I am pretty anxious since I know the mistakes I made freshman year are too great to completely recover from. </p>
<p>Sorry for the long post. Thanks Guys!</p>