Chances???

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I really want to attend the University of Michigan. The University of Chicago is my reach school and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is my safety school. So here are my stats:

Act: C28, E33, M26, R27, S25
The average score at my high school is a 17 composite score

Unweighted gpa: around 3.86
Weighted gpa: 4.36
Rank: 7/224
Classes: Mostly honors classes freshman-junior year
AP Classes: U.S. History (2) but dont plan on sending the scores
Senior Year Schedule:
Ap Calculus
Ap Psychology
Ap Studio Art
Dual Enrollment English 101
H Stem Research
R Forensics (honors not offered)
R Spanish 2 (honors not offered)

Extracurriculars:
-Taekwondo/5yrs/assistant instructor/2nd degree black belt/competed in several tournaments and won a couple 1st & 2nd place trophies/volunteer to teach children’s self defense classes/ not a school club
-College Ambassadors Program/2 yrs/Research Director/ help promote the college going culture at my school by provide resources, information, and support
-Book club/4 yrs
-Varsity Track & Field/3 yrs
-National Honors Society/2 yrs/do a lot of community service like blood drives, relay for life, and events for the community
-Verde (a gardening program)/ 2 summers
-Marwen Art Program/ 1 summer
-Science Olympiad/ 1 yr/Captain of JV team
-Peer Mentor Program/ 1 yr/Mentor a freshman
-Cooking Club/1 yr/cook/do a lot of community service
-BuildOn/ 1 yr/do a lot of community service around the city
-Student Council/1 yr
I participated in the Big House Program this summer at the University of Michigan. I meet alot of upperclassmen and other students that want to attend UMich. I got lots of help with the essays and really got to know the campus because we stayed on campus for a couple days. I think it shows I’m really interested in UMich.

Awards:
-Honor Roll
-Salute to Academic Achievement Award (For students in cook county which is pretty big)
-Posse Foundation Semi-Finalist (Hoping to become a Finalist)

Almost 200 service hours

Essays: Going to talk about how i overcame shyness. I know it sounds generic but it think i have a pretty good story

Recommendations: From my English teacher that thinks im pretty smart and the other one im still debating who to ask

Hooks:
-URM: Hispanic
-First Generation (Parents/siblings didnt go to college but have some cousins that did)
-From the south side of Chicago, IL
-Go to a public school with about 1,000 students but most students go to a community college or dont go to college at all
-Legacy??Two cousins attended U of I
-Major: Undecided but considering Psychology, Business, Finance or PreMed

Sorry its long but what do you guys think are my chances of getting into these schools???

2

That isn’t legacy to have two cousins attend a university.

3

C’mon no one has anything to say??? Please respond

4

University of Michigan-Ann Harbor?? I think University of Chicago is a reach but you never know admissions officers might se potential in you university of Illinois-Urbana Chicago your pretty much in.

5

Sorry I did mean University of Michigan-Ann Harbor

6

There quite hard to get into but you’d hsve a better chance there than at University of Chicago.

7

*have

8

Your ACT is a little low for UMich, quite low for UChicago. UMich has an average ACT of 30. Your GPA is within range though. Even though scores aren’t everything, a lower than average score CAN keep you out.

EC’s are very subjective, but I personally think you had a lot of 1 year clubs and groups…even two years is better than 1, which makes it seem a little like an add on…but you do have devotion to track and tae-kwon do which is good, and you have a decent amount of service hours.

URM status also really helps, and you’ve overcome a poor academic environment.

I can’t really rate your courseload because I’m not sure if your GC would check “most rigorous.”

You have a shot a UMich, I’d say a reach though, only because nothing stands out and your scores aren’t super high.

Chicago would be a high reach…it’s basically a “pseudo-ivy” in acceptance and you would need to write killer essays to make up for the score gap…

9

Thanks for the insight LushLillies. Anyone else have any comments???

10

First of all, UMich is at Ann Arbor, not Ann Harbor.
Second, @LushLillies admission data on UMich is way off. The mid 50 ACT for UMich is 30-34 this year. So ACT 30 is the 25th percentile, not average. The admission median is 32 this year. OP’s GPA is almost right on the admission average though. With ACT 28 and GPA 3.86, even in state student would have a hard time to get into UMich, so it is a rather high reach for you from OOS.
http://admissions.umich.edu/apply/freshmen-applicants/student-profile

11

Thank you to everyone that relied. Does anyone else have any other comments? Any help is greatly appreciated

12

C’mon only 4 people have replied out of the 110 people that viewed this post :-/

13

Get your ACT scores up. Even up to 30 and you will have a great chance. Your story about being URM and the south side of Chicago could go a long way.

Consider schools farther away who would love to have a URM like you: USC, Rice, Emory, Northeastern, BU, Tufts

14

Bump