Chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pittsburgh
1

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I am currently a Junior at a very competitive private school in Florida. I was just wondering as to if anybody could give me some input as to whether or not I have a legitimate shot? I am hoping to go for Business/Management. </p>

<p>ACT - 29, and taking again in June. Hoping for a 31 or so.
SAT - Took the May SAT and am still waiting on those results. I think I did very well (1300+ hopefully!).</p>

<pre><code>-Freshman Year GPA: 3.33 UW/3.33 W (No Honors/AP)
-Sophomore Year GPA: 3.40 UW/3.40 W (No Honors/AP)
-Junior Year GPA (so far): 3.18 UW/3.40ish W (3 Honors/No AP)
-Senior Year GPA: TBD (2 Honors/1 AP)

School does not release rankings.
</code></pre>

<p>Essays should be very good, being as I am a good writer. Recs also very good.</p>

<p>Extra Curricular Activities:
- Debate Team (3 years)
- Key Club (3 years)
- Young Democrats Club (1 year)
- Young Republicans Club (3 years... I joined BOTH my Sophomore year to see which one I preferred, before giving the nod to the Y.R.)
- Newspaper (1 year)
- 140 hours of community service
- Treasurer of 11th grade class
- Treasurer of the school for next year
- Internship at local stock brokerage firm</p>

<p>Other things:
-Attended a summer study at University of Colorado at Boulder in the summer before Junior Year.
-Come from a broken home -- Divorced parents. I've been told by a few people to play this card.
-National Society of High School Scholars
-Went on an Outward Bound excursion for a month the summer before my Freshman year.
-Dean’s List in Fall ’06, Fall ’07, and Spring ’07.
-I run a business online buying and selling baseball cards. I started with $500 in 2004 and am up to over $15,000 in inventory. I hope to make it to $20,000 and donate it for Cancer research, a subject very near and dear to me. I've had too many friends and relatives die of this disease.
-I am spending this summer in Tanzania, helping in a few villages with building schools, teaching the children, and helping out.</p>

2

<p>70% chance</p>

3

<p>If you did get a 1300+, you have a pretty good chance.</p>

4

<p>Pretty good chance - i know people who have had lower criteria and got in. Plus all your other activities are sure to get attention.</p>

<p>I'm not an expert on essay writing, but be careful writing about the divorce of your parents. It sounds to me like one of those topics that kids use to get sympathy (not that I'm saying you are- I'm sure it was a genuine struggle you had to overcome). But by all means use it, just be careful how you write it.</p>

5

<p>I think you have a good chance of getting in. That being said, I probably wouldn't play-up the divorce thing-it's not at all uncommon for one's parents to no longer be together nowadays (>50% divorce rate, anyone?). Also, I don't know if I would mention the National Society of High School Scholars thing, either. It more or less means nothing to colleges... Good luck!</p>

6

<p>Your baseball card business sounds interesting. If you don't write the essay about that maybe you could use the supplemental part of the app to show some screen shots of your website.</p>

7

<p>you should be alright.. my GPA in a noncompetitive school was a 3.2 average from 9-11 grade.. now this year i did pull off a 4.0 unweighted in the 3 marking periods and have a's on half my finals already (yeah.. good time to actually start trying). I did a few extracurriculars, and my essay was about par and I got in. It could be because i get all a's in math and got a 730 on my math portion of the SAT's (don't ask about english hehe). So yeah with all of that I got in no problem. Maybe I was on the bottom of the boat, not really sure though. Good luck :D.</p>

8

<p>you're easily in. no worries</p>

9

<p>(Pitt Junior)</p>

<p>You sound fine - especially with your extracurriculars, but don't play the divorce card or National Society of High School Scholars. Neither of them really mean much to admissions.</p>