Class of 2016 Chance!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pittsburgh
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<p>Syracuse Chances?
Academic:
•My GPA at the moment is a 3.06/4.0 (Hopefully will be a 3.3ish when I apply)
•My ACT 25
•I know that I don’t have the best grades, but i plan on getting them up.
•I’m an African-American (Somalian) student, Male, and Pitt is one of my top schools
•I planned on majoring in Marketing and/or Communications</p>

<p>Junior Course load:
•Psychology AP, American History, AP Language&Comp, Precalculus, Stats&Probablity, PhyEd 11</p>

<p>Senior Course Load:
•Yearbook Publication, Humanities (AP Lit&Comp), Stats AP, PhyEd 12, Microeconomics AP, American Government AP</p>

<p>My EC:
•Student Council (VP Junior Year, and President Elect for senior year) (4 Years)
•DECA, which is like business leaders of America. And I am president of that. (4 Years)
•I am the founder and president of the African-American Leadership Council at my school
•I am the producer of the black history month show at my school.
•I am in speech, which has high prestige at my school is ranked in top ten in the USA
•Varsity Golf
•I help run a National Magazine for high school teachers nationwide.
•Been going to Muslim Religion classes every Saturday and Sunday since I was 6</p>

<p>Work Experience:
•I intern with the Minnesota Timberwolves
•I’m the basketball manager for my high school Varsity Basketball Team, and in the summer I manage an AAU team.
•Also this summer I’m working/ interning with a golf club
•I'm a golf caddy
•Mentor Somali Kids at a local Elementary School
•One of 2 students selected to work on the Roseville Park and Rec Board
•Habitat for Humanity this summer
•Run basketball camps in the summer, also interned at a Golf Club this summer!</p>

<p>Awards:
•Lettered in Speech and Student Council
•City of Falcon Heights Teen Leadership Award
•(More that I can’t think of)</p>

<p>Essays:
•Hopefully will be good, I know many people that I will have edit it, so it will be top notch when I turn it in.</p>

<p>Recommendations:
•Assistant Basketball Coach/Vice Principle at me Elementary school, in the Minnesota Hall of Fame for High School Basketball Coaching
•Counselor: He loves me, he worked in the Sports Management Field before becoming a counselor and I know his recommendation will be good.
•Teacher: Humanities/10th Grade Pre-AP English Teacher, One of the Top Teachers in the Nation, Has awards for being a top teacher In MN/USA. I work with her on a literacy publication magazine that a couple of other kids and I are working on together. (thenationalscholar.org) so her recommendation will be legit.
Addition Recommendation: Jeff Munneke; Vice President of Fan Relations and Guest Services I Intern with him, so he’ll write me a good recommendation</p>

<p>Other:
•State (if domestic applicant): Minnesota
•School Type: Large Public High School 2000+
•Ethnicity: Somalian (African-American)
•Gender: Male
•Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): URM and First Generation College. </p>

<p>Reflection
•Strengths: Leadership, Experience (Mainly related to my intended major), Recommendations’, and Extracurricular
•Weaknesses: GPA
•I know my grades aren’t the best, but the reason for that is because I was always busy with school, and extracurricular activities. And I'm not using that as an excuse at all, but i think admissions will take that into consideration. And it wasn’t like I joined every club available just to be in them, I was an active member of each one, and I have leadership roles in many of them. So do you think that I have a chance at all? Also I’m great at interviews so hopefully I nail that too.</p>

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<p>Syracuse chances or Pitt chances? im going to assume you mean Pitt for obvious reasons lol</p>

<p>But our numbers are pretty much identical, I have a slightly higher GPA, but you have taken more advanced classes than me.</p>

<p>Not only are our numbers identical, but so are our race, ec’s, award’s, and work experience count.</p>

<p>I would say that you need to get your gpa up to atleast a 3.3 or 3.4 , and i believe that it can be achieved by getting all A or a 95 + in all of you classes for the first marking period, but i am not totally sure…you may want to retake your ACTs to kinda offset your gpa…</p>

<p>your best bet though is to apply early, because you, and whoever is applying with you at that time, set the standards…you dont want to be applying in march/ april, or even february with a 3.4, where 17,000 are applying with 3.8’s and 3.9’s opposed to the 4 or 5 thousand that will be applying in september/october with 3.9’s</p>

<p>overall, I think that you’ll have a legit shot when you take look at everything, and pitt looks at everything, just make sure you rack up on your supplement activities…and another thing to keep in mind is to show them that you have interest in the school…call them a few times concerning your grades, show them that you really want to be accepted.</p>

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<p>Yea I meant Pitt. Haha but Thanks for the advice! I’m definitely planning to take my act again!</p>