Could I be accepted to Grinnell or Case Western Reserve University?

Applying to College
1

<p>I really want to go to UPenn, but I don't feel as though I'll be able to get in, so the schools mentioned in the question are some schools I would seriously considering attending if I didn't make UPenn. Do I have a shot at either of these schools in regular decision? Would I have a shot at UPenn ED?</p>

<p>I am a junior who is taking 3 AP and 4 Honors classes and I maintain a GPA of 4.8 out of 5.2 weighted, and a 3.6 unweighted. My current class rank is 7/175.</p>

<p>My current class schedule; Culinary Arts (Dual Credit), AP Calc AB, AP US History, AP Biology, English III (H), Psychology (H), Spanish III (H), Speech and Debate II (H).</p>

<p>The class schedule for my senior year will be AP Calculus BC, AP Lit, AP Gov, AP Physics, Spanish IV Honors, Pro-Start 2 (3rd year of Culinary class), Speech III Honors.</p>

<p>I have not taken either the SAT or the ACT. My PSAT scores were mid 70's across the board.</p>

<p>In the extra curricular department I founded and I am the President of our school's Gay Straight Alliance. I will be the Captain of the Speech team by my senior year. I am captain of one of the competitive Culinary Arts teams at our school. I wilam co-captain of the chess team (who took 3rd at Nationals last year). I also happen to be in National Honors Society. I have been in all these clubs since I was a freshmen, except for National Honors Society which I joined as a sophomore.</p>

<p>In the community/volunteer department, I have gone to and spoken at several anti-drug, anti-violence, and other types of marches. I volunteer at the animal shelter in the summer and have amassed about 150 hours of volunteer service. I have volunteered at the local soup kitchen as well for the past couple of years, especially during the holidays. I have helped to restore the clubhouse out by the golf course near where I live as well. I also help as a link between the Taos High's GSA and our local PFLAG chapter. Lastly I have been going to elementary school classrooms and teaching kids chess since the 8th grade.</p>

<p>As for stuff in my personal life that may be helpful, I come from a Latino as well as Hispanic heritage and I live in New Mexico. I have been adopted which leads me to ask, would it help me to mention that in terms of my biological family I would be a first-generation college bound student?</p>

2

<p>Look at the Common Data Set for each school. You like a good candidate for Grinnell academically. Being hispanic is a plus and your social activism makes you potentially a good fit. As for your status as first generation to college, I suppose it depends to some degree on who you consider your family to be. Who you are going to put down on your application as your parents? Those are the folks whose education the appllication is asking about. Of course, if you have lived most of your life with your biological family and are recently adopted, then you have a more complex story to tell anyway and being first generation to college would be the least of it.</p>

<p>One question: Grinnell, Case Western and UPenn don’t usually show up on the same college list. Is there some common thread here that I’m missing? What were your selection criteria for these schools?</p>

3

<p>M’s Mom,
Thank you for your response. In your post you ask, who are you going to put down on your application as your parents. I will put down my adoptive parents as I have been with them for 11 years. Not to mention my birth certificate from California was changed so my adoptive parents are actually considered my legit full time legal guardians. </p>

<p>I know these three seem like a really strange list, but I have my reasons, which I will give now. UPenn is on my list because I love the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania and the majority of my “Adoptive” family lives around Pittsburgh so it would be very nice and probably not too difficult to see them. I value that because I see them maybe once every two or three years if I’m lucky (the last time I saw them was when my great grandma died). I feel that even though I live in a town of 10,000 people in rural northern New Mexico I would be able to adjust to Philadelphia because I lived in Los Angeles for 8 years and I feel more at home in large cities then I do in small towns. Going to UPenn would make it so trips to New Mexico would not be extremely difficult either which is a plus.</p>

<p>Grinnell is on my list because many of the people who work with my dad at a District Attorney’s office here in New Mexico were Grinnell graduates. They all swear Grinnell helped them achieve portion of their lawyer abilities and with their other fields. I hold these opinions highly as these people are in one of the two professions I would like to enter, which is law or medicine.</p>

<p>Case Western is on my list because a large majority of the people who I played chess with last year went to Case Western and have had really positive experiences. Another reason behind Case Western is that my family lives very close to Pittsburgh, and getting from Cleveland to Pittsburgh is not too difficult, so I would like to go see them. Besides, I hear from my family around that area that Case Western has a pretty good medical program.</p>