<p>Coming from parents who didn't matriculate, I had to find out about college by myself and only started looking into it intensively after my sophmore year of HS. As a result, I don't have much course rigor at all and my GPA could have been better. </p>
<p>Freshman Year: 1 HN course, total W GPA: 3.55
Sophmore Year: No HN/AP, total GPA: 3.79
(I started caring) Junior Year: 3 AP, 1 HN: W GPA: 4.08
Senior Year: 4 AP, 1 HN Total W GPA: N/A</p>
<p>Cumulative GPA W: 3.8</p>
<p>My SAT is at 1900, studying this whole summer to bring it to 2100. My extracurriculars aren't anything too special either...Is there anything I can do to stand out from other applicants? What can I do over this summer to make me unique? Will I even have a chance at decent colleges? Is UVA and NYU too far out of my reach? ;(</p>
<p>You might be aiming a little high with UVA and NYU, but as a first generation college student, you never know. Don’t get sucked into the whole prestige thing, though. Really think about what you want out of college academically and socially, and choose based on fit and finances. Dont worry if you find a school you love, and your friends havent heard of it. That wont matter at all when you are out of HS and living happily at your chosen school. </p>
<p>Don’t forget to have a money talk early on with your parents so you dont end up falling in love with a school you cant pay for. Also investigate schools where your stats place you in the top 25% of accepted students, because you can often get decent merit aid. Most of all, dont stress. You are doing fine.</p>
<p>So what can I do this summer to increase my chances my even the slightest bit? If I got a 2400 on my SAT would UVA be in the ballpark?</p>
<p>Its ridiculous to just assume you can go from 1900 to 2400. I would say UVA and NYU are out of reach. If you started your own something that would show initiative. Charity/business. There doesn’t even have to be other in it. thats only if you want to though.</p>
<p>If you are out of state for UVA, your chances are very small, honestly. As far as test scores go, high ones can help you get better merit aid at lots of schools. But admission-wise, your grades are equally if not more important, and colleges will want to see scores that are in line with your school performance, or a little higher. Sky-high test scores might be seen as an indicator that you did not work to your potential in HS and are lazy. Do try to improve your scores, but you dont need to stress over it. </p>
<p>Btw, you have chosen two schools with very little in common besides good academics. What is important to you in a college?</p>
<p>If your Mexican or black your chances are higher!</p>
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<p>Such nonsense or a conspiracy theory. High scores are always positive indicators.</p>
<p>Anyway, talk to your college counselor and/or adviser. Perhaps your school has access to Naviance. If so, look the statistics of students from your high school who have applied to colleges that interest you. How do the SAT scores and GPA of students who were admitted match yours?</p>