Do I have a prayer to get into any of these colleges despite my school's disadvantages?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

For a little background, I’m a junior attending the world’s smallest high school, and I’m hoping to get into a great college for at least a BA in Television Production/Screenwriting.

STATS:

ACT: 30 (so far)
3.966 unweighted GPA, top 10% at least
expect to take 3 AP classes (our school only offers three, available only in senior year)
1st Chair Concert Band/Section Leader Marching Band, State Competitors*
National Beta Club*
1 yr of State Tennis
Student Council Treasurer
Quizbowl, State*
ton of EC’s (fine arts, 1 yr news room, spanish, library, TRiO*, county leadership program, etc.)
*entire high school career, if not longer

upcoming: FBLA, in the middle of founding an NHS chapter, adding to my 50+ volunteer hours, exclusive hospital volunteering program, prom committee

Due to my career focus, my school choices are limited, and they’re unfortunately some of the most difficult colleges in the country to get into.

My dream school is USC (but who am I kidding?), but I love to go to Northwestern, UCLA, Wesleyan, BU, Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Vassar, or LMU? I understand these colleges are really different, but I’m at such a loss, and I’m terrified to lose my chances thanks to where I live and its lack of opportunities, because the last thing I want to do is be forced to settle and attend an in-state university. PLEASE PLEASE HELP.

2

What is your financial situation, and what state do you live in? USC isn’t great on FA, and UCLA is going to be expensive if you are OOS. Have you worked with your parents to run net price calculators on all these schools? If not, you need to do that ASAP. Your best bets are to (1) keep working on getting that ACT score up, and try the SAT as well, and (2) do whatever you can in the EC area related to your proposed major. That is assuming your GPA is out of 4.0, if that is the case then you are in very good shape on that metric.

3

Wesleyan, BU, Vassar, LMU are matches
rest are low reaches/reaches

chance back?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1729235-what-are-my-chances-will-chance-back-immediately-add-link.html#latest

4

You have an excellent chance. There are certainly some great video production “scholarships” out there on the internet that you should target in the interim to showcase your screenwriting. Is it Lexus or Toyota? Do a search, you will find some.

Make this summer HUGE. Either find a program to attend, or produce a video using your friends and either tripods & camcorders with post-production on an iMac, or look into the public access (or “goodness of their hearts”) facilities at local cable channels and/or local TV channels. Spend a few weeks with a friend/relative if you can’t find it locally and need to go out of town. You would be surprised how much more someone will help out a 17 year-old to succeed and follow a dream.

Or use animation tools on the internet to produce something locally. DO SOMETHING notable that you can showcase. Start mobilizing now so that it is set up and you have commitments in place and won’t run out of time in the summer. Get things lined up.

Second, pay $300 for one of the on-line prep programs that promise to increase your score by 4 points and try to up it 5 or 6. The test shouldn’t matter to your admission chances, and if you get above a 33 or 34 it probably won’t.

Then, look at Yale. And Chapman, as well.

Good Luck!

5

Thanks for the reply and as for my financial situation it’s about as depressing as it gets. I’m on free lunch, my EFCS’s a whopping $0, and my parents don’t make more than $30k a year combined: a lot of colleges, thanks to that, are immediately ruled out. According to net price calculators, for most the colleges I’ll have to pay between $0-15k a semester, so I’m going to have to hoard scholarships. I live somewhere in the armpit of AR and attend a school with a graduating class of 105 kids (it’s the largest in the area), with no community projects or theaters or service possibilities, and where going to school OOC is largely discouraged. I’ve only taken the ACT twice, 30 being my first and highest score, but I’m definitely taking it again, but I’m trapped unfortunately in the lack of any other ECs that would stand out on my transcript. I’m giving myself heart palpitations trying to keep my grades up: even though we have no AP classes, our school has this thing called “Pre-AP” which is advanced subjects. I’ve taken mostly all Pre-AP classes my entire career, luckily, but I’m not sure they’ll count for much on an application.

6

Some schools just reduce need based aid by scholarship amounts… it depends on the school. UCLA will be unaffordable for you as an OOS student, take it off your list. You need to get some study guides for the ACT to see if you can get your score up. And I do recommend trying the SAT, some students do better on it. I agree with @itsjustschool to try to figure out SOMETHING to do with film this summer.

7

@intparent Thanks for the advice, and true, my financial need will ultimately depend on the school. I hope to take the SAT and a few subject tests, and I’ll definitely do more this summer. But, the nearest news station is 3 hours away and any summer programs I’d be eligible for are too expensive, perhaps I can check for low-income eligibility. Arkansas isn’t particularly known for its exploits in the film industry, or…anything really, other than drunken four-wheeler riding, and our state colleges are ranked as some of the worst (right next to our job opportunities), so I’m determined to get into a good college: even a university like DePaul or Cal State would be a better alternative, but there’s nothing wrong with reaching for the stars, I suppose. I’m going to try and save up my dollars and log in some volunteer hours, and I’ll look into other possible summer program and scholarship opportunities. Thanks so much for your input!

8

You are in great shape. Get some studio time- cable channels are required to provide it as an operational condition to be able to broadcast. Having $80 - 150k annually, bickering parents that refuse to pay- that sort of thing- is bad shape. You are not in purgatory- you are solidly in hell, and colleges are good at dealing with that. If you can get your scores up and do something significant, you can certainly crash into an elite school, which will give you a full ride. If you were an under-represented minority, it would be better.

You are in a state known for its natural beauty. I’m thinking a Tarzan or “Lost” episode along the Buffalo river in the Northwest, with “Blair Witch” shaky camera work and all.

Take the college out of this. If you were forced today to screenwrite and produce a TV episode, what would you do?

9

They aren’t going to penalize you if you are an otherwise good student because of your school. The GC sends to the schools you are applying to a school profile and oftentimes schools have regional admissions counselors familiar with the different high schools students are applying from. This is to give them context and understand some of the limitations of your school, but it doesn’t necessarily count against you. I had two friends with graduating classes less than 60 and they both ended up the same place I did, one of them even got into an IV but chose to come here instead

10

There is an Arkansas Film commission. Someone there may be able to give you some advice. There is a whole genre of iPhone movies, or any cheap camera and tripod (just be sure to get a remote lavalier mic).

You would get a scholarship to any summer program where you apply (from a non-profit school). Find the best you can and apply to it. Does Emerson (LA’s new campus, for example) have one?

You really need those 2 things- some BIG project with some little ones, and ACTs above the 33 mark. That’s totally do-able, and you could be competitive. Especially if you could target a Film Festival (animation at the Sundance, anyone?).

Coming from humble beginnings and overcoming the odds really does give you an admissions advantage. Also, “Where the Red Fern Grows” was filmed just over the western border, in Cherokee & Adair Counties, OK. Many stories would be great set in AR- August, Osage County, Old Yeller, To Kill A Mockingbird, a live remake of Avatar, or any that are not location-specific.

11

@ItsJustSchool‌ your advice is stellar, I’ll grant, and my surroundings are incredibly cinematic (it’s the state’s only redeeming quality) but with a focus on writing, I’m worried any physical attempts to /film/ would end in bitter disaster. I’ll see if I can reach out to the state news, and do my best to raise my ACT score to at least a 32. A big project will be difficult, but it’s all about creativity involved, but it may be an easier bet to make connections with any local productions. As for out of state summer programs, there’s no chance in Hell my parents will stomach the fees involved. (Emerson’s financial stats, especially in aid, break my heart, truly.)

12

@shawnspencer That’s such a relief, my school is a place where decent education goes to die, so the fact I won’t be back-seated for it takes a load off my shoulders.

13

Carnegie Mellon and Northwestern seem to be reaches, UCLA USC Emory and Vassar are low reaches and the rest are probably matches. I’d go as far to say that Emory and Vassar are matches and UCLA will like your profile as long as you write your essay correctly. USC won’t really give a damn about the underprivileged thing though but you still are within the range for test scores and GPA so it’s a very low reach. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1730652-chance-me-plz.html#latest Chance back?

14

Someone upthread suggested you check out the TV/Broadcast major at Chapman, and you should. This is a competitive major on campus but you have the scores/grades for it. Excellent program, and like many privates, the school is generous with merit and need scholarships, as well as offering work/study. Plus, they are interested in drawing students from states that aren’t as well represented in the current student body.

15

Those two things and one other- go here and sign up for everything they offer. In a couple of weeks it will open up for you to apply to be a “Questbridge Scholar”. Do that.

http://www.questbridge.org/for-students/cps-why-apply

16

@ItsJustSchool‌ I’ve never heard of Quest Bridge but this looks absolutely amazing, I can’t believe I’ve never heard of it! It looks like an incredible opportunity. I hope it’s successful.

17

It is very successful- it has been around for quite a while and the 35 member schools rely on it to ferret out low-income candidates to boost their socio-economic diversity profiles. Part of its success is the “finishing school” training they give. Member schools get properly-conditioned students ready to hit the ground running, not doe-in-the-headlights misfits who spend all of freshman year saying “I can’t believe I’m here” and trying to learn the ropes. For you, the February-March Questbridge Scholar thing is the ideal place to start.

You may wish to use their ‘College Match’ program- I would, but not for 8 schools, just for Northwestern and Yale. Either way, they will indoctrinate you to the process, structure the process, take care of fees, and help you to put together an application that puts your best foot forward.

Either way, do those 2 things!!!

:slight_smile:

18

Oops, a lot of your schools participate. I guess I was just looking where I think you should go. :slight_smile:

Remember, the Match is you listing your up-to-8 top schools in order of preference. They tell you which one of those 8 you will attend (on full ride 4-year scholarship)- you have no further say. Only about 5% of the finalists are matched, though. Still, the process, without the match, gives a lot of advantage in what you learn and the infrastructure provided.

I think they may even spring for point #1 (ACT preparation courses).

You are on your way!

19

Well, in the last day or two I found a couple of more resources in other CC threads:

If doing something on your own this summer is too daunting, consider harmonizing with high-achieving students who have been dreaming of elite admissions for years, and take some classes on the process, etc. Do this by applying to the summer programs offered at Phillips Academy and Phillips Exeter Academy. According to another poster, they give generous scholarships (free? IDK). Their programs consist of academic and athletic subjects with students, some of whom are likely ivy-bound; as well as meetings with admissions staff and visits to ivy lineage colleges. This will get you in the proper mindset, be fun, and you may even learn a thing or two.

The application period is open. Get your application in by Valentine’s day, or you may miss the boat!

And, can you get into Yale? Here is an article from the recent issue of Yale’s magazine, with generous quotes from Yale’s president:

http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3801/wanted-smart-students-from-poor-families