ED II Chances?! Will it be worth it?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
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<p>Basics:
Gender--Male
From--Suburban Chicago public school
Financial aid--Yes
Ethnicity--Hispanic
LD/ADHD--Yes, not diagnosed/treated until end of junior year</p>

<p>Academics:
GPA--3.02 unweighted, 3.88 weighted (see ADHD/LD)
Class rigor--All honors/AP
AP schedule--English Lang., US His. (jun.); Calc. AB, Biology, US Gov't, English Lit., Economics (sen.)
Class Rank: Surprisingly enough, top 16% (class of ~650)</p>

<p>Scores:
SAT--2220 cold (just for NM)
ACT--35 composite (36 R, E; 35 M; 33 S) <== only took the test once
AP--English Lang. (5), US History (5)
SAT Subj.--US History (760), Literature (waiting...)</p>

<p>Leadership/extracurricular activities:
Varsity scholastic bowl--Co-captain (9-12); MVP (9-11); top scorer (9-10, but only because my coach liked pulling me out of Saturday morning tournaments for falling asleep)
Jeopardy!--Finalist, invited to and completed audition in Kansas City. Didn't make the show, but I used the experience for my CA essay
School newspaper--Copy editor (established position, 12); production editor (11); staff writer (10)
Blogger--I spend, and this is a pure guesstimation, about 15 hours per week researching, interviewing, and writing for two incredibly popular hip-hop/music/fashion blogs. One of my sites just finished up an interview with Nas, and I'll be talking to up-and-comer Mac Miller on Saturday (11-12)
Chicago Tribune--Staff writer for teen newspaper (11-12)
Varsity baseball--Hurt junior year, but came back during summer (LHP, 10-12)
Travel baseball--Co-captain/member (LHP/OF, 10-12)
Freshmen swim team--Member (9)
Wind symphony--1st chair, alto sax (9-10)
Jazz band--Alto sax (9-10)
Marching band--Alto sax (9-10)
Saxophone lessons--Alto/tenor sax (9-10)
Parish volunteer--Eucharistic minister/misc. volunteer (9-12)
Assistant teacher--Surprisingly selective program for a summer job (only 40 applicants were picked out of a pool of around 150, 11-12)
French Club--Member (9-10)
Italian Club--Member (11-12)</p>

<p>Awards:
National Merit Semifinalist (223 PSAT)
National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholar
Illinois State Scholar
Prairie State Achievement Award in Math, Science, English, Writing
Tri-M Music Honors Society
Northwestern Midwest Academic Talent Search Award Winner (36 ACT R/E, presented freshman year)
Honor roll member every semester</p>

<p>Assume that essays are in the upper-echelon--not to toot my own horn, as a few people seem to do here, but writing's my thing; my recommendations are coming from a counselor I'm quite close to and an English teacher that loved me to death. Pulling off what would be a 4.71 GPA this semester, which would bump me up about 20-30 spots in my class...</p>

<p>Thanks, yooo.</p>

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<p>SomEbODy… bumpski?!</p>

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<p>I Don’t Know? But your unweighted GPA seems pretty low. I say give it a shot and see what happens</p>

4

<p>Interesting case with the GPA. With a higher GPA I’d say you’re a lock. As it stands you still have a pretty good chance. Vandy loves their high GPA applicants but seems like you have a convincing case for the discrepancy.</p>

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<p>Ahah… A URM with an amazing ACT score, who nearly made it on to Jeopardy, and writes a wildly popular hip hop blog… Ohh, and is a great sax player. I’d say apply. Being a URM actually gives you more of an advantage than it does at other top schools, or so data I’ve viewed would indicate(: While your GPA is low, I’d say the rest of your application is perfect. If you had a 3.6+ GPA, I’d say in without a doubt, but with your GPA, you can’t be sure. I’d say 50%, so definitely apply! Best of luck, mi amigo(:</p>