Help a newbie out?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey, I'm new to the site and I would appreciate if someone could chance me for some of the school's I'm interested in. I'd appreciate it, and I will chance back even if my opinion might be a bit skewed due to lack of time on this site.</p>

<p>UC Davis, UCSD, UCLA, NYU Stern, Boston College, USC and UVA. </p>

<p>I'm a CA resident, currently a junior, my mother and father are divorced, my mother being only a HS grad, with my father holding a masters. I live with my mother and she makes ~50k per year. I do not plan to apply for financial aid.</p>

<p>Sophomore:
Honors Alg II (B/C) (The C may become an A, unsure)
Chinese 3/4 (A/B)
AP World (B/B) (Both B's may become A's, unsure)
Honors Biology (B/A)
Honors Ethic Lit (B/B)
Gym (A/A)</p>

<p>Junior:
Honors Amer. Lit (B/B)
Honors USH (A/B)
AP Biology (B/B)
Precalculus (A/A)
AP Comp. Sci (B/B)
Guitar (A/A)</p>

<p>Senior:
AP Lit, AP Chinese, AP Stats, C++ (at college), US democracy/econ. I might try to get another college class so I don't have a hole in my schedule, not sure how that will turn out.</p>

<p>My class rank is abysmal; probably somewhere in the top 10%-15%.</p>

<p>Standardized testing:
AP: 5 world, expecting a 5 on comp. sci and probably a 4 on biology, perhaps a 5. I can't be too sure with the new grading scale.</p>

<p>SATI: 2240. I didn't prepfor this, so I am considering retaking in October, but that is unlikely since I want to take SATII's.</p>

<p>SATII: 770 world. I am planning to take to take Math II and Biology in October. Not sure about what I'll get, but I'll assume around 700 each if I prepare. </p>

<p>PSAT: 212, not sure if I'll make a semi-finalist or w/e. The schools I referred myself to were NYU and UCLA, but I assume that doesn't mean anything.</p>

<p>I'll be taking AP Lit, AP Chinese and Statistics next year. I'm pretty sure I can get a 5 on Chinese and Lit, and a 4 on statistics.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Sophomore year: Interned at the District Attorney's Office of San Francisco, did grunt work like Excel and the like, talked to some public attorneys and got an idea of what they did, learned how to deal with people.</p>

<p>Junior year: Going to intern/shadow at an overseas investment bank. Not sure how the experience will be...</p>

<p>During my senior year I may have an internship at Franklin Templeton, not sure about that, it'll depend how this summer turns out.</p>

<p>Mock Trial: 4 years, active roles.</p>

<p>Student Government: Sophomore Treasurer, Junior Historian, probably Student Council head next year.</p>

<p>That's sorta it...I may try to get a virtual stock exchange club to take off next year now that I know enough. I'm not very service oriented unfortunately. :|</p>

<p>Essays/Recs:
Might be able to get a very solid recommendation or two. If not very solid, I am sure I can get one or two good ones.</p>

<p>Each essay I write will be looked over by a ****load of people, and I will take criticism to heart. I consider myself a good essay writer, and I'll probably write about internship experiences. I will probably be sending out a personalized essay to UCLA, NYU Stern and UVA.</p>

<p>Applicants have been becoming more and more competitive and qualified each year, and thus I don't really expect to get into any of these schools. If I am not qualified for any of these schools, may someone recommend me a path so that I would eventually end up at one of these schools?</p>

<p>Thanks a lot for reading all my ********; I appreciate it.</p>

2

<p>Forgot to put GPA: 3.33 UW, not sure about weighted, I’ll go check. If they factor your first semester of semester of senior year into class rank, I might be able to raise it to 3.5ish UW. Mostly all honors course, 6 AP’s and probably 2 college courses when I’m done. I’ll be applying to NYU Stern ED.</p>

3

<p>How is it that as a junior you’re still unsure about final grades from sophomore year?</p>

<p>3.33 UW GPA
10%+ rank
Highly Rigorous Course Load
2240 SAT
EC fair</p>

<p>Generally speaking you have a good profile with the obvious pothole of a “fair” GPA over a very tough schedule. With a 3.75 GPA I’d say you’d be in at all your choices; with a 3.33 >10% rank there might be some issues at some schools. Here are my guesses (and that’s all they are):</p>

<p>UCD Yes
UCSD Maybe
UCLA Maybe –> No
NYU Yes
USC Probably Yes
BC Maybe –> Yes
UVA Probably No (very tough competition for OOS)</p>

4

<p>My AP world teacher might change my grade due to my AP Exam score, my C in Algebra is a longer story, but I might get it to an A. </p>

<p>Updates:</p>

<p>I run an eBay buying and selling business that I made some side-cash off of. Nothing impressive (1-2k yr profit, could make more but I keep a lot of the clothes), but through it, I was able to pursue my hobby of luxury fashion at no cost to parents, and I learned a lot of about clothing. Is that considered an EC? Probably not since I use the profits to help fund my crack clothing addiction right?</p>

<p>I confirmed I’ll be interning at Morgan Stanley this summer. </p>

<p>Should I list my involvement in movie and tea club? I really do have an affinity for tea and movies, but they seem sorta unrelated.</p>

5

<p>Involvement in every club is important. They want to know what you do with your spare time. </p>

<p>Assuming you’re in the top 20%, I’d say you have a very good shot at all of the colleges minus UVA. UVA is ivy-like in its selectiveness for out of staters, but good luck.</p>