Help me get into my dream school :/

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>General: rising senior from Texas. I plan on majoring in Biology/ Biomedical Engineering.
Ethnicity: Asian, Low income bracket
School Info: Pretty competitive, sends a few to top schools (3 last year: Rice, Stanford, Brown)</p>

<p>School Stats:
Class Rank: 10 out of 616
GPA: 6.85 out of 7
[9th Grade: 6.68/6.33]
[10th Grade: 6.59/6.82]
[11th Grade: 7.46/7.36]</p>

<p>Senior Classes:
BCIS Dual Credit
English 4 AP
Humanities Dual Credit
AP Statistics
AP Environmental Science
AP Calculus
Marching Band </p>

<p>Testing:
SAT: 1880 (690 M 560 CR 640 W) retaking in October
ACT: will take in September and November
SAT II: 790 Math IIC, 770 Biology E, 750 Physics</p>

<p>EC:
-Marching Band (15+ hours a week practicing)[4 years]
-Student Council [4 years]
-National Honors Society [2 years]
-Yearbook [2 years]
-Student Newspaper [2 years]</p>

<p>Community Service:
-Various things with student council [red cross, blood drive, etc]
-Orphanage in Vietnam [9th grade summer]
-Hospital Volunteer [200+ hours]
-Church Volunteer [100+ hours]</p>

<p>Leadership Positions:
-Vice President of Student Council [11,12]
-President of National Honors Society [12]
-Flute Section Leader [12]
-Band Librarian [12]</p>

<p>Awards:
-1st Place in National Toy Challenge [9th grade summer, won in team challenge]
- Band
----3x 1st Division Solo
----2x 1st Division Small Ensemble
----3x 1st Division Rating in UIL Marching Band
----3x 1st Division Rating in UIL Sight Reading/Concert Contest.</p>

<p>Summer Activities:
-took Dual Credit Government and Economics
-went to Texas Association of Student Council leadership workshop at ASU
-worked at a local shopping center [15 hrs a week]</p>

<p>Universities:
Rice
Cornell
Columbia
Emory
UT Austin (Plan II/Dean's Honor Program)
TAMU</p>

<p>Hooks, if any:
-first generation college student
-minority (I doubt this will stand)</p>

<p><em>Chance me, and I'll chance you</em></p>

2

<p>bring
my
post
up</p>

3

<p>holy sh** a 7-point scale!?</p>

4

<p>Well, good job on all of your hard work! You have quite a resume. :]</p>

<p>Still, if you're going to "dream big," as they say, you're going to need to improve those SAT scores... I'm one to talk; my SAT math score is painfully mediocre! I recommend studying up to the best of your ability, and I wish you the best of luck in retaking the test. Your SAT II scores are awesome!!</p>

<p>Your status as a minority definitely matters in some places, but in others it will not... Sometimes I question the integrity of certain colleges. For instance, according to the Princeton Review, Stanford considers your ethnicity more than it does your work experience. Yet Berkeley, according, again, to the Princeton Review, a school which is known for its overachieving minorities, does not look at race. Personally, I do not believe this to be true. A white friend who scored a 2400 and had a 4.4 was denied, and a black friend of mine with a 4.0 was accepted... This link is pretty interesting, but it is about Berkeley: <a href="http://www.ceousa.org/content/view/485/100/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ceousa.org/content/view/485/100/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>If you look into it, be sure to note the date.</p>

<p>I'm not sure about you being a first gen college student, but I will be, too, so I hope this works in our favor! :]</p>

<p>EDIT: Sorry if this is stupid, but how exactly does a seven-point scale even work?</p>

5

<p>i'm pretty sure that your being a first gen college students works greatly in your favor at a lot of schools. The main thing to do it work on those sats and you should go pretty far. As far as the colleges you've listed, I have no idea about the last too at all (sorry!) but for the others, i'd say you have a shot if you just work on those sats! (like i'm one to talk haha)</p>

6

<p>I really have no clue how my school's GPA system works.
please chance me :]</p>

7

<p>I'd say you have a good shot at all except Cornell, which is a slight reach and Columbia which is a reach.</p>

<p>You have a shot at all, though.</p>

8

<p>Q: Can your weighed GPA be less than your unweighted GPA?</p>

9

<p>I don't see how. Weighted classes like APs can only work for you, not against you. Ds and Fs in them are weighted the same as regular classes. So your weighted GPA can be the same as your unweighted, but not less.</p>

<p>I think.</p>

10

<p>How does your school's GPA system work? Generally on a 4.0 UW GPA scale, A=4 B=3 C=2 and so forth. For Honors, AP, IB and accelerated courses, A=5 B=4 C=3.</p>

<p>Everything looks great besides your SAT I score. Definitely study your butt off and get a 2200+ in October. You're at a very good standing with all the colleges.</p>

11

<p>Improve that SAT I score to 2200 or so and I think you've got a chance at Cornell. Columbia (especially College) I am not so sure since they have a ridiculously low admit rate.</p>

12

<p>Well I just called my counselor.
GPA out of 4.0 is</p>

<p>UW: 3.7273
W: 3.6530</p>

<p>which makes no sense whatsoever.</p>

13

<p>Hmmm... strange. Maybe your school does not add your non-academic classes (P.E. etc...) to your weighted GPA while your UW includes all grades.</p>

14

<p>bump, anymore chances?</p>

15

<p>blump blump blump!</p>