Hispanic, chances at these schools:

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>These are schools I applied to:
Columbia
Duke
Johns Hopkins
Stanford
Princeton
University of Chicago
Yale
Cornell
UCONN (already accepted, scholarship)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (scholarship for $60k if accepted, which I very likely will be)</p>

<p>prospective molecular bio/premed major
1410(720v690m)/730 Writ/710 Math IC/ 710 US History/700 Math IIC/700 Bio - M
AP US History - 5
URM - Hispanic, poor background (drug addict father, teenage mother)
4.48 GPA for senior year, 4.33 cum. coming in, so probably 4.35-4.45 now
rank 2/67 as of midyear, was 3/67, if it weren't for the lousy 3.75 that Jazz Band gives me for an A (half credit, all four years), I would be first by a good margin
-most rigorous courses all four years, currently taking:
AP English, AP Euro, AP Calc, AP Biology, Honors Physics, Honors Band, Jazz Band
-The two sciences also have labs, which is about the same as another class when taken together, and Euro and Bio give UCONN credit
-great essays (the guidance secretary said one was about the best she has read, and she reads every essay every year), recs</p>

<p><ecs>
-very extensive music experience and leadership, I've created/been in many different bands, section leader, etc, also I played at many different events, national band award
-lots of political activism, such as founding clubs, debates before my school, model UN, more
-other misc. clubs like Spanish Club, National Honor Society, community service, etc
-created several computer games, wrote poetry for school newspaper
-attended college courses in polisci and intl. studies, As
-achieved highest senior grades for first semester while working 25hours a week to help my family
-a bunch of school awards, especially in science</ecs></p>

<p>-columbia and princeton have interviewed me already, both went quite well</p>

2

<p>Good shot everywhere. You don't need us to tell you that.</p>

3

<p>You got that right Death_Hammer. Videogamerx2, you are going in a good path, hope you achieve on everything. Good luck! Don't let others make desicions for you. Follow your heart and instincts and do what you believe is right.</p>

4

<p>WOW...I'm really amazed...You have stellar stats, especially for someone with a disadvantaged background, and there is definetely a chance that you'll be accepted to all of the schools you applied to. College admissions counselors agressively try to recruit low-income applicants, even if they have somewhat lower SAT scores and GPA. But even if you did not come from such a background, you'd still be a very competitive candidate for these schools. Your SATs I and IIs are great, as well as your GPA, course schedule. You have some pretty notable ECs, esp. your music experiences (btw, did you send a recording to the schools?) and leadership roles in political clubs/community service--colleges love seeing applicants who care about the world around them, and you've certainly shown that. It's also impressive that you were able to maintain good grades, acheive good test scores, be committed to ECs, and all the while you are working to support you family. There is practically not a smudge on your record, and the adcons would be pretty heartless if they didn't accept you.</p>

<p>You're going to have a very bright future and make a positive impact on your community. I hope everything works out for you...</p>

5

<p>Dude I play music too.</p>

6

<p>Thanks alot for the comments. We don't have excessively low income anymore, because my mother remarried when I was in middle school and my stepfather makes decent pay, but his line of work (automobile sales) is very risky and he has had to change jobs quite a few times (I think seven times in two years), and my mother has lots of student loans. My mother earned a cash settlement from a car accident we were in, so we were able to make a down payment on a house in an upper middle/middle class area. This has given me the chance to do more in high school. However, my mother does not work, as a full time graduate student and intern, and my stepfather refuses to contribute to my college, so me and my mother have to come up with the brunt of the EFC which will be based on his income, which is why I worked. Hopefully I can get some scholarships, and if not, loans are not the end of the world. I could not make a recording in time as I am a percussionist and so it is more difficult to record the instrument because you need special mics and other musicians. I probably should have focused more on the family background in some of my apps, I did it in the Princeton, Stanford, and Columbia apps, and Princeton and Columbia have given me interviews, if that has any significance. Although, my guidance counselor said she wrote about it in her recommendation, which went to all the schools.</p>

<p>EDIT: I just got the national band award from my band teacher several weeks ago, I said that I got it in my Chicago midyear report, should I email the admissions at the other schools?</p>

7

<p>hehe, I didn't apply to Harvard, I wouldn't want to go there</p>

8

<p>Especially with a guy like spydertenis going there.
:(</p>

9

<p>I don't know if this guy is entirely serious... how can you major in Pre-Med?</p>

10

<p>i say i'm a biology/premed major. i just mean that im majoring in biology but also taking the premed requierments. i think thats what videogamer meant.</p>

11

<p>Exactly, although there are some universities that offer an actual premedicine degree (example: Penn State <a href="http://www.psu.edu/registrar/progsumm/summaries/p_m__b_s.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.psu.edu/registrar/progsumm/summaries/p_m__b_s.html&lt;/a&gt;), I don't think any of the schools I am looking at have one, but there are special advisors and course routes to take regardless. When one describes himself as a bio/premed major, it often means that the person is a Biology major who is preparing for medical school classes and admissions.</p>

12

<p>I think if u mention this in the essays, itd work to ur advantage..i hope u get into the college of ur choice. im sure ul succeed.</p>

13

<p>ouchhh death hammer</p>

14

<p>no you don't ;)</p>

15

<p>Hahaha...despite that, videogamerx2 didn't slack off in high school and really seemed to have out-performed many privledged applicants. His test scores/GPA/ECs are are incredible considering that he had to work 25+ hours a week to support his family.</p>

<p>I'm surprised that you didn't apply to Harvard, since they waive the app. fee, tuition, room, and board for any student whose family is making 40k a year or lower.</p>

16

<p>Elbereth Gilthoniel-I'm also quite surprised that you didn't apply to Harvard. I didn't know that Harvard waives the app. fee and room/board for families who make less than 40k a year, that will help me out quite a bit. </p>

<p>To videogamerx2- I agree with what many people have already stated. It is very likely that you will be accepted by the schools you applied to. What is your first choice?</p>

17

<p>i am a big mover too, i feel your pain, i've been to 8 (3 high schools, 3 middle schools and 2 elementary) schools in 6 years and my father has jumped about 7 or 8 jobs in these 6 years, i am an immigrant, but i am chinese, so no URM status there. I think a student like you should get in without applying, b/c if you were to do that well in those conditions, you'd probably invent time travel if you were in a rich family. gl in your future endeavors :)</p>

18

<p>Columbia-Rejectd
Duke- Rejected
Johns Hopkins- Rejected
Stanford- Rejected
Princeton- Rejected
University of Chicago (Too close to call)
Yale- Rejected
Cornell- Defered </p>

<p>THESE SCHOOLS ARE REACHES FOR ANYONE... NEED HIGHER SAT SCORES</p>

19

<p>
[QUOTE]
Columbia-Rejectd
Duke- Rejected
Johns Hopkins- Rejected
Stanford- Rejected
Princeton- Rejected
University of Chicago (Too close to call)
Yale- Rejected
Cornell- Defered</p>

<p>THESE SCHOOLS ARE REACHES FOR ANYONE... NEED HIGHER SAT SCORES

[/QUOTE]

How can I be 'defered' if I applied RD? Unless you mean wait-listed....</p>

<p>Actually my SATs are well in their 25%-75%....using the collegeboard stats here are my percentiles (assuming SAT scores are distributed evenly from 25% to 75%):
methodology:
math percentage:
75-(School75%math-mymath)/[(School75%math-School25%math)/50]
repeat w/ verbal, then average, done in microsoft excel
school math verb average
columbia 41% 56% 49%
cornell 59% 86% 73%
duke 35% 58% 46%
jhu 42% 75% 58%
princeton 25% 47% 36%
stanford 29% 52% 40%
uchicago 45% 57% 50%
yale 25% 40% 33%</p>

<p>So while you may be right in calling them reaches, and even in predicting all those rejections, to say it is solely because of SAT scores is in error.
By another method of calculation and US NEWS data (2004 edition though), which looks at combined SAT 25%-75%, Yale and Princeton tie for the highest average SAT of 1465, which is not that much higher than 1410. Although the schools won't care about this, I did score 1590 and 1580 on practice SATs, but I had to work the night before and the day of the SATs for five hours each, not to mention my dad arguing with me in the morning before the test after waking me up at 5:00am to take a shower when I told him to not wake me up the night before because I needed rest...but that's all in the past.

[QUOTE]

I'm surprised that you didn't apply to Harvard, since they waive the app. fee, tuition, room, and board for any student whose family is making 40k a year or lower.

[/QUOTE]

I did not know that, but my family makes over 40k. Here in CT, the cost of living is high, however. All of these schools offer to meet 100% need, at least. Hopefully I will get into Princeton, which is my first choice right now, largely in part because they give only grants, no loans. With a 17% increase in apps and I think 49% of the class ED this year, it looks to be very competitive, but one can pray.</p>

20

<p>Don't pay attention to Co11egehopefu1's post. No one is guaranteed rejection if there SAT's are above 1400's.</p>