<p>Here are my Stats:
It's the summer before my senior year and I have just 4 months before I begin applying to schools, and I was wondering if any of you have any helpful advice and guidance for me? My stat's are listed below, what are my chances of getting to NYU/Northwestern University/University of Chicago majoring in Film and Cinema Studies?</p>
<p>What should I do to improve my chances with my 12 week summer break?</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.89
Class Rank; Top 3%
ACT Composite: 26 (retaking in September)
Grades in General: 4 B's in entire high school career
Class Choices: 95% Honors courses and IB courses
Background: Liberian American, daughter of immigrants, daughter of a refugee
Extracurriculars:
4 Years of Student Government - Leadership Roles
Director of the School News Production
Student Body President of Jr.High School
Member of National Honor's Society
Concert Choir
Internation Baccalaureate Student Ambassador
Mock Trial - Lead Attorney
Drama Club - Lead Dancer
Girl's State Delegate
Honor's Student, 2 Academic Letters, Award in Language B, Academic Achievement Award '08
Editor of Literatary Magazine
Advocate for Volunteer Work: Over 250 hours with various organazitions including CEAP and Food for Life.
(in the process) Founder of the Future Filmmakers Club
Organization of the School Improvement Crew
Bruegger's Bagels Employee- Summer '09</p>
<h2>Anything else you think I could do to greatly improve my chances. I appreciate it!!</h2>
<p>I've been interested in Northwestern University for a few years and visited as a birthday present this year. I absolutely fell in love with it. I plan to major in Radio/Television/Film with hopes to go into a filmmaking and screenwriting as a career. NYU is of course another dream school of mine. </p>
<p>What do you think my chances are at the two schools and how do I know if I should apply ED to one of them??</p>
<p>Thank you soo much!</p>
<p>Have you taken any SAT IIs? For NYU, in lieu of the SAT I/ACT, you can send in three SAT IIs. If you can obtain 700+, preferably 750+, scores, then you should be fine for NYU. You should try to bump up your ACT score to 30-34 range for Northwestern and UChicago.</p>
<p>Your ACT is too low for NW-- even as the daughter of immigrants, in my opinion. I’d say you would need at least a 30 as Spatula stated. You may opt to take the SAT and score 2100 or higher. Your GPA, class rigor, class rank, EC’s looks good. See if you can take an ACT or SAT prep course this summer to raise your test score(s). Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks so much to you both! Definitely; this summer so far is dedicated to raising that score, and I think with this intense of a study schedule, I’ll be able to improve to at least a 30.</p>
<p>Anything else you’d recommed? And any input on the big EARLY DECISION decision??</p>
<p>If you really really really like Northwestern, go for ED, but weigh the decision carefully.</p>
<p>If you want to spend your senior year relaxed and not stressing about both grades AND applications then go ED. Honestly, you would be very happy at any of the schools you mentioned. Pick one and then enjoy your last year at home.</p>
<p>@henrymoore, No GPA does most definantly not correlate with SAT. In fact, without knowing the strength of one’s school, GPA is not indicative of anything. That’s why there is standardized testing in the first place, because it’s STANDARD for every student in the country.</p>
<p>@OP, your ECs are fantastic. Get your ACT to 32+ and I would be surprised if you didn’t get into all of those schools.</p>
<p>Chance me: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/953055-please-chance.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/953055-please-chance.html</a></p>
<p>From reading your background, I assume you will need FA. If that’s the case, you can’t afford to do ED, unless your family is very poor, then you could possibly get all grants. NYU does not offer very good FA, even for low income family, a lot of their “aid” is in loans. NYU also does not meet full need. </p>
<p>You will be making very little money when you graduate, so be very prudent about taking out loans to finance your education. Apply to Chicago for EA since it’s not binding. Think hard before you apply to ED because it is binding as long as they meet your financial need. Your idea of financial need maybe very different than theirs. Do your FAFSA calculation first to see if your parents could afford their contribution.</p>
<p>I would make sure you have some financial safety schools. Every year we see kids on this board not able to afford tuition after they see their aid package, most of the time it’s NYU students.</p>
<p>“Think hard before you apply to ED because it is binding as long as they meet your financial need. Your idea of financial need maybe very different than theirs.”</p>
<p>For Common Application schools (like Northwestern and NYU) it’s not quite that harsh; from the ED agreement:
</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf</a></p>
<p>It’s your decision if the offer is enough; there’s no way for a school to know what you can really afford (e.g., they know nothing about consumer debt, supporting grandparents, etc.). If it’s not enough, you 
say thanks but no thanks (perhaps after an appeal supplying additional info–it sometimes works), and apply elsewhere at RD time.</p>
<p>NYU is indeed a terrible place to apply ED if you need FA; your chances of getting what you need are low. If Northwestern is your dream school, ED might be appropriate, if you don’t care about comparing FA packages from other schools, if you’re just trying to find out if you can afford your dream school.</p>
<p>thanks for all the advice!</p>
<p>@oldfort, though I’m not sure how you drew the conclusion that I am not well off financially, your point was well taken. I probably can’t afford to accept the first offer given to me if I am accepted early. I think it would be best for me to apply regular at Northwestern University, NYU, U of Chicago, UCLA, USC, so on and so forth.</p>
<p>Again, thanks to all! This really helped me.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s how I figured out that you would need FA to go to college.</p>
<p>If you’re thinking about majoring in Film and Cinema Studies, you should definitely think about going to NYU. NYU has the arts program (more specifically film) in the entire US - Tisch. I believe USC, UCLA, and Columbia also have really good film programs too - so you should check them out also 
You’d definitely get into USC and NYU, I believe :)</p>
<p>@oldfort,</p>
<p>I’m sorry if I’m being overly sensitivie, but I still don’t see how the fact that my parents escaped a civil war in any way implies that we are financially unfit to pay for tuition. Perhaps your generalization is a bit unfair.</p>