How do I tell her she won't get in?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>My friend is an African American female and has this mentality that just because she is black she'll get accepted anywhere. I don't agree. Can someone look at her stats and tell me if you agree with me or not?</p>

<p>GPA: 4.14, weighted 3.5 unweighted
Rank: Our school doesn't rank </p>

<p>SAT I
Math: 650
Reading: 630
Writing: 540
Total: 1820</p>

<p>SAT II
Chemistry: 650
Math I: unknown yet</p>

<p>Essays: I hate to admit it but they're pretty damn good.
ECs:
President of Black Student Union
Vice President of Green Team
Team Captain of Relay for Life (earned $2000)
Organized a fashion show for MD Westie Rescue
Fullback on Rugby Team
National Honor Society
English Honor Society
Rho Kappa (Social Studies Honor Society)
Science Honor Society
President of Knitting for Humanity
Co-founder and Vice President of JSA chapter
Election Volunteer
Summer Job as a Camp Counselor from 2009-2013 </p>

<p>Teacher Recs: I think she said they were good
Counselor Rec: Her counselor loves her
Hook (if any):First generation college student, URM</p>

<p>State or Country:MD
School Type: Public school of 2000
Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Female
Other Factors: She's very passionate about neuroscience and pretty determined </p>

<p>She's applying to:
UVA
Harvard
Princeton
Columbia
University of Maryland, College Park
UC Berkley
UC Los Angeles
Johns Hopkins
Tulane University
Pomona College
NYU
University of Michigan
George Washington
Siena College </p>

<p>Do you think she has a chance?</p>

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<p>LOL…you don’t need to tell her…the colleges will take care of that for you. :)</p>

<p>In any case, ya never know…and what do you gain by telling her this? My feeling is to dream & try…and then its fine to deal with any fallout later.</p>

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<p>It is very strange that her UW gpa can inflate so much for weighted. Certainly it won’t for the UC calculated gpa. She should remove the UC’s if she is looking for any financial aid. Also UC’s don’t have affirmative action.</p>

<p>I think she is applying to a lot of top heavy schools where she will have a slim chance. But she sounds like an interesting candidate. She may get less of a tip for AA than she thinks, because there will be other AA’s who have stronger stats. But she seems to have some matches/safeties so that’s okay. She might want more matches so that she has more choices when spring comes.</p>

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<p>The only thing special about her is the color of her skin, unfortunately. She won’t get into 90% of those…especially with that SAT score. Great essays with a 540 in writing? Yeah, seems very fishy.</p>

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<p>So what do you think are good match schools?
I just want to make sure she ends up in a good college because I know she can change the world if given the right resources.</p>

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<p>lol. “hate to admit <something good=”" about="" friend="">."
as for telling her…why? the worst it could do is ruin your friendship. the best it could do…the exact same thing that the college letters will do. if you care about her, you should explain to her the concepts of safety schools/match schools. you might be projecting a bit. does she actually feel that she <will> be accepted to these schools? has she said so? perhaps her application to these schools is giving you that idea, however in reality she acknowledges that many of the schools listed reaches and is playing her chances. if you do confront her directly about your opinion then you should clear that up first. are those <all> of the schools she is applying to? if so, just encourage her to apply to a safety (and mabye more match instead of all reaches. who knows where she will get accepted though, wish her luck:D</all></will></something></p>

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<p>Don’t ruin your friendship by telling her she won’t get in. Everyone’s got a right to dream and friends should be supportive. However, being supportive also means helping her with alternate plans.
Her GPA and test scores really aren’t bad, but most of her list consists in reaches, + Siena. With her profile, she should find a few match schools. Let her know that you’re all for her dream but that she needs a back up plan. In fact it’s MUCH easier to find dream schools - everyone can find some. However, finding schools you like, where odds are good you’ll get in <em>on stats alone</em>, and where you’ve run the Net Price Calculators to see whether your family could afford it, is hard. You may work on it together, and decide you and her will both apply to 3 more schools where you’re in the top 25% applicants or where Naviance’s scattergram for your school indicates you can get in on stats alone. This way it won’t sound like “Oh, you’re applying to all-reach colleges plus a safety that’s a clear afterthought because it’s totally unlike any of the others” :smiley: It’ll be a joint venture and it’ll actually help your friendship.</p>

<p>First, she’d be perfect at MD’s Honors College: St Mary’s of Maryland. Picturesque campus on a riverfront, excellent education, private college-like for in-state price ($40,000 from out of state!) </p>

<p>Let her know that, if she needs financial aid, she should remove UCB, UCLA, Umich, and NYU from her list because there’s no financial aid (public) or very little (NYU - unless she goes to NYU Abu Dhabi) except for the $5,500 loan she’s allowed to have freshman year.</p>

<p>If she likes NYU and GWU, why not apply to AU?
If she likes Baltimore, why not apply to Goucher?
If she’d be interested in being near Philadelphia (on the MainLine, no less), why not look into Bryn Mawr? (more a reach than a match, but a better choice for her stats than some others)
If she likes the Boston area, why not look into Clark or Simmons?
If she likes Pomona, why not apply to Pitzer or Scripps (although it’s a reach, less so than Pomona)?
If she likes Pomona, why not apply to Carleton, Grinnell, Macalester?</p>

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<p>If she likes Pomona, why not apply to Scripps? She will likely get into a few of the schools on her list, but only a few. But since she has a safety (Siena), I’d just let the chips fall…</p>

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<p>How is she your friend if you want her to fail? You “hate to admit” that her ECs are good?</p>

<p>She does have a well-rounded resume and good grades. Not everyone is a great test taker and if you take out the writing score on her SATs (which many top colleges do) her CR/M composite is not awful. And being a first-gen URM is a great hook.</p>

<p>I think she will get into the following schools:</p>

<p>University of Maryland, College Park
UC Los Angeles
Tulane University
NYU
George Washington
Siena College </p>

<p>The rest are a long shot for anybody.</p>

<p>MYOS, your recommendations are good except that Carleton is just as competitive as Pomona–Grinnell and Macalester just slightly less so.</p>

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<p>I agree sally, but this is my reasoning: at Carleton, Grinnell, and Macalester her first gen URM hook added to a very nice profile (stats +ECs) would probably be in more demand than at Pomona, due to their respective location.
I wanted to add that Hamilton is seeking out first gen applicants, but it’d be yet another reach! (but one where her hooks would be very appreciated)</p>

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<p>She would be an amazing candidate if her test scores weren’t so low across the board.</p>

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<p>You don’t see this on many female (URM or not) resumes :)</p>

<p>The college list is reach-heavy but most are, if she loves her safety then there’s no reason to add more of them.</p>

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<p>I don’t think Siena would be challenging enough, and there’s such a huge gap between that safety and the other schools… She should at least have another safety just in case.</p>

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<p>I would venture to guess that she has chances of acceptances at some of the schools on her list.
I don’t think it is up to you to tell her she won’t get in at all.
If she is your friend , why not just be supportive of her ?
Not sure what issue you have with her or why you " hate to admit " her essays are good.
Don’t rain on her parade</p>

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<p>I just read in the University of Dayton newsletter that they are really trying to recruit more minorities. She may want to think of applying there. They do give a lot of merit aide and I believe she would have the stats.</p>

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<p>Remember, in general, just because you got into the college, doesn’t mean that you’ll succeed</p>

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<p>She’ll definitely get into a few of those schools. Idk about the Ivies or NYU. I’m a black female with a 2010 SAT and GPA W: 4.27 UW 3.96 and I’d say I’m very insecure about getting into a lot of schools.i think being an URM helps but unless she is well qualified, theyre not gonna accept her</p>

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<p>OP- I would approach this with your friend very cautiously- it would be a really bad idea to say “you’re not going to get into any of these schools”- because then she’ll just get angry and not listen to you. Maybe encourage her to talk to a college counselor (someone whose opinion she’ll trust), who’ll tell her what’s up. Also, you can say “hey, I think that you have great chances at these schools, but it’s a bargain for even the best candidates, and it wouldn’t hurt to find some less selective schools you like just in case” or something.</p>

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<p>Why on earth does this person need to be the one to let his/her friend down? Presumably this girl has parents and a guidance counselor. My take is that OP is an angry/envious “friend” who wants to take the girl down a few pegs and resents the hook she has. There is no practical reason for OP to insert him/herself into the situation.</p>

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<p>Spot on. Either that or this OP is applying to these same schools herself and is trying to assess her competition. This is why I kept my SAT scores, essays, and everything else I could private, and I never asked for anyone else’s. It kept the sharks like this OP at bay.</p>