How much will Hispanic help me?

Student Lounge Hispanic Students
1

<p>I am a good student, and look to apply to some of the top colleges and universities, but I am unsure how much being Hispanic will help me.</p>

<p>Allow me to clarify, I am first generation from Spain, not form Latin America. As far as my research has informed me though, and according to the common app, this is considered Hispanic. My flaws come with my grades and test scores. Although I dream of going to a very good school, my grades are not of genius standards, but they are still good. Same story goes in terms of my SAT scores. I am involved in many leadership roles, many of them reflecting my focus on business and international affairs. Would being hispanic give me a significant edge? How much does it ACTUALLY help? Even more, being from Spain is exclusive enough, for there are not many people from there in the US. Here are my stats...</p>

<p>GPA is out of 4.0, unweighted</p>

<p>Freshman- gpa 4.0</p>

<p>Sophomore- gpa 3.5
Honors Chem
Honors Algebra 2
Honors Spanish Lang
L1 History
L1 English
L1 Latin</p>

<p>Junior- 3.65
L1 Precalc
L1 Physics
Honors Latin
AP Literature
AP Spanish Lit
L1 History</p>

<p>Senior- do not know yet, most likely 3.7
AP Biology
AP Psychology
AP Art History
AP English Language
AP Calculus AB
Honors Latin
Independent study for spanish; something business-related</p>

<p>SAT: 1900
Recommendation letters: very good
Class Rank- top 10%</p>

<p>I am very like-able and my interview will surely be to my favor.</p>

<p>President Spanish Honors Society
Officer Latin Honors Society
President Model UN
President Future Business Leaders of America
Editor for school news paper
Business manager for school news paper
Varsity Tennis Team 4 years</p>

<p>American Legion Boys' State Award
Fairfield University Book Award
National Latin Exam- Gold 9th and 10th
National Spanish Exam- Gold 10th and 11th</p>

<p>College Choices in order... which one should I apply early to?</p>

<p>Cornell (ILR Program)
Brown
UPenn
Dartmouth
Duke
Tufts
Columbia
Boston College
Colgate
Vassar
Johns Hopkins</p>

<p>What worries me is that my grades are not as high as they could be, and I am not in all AP or Honors classes. Also, my SAT scores are not good. Would Hispanic truly help make up for that?</p>

2

<p>Basically, if their URM qouta isn’t full you should have a good shot. Good luck…</p>

3

<p>Can your family pay full-freight at those institutions? If you need significant financial aid, then don’t apply early decision anywhere.</p>

<p>Except possibly for ILR, all of these are selective institutions. Where is your Safety? Please find at least one. If you can bring up that SAT (or ACT) score a bit, your GPA puts you in line for serious merit-based aid and guaranteed admissions at some perfectly fine institutions. Start with this list, and see what you think: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>Being Hispanic will help, as will your class rank and ECs. But based on your grades and SAT scores, as well as possibly a less-rigorous-than-available HS curriculum, all these schools look like reaches to me. Fine to apply to some of them, but I think you need to add some matches and a couple of safeties. You could be admitted at one or more of these schools, but you could just as easily be shut out from all of them. So you need some back-ups.</p>

<p>So I’m estimating your cumulative UW GPA is now somewhere around 3.72, which is quite good but not stellar, and it’s not helped by the fact that your strongest grades were as a freshman. Not sure how your SAT breaks down between CR, M and W, but at many schools CR and M are still more important. Assuming you got about 630 per section, that would put you in the bottom quartile at every school you list. Your GPA would be competitive at Colgate, the least selective school you list here—assuming they don’t discount for possible lack of rigor in your curriculum, or for the dip in grades between freshman and sophomore years. But Colgate’s admit rate is only 29%, so with SAT scores in the bottom quartile and grades somewhere around the midpoint, it’s still a reach.</p>

<p>Look for schools where your grades and test scores are around the top half and the overall admit rate is 40-45% or higher–e.g., schools like Lafayette, Skidmore, and Dickenson. Those are your matches. Safeties would be schools with a similar or higher admit rate and where your GPA and test scores put you in the top quartile, or where you’re at least in the second quartile and the admit rate is around 70% or higher, e.g., Beloit.</p>

5

<p>Welcome to the Hispanic Students forum, I suggest you read through the Resources sticky thread and the two following threads that discuss students of Spanish background, differences between colleges and important factors within the Hispanic designation:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/1163015-hispanics-spain-receive-different-weight.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/1163015-hispanics-spain-receive-different-weight.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/931488-ivy-league-admissions-nhrps.html?highlight=ivy[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/931488-ivy-league-admissions-nhrps.html?highlight=ivy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The two previous posters have given you great comments which you should heed.</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>You can apply Early Action to any of them, but not Early Decision, since you have no clear first choice, and it’s a long time from November to September, long enough to change your mind and regret an arbitrary ED decision; if you need financial aid, because you have no clear first choice you need to compare offers from various schools.</p>

7

<p>^von, I don’t think any of the colleges listed have EA.</p>

8

<p>Yes, sorry, I didn’t look them up. :frowning: It should have been “You can apply Early Action to any of them that allow it, …”</p>

9

<p>I also forgot to include University of Chicago, Northwestern, Middleburry, Wesleyan, and U of Michigan. But I have another question… will applying early have a disadvantage due to those who apply legacy and via recruit taking up the spots? I am very interested in Cornell ILR program, if anybody is familiar with it. Thank you for the advice thus far, all of you!</p>

10

<p>In my opinion, race in admissions are used as a tipping point. If you have say a 2.0 and apply to Harvard, obviously you aren’t going to get in just because your Hispanic. However, if you had your credentials and grades in check like an average Harvard Applicant, then being Hispanic will hopefully help secure an acceptance.</p>

11

<p>

</p>

<p>You can’t just talk about applying ‘early’ as there are different kinds of early admissions programs. You still haven’t answered questions about your financial status which is critical to whether or not you should apply anywhere ED. Even EA can vary between schools depending on how selective they are and how competitive a candidate you are.</p>

<p>More importantly, with a 3.7 and 1900, depending on your state of residence, you don’t even have a match, let alone any safeties in your list so far.</p>