I think OP meant his mom gave birth at 50. But I agree the essay becomes about her, not the OP.
Maybe you could start with that and explain how you applied the lessons she taught to improve your grades and do well at tennis? But the fact she gave birth at 50 is also not relevant to your application.
You posted this less than a month ago…
And this now on this thread…
And your posted GPSs are not the same either.
So…come clean! Which is the accurate information?
You won’t get in based on your mothers age and job search issues. Nor your empathy. Try to imagine applying without these extraneous details. I don’t know why you go on so much about the custody and then tell us it all turned out ok.
And it makes your judgment, in battling custody, look young and not well considered. Put too much emphasis on this now and they’ll question your judgment today. (Plus the sports sucess when the academics lagged.)
It dies start to sound like you want to hone “extenuating” to get into a top 30. Not how it works. Let your GC tell about the turnaround, how much they like this ir that.
You concentrate on being a match. Not a dreamer.
I mean, would anyone here possibly be willing to give a quick read over my essay? I respect all your opinions, but upon reading it, I think you’d see that the focus of the essay is me.
Just because I’m making the situation sound decent, or the fact that I’m not rechallenging the courts decision, doesn’t mean it “all turned out well”
As for sports, high performance has nothing to do with stability and during sophomore year, I decided not to play that year because I could not be bothered with it. Winning sections and placing in states only happened during senior year - the other years I had been on the team out of requirement to do so from my dad who would inflict punishment if I didn’t play.
As stated earlier in the thread, the GPA’s from then were gut estimates. The ones in here are a copy and paste from an email from my guidance counselor - which actually ended up being higher than anticipated in the other thread.
As for the ACT, I had been expecting to get back a 36 on the test I took but received a 32, which is a 33 when superscored with my other sitting.
Look…something is not adding up here. You were rejected fromStonybrook and Bing last year.
I would strongly suggest you look at the other SUNY colleges where you have the potential to get accepted. Is there one within commuting distance of your mom?
I don’t think that an essay, even if it’s focused entirely on you, will make up for a 3.0 GPA. There are a lot of kids who excel despite difficult circumstances, and those are who you’re competing with for a limited number of spots.
I understand wanting to help your mom. There’s nothing wrong with tossing a couple well crafted applications at affordable academic reaches (meaning you can pay without Parent loans), but find a couple safeties in the SUNY system. Which branch is closest to you? If it’s within commuting distance then it’s probably a great safety (unless it’s Binghamton or Stony Brook). What are your career goals? The SUNYs have guaranteed transfer options for state residents who graduate from a NYS cc.
I feel that considering you are in need of heavy financial aid, you should stick to the NY state schools or schools that will reward your high ACT with scholarships, such as Alabama or Montana State University. Your hopes for a T30 seem to be founded on a crappy hand in life that happened to you rather than a life you created. You’ve learned to bloom when planted at your fathers house, so why not bloom at a college that is a better match for your skills and financial needs?
Thumper1,
Again, as stated in my previous response - I submitted an SAT score of a 1280 on my applications to their schools last year.
And again, as stated in my previous reply - I took the ACT two times during my gap year (once in Setember and once in October) which I was able to improve drastically from the 1280 SAT.
And I’m not going to the local SUNY schools near me (Oswego and New Paltz) when I was accepted into Virginia Tech and Syracuse last year but could not afford to attend.
Again, the benchmark is not that it’s “about you.” It’s whether you show what they want to see. Whether you even get what it is that they want to see. That’s not a tale about your custody. It won’t make up for the grade issues and not understanding what they do want to learn about you.
Not for top 30.
Sorry.
It desn’t matter that things aren’t all hunky-dory. You’ve told us nothing about your own triumphs that will “show” a top 30 college why they want you, over others. This is so much more than family problems and a grade turnaround.
That’s certainly your choice…but it’s very shortsighted. You could not afford the costs at these expensive colleges.
You also need to do some research…because there are some colleges that don’t look favorably on ACT or SAT scores taken after HS graduation.
What did you do during your gap year that would make a college feel you are worthy of acceptance, and maybe taking a chance on you? Just study for the ACT? If so…that will jettison your application.
You need to be realistic, and you are not being realistic. You need to find some colleges that are affordable, and where you have a strong chance of acceptance.
I think you are banking on the schools looking at your custody battle situation as a huge extenuating circumstance…and they will therefore not care what you did during your gap year, and also will give “leniency” in terms of your overall HS grade point average.
You are expecting colleges to make some compromises in terms of your application to them. BUT you are not willing to compromise at all on your application list.
Alright, thank you for the feedback. I knew t30 were reaches for me, and I was just curious. And despite how you guys feel, I’m satisfied, for the most part, with my essay and have received positive feedback from people who have read it.
Realistically, I was sizing up schools like Tulane, Boston University, and again Binghamton and Stony Brook. Prepscholar estimated my chances of getting in, based solely on my gpa and act, to be in the 40-60% range for most of them. If you don’t mind, how would u say I size up to schools like those?
How are you planning to pay for Boston University which is $72,000 a year or so…and the school doesn’t meet full need?
How are you planning to pay for Tulane?
Again…what have you done to improve your application to Bing and Stonybrook during your gap year. If all you did was improve your ACT score…don’t expect an acceptance.
Prep Scholar doesn’t read your app or evaluate your thinking and knowledge of what T30 want. Adcoms don’t go on some consultant site’s computer formula.
Focus on SUNY.
During my gap year, I’ve been traveling around the country competing at eSports LANS where I’ve earned about $1k in prize money. And while it may not be the average EC you guys see around here, I think it would look interesting considering that many schools have official esport teams and some have even given esport scholarships. People tell you to not waste your gap year and to do something that you’ll enjoy. While some of you may not approve of what I did, it’s not something that I would not take back if given the chance.
I am willing to compromise. I’m not banking on getting into top 30 schools. I made this thread to find out if I have even a small chance at applying to them as reaches. However, I’m not going to attend a school like SUNY Oswego or SUNY Newpaltz when I was able to get into much more competitive schools last year. There’s nothing wrong with those schools, but I’m not going to attend them if I know I can get into higher regarded schools.
Once more…how,are you going to pay for college at these expensive colleges?
Your gap year is only six months old. What are you doing the rest of the time?
@sybbie719 if a student is Pell eligible, does the student get the Pell, and TAP or Excelsior?
Scholarships for an esport? NOT the top 30. Gaming is not any sort of tip. For many kids, it’s a distraction adcoms can be concerned about. Winning 1k - or even 40k- is not tip.
People who say to do what you enjoy are NOT adcoms.
What you did- or didn’t- do during the gap year will be of major importance in reviewing you now. Top 30 look for productivity of some sort.
This is not last year. The gap changes things.
One of my uncles put up $10,000 for my brothers college tuition and I presume he’s willing to do the same for me. My mom has $12,000 put away in a college savings account for me. I plan on taking out loans for the leftover money that needs to be paid.
Yes and in those six months I’ve spent most of it traveling to esports venues. The spare time I’ve had aside from traveling and competing im those was put into studying for the ACT.
Presume? You have 20 days to deadline.
You can’t take out loans for the rest, you have no history. (Just the student loans, which start at 5500.) If you said that on the fin aid forum, expert posters would be all over you.
And you have no mention of math-sci ECs, considering you want an engineering major.
You seem focused on the possibilities, the maybes. Maybe they’ll like your turnaround. Maybe they’ll see “you” in an essay about a battle a few years ago, your mom’s situation. Maybe they’ll get interested in gaming. Maybe they’ll throw money at you, for gaming.
We’re talking realities. Rather than CC, spend this time researching your colleges, what they really want to see, and how freaking competitive an admit is, with thousands of 4.0, high accomplishment kids also applying.
Lightning doesn’t just strike.