I have my full list! Chances??

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Ok, so here is the full list of colleges I am looking to apply to:</p>

<p>UW-Madison (In-state)
Creighton
Loyola Chicago
Saint Louis
Notre Dame
Boston College
Boston University
College of the Holy Cross
St. Thomas (MN)
HYPSM (one can hope, right?)
Cornell
WashU</p>

<p>GPA: 3.21 (hopefully close to a 4.0 for the first semester this year, had some struggles early in HS which will be part of my essay)</p>

<p>SAT: 2070 (640 CR, 710 M, 720 W, taking again, hoping for at least 2200+. I didn't study much the first time)</p>

<p>APs: Statistics (4). Will be taking AP English Lit. and AP European History this year.</p>

<p>ACT: won't send</p>

<p>ECs:
~Will have 150+ hours of Community Service by the end of HS, most helping the poor and disadvantaged, as well as faith-related ministries
-applying to be a retreat leader at both my parish and school (Catholic school)
-4 year two-sport athlete (Track and Cross Country. Hopefully varsity this year! Very competitive team.)
-3 year member of pro-life club
-2 year member of student government (nothing special, just an officer)
-working on starting a retreat program for teenagers in my archdiocese. It's a major project, so it won't be finished until after I graduate, but if successful, it will be a major add-on for the entire diocese
-2 year member of school Ministry Leadership Team</p>

<p>My recs should be very good. My Cross Country coach, who is very experienced and notably hard-nosed with his athletes has complimented me on my attitude multiple times. I also have some other teachers who like me. I plan on writing a very good, very unique essay as well.</p>

<p>Income Bracket: 90000/yr</p>

<p>Hooks: I believe my dad is the only person in my family to actually graduate with a bachelor's degree, a few others went to college and dropped out. Nobody on my mom's side has a bachelor's degree. Not sure if this really counts as first generation, but just putting it out there.</p>

<p>I plan to major in either Statistics or Economics, but am open to others if they come up, including anything someone would recommend based on my ECs. I will also have 5.25 credits in Math (1 credit = 1 yearlong class) by the time I graduate (4 years of regular math + AP Statistics + .25 credit summer program)</p>

2

<p>You can also add Northwestern and UChicago to that list.</p>

3

<p>UWI: High match
NWU: Reach
HYPSM: Reach
U Chicago: Reach (beware the essay prompts)
Cornell: Reach
WUSTL: Reach
Creighton: Safety
Loyola Chicago: Safety
SLU: Safety
Notre Dame: Reach
BU: Match
BC: Reach
Holy Cross: Reach
St. Thomas: Safety</p>

4

<p>Ok, is there anything I can do to improve my chances at some of my reaches?</p>

5

<p>The main weakness is your GPA… perhaps you can replace one of the reaches by a school that doesn’t take freshman year into account.</p>

6

<p>Also, I was told by my BC admissions counselor that applications from my school (prestigious and Jesuit) basically get automatic consideration, and that students can get in with a much lower GPA than students at other schools in my area who take the same course load, assuming they have good ECs and test scores, because him and other admissions people he knows that there are no cheap classes at my school. Just worth noting I guess.</p>

7

<p>And @catria, what are some of those schools?</p>

8

<p>Bump!!!</p>

9

<p>Anyone have any further thoughts?</p>

10

<p>Just two more notes:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Almost everyone that applies to Madison from my school gets in, as long as they have halfway reasonable stats.</p></li>
<li><p>My school doesn’t rank, but based on the number of students on the high and low honor role, I would guess that my a 3.3 GPA, which I believe I can get up to by the end of the first semester, is about the Top ~30%. My school is very competitive. Also the mean GPA is 3.07.</p></li>
</ol>