I messed up pretty bad... but you guys think I have a chance??

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey guys!!! I'm that usual senior freakin out left and right about college ****!!! It would be a huge help if you guys could give me some feed bout some of the schools I'm applying to:</p>

<p>NYU Stern
Cornell AEM
UPENN CAS
Georgetown Mcdonough
UCB- Pre Haas
USC
Dartmouth</p>

<p>(Ok ok stop laughing at my list!!! I know those are all ridiculously hard for a guy with my GPA to get into, but hey its worth a try. Ohhh and be as brutal as you want cause that way I can truly know what I'm up for. And these are not the only schools I'm applying to, I got a few match schools and a few safeties.)</p>

<p>So without further ado, here are my stats:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.36 (ohhh yea that low...but come on now read on and see whats up!!!)</p>

<p>Tests: SAT: 2380 (M:800 CR:790 W:790)<br>
ACT: 34 (E:31 M:35 R:36 S: 33) (say what???!!!! yea I too don't get how that GPA and test score would ever go together)</p>

<p>SAT II: Math II: 800 Bio: 800 Chem: 770 US History: 620 (yea I don't think I'll be sending that in; surprisingly I took that thing twice. Moms a history major so yeaaa!!!!)</p>

<p>AP: Bio(5) Chem(4) Stat(5) Micro(5) Macro(4)</p>

<p>Awards and Honors:
AIME Qualifier
Bio Olympiad Semifinalist
DECA States- 1st in an event 3rd in another (Got my ass handed to me in ICDC though)</p>

<p>Sports:
Basketball (2x) - Captain Sophomore Year</p>

<p>Summer Activities:
- Internship Under a Corporate Controller- A lot of accounting and marketing work here
- Accounting/Marketing Internship at an NGO
- Hospital Internship Under Invasive Cardiologist
- Facing History and Ourselves- I interviewed a group of illegal immigrants in my community and I wrote a paper describing their lives and how they feel regarding current issues that have been coming up. I turned in the essay was selected by FHO to get published at their annual exhibit at the Smithsonian. Pretty cool experience but not really anything big in terms of Ecs.</p>

<p>Non Profits:
- Established a Marketing and Accounting non profit that helps local business by advertising and marketing their product by creating ways in which its products are sold in bulk amounts. We take care of the accounting work and strategically set rates and sales for the maximum profit. If successful we take 8% of the profit. This 8% is later used to fund start up clubs and organizations in our community. A couple of friends and I started this and we recruit other people to do various tasks. Right now we have some 35 odd people working for us and we've so far worked with over 15 companies in a span of 5 months.</p>

<ul>
<li>Alternative Energy: We've been able to make contacts with companies and raise funds in order to build solar panels in my school's parking lot. With this organization we've also been able market and advertise panels for companies to local shop owners and home owners in an effort to increase the usage of solar power. Currently we are discussing with the school district about our master plan to set up solar panels in almost all of the schools. I take care of fundraising, accounting work, and business strategies for marketing and advertising for this organization.</li>
</ul>

<p>-Orthopedic Care: Part of an organization in India that gets doctors from the US, Europe, and even parts of Asia to provide orthopedic care and even do small surgeries to those that can't afford it. This was actually founded by my friends brother who's a medical student at Johns Hopkins University. My role is to contact doctors and explain our organization and convince them to take part in it. The organization is not that complicated because all we do is contact doctors, create a schedule, look after the doctor in India, and do some legal stuff in between. We usually have a few med students and residents there as well.</p>

<p>Projects:
- Clean Water: Through a water purification company and with some help from local engineering students in India, I was able to establish a water purification system in some villages. Normally the purification company would provide a large can of purified water to those households that ordered them (just like in the US). What I did was ask the company if they would be willing to set up a miniature purification plant at some local villages. They said that they would provide the materials needed, such as the chemical that cleans the water and the pumps, but I would need to find a way to actually construct the small plant. Thus with the help of a few local engineering students and the villagers we were able to establish the plant and convince the local government to pay for this project. This project literally changed the lives of thousands of villagers who will now have access to clean water rather then the murky, diseased water they were previously drinking. This was actually my parents' dream project but they let me take the initiative anyway.</p>

<p>-This winter I'll be doing volunteering at an orphanage in India for about 20 days. With my time there I want to be able to learn about how the orphanage works to meet the needs of the kids there and how it provides for their education and healthcare. Then I want to take that knowledge and implement it to building a relief center for children as well as the elderly in my grandparents village back in India. I will not be writing about my intentions to build the relief center in my application, its just my little project.</p>

<p>Well there’s my stuff. Now lets get to the part where I explain my GPA situation. I hate learning a foreign language. I mean I am so horrible at doing so, but I still took 3 years of it in high school. First year I got an A both sem. Second and Third year I got a C every sem. So that really *****ed with my GPA. And on top of that in Pre-Calc, I let my friend cheat off of me on the 1st sem final and when he got caught he said my name so I got a 0 on the final which is like 20% of the overall grade. So I ended up with a D in that class and got suspended. My bad luck didn’t end there cause I was suspended the days I had finals for my AP Chem and AP Bio classes. So I dropped from a A in both classes to a C. So I originally would have had like a 3.68 had my stupid friend kept his trap shut. </p>

<p>As for the other Bs I got here’s my school profile:</p>

<p>HYMPS: 19
Top 15 schools: 52
Top 25 schools: 253</p>

<p>My schools among the top 75 by US News and among the top 10 for the science and math program. So yea its hard as hell to get a good GPA. I would be in like the top 25-30%. This is just a rough estimate cause my school doesn’t rank nor does it weight GPA. So even those students that took like 4 APs over the span of 2 years and got like a 3.7 are ranked better than me even though I took 11 APs and got a 3.39. </p>

<p>Sorry for the long post but I just wanted to give all the information that I could give so that you guys can get a good feel for my application.</p>

<p>Thank you!!!!!</p>

2

<p>NYU Stern: Match
Cornell AEM: Low reach (actually, Cornell isn’t a safety to anyone)
UPenn CAS: Low reach (see Cornell AEM above)
Georgetown: Reach
Dartmouth: Reach
Berkeley: Reach (doesn’t look at ECs that much)
USC: High match (ECs saving you)</p>

3

<p>Hey thanks for the chance Catria!!! But do you honestly think I have a better chance at NYU Stern than at USC or a better chance at AEM and UPenn then at Georgetown and Dartmouth??? I’m sorry if I sound like I’m questioning your reply, but I actually kinda had a different view of my chances for those schools.</p>

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<p>It happens all the time. It really is a small difference between them.</p>

5

<p>Hey Catria sorry if I’m asking too much but would you mind explaining why you think so!! I would really appreciate it!!</p>

6

<p>The GPA thresholds at Dartmouth and Georgetown are IMO a little higher than at AEM and UPenn but all four are still reaches. </p>

<p>As far as NYU vs. USC is concerned, perhaps NYU seems more willing to give a boost to eco-sensitive ECs (NYU did make large purchases of wind power after all) so that’s why I gave a slight advantage towards NYU.</p>

7

<p>Ohhhh I see what your saying!!! Wow thank you so much!! Really excited now cause NYU is like my 1st choice, I mean that is if I don’t get into Penn!!!</p>

8

<p>You have a really good chance at USC, UC Berkley, but I’m not sure about the rest.</p>

9

<p>Thanks for the reply gorgeousdisaster!!! But isn’t UCB more GPA oriented??</p>

10

<p>Nobody seems to have noticed this, but you’ve been caught cheating and have been suspended from school. You’ll need to disclose this on your applications, and it could keep you out of every school on your list, despite your other “achievements,” especially if you explain it the way you did here.</p>

<p>Just to be safe, you should add a school with open admission for anyone with a high school diploma.</p>

11

<p>Ohhh I’m sorry I didn’t say this earlier but that suspension is completely off my record. It was just something that the school did as a formality. But after reviewing what had happened they took the suspension off my record. It took a lot of convincing but the administrators both agreed that a suspension would go too far for a first time offense (cause both of us were like clean ever since we started school, i mean like not even a tardy). So they told us that we wouldn’t be able to make up any work that we missed during the suspension, but that they would clean our slate. I just mentioned the suspension in this thread as an explanation for my grades in junior year.</p>