Interested In My Chances For a Few Midwest Schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey everyone! I’m a current high school Junior and, like the majority of people on this website, I am very nervous about my college prospects. My GPA and ACT numbers are by no means eye-popping, but I’m not interested in the Ivy League, Stanford, or the like.

However, my interests mainly lie in Midwestern Schools, namely University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Miami University, Washington University in St. Louis, and Michigan State University. I’m also, perhaps a tad more realistically, interested in other local schools like Illinois State University, Truman State University, Knox College, Coe College, St. Louis University, and Augustana College.

So anyway, now that that spiel’s over, here are my stats (some projected) for my applications:

School Type: Public
Location: Illinois
Race/Gender: Caucasian
Prospective Major: Economics/English/Undecided
Unweighted GPA: 3.5
Weighted GPA: 4.2
Class rank: Not sure

AP Scores
European History 4
Statistics 5

ACT:
Composite 31
English 34
Math 30
Reading 32
Science 28

I’ve taken it three times and those are the highest subscores, if that matters.

Long-form Info

Extracurricular Info
School Newspaper – 4 years, editor-in-chief Junior and Senior Year
Scholastic Bowl – Captain, 3 years
Counselor at summer camp – 2 years, worked under several college professors
Investing Club – 2 years
Tech, School Musical – 4 years
Ultimate Frisbee Club – Co-founder, 2 years
History tutor – 2 years

Work Experience
Worked at Target since my Sophomore year, about 20 hours per week during the school year.

Awards (nothing special):
Scholastic Bowl All-league team all 3 years
Multiple State Awards in Journalism, 5th place in Illinois for Editorial Writing

Other
I come from a single mother, if that has anything to do with admissions/scholarships.

Any suggestions on how to bolster my resume, attain further leadership positions, anything would be fantastic! Thanks so much for reading, and best of luck to all of you in you/your family’s college search.

2

Oh wow, I forgot to mention one of the most important parts of my high school career! I am in the IB Diploma Program and am taking the following, along with projected scores:

English HL 6
Math HL 4
History HL 6
Physics SL 3
Social and Cultural Anthropology SL 6
Spanish SL 5

I’m in the process of writing my extended essay on the interactions between General US Grant and Robert E Lee during the Overland Campaign, but that topic could change any day at this point.

Another couple of extra-curriculars I forgot to mention was that I organized my school’s International Night and volunteered at a 5k for breast cancer awareness 2 years in a row.

Anyhow, now that the IB stuff is out of the way, this is a better picture of me as a student. In addition, if anyone could recommend any other colleges that I might fit into I’m absolutely an open book. Price is really the only issue for me, I wouldn’t mind going out of state.

3

You should relax. Your stats are great and you have lots of good choices. My kids looked at all of your second choice schools except Illinois State and you’d be in line for substantial scholarships at all. You’d get a great challneging education at any of them. You also have a shot at most of your reach schools. You may want to consider Lawrence University in Appleton and maybe some MN schools if you can stand the cold :slight_smile: St Olaf, Macalester and Carleton come to mind. My d goes to Augustana and they have a great business school.

4

Your ACT score is very good, but not outstanding.

I see someone mentioned Carleton and Macalester and St. Olaf. I think you would be denied at Carleton. Your GPA is just too low. Macalester and St. Olaf would be reaches for you…it’s possible you could be accepted there, but i would guess denied…again your GPA is just too low.

I also say Washington University in St. Louis is out of reach for you.

You are a legitimate applicant though to all of the other schools you mentioned. You COULD be denied at Miami or MSU, but you could be accepted there too. The others are all more likely. You WILL be accepted to several of the schools on your list. Good luck.

5

I think you are very likely to be invited to the Honors College at MSU, which means you would pay in-state tuition and be eligible for some other scholarship money. MSU will also accept your AP scores for actual credit in many cases.

You need to be realistic about what you can afford to pay. If you are low income you might want to take a look at a school like Berea College (no tuition).

6

You should get into all of them but WUSTL, if WUSTL is your number 1 choice apply ED for a better chance
chance back-http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1773882-accept-waitlist-reject.html#latest