Is it really that hard to get into college? Chance me!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a junior at a competitive private high school in South Florida and was wondering my chances from some Out of State schools. I am hispanic if that helps, and I have legacy at University of Michigan since my brother went there.</p>

<p>GPA Weighted: 3.8</p>

<p>Course Load-
I've never taken a regulars class in my school, and have been in all honors the entire way, this year I am taking two AP's, AP Biology and APUSH
I'm planning on taking AP Environmental, AP Gov/AP Economics, AP Statistics, and AT Microbiology next year.</p>

<p>My SAT scores: Over two test dates
CR: 670
M:640
W:720 (11 Essay)
Superscore: 1310/2030</p>

<p>I took the ACTs on Feb 6 and am waiting for my scores.</p>

<p>Extra Curriculars:
-Volunteered at Memorial children's center for 20 weeks, 2 hours a week. (Sophomore) (Junior)
-Went 4 years in a row to Congres (French competition in Orlando)
-Part of Friends of FRAT, went to autistic child's house for 20 weeks, 2 hours a week. (Sophomore)
-Volunteered at Kesher, a program that provides a an education for children with learning disabilities from pre-school through high school. (Junior)
-Head of snack food drive for children at the respite shelter in Women in Distress of Broward County. Collected over 600 individual snacks. (Junior)
-Volunteered for a month in Fiji, heading various projects for rebuilding communities and the environment. (56 hours, 2009)
-President of HELP Club, for underprivileged children and battered women (Junior)
-Vice President of FRAT (Fostering Relationships with Autistic Teens and Children) (Junior)
-Treasurer of Green Team (Freshman)
-NHS Member
-National French Honors Society Member
-NFL (National Forensic League) Member</p>

<p>I'm planning on my essays and recommendations to be great.</p>

<p>I want to major in some sort of science, probably Biology, Pre-Med, or possibly Biomedical Engineering.</p>

<p>Some schools I will apply to: by preference</p>

<p>University of Michigan
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Southern California
University of Texas-Austin
University of Wisconsin
University of Florida
Northwestern University
Emory University
Vanderbilt University
Duke University
Cornell University
Tulane University
Florida State University
University of Central Florida</p>

<p>Any other suggestions??</p>

<p>-Thanks for reading this!</p>

2

<p>I’m not too knowledgeable about this, but I’d say that these are at least in your reach:</p>

<p>University of Michigan
University of Southern California
University of Texas-Austin
University of Wisconsin
University of Florida
Tulane University
Florida State University
University of Central Florida</p>

<p>Possibly some others. Also, your list of colleges looks like Minnesota.</p>

3

<p>As far as UofM im pretty sure that you will get accepted and probably the majority, if not all of the colleges on your list.</p>

4

<p>Duke looks the most unlikely. Cornell, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt are also high reaches in my opinion. You are in everywhere else.</p>

5

<p>your URM status helps, and you do have pretty good scores. I say you’re in all the University of (state name here)s and other state schools. You might have a good chance at Emory and Vanderbuilt, but the others might be low reaches. good luck!</p>

<p>[chance</a> me back?](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/866589-chances-columbia-again.html]chance”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/866589-chances-columbia-again.html)</p>

6

<p>thanks for the responses! could anyone else help me??</p>

7

<p>Insane extracurriculars. I agree with mediopollito…in at the State Universities, good match for Emory and Vanderbilt, good match for Cornell and USC, but probably match/high reach for Duke. Good luck, and keep up the cool work!</p>

<p>And yes, please chance me back- <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/867114-chances-number-one-school-wustl-please.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/867114-chances-number-one-school-wustl-please.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

8

<p>I have to disagree with those telling you that you are a match for Emory, Vandy, and Cornell. Your SAT’s are not totally outside their range, but probably in the lower quartile. Definitely a reach, same for Northwestern. No idea how you can be a “match/high reach”, but Duke is definitely a high reach. Tulane is a slight reach or low match. It is a little hard to say because you need to give your unweighted GPA. That’s actually what these schools use, then they take into account how much you challenged yourself with AP’s and the like. Being Hispanic is the only thing that improves your chances at these schools.</p>

9

<p>thanks fallenchemist
what if my school doesn’t rank? i have no idea where i stand in my class grade-wise but i was wondering what else i should do to get a better chance at some of these college?
you seem to know quite a lot about this subject</p>

10

<p>If your school doesn’t rank there is nothing you can do about that except try and make sure that your GC notes this in the information they send to the schools. But even if they don’t rank, they should give an unweighted GPA. Schools like Tulane will do it anyway because different schools use different weighting systems. That is one reason weighted GPA is useless. Probably all schools input your grades to get an unweighted number so they can compare everyone. Don’t worry, they do look at how tough your courses were also. They basically factor the weighting back in, at least in their evaluation, if not numerically.</p>

<p>For the private schools, the best thing you can do at this stage of your high school career is show a lot of interest by attending local functions they hold and going to visit if at all possible. Also, try and make sure your letters of rec really talk about you as a unique individual, not some formulaic “he was a fine student that worked hard”. I know that is mostly out of your control, but do what you can. And of course try and get your SAT’s up if possible, unless your ACT comes in at like 31 or 32. That would be excellent. Just have to wait and see.</p>

<p>I am not sure what you can do for the state schools, but I think you will get into some of them anyway, even being OOS. Probably not all, but enough that you will have choices. Are finances a factor at all?</p>

<p>Finally, you need some true safeties besides your in state schools, unless you are truly OK with going to one of those. I am not saying there is anything wrong with UF or FSU, you just seem like you might want the smaller private school experience. So add a few private safeties on that you think might suit you.</p>

11

<p>If you could just get your SAT up a bit, or with a good ACT score, I think all of those schools are good for you.</p>

<p>Help me out :)</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/866886-need-help-my-senior-year-classes.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/866886-need-help-my-senior-year-classes.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>hey fallenchemist, i got a 30 on my act. is that a good score? im probably gonna retake but do my chances change much?</p>

13

<p>30 is a good score, but it is also virtually equivalent to your SAT score. The charts say a 30 is equal to a 1320-1350 SAT, 1980 if you include the writing section. You are consistent at least! Would be worth taking both tests one more time, I think, after doing a bunch of practice tests and studying where you are making errors.</p>

<p>But let me emphasize that with your current stats, you will get into a good school, absolutely. Just a few more points might slide you into a couple of low reaches, or even a regular reach with a bit of luck.</p>