IS this a bad course load for colleges?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>My school is around number 25 in the state (public). This is a rundown of all the courses I have taken in high school:</p>

<p>Freshman Year:</p>

<p>Freshman English Honors
Orchestra Honors
Conceptual Physics Honors
Algebra 1
US History 1 Honors
Phys ED (semester)
Computers (sememster)
Spanish 2</p>

<p>Sophmore Year:</p>

<p>Literary Studies
US History 2
Geometry
Health (semester)
Phys ed (sememster)
Spanish 3
Biology Honors
Orchestra Honors</p>

<p>Junior Year</p>

<p>American Literature Honors (Semester)
British literature Honors (semester)
Chemisty Honors
AP World History
Algebra 2
Economics Honors (Semester)
Journalism Honors (Semester)
Orchestra Honors</p>

<p>Senior Year</p>

<p>Physics Honors
Orchestra Honors
Russian Literature Honors then Writing Workshop Honors this sememster
Senior Study
Sociology Honors then once that ended last semester, I started to Law and Society Honors last week, but now I changed to a study period
Spanish 5 Honors
Precalculus</p>

<p>Is this a bad course load to present to the colleges? I have a weighted GPA of 3.5 and an unweighted of around a 3.0, which is awful I know, but I have dealt with SIGNIFICANT challenges throughout my life, which are explained to the colleges by the guidance counselor). I have amazing recommendations, and I have done five interviews for Smith, Uchicago, Bryn Mawr, Barnard and Wellesley. I have excellent EC's. I am a minority student (african american), and my essays are very very amazing. I am taking the ACT this Saturday (which some of my colleges will accept, so I do not know obviously my score since I haven't taken it yet, but on practice test, I scored a 32 (33 for math, 35 for science, 29 for reading, and 29 for writing) I have applied to:</p>

<p>Tulane
University of Chicago
Wellesley
Bryn Mawr
Smith
Mount Holyoke
Barnard
USC
Umass Amherst
DePaul</p>

<p>What are my chances?</p>

2

<p>Well, for the schools you’re looking at, your course load definitely isn’t enough. First of all, your GPA is very low for these schools in the first place. 97% of students admitted to Barnard had a UW high school GPA of a 3.25 or higher (the average is still around a 3.8). For Tulane, 81% had at least a 3.25 or higher, and at U Chicago 99% had a 3.25 or higher. Having a GPA as low as a 3.0 UW might have been understandable if you were loading up on AP and honors courses, but by the time you graduate, you would have taken 18 honors courses (some of which are not even academic) and only 1 AP course. And the fact that your high school is ranked as high as 25th in the state suggests that there are more AP courses offered at your school that you just chose not to take. Even though you are a URM and may have good ECs (you might want to give some examples of how ‘excellent’ they are to make your chances more accurate) and a decent ACT score, your GPA will be a pretty hard obstacle to overcome. I am sorry you had to go through so many challenges in your life and though this may seem harsh, I don’t think your chances at these schools are very high.</p>

3

<p>Are you saying that about all of the schools listed?</p>

4

<p>Extra-Curriculars:</p>

<p>Violinist in the orchestra since 3rd grade and counting. In high school I have been part of the string orchestra, full orchestra, and the pit orchestra which is for the spring musicals</p>

<p>Copy editor for school newspaper: 10th grade</p>

<p>Contributing writer for the school newspaper (ever article I have submitted has been published last year): 11th grade and 12th grade</p>

<p>President/Creator of my high school STAND (A student anti-genocide coalition) chapter: 11th and 12th grade (I am EXTREMELY involved with this. I have had my chapter contact the White-House to campaign for Darfur, and I am in collaboration with many other STAND chapters throughout the state. I may apply for a National position soon with STAND)</p>

<p>Member of Tri-M music honor society: 11th grade</p>

<p>Volunteer work:</p>

<p>Volunteer at after-school program at an elementary school in my town: 11th grade (16 hours approximately)</p>

<p>Registration Coordinator for First Book: 11th grade, and 12th grade</p>

<p>First Book is a non-profit based in Washington D.C. that gives programs that serve low-income children such as Title 1 schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, ect, access to free or reduced-priced books. So far, I have single-handedly helped 25 schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, and YMCA programs throughout the country gain access to free or reduced priced books. I especially enjoyed helping schools and programs in inner-city Boston, because I knew I was helping to increase literacy throughout my community. Last year, I had won the First Book Nationwide Registration Coordinator challange, which was for Registration coordinators to help the most programs in need gain access to free books. During November 2009, I had helped 16 programs nationwide recieve free or reduced-priced books. As a result, I had won a $250 Border’s Gift Card to give to a program or school of my choice that I had helped. I had chosen a Boys and Girls Club in inner-city Boston to recieve the gift card aroung the holidays. As a result of my efforts, the director of that particular Boys and Girls Club was able to achieve her dream of starting a book club with the kids. I am not entirely sure how many hours I have volunteered for First Book. It has definitely been over 200 hours, however, I love volunteering for First Book so much, that I have stopped counting the hours long ago. I really do not care about how many hours I have volunteered, just as long as I have made a difference in people’s lives. Volunteering for First Book has definitely inspired me to become a journalist, because the literacy rate and graduation rates for some areas of this country are simply shocking and I have not seen any major change so far. I believe that there still is segregation the still exists today (which is a major cause of the broken Public School Systems of America), however not literally enforced, it is figurative. i.e. Wealthy white suburbs, lower-income ethnic inner-cities. I have seen both sides of the spectrum, since my father and the rest of his entire family have grown up in inner city Boston, and have been through the awful public schools there. My father had attended an all black segregated school until he was 12 years old, and my family has exerienced an intense amount of racism throughout their lives. Many people think that racism does not exist today, however I want to tell stories as a journalist that will question society, and open people’s eyes to the certain topics most do not want to hear about. I want my stories to convey a sense of “This is what is happening now. If we as a society do not pressure our lawmakers to make significant changes, then what will society be like 20, maybe 30 years from now?”</p>

5

<p>I’m seeing DePaul, Mass, and Mount Holyoke as fair possibilities.</p>

<p>Good luck on Chicago, USC, Wellesley, and Tulane. You’re going to need it.</p>

6

<p>bump…</p>

7

<p>Your ECs and story are quite admirable. Do you have a thread on the Barnard page on here? I feel like I’ve heard your story before…</p>

<p>Anyway, don’t rely on opinions on here too much because no one here is on the admissions committee at any of the schools you’re applying to. That being said, at pretty much all of the schools you are looking into, well over 85% of admitted students have GPAs of 3.25 or higher. You ECs are great, but since your ACT score isn’t exactly outstanding, I don’t know how much they can save you (of course, this is just an opinion and you will only be sure by applying). Despite this, you do seem very passionate about everything you do I am confident that you will be successful in life, regardless of what college you do/don’t get into. </p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

8

<p>bumpppppp…</p>