<p>I applied to Harvard, Cornell, and Boston College the day of deadline.
I am Hispanic and have lived abroad as a diplomat several times.
I am completely bilingual in Spanish & English.
I struggle with very bad and unmediated ADHD but have managed a 3.6 out of 4 gpa in my rigorous private high school (got it up from a 3.2 freshman year)
My essays reflect my struggles adapting to foreign cultures and unique perspective regarding diversity. They also speak to my problems with ADHD but the benefits of it as well.
My ECs are pretty decent & I founded a Spanish club at my school.
SAT:
700 reading
650 writing
480 math
...I know I am ridiculously bad at math...
Plan to retake in January & expect 510 in math and 700 in writing
Sat 2- lit: 650 Spanish:700
Ap- language: 4 Spanish: 5
I had two high level gov officials one from mex one from usa write personal additional recommendations for me speaking of my diplomatic qualities as it is what I plan to pursue vocationally.
I do not need financial aid and have also been in contact with the minority outreach programs from Harvard and Cornell.
Anyways, what do you estimate my chances at?
I'm applying to ole miss as a backup!</p>
<p>Pull that math up XD</p>
<p>Oh and please elaborate on ECs, what some people find decent may not be what you find decent or vice versa</p>
<p>Additional: </p>
<p>I took advanced courses through high school, and then 6 ap courses my junior year (out of 8 courses a day) and had all As. And I took 3 ap classes senior year and 1 honors. Out of 5 and am employed full time.</p>
<p>My ECs:
4 years: Nursing home, varsity tennis, habitat for humanity, key club, youth organization through church, and volleyball (only 2 years) </p>
<p>Awards-
Homecoming queen,
national society of high school scholars member,
selected by school faculty & attended national youth leadership forum on law in DC & girls state.
I also founded a Spanish club at my school.
Plan to retake in January & expect 510 in math and 700 in writing</p>
<p>I have been in contact with the minority outreach programs from Harvard and Cornell. </p>
<p>I also applied to UT Austin and A&M regular decision.
Anyways, what do you estimate my chances at?
I’m applying to ole miss as a backup and I’m pretty sure Ill get in there…</p>
<p>Are you really putting homecoming queen on your application? That isn’t an award lol…</p>
<p>My counselor told me to include it and I did, but I don’t remember where! It’s not a bad thing to be voted for by the school :)</p>
<p>To be honest, your adversity is extremely trite.
There’s not much unique about it. True, you seem like a very determined individual (overcoming adversity), but aren’t we all? Especially the ones aiming for Ivies? </p>
<p>High Gov official letter of recs. Wow, sounds impressive I must say.
Your URM status will definitely help you in the admission process, but your GPA & SAT is far too low.</p>
<p>You MAY have a decent shot at BC, but you should lower your aims. Harvard/Cornell is a bit unrealistic.</p>
<p>Oh, and if you’re counselor told you to add “homecoming queen” in the awards sections, I can’t imagine HOW uninformed of a counselor she must be. Common App awards are STRICTLY academic.</p>
<p>Thanks for your realistic opinion!
However, I would not say my adversity was “extremely trite.” My move was a culture shock and I didn’t speak the language, so integration was hard. I was alienated, but learned a lot and my experiences influenced my vocational plans in working in gov. & international relations.</p>
<p>Excuse my language. </p>
<p>But think about the kids suffering from severe, debilitating medical conditions such as cancer, leukemia, etc.
Or the kids suffering from severe socioeconomic conditions or battling poverty etc.
In addition, all your immigrant students particularly in this generation all have suffered from culture shock and difficult integration into new countries. </p>
<p>There are too many people with problems worse than yours. The impression I’m getting from you is the “pity statement” which I’ve read across in TOO many college essays…</p>
<p>That is not true. In your common application essay, you can and should mention personal, non-academic achievements. And frankly, I don’t see how Catie1995’s story of adversity is trite. Her scores are low, but her personal narrative is far more compelling than most. Also, there is no rule that EVERYTHING on the Common App has to be academic. Being homecoming queen sheds light on one’s character – it means one is liked by a lot of people. What you said to Catie1995 was rude and hateful. You came across as a complete jerk. I am sure it is extremely difficult moving to a new country. And exactly how many essays about the subject have you read? I know I haven’t read all that many.</p>
<p>Thank you 2013mbessey!
Swedishmb frankly I don’t know of too many persons suffering from debilitating medical conditions applying to Harvard.
My essays wasn’t pitiful at all, but about how I learned from my experiences abroad to value and embrace diversity. Which is why I founded the foreign language club at my school and why plan to pursue international relations & political science. I still know its a big reach and am definitely not counting on it but there’s no reason to respond like that.</p>
<p>Ok… you applied so I don’t know what you are looking for in this thread. Either one of two things will happen:</p>
<ol>
<li>Admission officer sees everything on application and denies</li>
<li>Admission officer sees essay and wants to give you a chance, despite your extremely low stats and GPA.</li>
</ol>
<p>Just see what happens.</p>
<p>Her adversity is not trite, however it isn’t exactly strong/unique enough to make a huge difference. It’ll help your chances and no doubt made a great personal essay. But when you talk about schools like Harvard and Cornell, that just isn’t enough on its own. There are indeed people with greater hardships that have accomplished and overcome much more, that are applying to these schools. And they were able to do so with better grades, higher test scores, etc. </p>
<p>When did you move anyway? It doesn’t seem like you did it in the middle of high school. Was it the year before? 5 years? If you came here when you were 10 years old, I doubt it’ll make any difference whatsoever. Nonetheless, you have a 3.6 GPA, an 1830 SAT, and mostly generic/unimpressive ECs. Why would you think a school like Harvard would be a good fit for you anyway? If we knew what your class rank/percentile was, it might put the low GPA into perspective considering you’re in a “rigorous private” school. But if you’re not even in the top 10% (which it seems like), there is no chance for Harvard and extremely unlikely for Cornell.</p>
<p>P.S. I think Homecoming Queen is a fun/helpful thing to include. Shows that you are good socially and have a great personality (usually). This actually stands out when coupled with the story of adversity</p>
<p>My school doesn’t rank & my dad wanted me to apply to Harvard mostly because the majority of his friend’s children go to ivy leagues.
I moved when I was 8 and back to America when I was 14. The education I had abroad impacted my first years grades in high school as well.
I only took the sat once with no prep and should be able to break 19 maybe 20 in January bc my practice tests indicate substantial improvement in math.
Like I said I’m really not planning on getting in I just wanted some input.</p>
<p>No ivy league school will endanger their reputation by admitting ANYONE with an SAT score in any section below 500. Below 600 is almost unheard of. Below 500 is a death sentence. Your story does not matter when compared to this, and nothing else makes up for it academically.</p>
<p>My practice tests indicate I will score in the 520-600 range for math in January.
Will the recommendations be helpful? I know both the gov officials fairly well and know they spoke highly of me as they are good friends of my father.</p>