Just need some honest chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a senior I’ve got a list of about 6 schools:

  1. Columbia (Big Reach)
  2. Duke (Applied ED, Reach)
  3. Georgia Tech (Applied EA, Match/Reach for OOS)
  4. Clemson (Safety)
  5. USC (Safety)
  6. Virginia Tech (Match/Safety)

Major: Electrical or Computer Engineering
Race/Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Male
State: South Carolina
Income:~90k

GPA: 3.36 unweighted, 4.37 weighted
Rank: 61/293 at top 5 high school in state
ACT: 35-composite 34-math and english 36-science and reading

Freshman-
Honors Algebra 2
Honors Physical Science
Honors English 1
AP Human Geography (5)
Intro to Engineering and Design (9/9 with college credit)
French 1
Orchestra

Sophomore-
Honors PreCalculus
Honors Biology
Honors Chemistry
Honors English 2
AP World History (4)
Principles of Engineering (9/9 with college credit)
French 2
Orchestra

Junior-
AP Calculus AB (5)
AP Physics 1 (4)
AP Physics 2 (4)
AP English Language
Honors US History
Engineering Design and Development
French 3

Senior-
AP Calculus BC
AP Chemistry
AP Literature
AP US Government
AP Macroeconomics
AP Seminar

Extra Academics: In a program sponsored by Center for Creative Leadership, to teach leadership skills.

EC’s:
400+ of hours as ymca counselor-in-training
operation christmas child packaging center volunteer every year
mock trial
nhs
beta club
ymca outdoor leadership camp
varsity lacrosse

Jobs:
grocery store janitor
ymca counselor

Awards:
Furman Scholar
Lander University Junior Fellow
AP Scholar with Distinction

Recs: 10/10 from calc teacher, 9/10 from physics teacher

Essays: 7-9/10, wrote most optional essays

2

Grades are the single biggest part of your application, regardless of your ACT or other extracurriculars. A 3.36 combined with a 35 indicated academic laziness. That being said, I still think you have a decent chance at Duke ED, but not much of a chance at all for Columbia. GA Tech is also a bit of a reach as well.

3

@FreePariah I will admit, my work ethic is by far my most degrading academic quality :frowning:

4

I am a high school sophomore, so I can’t say I’m a expert on this subject, but I would think that the scores you made on those AP tests would matter some. You seem to be taking a borderline unrealistic amount of AP classes, and if you scored poorly or decently on some or the majority of those exams, it may show that you are unprepared for college-level classes and/or you can’t prioritize well.

5

@monkey2001 I’ve scored a 4 or 5 on all of the AP exams that I’ve taken except for one and labeled that in my original post

6

Clemson is not a safety , especially for engineering . Clemson admits on GPA, rank, rigor and test scores. Your rank is in the top 20%, UWGPA and WGPA may also be on the lower side for engineering .

7

no chance

8

USC can’t be a safety if your parents can’t afford it.
Costs are $72k per year.
Your GPA is not high enough for them. URM helps, but how will you afford it?

9

@“aunt bea” I read USC as South Carolina, not Southern California. OP’s home state is South Carolina.

10

@clemsonfan803 Oh sorry. I didn’t notice that.

In that case, I think that would look good.

11

Mea culpa.^
Try S. Carolina

12

@“aunt bea” yeah my bad, I meant south carolina, we call it USC here