Looking for help to pick some colleges

College Search & Selection
1

Hello Everyone

I would like to apologies if this thread is in the wrong section and I would like to know if I have a shot at attending a University( maybe an Ivy).

My Info:

School:

I have around a 80/100 GPA. I only took 1 AP class which was AP World History–out of 3 because those classes were always full and my school was a small public school, so It didn’t offer that many activities.

Extracurricular Activities and Others Things:

At the beginning of my senior year of middle school till the end of my sophomore year in high school, I was part of the New York Police Department Explorers program (NYPDE) for a little over 3 years–of those 3 years, I was the Caption of my precinct . During those years, I’ve done tons of community services–we won “Most community service earned” twice under my command, and also lead and placed in military ceremonial drill competition with my precinct–we placed 3rd twice and 1st once, while under my command as well.

During my Junior year, I joined a program called “Future and Options” where they taught me some skills that would help me survive in a corporate business. I’ve had hands-on-trying in numerous workshops as well.

After I graduated from high school, I joined another program called “Year Up”. Year Up is a nonprofit organization based in Boston, Massachusetts. Year Up was founded in 2000 by Bowdoin College and Harvard Business School graduate Gerald Chertavian, and currently has sites in Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, New York, Providence, Puget Sound (Seattle), and Washington, D.C… This program is just like the Future and Options, but is way more advance.

Right now, I am currently interning at the largest asset manager in the world called BlackRock. I started in August and my internship will end at the end of January. Now, from what I’ve heard, people are impress that I got a long internship at this place BEFORE I even applied to a college, since this firm recruits from top colleges and Ivy leagues.

Future Plan:

I planning on taking the ACT again–I scored a 21 first try with no study–so I can make up for that bad GPA.
I’m going to try and get my internship extended for a few more months.
Have my colleagues at BlackRock look over my essays
Get my recommendation letters: 1 from my high school, 1 from Year Up, and 1 from BlackRock

Conclusion:

I truly love helping people, which is why I did over 3 years of community service with the police force and I want to change the lives of millions around the world. Also, my dream job is to become a hedge fund manager some day and thanks to Future and Options, Year Up, and my internship at BlackRock, I think college admins will see that I am very determined to reach my goals even with a low/bad GPA.

I have:
Application Essay–working on it
Character/Personal Qualities–I’m a great person to be around
Extracurricular Activities-stated above
First generation college student–none of my parents or stepdad went to college
Geographical Residence
Interview–I m great at these
Racial/Ethnic Status- I’m black teen, male, and I come from a low income family-under $40k
Recommendations-stated above
Talent/Ability-- I’m a great public speaker, keep my work concise, always ready to take initiative, always willing to help and I’m a great leader.
Volunteer Work–3+ years
Work Experience–Auguest - Present

So my question to you all: Do I have a shot at attending a good University?

P.S. sorry for the long post.

Schools I’m applying to:
Lehigh University
University of Delaware
Syracuse University (with HEOP)
University at Buffalo
Baruch College

Any other colleges I could I apply to?

2

My ultimate goal is to work on wall street, so I’m looking for colleges with an undergrad business school, student investment fund/club, and has a good reputation.

3

Forget the Ivy League; there are kids with perfect ACT/SAT scores, and much better grades than you, who don’t get admitted to those schools.

What is your state of legal residence? You may wish to look at public universities in that state which have good business programs.

4

@gandalf78 I forgot to take the “(maybe an Ivy League)” part out.

I’m a born U.S citizen, African American, first gen, who lives in NYC.

5

–Unfortunately I think most if not all of the schools on your list are unrealistic with a 80 average and 21 ACT. The BlackRock experience is amazing but I’m not sure it will make up for grades/standardized tests. Colleges want to feel confident that accepted students can succeed in the classroom.
–Try using the supermatch function located on CC under Find A College to look for academic matches.
–Also be sure to run the net price calculator on schools you consider to determine affordability.
–It sounds like you have a lot of great personal qualities it is important that you apply to some schools that are both academic and financial matches.

6

80/100 is a B- average, so probably the equivalent of a 2.8 on a 4.0 scale. I can’t tell from your post if that is weighted or unweighted (I know you said you only took one AP, but if your school offers honors courses , those could also be weighted).

I think you will still need two letters from your high school teachers at most schools, unless the Year Up one is from a professor in a core academic subject. Most colleges will accept additional recommendations, but you need to check the policy for each college you apply to.

And as discussed in your last thread, you need to figure out if any any college credits earned in your program make you a transfer student. I was just looking at the Year Up site, and can’t tell much about the coursework and college credits granted. The Year Up program might be a place to start with that question, but you will also need to ask the colleges. The reason people keep bringing it up
Is because it makes a difference in your odds of admission and financial aid.

7

Your ECs are impressive and you seem like a wonderful person! Do you think you would be able to bring your ACT up to a 30? It is possible but it would take a significant amount of preparation. If there are other circumstances that you feel contributed to your low GPA, I would definitely be sure to make those clear but perhaps phrase it in a way that doesn’t make it sound like an excuse. I think if you can bring your ACT up to a 30, you would have much better chances at the schools you are considering taking into account the low GPA. Regardless, I would still try for at least one reach because if the colleges see a lot of potential in you from your extracurriculars, reccs and everything, you may still have a chance in light of GPA and ACT. Then again, I’m still in high school too so I definitely don’t know everything about this. The advice given from the above posters sounds very informed, and I’d definitely look at more financial/academic matches as well. Good luck with everything! I’m sure you will go on to do great things because you sound very motivated and driven.

8

Great EC but you are overlooking your academics too much. What is your class rank. 21 is pretty low, even without prepping. You will have to embark on a self guided dedicated systematic program to improve your score significantly. Do start reading the books from the high school books lists that you have not covered in class asap. Don’t get hung up on overreaching, find a place that will support you.

9

@SirEdan I would remove Lehigh, Delaware and Syracuse from your list. Good schools that may accept you although their ACT averages are 25, are Scranton, Siena College, St. Bonaventure, Manhattan College, Marist, and Susquehanna University. All of these schools have AACSB business programs. St. Bonaventure has one of the nicest business facilities in the east.

What level of Math did you take in high school?

10

@intparent My school did offered a English honor class, but the teacher continued to fail everyone in school (even the seniors). So the school decided to let him go.

@asappebble I plan on taking the ACT exam again in December.

@BrownParent I had no idea my school did rankings, but I’m #50/174 (I believe that is the 28-29%).

@TurnerT Honestly, I just plan on going to a community college. The only reason why my GPA is so low is because I gave up on going to college during my sophomore year. I came from a low income family who also hasn’t gone to college. I know I can do well in college, but I just need a chance to prove that.

11

@SirEdan If you just plan on going to community college why did you ask about those particular schools? So if you applied to Manhattan College and were accepted, you would opt for a community college?

That seems sort of odd, especially if you want a chance to prove something. I work with kids like you at my church and I can tell you need a bit of help sorting all this out. I have heard the community college default many times and guess what, that option usually results in drop out.

Apply to residential schools you can get in, pack your bags and get away from home for a while.

You have a shot at the schools I mentioned.

12

This isn’t turning out very different from the last thread. OP, have you run the net price calculators for the schools you listed in your original post? You should also run it for the schools TurnerT mentioned. Not much more can be said until you have new ACT scores.

13

@intparent Baruch (CUNY) and Buffalo(SUNY) are both located in NYC–which is where I live. they both cost around 7k-8k a year. With FAFSA (the max a person can get is $5,775), will just make it cheaper, say, 2k-3k a year.

@TurnerT I was just planning on going to community college for a year or 2.

14

There is an awful lot between a community college and and Ivy. Why would you go to a CC instead of Baruch or Buffalo to start with if you can get into one of those?

15

SUNY Buffalo is over 400 miles from NYC. It is in Buffalo, NY.

The chances of you actually transferring or finishing a two year degree are extremely low at a community college.

You need a smaller school with more support. You will be lost at Baruch and SUNY B.

16

@Inptparent @TurnerT I’m bring up community colleges, because I might not get into Baruch and/or Buffalo.

17

I gave you a bunch of much more pleasant schools. I hope you look into them and investigate.

18

@TurnerT I thank you for the list and I will look into some of them.

19

@SirEdan Take my advice spread your wings and get away from NY.

20

Because you are low income you have an opportunity to look for 4 year colleges that might give you a full aid package. Don’t lose the freshman opportunity. Transfers don’t get the big aid package except for what you are entitled to through state and federal aid. You can come back to NYC for summers and internships, I agree to look farther afield.