<p>I'm a junior at at a prestigious magnet school in Chicago. I just got my ACT score: 28. It's not the best but I hope my grades can make up for it. I had a pretty average freshman year but I've heavily improved in the last two years and improved my GPA from a 3.7 to a 4.4. In my junior year I only got one B per semester (both in AP English)</p>
<p>GPA (weighted): 4.4048
ACT: 28
Class rank: Top 5%
GPA (UW): 3.478</p>
<p>I'm in 3 AP classes currently (the rest Honors): AP US History, AP English Language, AP Government & Politics. I took the tests and I'm sure I'll pass all three with atleast a 4. My EC are bad though. I was part of JROTC for two years, was part of the Think tank Club here, so far I have 77 service learning hours and most importantly I spent two years in the Alpha program (it only lasts 2 years). This was a science fair program that involved me taking extra classes and competing in Science Fairs. I made it to the regionals in Sophomore year (a lot harder than it sounds). For my senoir year, I'm taking a very difficult curriculum, 4 AP classes (Economics, World Lit., Psychology, European History) (and the rest of teh classes are Honors).</p>
<p>I should be able to write a good essay and get great recommendations. I want to major in Political Science (to go to a Law school for my graduate) I also have a great attendance record and even recieved an award from the city for it, if that helps. Thanks for reading and please give me your thoughts. I'm also from Iraq and lived there till I was 8 if that helps and I do remember everything from there, I escaped from Iraq and came here as a refugee. What good colleges do you guys think I should aapply to and have a good chance of getting in, preferibly in Illinois or California or places close by. I'm scared, though, that since both my parents are doctors, people think I'm just some rich kid. Even though when we came here we were on welfare for over a year and lived in a ghetto and even afterwards we barley made ends meat as it took a while for my parents to finish their residency and tests. And even now we don't live anywhere near a wealthy lifestyle since much of our money goes to helping our porr relatives throughout the world.</p>
<p>Do I even have a chance?</p>
<p>BTW I do plan on interviewing and trying really hard at the essay and apply EA.</p>
<p>This year at my HS i've seen the most bizarre things... kids who we were sure would easily get into Harvard ended up HAVING to go to our state school, and vice versa. So, in terms of chances, I think you are pretty good, since you do sound like you are in the ballpark of Chicago's stats. Chicago is known for being a school who takes the actualy application very seriously - most notably its "uncommon essays." You should def. focus a lot on those, because, especially at Chicago, they could really help/hurt. In terms of the ACT score, I would def. try to take that again OR try the SAT... usually people who don't do well on one of them do well on the other and vice versa.</p>
<p>In terms of other schools that you should consider in Illinois and California... huum, considering your desire to go to Law school, I think that Northwestern is certainly a very good option. They attract very bright kids who are very professional-school centered, and im sure a lot of those end up going to amazing law schools after college. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is also a very good school with an excellent law school, and I think your chances there are actually very good. In terms of Cali, Stanford and Berkeley are the reference points, though they are also very competitive schools to get into - though I think most people who get into Chicago prob. get into Berkeley OOS... at least most people who I know who applied to both, if Chicago accepted them, so did Berkeley. Other n that I don't know what's left to say. Ohh, a word of advice. Don't make the same mistake that I made when applying to college. I applied to two colleges EA and had the good fortune of getting into both. Since they were my top 2, I decided that I shouldn't have applied anymore. Because of that I lead very scary months in my life. You see, when you are choosing colleges to apply to you look at things a lot differently than when you are choosing a college to attend... usually the standard is much higher the second time around. After I had stopped applying, I started getting worried that I hadn't really considered schools very carefully. I even went as far as visiting one of the schools which I ended up not applying to just to see if I had made a huge mistake. Luckily, after flipping through loads of websites, visiting places after-the-fact, I fortunately realized that one of the schools which I had gotten into EA was truly the school that I was most enamored with. So, now my advice is that it doesn't matter if you get into a SCEA school or EA school, NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS apply to all your schools on your list... and then in April calmly pick one of them. And, of course, due to my bias (I'll be heading to Chicago next year) I hope you are offered admission and join us next fall!</p>
<p>Your story seems rather unique. The admissions committee will probably look favorably upon your Iraqi roots if you are able to successfully communicate it in your application.</p>
<p>It would behoove of you to retake the ACT or take the SAT. Your ACT score, as it stands, is below the 25% range. Your GPA is also low, but this could be mitigated by your school's prestige. </p>
<p>If you don't get into UChicago or Northwestern, there is also DePaul and Loyola Chicago. Although these schools are not as prestigious, they will give you almost equal chances to get into Law School because it is generally agreed Law Schools don't care where you go to undergrad -- they care about your GPA and LSAT. In that regard, UChicago might actually be bad because of its tough grading. You'll likely end up with a better GPA attending DePaul than UChicago. The trade-off is the difference in academic prestige and rigor.</p>
<p>I am an iraqi too and wrote about it in my essays. This topic is pretty unique and i don't think colleges get many applications from Iraqis. My advice is to write about your struggle and transition between iraq and chicago..etc!</p>