<p>So, I'm applying to a fair number of schools of a fairly wide variety and was wondering what my chances are. My SAT and essay are my strengths, my ECs are ok, and my GPA isn't that great.</p>
<p>Schools I'm Applying To:
Cornell (Early Decision)
Notre Dame(Both parents went here as well as grandfather, uncle, and aunt)
Carnegie Mellon
Santa Clara
Syracuse
UMass
University of San Diego
UC Davis
UC Berkeley (Mom also went here)
UC San Diego
Cal Poly(SLOW)
(This is a rough outline of my list. I'm open to suggestions on other colleges to apply to and ones I shouldn't. I'm looking into majoring in Environmental Engineering, Math(Of some sort), or Architecture, with some side of art or graphic design if possible. I'd also love to go overseas for a semester or two.)</p>
<p>STATS:
GPA: 3.7W
Rank: Unsure if my school does this
SAT: 2140
SAT II: Math 2 (800), Chemistry (730), Literature(taking it later)
APs: AP Chem(4), AP Calc BC(5)
Senior Classes: AP Studio Art, AP Statistics, AP Physics, American Democracy/Econ., Spanish 3, British Lit</p>
<p>Essay:
So for my essays I've written about dealing with my sister having brain cancer(multiple surgeries) and seizures. During this period my father and grandparents "peaced out" and left my mom and I to take care of my sister and little brother. My mom lived at the hospital with my sister leaving me as the primary caretaker and role model for my younger brother. Also in my UCs I include living in Shanghai, China as well as backpacking around Europe for ~6 months(took off part of 8th grade and got home schooled).
My Essay goes a lot more in depth about myself at the time(tried to keep it focused on me not my sister and family) and things I personally dealt with.</p>
<p>ECs:
200+ hours volunteering at the Environmental Nature Center(basically a camp councilor for the camps there)
4 year Member of PAMA(Preforming Arts and Multimedia Academy)(basically a organization at my school dedicated to the arts)
3 year Home Tour Artist(Draw a picture of a house for the magazine that goes with the home tour)
Several clubs non of which are overly important
3 years Tennis Team(wasn't on varsity so probably doesn't mean much, not playing senior year, tennis team is very good I was ok but not amazing)
Some other volunteer stuff as well</p>
<p>Recs:
1 should be great and the other will be solid (I hope)</p>
<p>Thanks those of you who read through all this. Any thoughts or comments are welcome.</p>
<p>Edit: Ah, also forgot to mention my high school was in the news several times over the last few years so will that affect my chances? Cheating scandal, Prom draft, etc.... I wasn't a participant in any of this but it still was in national news :( .</p>