<p>I never understood why people so desired opinions, any opinions, on their chances of getting into colleges-until I started looking at colleges for myself. Now I seek the same sort of evaluation, so here it goes. Here lies my life, my struggles, and my worries, all contained within twenty-six lines of text:</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2320 (Critical Reading: 750, Mathematics: 800, Writing: 770)
[</em>] ACT: None
[<em>] SAT II: None
[</em>] High School GPA (out of 4.0): ~2.8
[<em>] College GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): English Language (4), English Lit (4), Government (3)
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): School Newspaper, TA for Honors Ethics, Philosophy Club
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: Mathematics Tutor
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: Little
[</em>] Summer Activities: Work
[<em>] Essays: Excellent
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation: Excellent
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] Apply for Financial Aid?: Yes
[</em>] Intended Major: Philosophy
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): CA
[</em>] School Type: Community College
[<em>] Ethnicity: White
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>] Income Bracket: ~$70,000
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None that I know of...
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: SAT score, GPA, Recs, Essays.
[</em>] Weaknesses: High school GPA. Community college student. White. Male. Applying for financial aid.[/ul]</p>
<p>I am so lost. Where should I apply? Do I have even the slightest chance of getting accepted into any top colleges or universities? Would liberal arts colleges be more likely to accept me, or would universities? Does it not really matter?</p>
<p>Also, there are other things, like: should I volunteer more? spend time racking up more EC's? take the SAT Subject Tests? focus on acquiring leadership positions?</p>
<p>It's funny; how slim the probability is that I will get into places like, for example, Columbia (which is, if I can use the College Board's statistic, about 5%) didn't really hit me until I rolled a twenty-sided die a few times.</p>
<p>I mean, does the fact that I am a transfer from a community college leave me dead before I have a chance to hit the water? Do I really just send my application in, wait, and hope that places like Columbia see me, with my genuine community college experience, as a chance to further diversify their student body? Can someone please help me? My high school GPA left me confined to community college, but now I desperately need to escape the repercussions of mistakes that I made in the past.</p>