OK Chance for Underrep minority, high GPA, SAT

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi guys, I just joined the forums, and I am curious and nervous about where I stand,. I really am still not sure about the college system in America and this is all very foreign to me and difficult to understand so the information you give will be very valuable and much appreciated thank you.</p>

<p>First of all here are the list of colleges I am interested in. I think they are pretty realistic, but if not you can let me know.</p>

<p>-Carnegie Mellon University
-Washignton University in St. Louis
-Cornell University
-Johns Hopkins
-Brown University
-Columbia University
-Duke University</p>

<p>==================================</p>

<h1>Personal Info</h1>

<p>Race: Turkish(been US for 6 years)
Gender:Male
Age:17
School: Public
State: West Virginia
Grade: Just started senior year, getting ready for college apps and SAT and ACT again.</p>

<p>======================================</p>

<h1>GPA</h1>

<p>My GPA has constantly been 4 for the last 3 years.
Junior Year:
Weighted GPA: 4.0 (Had 1 B in AP Bio, the rest are As)
Class Rank: My school doesn't do ranks but I'm pretty confident I am in the top percentile ~10%</p>

<p>======================================</p>

<h1>Senior Schedule</h1>

<p>The academic (the ones that should matter) classes are:
AP ENGLISH LIT & COMP
AP GOVERNMENT (not sure whether I should take this)
AP PHYSICS C
AP CALCULUS AB
German 4</p>

<p>======================================</p>

<h1>Past AP CLASSES and scores</h1>

<p>-AP BIOLOGY(was very challenging in our school, 6-9 hrs per week)
score:4
-AP ENGLISH LANG & COMP
score:3</p>

<p>======================================</p>

<h1>Extracurricular Activities </h1>

<p>-German Club 4 years (club does not have officers)
-Art Club 4 years (club does not have officers)
-NHS 1 year
-Debate Club 2 years
-Tennis team 2 years - going to be varsity this year</p>

<p>Community Service
-I have around 30, working to get up to a 50</p>

<p>I do not know if summer camps count but here are the things I have done:
Freshman Summer:
-Attended West Virginia Uni Engineering Camp
Sophomore Summer:
-Attended Georgetown Uni Computer Science Camp
Junior Summer:
-Attended Columbia University Biomedical Engineering Camp
I also have certificates for all of these programs</p>

<p>I have also interned in the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University here (WVU), next to a professor. If that helps.</p>

<p>======================================</p>

<h1>Test Scores</h1>

<p>SAT (will take again in October)
-CR: 600
-Math: 600
-Writing: 560
-Composite: 1760</p>

<p>Sat Subject Test (Will take Math and Physics)
-Biology: 690
-Math: 540 (definitely retaking)</p>

<p>ACT (retaking in fall)
-English: 29
-Mathematics: 29
-Reading: 29
-Science 26
-Combines English/writing: 25
-Composite: 29</p>

<p>=============================</p>

<h1>Intended Majors</h1>

<p>Right now I'm still not sure but the major ones I want are:
Mechanical Engineering
or
Biomedical Engineering</p>

<p>I would appreciate any answer or advise you give me.</p>

2

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>So yes, your GPA is very impressive, however I would concentrate on your SATs. No worries! I need to do the same thing, as well =). </p>

<p>Although I find your AP scores a little worrisome, especially the Biology AP score because that is, ultimately, what you might be going into. And yes, I do understand that your school’s course might have been hard, but ultimately the APs are marked the same all across the board, all across the world.</p>

<p>Besides that, I think you should give the universities you have a shot, either way. The Ivy Leagues are always a reach for most people, but it doesn’t hurt to try.</p>

3

<p>I don’t think you have much of a shot at any of those schools except maybe CMU. You simply don’t fit into their stats profiles.</p>

<p>That said, there are a few important considerations.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>How competitive/rigorous is your high school? Is it regarded as the best in your area?</p></li>
<li><p>Have you always taken the hardest classes? It looks live you’ve taken some tough ones.</p></li>
<li><p>How does your high school weight your GPA? What’s your unweighted GPA? </p></li>
</ol>

<p>The fact that your internships/summer programs line up w/ ur majors is really good though. Your other ECs seem pretty useless though.</p>

<p>You should limit yourself to a few of those schools and add a lot of matches and some safeties.</p>

4

<p>Hi , thanks for the reply.</p>

<p>@magic: Thanks, Im really working on the SAT. Ive been studying all summer, and am taking tutoring classes with Princeton Review</p>

<p>@PBush

  1. I think my school is one of the best schools in WV, Im pretty sure it has the most AP class choices and the best teachers in the state.
    The problem is my school didn’t let anyone take APs until their junior year, until this year. So I ve pretty much been cheated as I have not been offered the opportunity to take APs earlier, and the underclassmen this year are able to do it.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>For Junior year, I did not take AP history, because I did want to learn about the short Colonial history of America. We had World history instead, which I thought was more useful. I also heard that it was unnecessarily hard.
I also could not have afforded to take it as our school’s hardest class is AP BIO and it was very rigorous. I spent nearly all my energy for that class last year.
This Year however, I feel like Im overloading myself. I am especially not sure if AP GOV will be of any use to me.
So in short, yes, I believe I have taken hard classes. </p></li>
<li><p>If you take APs in our school, the As for those classes count as 5s, instead of 4s.
I think I have unweighted GPA of maybe Id say around 3.8-3.9
I have to get a brand new transcript to tell you accurately.
Weighed Im sure is definitely 4.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>And for the ECs, thats honestly all I could do. The school doesnt have many technical/math/science related clubs. There is Science Honors which I forgot to list, Ive been in for 2 years.
I tried to be in student council, but in our school its all the same 10 people who win the elections, so that didnt work out.</p>

<p>and for the colleges I listed, Im pretty certain I can go for Carnegie, but I listed the others just in case to see what people think. I dont think I can go for the really good ones like Duke or Columbia honestly.
Im also interested in University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, which I think can also work for me.</p>

5

<p>URM=African American, Hispanic, Native American by the American college definition.</p>

<p>Being from WV will really help if you can bring your scores up. CMU will be a good shot with a score increase, but if you need financial aid, beware, their aid is bad and many accepted can’t attend for this reason.</p>

6

<p>WV will help but don’t overestimate that. Colleges only need one student from each state to say that their students come from all 50 states. ;)</p>

<p>And while I understand that it was touch to do ECs at your school, this only goes so far. You may have had less opportunities than other applicants. The adcoms will be a bit lenient for this, but many top students “invent” their own ECs, so to speak.</p>

<p>How is your weighted GPA only a 4 if your unweighted GPA is 3.8-3.9? One major reason I said you didn’t fit the colleges on your list was that I assumed weighting of +.5 or +1 and that your unweighted GPA was much lower than 3.9. Calculate your GPA. I know you’ve only taken two AP courses but it still seems low. That might just be my ineptitude at math though.</p>

<p>Your ACT score is better than your SAT I score but even that is very low for schools like the Ivies. What worries me is that if your school is so good with “the best teachers in the state” and “one of the best in WV” how you could get such low scores on your subject tests/AP tests?</p>

7

<p>This is harsh, but everyone says they are from a tough school. I think you might be stretching it a little, especially because you live in WV and do not have spectacular SAT/ACT scores.</p>

8

<p>you’re not a minority, you’re considered white to colleges</p>

9

<p>^ True, he’s not a minority by def, but he does come from an under represented state.</p>

10

<p>Even given your grades, the facts that you have no hook (Turkish is not considered URM) and that your scores are decidedly subpar for top schools make you a very unlikely admit to most of the schools on your list. Plus, you have no leadership positions that I see.</p>