Please chance a son of a refugee for UChicago, Brown, NYU, and UF!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi, my parents were refugees from Afghanistan and moved to the USA with no money and understanding of English 18 years ago. Neither of them finished high school back home, so I will be the first in my family to finish high school (and hopefully) go to college.</p>

<p>UChicago is by far my 1st choice, so specific feedback on that will be much appreciated. </p>

<p>Personal Stats:
Junior
First Generation
Able to speak 3 languages.
Gender: M
Ethincity: Afghan
State: Florida</p>

<p>Academics:
GPA UW 3.75 W: 4.6
SAT: 1350/1920 (CR: 760. M:590, W:560 Essay: 11/12...I know I suck at the multiple choice of the writing) --> 1st time taken and did not study, plan to retake 2 more times.</p>

<p>Courses:
8th Grade: Algebra 1 Honors
Freshmen year: Geometry Honors, World History Honors, English 1 Honors, Biology Honors, Spanish 1, Sport Medicine, Business Technology
Sophomore Year: Algebra II Honors, English II Honors, Chemistry Honors, Spanish 2 Honors, Leadership Skills, AP Art History
Junior Year: PreCalc, AP English Lang., Spanish 4 Honors, AP Chemistry, AP US History, Philosophy Honors
Senior Year: AP Calc AB, AP English Lit, AP US & Comp. Government, AP Psych, Self-Study in Human Rights, Physics Honors</p>

<p>Total AP Courses: 8</p>

<p>EC:</p>

<p>Freshmen Class Rep
Sophomore Class Vice President--->rewrote the school's Consitution, various fund raisers, organized class visits to nursing home etc
Jr Class Senator
Sr Class Senator
Founding member and President of local chapter of a non-profit (Jr-Senior year) --> It's Called Love Letters: Random Cards of Kindness. We make hand made insprational cards to sick kids in hospitals all around the country. We work with Base Camp and Give Kids theWorld and our local chapter goes to children hospital to hand deliver the cards. I started my area's local chapter, I organize and plan meetings, teach people how to make cards, check cards to see if they're appropriate, etc etc (This is my most time consuming EC)
Cross Country (10-12) JV:10 V:11-12 Captain my senior year
Varsity Track and Field: 10th
Spanish Club Membe (very active)r: 9-12
Operation Smile member (very active): 10-12
Math Club: 9-12
Math competition Team: 9th-11 (don't make fun of me)
Spanish Honor Society: 10-12
NHS: 11-12
-About 250 Hours of Communitry service</p>

<p>Award & Honors:</p>

<p>-Chosen to represent my school for Hugh O' Brian Youth Leadership my sophomore year
-Chosen for Florida Boy's State by my school
-Bank of America Student Leader-->I get a paid internship to work with the Boys & Girls Club of American over this summer and spend a week in DC for leadership
-Math Comp Team Awards-->In Geometry, Alg 2, and PreCalc</p>

<p>Misc Info:
-Worked for Pacsun for Summer of 2007
-My family was on welfare while I was a kid. (Luckily now, we're doing pretty good financially)
-I was seriously ill the first semester of junior year and it lowered my GPA a little (was gonna be a 3.85 UW)
-I have teachers who I am very close to so I know RECs will be pretty good.
-I've been in pretty constant contact with both Brown and UChicago's admission office and after my recent visit most of them know me by first name the last day! So I am hoping this will help with the "Demostrated Interest"</p>

<p>I really want to get into UChicago, I just got back today from Chicago and I LOVED IT. I know I don't seem the "Chicago" type at first glance, but although I love to have fun, I love academia too. I really want to get into their HIPSS program and the Human Rights program too.</p>

<p>Brown, UF, and NYU are my other choices...I'm not including my safeties in my list, because, they are called safeties for a reason :)</p>

<p>Please chance me honestly and tell me anything I can do to improve myself for the EA application for UChicago.</p>

2

<p>I have no idea how your hook will play out, but I will try to be the only person to post in this thread to criticize it:</p>

<p>18 years ago means you weren't alive so I would say that at worst for a college, your hook for a college is that your parents didn't finish high school. That is still a very impressive hook though.</p>

<p>I didn't really look through your activities and such (that internship looks nice), but I get a feeling that you're relatively low (compared to the schools you're applying to) won't hurt you that much.</p>

<p>I think you are in everywhere if you show some interest in all of them (they all want attention!).</p>

3

<p>Well truly, my passion lies in helping people. This stems from the fact that I have family in Afghanistan currently and poverty and I really want to just help people (I know cliche but it's the truth). I was thinking a possible hook would be starting the non-profit this year in my area. I have no idea how many people CC start non-profits, but it truly has become my passion this year and is very, very, very time consuming.</p>

<p>Oh, BTW, you really think I could get into everywhere even with my relatively low SAT scores?! Thanks so much for the confidence boost, I was really doubting myself!</p>

4

<p>I don't know if you know farsi, but "omeedvaaret hastaam!"</p>

<p>Make sure to explain your desire to help people in your essays as well as how that relates to your parents' situation.</p>

<p>EDIT:</p>

<p>Is money an issue? If so, I might add a few schools to your reaches which have good financial aid. If you can bring up your SAT a little (or maybe not at all), I think you should also apply to a school like Harvard given the fact that they have amazing financial aid.</p>

5

<p>i'm terrible at chances, and i don't really believe in them, so i will only offer you some advice as to how you could improve your application, and wish you some good luck!</p>

<p>well I would just make sure you don't say "starting" the non-profit in your application, since it seems like you must founded a local chapter of a preexisting organization .... though i could be mistaken about this, i only scanned your post so sorry if i'm wrong</p>

<p>your passion is my passion! i think your best shot is if you really let your passion shine through your essay. i think that would help put forward a cohesive message about you to admissions. when you put down your ECs on the app, make sure you write them in order of importance, or in a way that showcases and emphasizes your passion for helping others.</p>

<p>retake your SAT, if you can (you said you would, and i agree that it would be a good step)</p>

<p>i would be sure to talk to your guidance counselor about your parents, and your illness during the beginning of your junior year.... let them know that you want colleges to understand the context of your application</p>

<p>feel free to PM me if you have any questions</p>

6

<p>Yeah financial aid might be a problem, my parents are off okay now, but they will not be helping me with college at all past the first semester. I think this might pose a problem with UChicago because I heard their aid packages are not as high compared to other school in their league.</p>

<p>But Harvard, man, are you serious?! My dad would flip if I got in there. I would like to go to Harvard, but I really fell in love with UChicago's core curc. and their Human Rights minor. So I would have a hard time to choose between those, but I suppose FA would be the deciding factor (if I get in that is).</p>

<p>What other schools do you recommend because I have no problem researching and considering other schools :)</p>

<p>Haha, I do know farsi, but I have a hard time figuring out the first word. Do you speak farsi, and is it of a Iranian dialect because I speak Dari and they are quite different.</p>

7

<p>To Ivenadoeslimbo:</p>

<p>Thanks for your advice! Yeah, sorry, I did not actually start the organization itself. I usually say "start" in the context of starting the local chapter--but I can see how it can be misleading and confusing.</p>

<p>Haha, yes! Finally another person who loves to help people just because and not for the CS hours! Almost every other person in my school does communitry service for college.</p>

<p>With the retake of my SAT scores...what is good score to aim for? I was thinking 1450ish on the 1600 scale because I got a 590 on math and I know I can improve that by around 100 pts for sure.</p>

8

<p>I thought you might've spoken an Afghani dialect (duh!). The first word is "hoping for you".</p>

<p>The fact that you did not study for the SAT means a lot. I got lower than you on my PSATs (compared to your SAT) and about 80 points higher on practice SATs (I took Kaplan) but got a good score after all was said and done (2230). Not to sound arrogant, but I don't think it was really the course that helped me; I just didn't have a commitment to studying for the SAT and a weekly class helped me to do that.</p>

<p>Don't forget to take the ACT. Maybe you're better at that (although the math is harder on that).</p>

<p>I don't know much about schools and financial aid (I wouldn't qualify with my parents' income). I suggest doing a search for "meets full need".</p>

9

<p>haha tashakur :)</p>

<p>Just a random note...are my chances a lot better at elite and Ivies because I am visible minority/first generation because I noticed in the other threads, a lot of kids with much high ECs, Academic stats, and honors were chanced a lot lower in similar type schools.</p>

10

<p>the term "good score" is really subjective. I think you should at least try to get all your scores into the 600s... hopefully that will be relatively easy once you actually do study. I agree with afruff23, that the best part of SAT prep classes is just giving your a structured environment to study, and helping with time management. You could do that on your own if you were really committed and treated your study time like a real class. I can't really tell you what "good scores" are, though. Just study as much as you can and do your best! Also try and make sure you do your best on the SAT Subject Tests.</p>

<p>I wouldn't suggest taking the SAT more than three times though. You don't want to waste all that time on that ONE part of your application. The ACT is a great option, too. You may want to look into that. </p>

<p>Princeton
Stanford
Brandeis gives merit-based</p>

<p>you should probably be able to find a thread about this somewhere on CC, and you could even check Princeton Review's list of "students happy with financial aid"</p>

11

<p>I'd say scores are on the lower-side for UChicago. Nothing truly outstanding in extra curriculars. You're really going to have to show your strengths in your essay to get in.</p>