<p>Hi, so my grades aren't exactly competitive for the ivies, or other great schools for the matter. Despite this, I have a list of schools I love, and I'd really appreciate my chances. So far I have Georgetown and Emory as reaches (BIG reaches, I know); my targets (I think?) are Fordham, University of Miami, UIUC, American, and Syracuse (maybe this one's a reach since I'm applying to Newhouse?); lastly, my safeties are Arizona State and University of Illinois @ Chicago. </p>
<p>A little background info about me:
-I'm 17 & male
-I had depression for most of hs, which reflects my horrible freshman year :/, but I'm not writing about it. I don't want it to be an excuse.
-I'm Cuban (Born in Chicago, but my grandparents/parents were refugees)
-I'm an Illinois resident
-I'm bisexual & agnostic (some little things that set me apart)
-My parents are divorced and my mum's had full custody of me since I was 1(ish)
-I have 2 sisters in college :(</p>
<p>Background info on my mom:
-She's been a single mother for like 15 yrs? I really don't remember my dad. My grandparents were such a big help in raising me though.
-She is college educated (degree in education) and she got her masters last year in reading.
-She just started a new job that makes $75,000, but for the past few years she's made only $50,000. So I don't have a lot of money saved for college...She's looking to go back to her old job next year though because she thinks it'll help with financial aid.</p>
<p>My Stats:
-I've taken all honors/APs excluding math. I was in advanced geometry freshman year but for sophomore year (and the years following), I decided to take Alg 2 Trig I, Pre-Calc I, and senior year I'll be taking AP Calc AB.
Other APs: US History, Language and Comp, American Gov't and Politics, and AP Microeconomics.
-Senior Schedule: Photo 1 (first sem), Journalism (2nd sem), AP Literature, International Relations (advanced), Leisure and Recreation (4 yrs of gym required in IL), AP Calc AB, AP psych, and AP Spanish.
-Uw GPA: 3.5 (ugh, low I know.); W GPA:5.1...my school weights it weird..Upward trend.
-Rank: top 15% (yeah, fml.)
-ACT: 1) 31 (E:34, R:34, S:27, M:27, no writing-school couldn't afford it
2) 29 :( (E:31, R:30, S:25..., M: 28, writing: 8)..and I want to be a journalist too :/ lol.
3) I'll be retaking in October. I want at least a 30.
-Sat 2's: US History: 770, Spanish w/o listening: 740 (I speak it at home, but I'm not great at reading & writing)
As far as the ACT goes, GTown, Miami, UIUC, ASU, and UIC accept the 31 w/o writing. I know that for Emory and American they don't superscore and require the writing so the 31 is void. I'm not sure about Fordham and Syracuse.</p>
<p>-Extracurriculars: Cross country (2 years), Yearbook (3 years, including editorship for 2), Club Environmental Rescue (3 yrs) , Habitat for Humanity (3 yrs), Stage crew (3 yrs), Spanish Honor Society (3 yrs), and Nat'l Honor Society (2 yrs). We don't even do anything for Sp Honor Society though, so it's useless.
-Community Service:
1) Ever since I was about 7 my family has helped out at a homeless shelter once a month for our church (they only have it once a month :/, but it's for 4-5 hours). We first set up pads and sheets, then we serve the food to the homeless, and afterwards we are able to eat and socialize. We also sometimes play bingo or do some other fun activities with them.
2) For three years I've helped out at my Church's thanksgiving drive. This is 4-5 hours a year, so it's not much. Anyways, I translate for Hispanic families and I'm a personal shopper (I tell them what they can get, and I hold the bag/box).
3) I also have helped for 3 yrs at the summer vacation bible camp. As a crew leader I lead a group of 5-6 kids (ages 5-10) throughout the stations and I help them in finding God (yeah, I'm not even Catholic lol).
4) I've helped out at this soccer camp for 2 summers. I was in charge of registration & translation. It took place in a low-income, predominantly Hispanic neighborhood.
5) I've gone two times to a food pantry, totaling 10 hours. I'm hoping to go more, it's just so hard to wake up early on Saturday morning with schools >.<</p>
<p>-I want to major in journalism (I prefer broadcast); also interested in double majoring in Spanish. I also would love a college with a good Portuguese department, I want to start learning the language :D
<em>not all of these colleges offer journalism as a major, I'm well aware. I may choose political science, spanish, portuguese, or IR as major(s)</em></p>
<p>-My long term goal is report the news, and eventually anchor it as well :3. I know that journalism is a very competitive field, and I'm well aware that this requires a lot of work and dedication. In fact, I want to anchor for a national news network, you know, like Brian Williams or Diana Sawyer, haha. We're all entitled to dream :D.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading this REALLY long post. I really do appreciate all the help and I thank you for your time if you were patient enough to read all of this!</p>
I need more opinions! Pleaseeeeee</p>