<p>I visited American in early August and I loved the feel of the campus. The city is also really appealing to me :D. I know American considers the level of interest, I’ve also gone to a local info session. Oh, I’m applying RD.</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
-my mom’s income is $75,000</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, ■■■.)
-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)
<em>American doesn’t accept my 31 >.<, that’s pretty frustrating</em></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. </p>
<p>-Community Service:
- 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.
- 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).
- 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).
- 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.
- 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’m also interested in studying Portuguese.</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! Also, is this a reach? match? I know my gpa is low :/.</p>