<p>Hi, I'm a white male set to graduate in May 2014. I'm ranked second in my class out of 650 students and I come from a very competitive high school. My father had brain cancer when I was younger and it drastically affected our income. He is now medically retired and my parents make about $50k combined (a lot less after taxes).</p>
<p>-Weighted GPA: 4.85
-Unweighted GPA: 4.0
-SAT Score (taken once, plan on retaking in October): 1930 *CR and Math=1280
-ACT: 29 (don't think I'm retaking)
-AP Scores: Euro=4, APUSH=5, Stats=4, Lang & Comp=4, Calc AB=4 (I'm taking Calc BC, Econ, Gov, Physics, Lit, and Chem this year)
-EC's/Clubs: Cross Country (4 years), Track (4 years), NHS (2 years), Spanish Honor Society (1 year), Calc Squad (2 years), Mentors (2 years). I am the Varsity captain on cross country this year. </p>
<p>I also have hundreds of hours of volunteer experience and I have also had a job to try to pay for my own things to take the pressure off my parents. </p>
<p>I want to be an engineer of some sort (either mechanical or chemical) and I want to know which schools are best for me off the list. Would I have a shot at getting into one of the Ivy's or the higher tier schools even with low test scores? Which schools could I get into?</p>
<p>Also, will the fact that my dad had brain cancer and our income was affected greatly increase my chances? And what's the possibility that you get picked by a school when you're a finalist? Thanks!</p>
<p>Your SAT is average for finalists, and your ACT is very slightly above average. Your GPA looks good, and if you can write good essays you have a great shot of being named a finalist.</p>
<p>Match is always tough. Only some 10% get matched to a school. However, Match is a way to assess your strengths and weaknesses. You can’t be rejected. And you can still apply ED or EA to multiple schools. See my post on the board: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/questbridge-programs/1539763-should-i-do-match-not-guide.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/questbridge-programs/1539763-should-i-do-match-not-guide.html</a></p>
<p>A lot of the partner schools offer engineering, including: MIT, Caltech, Rice, Northwestern, Tufts, Stanford, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, Washington and Lee, Swarthmore, Trinity, Brown, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Princeton, and most other liberal art colleges (3-2 programs with universities like Caltech, Dartmouth, Columbia, U’Penn, and WUSTL). Some of these schools are more selective than others. As a white applicant with relatively average test scores and extracurriculars it will be especially important for you to consider what schools you can realistically get into.</p>
<p>[Acceptance</a> Rates](<a href=“http://www.questbridge.org/for-students/ncm-acceptance-rates]Acceptance”>http://www.questbridge.org/for-students/ncm-acceptance-rates)</p>
<p>You can see acceptance rates for all of the colleges here. Usually, less than 15% = reach for every student, 15-20%= reach for most students, 20-25%= low reaches for most students, 25-30%= high matches for most student, 30-40%= matches for most students. You can also click on a school on the partner college tab, and on the right side you’ll see the average SAT and ACT range. This will give you a sense of where you are among the type of students a school is looking for.</p>
<p>So do I have a pretty good shot of being named a finalist? And which partner colleges could I get into? Thanks!</p>