SAT score : 1390 (1440 superscore)
ACT: 31 (33 superscore)
GPA :
Weighted:4.25/5 (can get up to a 6 with AP/pre-ap)
Unweighted: 3.25/4
Class rank 310/940
ECs:
Freshman year: none
Soph/Junior year: Cross Country (literally took up all the time available, 10-12 miles split before and after school, plus body-weight supersizes, and meets on weekends)
Senior year: DECA, Speech and Debate, Model UN
Plus factors (I think):
NHS
Fully bilingual (Arabic, I’m also a dual citizen, dunno if that impacts)
3 rec letters, English teacher that is an amazing writer and really liked me, History teacher I had 2 years (AP Euro & WHAP), and counselor that really likes me
Really good essays, but some of the Short answers were eh
Negative factors:
Applying for financial aid
Major: Business
Schools:
UChicago (Poli Sci)
Cornell
Rice (Poli Sci)
Oxy (Economics)
Northeastern (Poli sci+Business degree)
USC
Boston College
Boston U
UT
A&M
(Already accepted at UTD for business, and also applied to UH, and Baylor, but after UTD idc about those)
Okay here is where it gets weird, My freshman year (on that 5 weighted scale) was a 2.8. My rank after freshman year was in the 800s. I explained under additional information that this was because my dad had gotten into an accident that he almost died from multiple times (long story, ended up in the hospital multiple times after, he’s completely fine now!) I explained that put my into shock, which is true, and I hung out with the wrong crowd cause of it. I explained how I started switching around sophmore year and excelled junior year. I hope the colleges take that into consideration, but idk, what do you guys think. BTW most of those colleges i expected to be reaches other than A&M and the schools under it but I’m not sure). Plus I am not sure if I would go to A&M over UTD, I think I would prefer UTD
I think that your improvement over your high school career will definitely work in your favor, as well as being bilingual/dual citizenship. Explaining your circumstances in your earlier years of high school will certainly help as well. Some of these schools may still be reaches for you just based on GPA and your stats, but you’ll probably have more luck with schools like BU which value diversity, especially in a large metropolitan area. The most important thing to remember is that these schools want to see that you are capable of succeeding there, so be honest with yourself about how they will view your application in the context of their specific programs. I think you definitely have a shot at a number of these schools though, and congrats on your acceptances!
Most of these schools are pretty much out of reach. UTD is a solid school with some huge advantages, though. Dallas is a major commercial economy and there are internship opportunities everywhere if you want to study business. UTD is a good place.
I’m not sure if I was clear but I am 100% happy with UTD, considering even choosing it over A&M if I got accepted there. I also know that a lot of the schools are reach, but I thought that same could be matches/low reach. I thought:
High reach: Cornell, Uchicago, USC, Rice (I’m only applying there because my parents want me to)
Low reach: Northeastern, Boston College
High match: BU, Oxy
Normal match: UT (in state and I thought if anything they would accept me to my second major which is government, not very competitive esp. Compared with mccombs,)
Low match: A&M (I’m a hair away from auto even with that horrible freshman year), UTD
Safety: UH honors
However I was not 100% sure of my guesses and wanted to see if I had the right idea or not, just like everyone else asking for chances I guess. Also a lot of the schools im applying to superscore ACT which would put me well above their 75 percentile with a 33 which is why I thought that way, I did not have much help choosing schools other than my own research and probably got the wrong idea of my competitiveness at some schools I guess.