<p>I'm a white male, and I'm entering my sophomore year this fall at a mediocre CSU. I'll be applying to enroll as a junior. I'm wondering what my chances are at these schools: UCB/UCD/UCLA/UCSD; USC; Reed; UW; UMich; Vanderbilt; Rice; Emory; UVA; Cornell (probably out of my league); Vassar; and Bates.</p>
<p>I plan on double majoring in English and Psychology.</p>
<p>College GPA: 3.86 first semester, 15 units; 4.00 second semester, 19 units; cumulative: 3.94. I will be taking 20 units in the fall and am aiming for another 4.00.
High School GPA: 3.2 UW; 3.35 W (Didn't do too hot in high school)
ACT: 31 Composite (33 English/28 Math/34 Reading/29 Science)
APs: English Lit (5); English Composition (5); Government (5); US History (4). My school offered five AP courses in its entire curriculum. I didn't take AP Bio.</p>
<p>It's strange to rate my own writing, but I think my essays will be good--at least, I'll spend a lot of time on them.</p>
<p>**ECs<a href="lackluster">/B</a>: I keep myself busy outside of school largely by reading and writing, independent of my classwork. I don't think that is considered viably extracurricular, though. Aside from essentially being a bookwork, I:</p>
<p>-Interned at a local newspaper and had articles regularly published for three months
-Editor and contributor to high school literary magazine for three years (performed at a poetry event organized by my organization; I invested a lot of time into this EC)
-Won a national poetry contest
-Tutored at-risk students in English for a year
-Mentored by local poet and published author
-Volunteered for 100 hours at the local library as a desk circulation worker</p>
<p>Then I have a bunch of stuff that isn't typically seen as extracurricular e.g. attending numerous on-campus guest lectures, forcing myself to write a poem every day of a month, teaching English to nonnative speakers through a website (livemocha), met with English professor at his house once a week and discussed literature for 3-4 hours, taught myself a language etc. This section feels like my weakest.</p>
<p>I'm looking for schools that aren't humongous reaches but still foster a vibe of scholarship and academia. My biggest qualm with my current university is how disparate my educational goals are from the other students'. If anyone has suggestions for other schools, I would love to hear them. Thanks!</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say you have no shot at any of these colleges. Because you’re from Cali, I would say you have a pretty good chance at the UCs, as long as you keep that high GPA. Basically I would group the colleges like this, Vandy, Rice, Cornell, Emory, UVA and Michigan are together. UVA and Michigan with these schools because you are OOS and it’s basically like trying to get into one of those schools. And for these, you have a decent shot. Cornell isn’t so much harder to get into compared to Vandy or Rice, it’s about the same. By the looks of it, you’re a English major so your ECs very much are related to that. They’re not amazing but not weak by any means. I think you have a decent shot at all of these schools, probably 50-60%. For UCB, UCLA and USC, you have a stronger chance at getting into them. I think more than 60% and UCD and UCSD you are a near lock for. I’m not too sure about the small liberal arts schools so sorry about that. Just keep working hard and I’m sure you’ll get where you want to go. </p>
<p>Anyways, I’m also trying to transfer into three of your choices as well help me out?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1170710-chance-me-michigan-uva-uc-berkeley.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1170710-chance-me-michigan-uva-uc-berkeley.html</a></p>
<p>I would say you have great chances at all the UCs you listed, including LA and Berkeley. The UCs are required to take preference for California Community College transfers, so they are probably matches for someone with a very high college GPA (and decent ACT score).
UVA and Michigan probably have transfer preference for their respective community college systems, but Michigan has a much higher percentage of OOS students than VA. I would say a high match for Michigan, and a high match/low reach for UVA. University of Washington at Seattle is probably a match/in for you.</p>
<p>Reed, Vanderbilt, and Rice are eh. I don’t think they take too many transfers, so your chances are probably lower than average for acceptance. Mid to high reaches.</p>
<p>Cornell is probably a high reach like you said, because they probably do not accept too many community college students, especially from California (maybe the land-grant college of Cornell prefers NY students?).</p>
<p>USC is a very good shot, however.
Can’t speak for the other two-Vassar and Bates-since I don’t know them too well.</p>
<p>Chance me back?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1168046-thread-has-interesting-title-ill-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1168046-thread-has-interesting-title-ill-chance-back.html</a></p>
<p>^I’m transferring from a CSU though, not a CCC. Still, thank you!</p>
<p>Anymore feedback/comments?</p>
<p>Any other opinions?</p>
<p>What’s your budget? The OOS publics will expect you to pay full freight.</p>
<p>I need a reasonable amount of financial aid. I’ve read that the tuition at an OOS public school is generally still less than the tuition of a private school, though.</p>