What are my chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello, this is my first post on CC. I have always come here for any college questions I have and decided to finally get an account. I want to know what my chances are to get into colleges that I will list below. Some of them are FOR SURE reaches and others I am worried about. I don’t know I guess I am a worried/anxious person about these things. Please comment honestly.
Colleges:
Georgetown
USC (mom graduate school alum)
UCLA
UT Austin (dad alum)
George Washington University
Columbia University
Yale University
Northwestern
Tulane (dad graduate school alum)
SMU
University of Arkansas

Here is some information about me:)
GPA weighted: 4.3
GPA unweighted: 4.0
ACT: 30
SAT Subject: I have just taken Math 1 (I feel confident I got a high score), US History (confident), and Spanish (ok)
AP Tests: I took APUSH and AP Psych (scores not yet in) but I feel like I got a 3 or 4 on both of them and last year I got a 2 on AP world history but I didn’t take the actual AP course
Honors/AP Courses:
Freshman: Spanish Honors
Sophomore: Chem I Honors, Spanish II Honors, Alg I/Geometry Year 2 Honors, World History Honors (no AP at my school)
Junior: Bio Honors, Spanish III Honors, Alg II/Trig Honors, APUSH, AP Psychology
Senior (this coming year): Anatomy Honors, AP Spanish, Calculus A Honors, AP Gov/AP Macro, AP Micro

Residence: TX
School: Private Catholic (alma mater of Melinda Gates - I guess to give you some context of the school- she is the only famous person to graduate and administration never lets us forget)
Financial: I am fortunate to be in a good household I am not sure what my parents make but it’s enough to pay for the $21,000 tuition with no financial aid
Family Background:
Dad side: grandparents both Holocaust Survivors, Dad born in America
Mom side: she is a South American immigrant
(I cannot fluently speak Spanish or any other language besides English)
Religion: my dad is Jewish my mom is catholic

Grade: I am a rising senior

Extra Curriculars:
I have about 90 hours in community service
Student Alumnae Club Secretary (2016-17) and Social Coordinator (2017-2018)
National Honor Society PR representative and member
Junior Board member
Co-president of chapters for charity club
Sisters for Seniors club member
Art in a Cart Club member

Jobs:
Tutor (2017)
Sunday School Assistant Teacher (2015-present)
Camp Counselor (2015,2016)
Waitress (current)
Babysitter

Sports: JV Cross Country (2015-present)
JV Track (2016)

Awards:
National Spanish Exam Gold Medalist (2015,2016)
National Spanish Exam Silver Medalist (2017)
Academic Award for Math Honors(2015)
Academic Award for Physics (2015)
Academic Award for Math Honors (2016)
Academic Award for APUSH (2017)
Track Heart Award

I think that is everything. Ask if you need anything else to help you decide if I can make it!

2

Also I am taking the ACT again, that was my first score that I posted above. But I feel like I will get the same score even though I keep practicing

3

Oh and I wrote it in a way that is kind of confusing but MY grandparents are holocaust survivors From my dads side (so they are his parents)

4

Last thing (I promise - I just keep remembering stuff): my school forces us to take theology and there is no way to get Honors credit in that so the highest GPA possible is a 4.4

5

Legacy for USC will help, but you need to bump up your ACT to around 32+ but a solid GPA.

You have good EC’s, awards and leadership but nothing that stands out for the selective colleges on your list.

UCLA as an out of state student will cost your family $60K/year so run this by your parents before applying. Again ACT score could be bumped a bit. URM status not helpful for any California publics.

Intended major?

Cannot comment on the other schools on your list.

6

Thanks Gumbymom! for my major I am trying to decide between two opposite directions. I am interested in becoming a doctor or a lawyer.
If I choose doctor, I would major in biology
If I choose lawyer, I would major in government or political sciences depending on what the school offers
And then of course go on to medical or law school

Thanks again:)

7

Law and medicine are two pretty different fields so I encourage you to explore both options and choose one that you would like to pursue as soon as possible since both fields also require a very lengthy schooling path. That said, your GPA is very good but you should definitely work on improving your ACT score to above 34 to be competitive for these schools. Also your ECs are pretty generic and typical of an average high school student and don’t really tell me what specific field you would like to pursue. I would focus first on improving your test scores. After that, get involved in activities that relate to your area of interest (indicated below):

Law: MUN, Debate, Attorney office internship, Law publication
Medicine: university-affiliated research, hospital volunteering, scientific publication, HOSA

Additionally, your awards are mostly at a school/district-level, or are common among all applicants (language exams). I suggest you participate in competitions that are more nationally or internationally recognized and achieve something at that level (perhaps ISEF, HOSA, Debate, DECA, etc?).

U of Arkansas, SMU, GWU - safety
Tulane, UT Austin - match
USC, UCLA - low reaches
Georgetown, Columbia, Northwestern, Yale - reaches

Good luck!

Please chance me back :slight_smile: : http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1995754-chance-me-low-gpa-rank-cornell-rice-wash-u-ucla-etc-p1.html

8

First the good news, get your ACT up to 32 and I think you have a good shot at Tulane, SMU, and GWU.

Now the bad, you need to have your parent’s run the Net Price Calculator for all of those schools. If they think they can afford $20,000, usually the college thinks they can afford $40,000 - or more. Most of those schools are in excess of $60,000 per year. A quick look at UT Austin and it looks like full price for a TX resident is $22-25,000 so that’s good.

You don’t want to use debt if you intend to go to law school or med school. And if you can get in to UT, that is a great school.

9

Your legacies will likely help- especially at USC. I’m not sure about legacy significance at the other two, but it certainly won’t hurt!

Reaches: Georgetown, UCLA, Columbia, Yale, Northwestern.

It looks like you’re well matched at the others.

10

UT Austin would be a reach from OOS. Only 7%students are from OOS.