What Are My Chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Would you guys mind providing some feedback on what schools I have a good shot at getting into and which ones I don’t? I live in Florida and am a senior in high school.

Colleges I am applying to: University of Florida, Florida State University, University of Central Florida, University of South Florida, LSU, and Clemson University.

SAT: 1250
GPA UW- 3.53; W- 4.41
Class Rank: 123/791

Extracurriculars:
Marching band- 9, 10, 11
-Marched in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2018 (9th grade)
-Placed 16th overall at the Grand National Championships out of 100 bands in 2019 (10th grade)
Concert band- 1 year
Wind Ensemble- 2 years
Feeding South Florida: 2 years
Habitat For Humanity: 2 years
Key Club: 2 years (Treasurer)
National Honor Society: 2 years
National English Honor Society: 2 years
Mu Alpha Theta(math honor society): 2 years
Music Honor Society: 2 years

Honors and Achievements:
-Wrote a paper about the global water crisis and alternative uses of water that can possibly be used in the future to continue the growth of the human race: 11th grade

-Most Outstanding Award in Concert Band: 9th grade

-Bright Futures Scholarship with Merit: 12th grade

-Grand Nationals Semifinalist (marching band): 10th grade

-Superior Performance for Solo and Ensemble (Wind Ensemble): 10th grade

Community Service:
-Volunteered at Bethesda East Hospital in the summer of 2019; reviewed patient files and assured their treatments aligned with their needs (4hrs/week all summer)

-Student aide; assisted my chosen teacher with providing students proper and sufficient materials for each lesson every class (75hrs/semester)

-Volunteered at a Music Performance Assessment event hosted at my school by “judge running” (receiving the judge’s scores of bands and taking them to a location where they would be recorded in a computer system for official scoring)

-Volunteered at my school’s Marching Band Invitational by providing visiting bands with water and shade; directed them to specific warm-up locations

Class Rigor:

9th grade:
Jazz band
Biology 1 Honors
AICE Thinking Skills
Geometry 1 Honors
Pre-AICE English Language
Pre-AICE Spanish 1
Concert Band

10th grade:
AP World History
AICE English Language
AICE Global Perspectives
Wind Ensemble (Band 6 Honors)
Algebra 2 Honors
Chemistry 1 Honors
Pre-AICE Spanish 2

11th grade:
Wind Ensemble (Band 6 Honors)
AICE US History
Pre-AICE Spanish 3
AICE English Literature
AICE Environmental Management
Trigonometry/Math Analysis Honors
AICE Marine Science Advanced Level

12th grade:
AICE Sociology
AICE General Paper
AP Microeconomics
AP Gov
AP Statistics
Student Aide
Period off
Period off

I took the most rigorous classes all throughout high school, but I am concerned with this year (12th grade). I took my 6th and 7th periods off thinking that it would be fine due to my 5 AP and AICE classes, which is more than the 4 I took last year, but lately I have been thinking that I shouldn’t have done that. With the bigger picture in mind, is this a make or break situation on my application? Is me taking two periods off a deal-breaker for some of the colleges on my list?

2

You should consider taking Spanish 4 honors and Wind Ensemble, to show commitment and increase your schedule’ s rigor.
2 off periods would be ok except you’re also taking Teacher’s Aide, which is another non academic class.

Ap m1cro/gov typically count as 2 semester long AP classes, not two full classes.

What major would you apply for?

UF is a high match due to selectivity, the others are matches and safeties. Apply to the Honors College at all.
Will the OOS universities be affordable? What about Rollins (if you want a high rigor/ work hard play hard school) or Eckerd (good safety if you want a more mellow, friendly environnement), or UAlabama (automatic and competitive scholarships at your level of achievement)?
Have you run the NPC on a few universities such as Davidson, Emory to see if they’d be as or more affordable than UF?
Are all universities affordable ?

3

Good luck on your search
First your weighted GPA. Florida districts weight GPA differently. Make sure all Honors/pre AICE classes you only add .5 to ( a = 4.5 ) and AP/AICE/DE you only add one point. ( A = 5).
Only count Core classes plus Foreign Language. UF you can count all AP/AICE/DE classes.

Rigor 2 classes off may be a problem. Some Florida districts have study hall that Seniors can exempt so one period off probably wouldn’t hurt but the second especially at UF and FSU could be a problem.

SAT. Your scores are a little low for some of your choices try to take again.
UF Class of 2025 Fall 1330-1470 and 4.4-4.6 GPA 25%-75%
FSU Class of 2025 Fall 1250-1400 and 4.2-4.6 (Down slightly from class of 2024)
UCF Class of 2024 Fall 1250-1370 and 3.96-4.46
USF Class of 2024 Fall 1270-1340 and 4.1-4.4
So what are your chances

UF is a High Reach unlikely. They do have the PACE and Innovation Academy However these are very restrictive programs and not a good Fit for everyone.

FSU a reach for fall but very good chance Summer or Seminole Pathways admit.

UCF Target likely fall/summer admit but chance of getting deferred due to fact they guarantee admission to top 10% and kids use them as a safety, Then enroll elsewhere.

USF Target likely Fall/summer admit ( USF has a Saint Petersburg campus that my son like much better than Tampa. It is Downtown right on the Bay about 4500 students. Same degree regardless of campus)

Bottom line I see acceptance at all but UF. ( But definitely Apply)

OOS
LSU Safety Fall 2020 admits 1100-1270 and 3.4-4.0 GPA
Clemson Reach ( Due to being OOS) Fall 2020 Admits 1260-1410 no GPA listed on Website

Look also to Alabama, Miami Ohio, Arizona State. Good options with Merit

4

Thank you for your reply. I actually went into this year with a full schedule. However, I dropped AP Psychology due to the teacher (does not have a good reputation around my school) and honors calculus because I was concerned about taking two math classes. Would it be better for me to take either one of those two classes over Spanish and wind ensemble? Now knowing this, which classes should I take?

5

Honors calculus is more rigorous than AP stats.
Spanish 4 is more rigorous than Wind Ensemble.
Wind ensemble shows commitment.

What do you want to major in?

Apply Test Optional where you can (sorry, outside of Florida most colleges are TO so I discounted that SAT. It does lower your odds at Florida publics).
Prep and retake the SAT for Florida universities.

Your excellent record wrt music would make you interesting to various universities that value that- are you recruited for band anywhere(have you reached out to all the bands in Florida)? Have you considered Lawrence in WI, St Olaf in MN, which are excellent for musicians who don’t want to major in music?

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