<p>i am a african american male, first generation and income a little over 50,000. who lives in Maryland. i want to go to University of Maryland-College Park(Priority admission, 1st choice-really want to go), Towson University(third choice-honors program) and University of Maryland-Balitmore County(2nd choice). I have a gpa of about 3.50 and a sat score of 1330 out of 2400, (1020-critical reading and math). I just took the ACT(should do better. I have taken all honor classes and i am currently taking A.P Biology, A.P Calculus, and A.P English/Lit. My extracirruclars include Vice President of Interact/Rotary club, Science Fair Club, National Honor Society, Computer Video Club, participant in chemathon held in University of Maryland-CP. I have volunteered at the Public and school library. I am currently volunteering at the Washington Hopspital Center in D.C. I will have a great essay, and great reccommendations, just want to know if i have a good chance. i know my sat scores are low but i am sure my ACT score will be higher and instead of putting African American on the application(i heard that they have so many African Americans applying), i put Eritrean American, so i could be different, will it help?Also during a college fair, i met with an admissions counsler, he reccomends people before they sent to the admissions board, said he'll put a high reccomendation for me, hopefull that will help. I am pretty sure i can get in at UMBC and Towson(hopefully honors program) but i really want to get into College Park. Thanks for who ever applied.</p>
<p>10% chance</p>
<p>is that a joke, saying my chances are low. I really want a serious opinion</p>
<p>the problem is your SATs are really low for UMD- College Park has become very big on test scores in recent years, and I think the lower 50% is around 1070. If you did well on ACT, that might make up for it</p>
<p>I don't know anything about chances but I would like to comment on another part of your application.</p>
<p>I would assume that the admissions counselors know that Eritrea is a country in Africa. I think putting "Eritrean-American" down to be different was a strange choice. Hopefully they see it as "he's creative" rather than "he's trying to cheat the system".</p>
<p>I don't think you have a chance at college park, given your SAT is too low. You have okay gpa and EC's. With regular admission, there's no way you can get in. There's a program at College park called upward bound or academic achievement or something, they let certain people in but only limit them to 12, 13 credits / semester and they have to take summer classes. It's another way for UMD to make money off of you but they will have more counseling to help the lower stats people get in. I don't really recommend it because you won't get to choose your major until 3rd year. hence, might graduate later than 4 years. </p>
<p>Towson and UMBC are more reasonable. However, UMBC is boosting its admission too. </p>
<p>gl</p>
<p>Your chances are good for Towson, but not good for the honor's program. College Park is possible and Baltimore County is probable.</p>
<p>I know my SAT scores are pretty low but my critical reading and math is about 1020(almost the middle 50 percent) and i just took the ACT( i know i did better, i scored around a 24 on practice tests, which is eqivalent to around 1600-1700). I thought that with all of that and being in state, minority, and first generation, and a really good essay, it might make up a little for the SAT but now i am not sure.</p>
<p>African American representation at all of your schools is above the national average of black Americans so I don't know whether or not you will receive any advantage at these schools. Your 1020/1600 SAT score places you in the bottom twenty percent for both Univ. of Maryland campuses. First generation will help.</p>
<p>I think if you can get a 26+ on the ACT you have a chance, but even a 24 will be a stretch. good luck, i admire your determination!</p>
<p>
[quote]
I know my SAT scores are pretty low but my critical reading and math is about 1020(almost the middle 50 percent) and i just took the ACT( i know i did better, i scored around a 24 on practice tests, which is eqivalent to around 1600-1700).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>you might be doing better than 50 percent of the NATION taking the SAT but not the people applying to UMD.
not to scare you but look at the freshman profile
<a href="http://www.uga.umd.edu/admissions/counselor/freshmanprofile.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.uga.umd.edu/admissions/counselor/freshmanprofile.asp</a></p>
<p>The 50 % that got accepted are from 1240 to 1380, and between 28-31 on the ACT. That's 200-300 higher than your score for math & verbal.</p>
<p>When it comes to college admission, it's really hard. Sometimes I would say unfair. But they try to make it fair for first generation students (but they can't)</p>
<p>
[quote]
I thought that with all of that and being in state, minority, and first generation, and a really good essay, it might make up a little for the SAT but now i am not sure
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's what you thought. I thought so too. I was in state, minority, first generation and all that and I got rejected. Wanna know my SAT score? I got 760 on the math part. That's 98 / 99 percentile and I got rejected. Probably because of my poor verbal scores because I was exposed to very little english at the time. Also it was the peak of the school "ZOOM campaign" or whatever they called. So the admission standard got lifted a bit. Could also be that they made a mistake on my application/decision. Whatever it was, I am a grad student at maryland now. To get in as grad is harder than undergrad. So that proves them wrong when they rejected me. There's always ways to get to things if you really want it. You can go to a community college and transfer after 2 years or after 1 year if you like. It's easier to transfer than getting in as a freshman. </p>
<p>Have hope up, but expect the worst (even towson honors / umbc are not sure things). goodluck!</p>
<p>I will not state what your chances are, but give a few pieces of info for u 2 think about.
1. My S has been receiving direct mail & email from UMD since last summer...if they are not sending info to you than your chances are low (they determine through the College Board scores who to send to)
2. He has 1370 out of 1600 on SAT
3. Is in NHS since soph. year. French Honor Society. Rennaissance CLub, Habitat for Humanity
4. GPA weighted over 4.25(all classes were at least Honors when offered). Will grad. with 3 AP's, 5 foreign language, 5 Math courses(ending with discrete Math=calc), 5 sciences (highest physics). Currently in Jump Start - 1/2 day at community college, 1/2 day at h.s.
5. Works 20 hrs. week as a lifeguard since July 2006.
6. Tae Kwon Do Black Belt
7. AAU Junior Olympic Bronze Medalist Champion.</p>
<pre><code> We are not a minority, thus I do not know how that will place in admission scoring. Great essays are personal to the person who scores, what you consider awesome may not be seen that way... my guess is that you should look out your SAT scores for the written score to see if that is how it is perceives. As another comp my S received 650 for the written, in other words his total is over 2000 out of 2400.
I know you might feel that he is not the norm, however, his app will be reviewed side by side with yours. He is also not applying for Eng./Sci., but philosophy, pre-law.
</code></pre>
<p>Hope it helps</p>
<p>wait so you got a 310 on the writing section?</p>
<p>is that even possible?</p>
<p>I honestly don't feel that the college literature you receive really says anything about whether or not you will get in. I would worry about your SAT score, but I would not worry about not receiving literature. I have received literature from some Ivies (where I probably won't get in) all the way down to some schools where the admission is almost non-competitve, where I would never apply. I have never received literature from UMD, but consider myself very competitive. On the other hand, my friend received a personal letter from an Ivy last year urging her to apply and they even extended her application deadline and she was rejected. You just never know. I wish you the best of luck. I am applying to some super-reach schools and all you can ever do is hope.</p>
<p>lets see...
out-of-stater
caucasian 3rd generation college student
3.84 GPA
590 verbal
630 math
580 writing
NHS
spanish club
fbla
5 varsity letters (2 soccer/3 lacrosse)
60+ hours community service
job as youth soccer referee
captain jv soccer sophomore year
travelling soccer (frosh/sophomore)
travelling lacrosse (sophomore/junior)
lbgt alliance club
math tutor</p>
<p>a killer essay about how i'm diverse
two excellent recommendations</p>
<p>and so glad i'm at my first choice =)</p>
<p>Another way to look at the stats, 25% of the admitted students scored below 1240 on the SAT. That's still a lot of students. Good luck--we'll keep our fingers crossed!</p>