<p>Will a 3.4-3.6 GPA with ACT over 30 and stellar GPA get me into Rice University (jobs, internships, 100s hours volunteer, school organizations (hold office in one of those) stellar recommendations lined up from top notch teachers and the Executive Director from my job. I am only a junior going into to 2nd semester at a VERY competitive school, 2nd in state and as of now my GPA is 3.44 unweighted 4.35 weighted. What are my chances of getting into Rice (my dream school) or any other top notch schools. I feel like my GPA is way to low to be considered that or all of my friends (non African American) have higher GPAās than I do. Just for the record i am an African American male taking all honors and AP courses, have been since freshman year. Please be honest, this means so much to me.</p>
<p>I think you have a shot 
In fact, I think your stats have a shot at Ivy League schools as well, if you can get your unweighted GPA up</p>
<p>@MrAPMan</p>
<p>Since you asked us to be brutally honest, where do you volunteer? What was your PSAT score? How many AP courses and in which subjects? How many students in your class? What percentage makes NM Commended/ semifinalist? What is the class average SAT score? What do you want to study?</p>
<p>ps: I do not want the name of the place you volunteer, just what kind of work and what type of people benefit from your work?</p>
<p>@perazziman To answer all of your questions. I volunteer as an ambassador at my school, my local hospital (soon to be supervisors) referee at my brotherās soccer games during the summer and my churches food depository. I may also do event that just pop up or my friends tell me about. My PSAT score was really bad but i thought you didnāt have to send it and it meant absolutely nothing if i did bad. By the time i apply i will have 7-8 AP courses under my belt in all subjects but more focused on the math and science oneās since electrical engineering is what i want to pursue. In my class there are about 280 and about 65-70% of the students have excellent credentials better than mine. However, i have talked to a lot of them and surprisingly no one is considering Rice which i think is a good thing for me but i donāt know. (For the record even the smart people did really bad on the PSAT). With the National Merit commended, i donāt know the percentage since the school hasnāt released anything yet but i do know that 2 people got commended so far. Average ACT score is 26-28 but I am striving for a 32 plus. Like i said, my school is very competitive, number 1 and 2 (flip flop almost every year) in the state. So now what do you think?</p>
<p>You claim that you will have 7-8 AP classes, 3.6 unweighted GPA and an ACT of 32 by the time you apply (Jan 2, 2013). If this were true and you attended a school where the average ACT is 26-28 and you passed AP Chemistry, AP Physics and AP Calculus, with a score of 4 or 5 by the end of this year, then I would say, you probably stood a decent chance of getting into Rice Engineering, as an African American, even though you rank in the bottom half of your class.</p>
<p>I am assuming your parents are not wealthy and you are attending this school because you are on financial aid. If this is not the case, then your chances will be a little lower.</p>
<p>I didnāt read the entire threadā¦ But just to answer the initial question:</p>
<p>Iām African American. I recently received a likely letter from Dartmouth. I got a 2300 on the SAT and had a 4.0 GPA</p>
<p>Iām in the opposite position of most of you guys(who Iām very proud of btw).</p>
<p>I had a poor first two years(2.9 gpa), but a stellar final two years (3.9). For a 3.4 UW gpa, 2150 SAT. AA male, very low income(<$10,000 a year)</p>
<p>Do i have a shot at stanford?</p>
<p>i would say you do!! I got a likely from Dartmouth with only a 1930 SATā¦but i do have 1/200 rank, and good transcripts and clubs and stuff. So you totally have a good chance if you make sure to have a well rounded application.</p>
<p>Wow thatās awesome, congrats.</p>
<p>This is helpful information. Thank you.</p>
<p>Iām african,got accepted at dartmouth with an sat of 1850 ,subject test of 2330 and a gpa of 4,sats are just numbers coz my other african friends got rejected with greater scores than I had.</p>
<p>How is this helpful? To whom is it helpful.</p>
<p>mouse121992 mys stats are similar to you and also my extracuricullar activities are the exactly the same where did u get accepted</p>
<p>SAT scores do not matter as much as people think they do. They donāt predict anything. Top schools get thousands of applicants and only accept 1-2 thousand. What will set you apart from the mold is not your SAT score but your essays/ECs/recs. If SAT score had as much weight as we seem to think it does Harvardās average SAT score would be in the 2300s. No adcom would decide whether to admit a student based on a 20 point SAT score difference. Theyād either accept you both or reject/wait list yāall together. I canāt stress this enough </p>
<p>Total package matters. </p>
<p>I think the SAT does matter a lot, itās just not the only thing that matters a lot.</p>
<p>I was wondering, would an african american with a 2380 sat, high AP tests, 740-800 sat 2s and pretty solid ECs have a good chance at Ivy leagues?</p>
<p>Yes @JamalAmmarā. Chances would be pretty good regardless for anyone of any race with the stats mentioned.</p>
<p>@nightowl1ā - know one knows how accurate it is when it comes to quota or 300 points. One author is not an overwhelming proof. Also, if another student of color with better stats or if a hundred apply with better stats, any advantages shrink. The acceptance rate for Blacks is still pretty low even if it is higher than the overall acceptance rate for everyone else. There are no great advantages to being not universally competitive.</p>
<p>Plus, why do we want academic sympathy and intellectual paternalistic coddling? We would be embarrassed to get such treatment on the basketball court or race track or football field. Totally embarrassed. āLetās give little Lebron James time to see if he can dunk the ball before we try to stop himā. No way! Weād be yelling at white folks to play some D or weād stop watching the game. Just saying.</p>
<p>Intelligent debate wouldnāt be about the points on an SAT either because nobody knows what the exact number is and nobody knows hat the impact of it is. Plus, if all african-American applicants to a school get a numerical boost then they are in tough competition with one another versus if they are the only applicant. Also, if a boost to a sub-par score is only somoewhat helpful in that a boost may bring you to par but not necessarily above-par.</p>
<p>There are numerous variables and nothing to show that anybody is disadvantaged by the practice which has never been conclusively confirmed. Also, there is no evidence that any potential advantage is uniformly applied across all universities and colleges. There was a couple hundred years of significant disadvantage applied based on race which we absolutely know and are aware of absolutely racist and bigoted policies. We canāt even confirm if any admissions practices in use to promote diversity today are enough to counter the damage of the overtly racist policies of over 200 years.</p>
<p>Intelligent debate requires an admission of many things to make sense.</p>
<p>Do you want to sight a reference for that 300 points? Unless youāve got something new, that ādataā must be about 15 years old by now, applied to a relatively small number of schools, was based on the old SAT, and only applied to African American students scoring between about 600 and 650 on the reading and math. Above and below those numbers the score was actually something of a DIS advantage IIRCC. </p>
<p>If you are unwilling to admit that being black is a huge disadvantage in terms of being at āthe tableā, than there is no sense in talking to you. </p>
<p>Why bump this thread? Take it here;</p>
<p>Race FAQ #100
<a href=ā"Race" in College Admission FAQ & Discussion 11 - Applying to College - College Confidential Forumsā>"Race" in College Admission FAQ & Discussion 11 - Applying to College - College Confidential Forums;