Hispanic Students - COLLEGE CLASS of 2016 - Page 3

entomom · 08-07-2011, 02:47 PM

Hello and welcome ceviche!

If you were notified this spring, then you made the PSAT cut off, there's a link to last year's regional cut offs on the NHRP thread. You will be notified this fall once your gpa and Hispanic background have been found to meet the requirements, see the NHRP thread for the link to the NHRP website, it's all explained there.

rdpgn105 · 08-08-2011, 09:59 AM

Hi, first of all this is a really useful forum. I was actually wondering how beneficial is it in the admissions process being from Puerto Rico. Even if I dont the best SAT scores. I currently have a 1960 and plan on retaking in October. I have a 4.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale. Some schools I'm looking at are BC, BU, UVA, UPENN, Fordham, UMICHIGAN,PENN STATE,NYU,and STanford. I know Stanford and UPENN are reaches. But I reiterate my question is being from Puerto Rico a good hook at all these schools? Thanks in advance!

entomom · 08-08-2011, 01:17 PM

Students with MA or PR backgrounds are the most underrepresented in US colleges. So yes it is a good hook, but also know that the competition within these groups at the highly selective colleges is very strong.

crfcaio · 08-08-2011, 08:23 PM

Hi everyone, I think this is the first time I ever post here...
I am a Brazilian-American rising senior from Santa Monica, CA. I came to the United States on December 2009, but only started school on February 2010, second semester of Sophomore year.

My stats aren't that great. Despite having straight A's at school (so far, only 1 B from a French class I took at the local CC last spring), my scores aren't that good: my SAT (all 3 areas) is 1400 and my ACT composite is 22 (practice test). This year will be the first year I'm taking any AP because I had to take classes for English learners first...

About my EC's, I was member of 3 clubs last year and president of 1, but I'll be leaving 2 of those 3 to dedicate only to the remaining 2. I also did some volunteering last semester and started working this summer (hopefully gonna carry on with this job 'til the end of this year and beyond!).

These are the schools I'm pretty much applying for:

University of Notre Dame (dream school)
Elon University
Kalamazoo College
SUNY Binghamton
UC Riverside
maybe some Cal States and other UCs

I wonder if it is possible for me to raise my ACT score to 30 by December (last date I can take the ACT, I believe) to become a competitive applicant. I've been wondering if all of what I'm doing isn't a waste of time because of my stats and the stats of the people I'm competing against at pretty much ALL schools that I'm applying...
Oh, and I also wanted to know if being Latino and first-generation college student (I read somewhere that if my parents did not get a degree in the US it means that I'm a first-generation college student) will be of any use when I apply?

Sorry for some many questions and thanks everyone. Good luck to all of us applying to college!

Spiffy1994 · 08-09-2011, 03:51 AM

Hello my fellow Hispanic friends.

I'm a 17 y/o from California and interested in applying to Harvard, Stanford, UPenn. Not sure how my chances are but I have my fingers crossed.

entomom · 08-09-2011, 11:58 AM

Welcome crfcaio & Spiffy!

crf,
Have you seen the threads by silverturtle and xiggi about SAT prep? While a different test, many of the same techniques are likely to help. Hard to say if you can raise it that much, kind of depends on how much time and how vested you are in doing so. One positive point, it's easier to raise a score at the lower end of the range than at the higher end.

About first gen, it doesn't matter where your parents attended college, it all counts. Anyway, applications don't ask "Are you first gen to college?", but rather you put the college history of your parents (college attended, year, degree earned if any). Then they decide if you fit their definition of first gen, as there are different definitions (any college, completed a degree, etc.)

Finally, you need to understand that the US Census and the CA does not include Brazilians under their definition of Hispanic. Here is what the drop down box shows when the Hispanic box is checked:

Quote:

Central America
Cuba
Mexico
Puerto Rico
South America (excluding Brazil)
Spain
Other----blank box comes up if checked ("if Other please specify").

However, there is definitely ambiguity about Brazilians in college admissions, I don't know about other Hispanic scholarships/programs, but NHRP and Hispanic Heritage Awards include Brazilians in their definition. There are other ways to include your Brazilian background in your application: ECs, essay, Additional Information section, LORs.

ceviche · 08-09-2011, 01:31 PM

just some interesting reading i came across the other day. On average, hispanic students received the equivalent of 185 points on the old (1600-point) SAT, which is almost as much as recruited athletes. Heres the actual study.

http://opr.princeton.edu/faculty/tje...adessqptii.pdf

entomom · 08-09-2011, 01:49 PM

^Interesting, but I would be extremely cautious about such studies, particularly for highly selective schools and particularly for students who are mid/upper SES, college educated parents, do not attend an underserved HS, etc.

There is a big difference between colleges, even for selective ones. For instance, LACs in rural locations who have a difficult time recruiting and retaining URMs are likely to give a bigger break on test scores than the more desirable universities who have a very highly qualified URM application pool.

They are giving averages, across applicants and schools, so the numbers don't hold for all students at all colleges.

TheJuanSoto · 09-03-2011, 02:41 PM

Hey guys. I was born in Peru and moved to Texas when I was 12. Hopefully with my NHRP thingy I can get a full ride or near full ride to Fordham. Visited NYC in spring break and it was fun.

ajhhs12 · 09-03-2011, 02:58 PM

Hi guys, thanks for starting this thread.

I got a 207 on the PSAT and I was never contacted for the NHRP thing. On the other hand, I made the cutoff for National Merit Scholarship. Anyone have any idea why that is?

I'm applying to:
Columbia ED
Kalamazoo EA
Michigan EA
Georgetown RD
NYU RD

My ACT is 32 (35 R, 27 M, 33 E, 32 S, 31 E/W) and SAT is 2080 (750 CR, 660 M, 670 W). GPA UW is 3.744.

It's good to meet my fellow Hispanics, and I wish you all the best of luck in admissions.

Go college class of 2016!

TheJuanSoto · 09-03-2011, 03:09 PM

Maybe you can't get both awards? I dunno.

I got a 2030 on my SAT (retaking in October) and I did really well Junior year (I started the year ranked 56 and ended it ranked 39). Hopefully that's enough for good FA.

entomom · 09-03-2011, 08:35 PM

Welcome Juan and ajhhs!

ajhhs,
There are several reasons why you might not have been contacted by NHRP, please see post #374 on this thread:

National Hispanic Recognition Program

You can receive both NM and NHRP, I advise you to have your HS GC contact NHRP immediately.

Juan,

Generally the term FA refers to need-based FA, from Federal funds (FAFSA) and/or Institutional funds (Profile). FA is based solely on financial and related factors. SAT scores, gpa, ECs, etc. are factors that affect merit scholarships. Merit aid maybe based only on these types of factors or can also include financial need. Merit scholarships can be Institutional (come from the college you are applying to) or external (from various foundations, organizations, etc.).

TheJuanSoto · 09-06-2011, 12:41 PM

Yeah I meant scholarships. Either way I hope I get that full-ride. Would be nice.

fineartsmajormom · 09-06-2011, 01:55 PM

cfrcaio-I have seen brazilian americans treated as URM by some schools. Dartmouth has included some kids from our HS in their summer program for minorities. I am not sure if it is because the students self identified as of african descent or mixed race or if being brazilian-american is seen as a URM by Dartmouth..certainly the ones at our school are typical Brazilians--white/asian/african/ameridian--a real mixture of kids and phenotypes as you must know. Also, note that a lot of schools let kids decide for themselves if they are part of a minority community or are interested in issues of inclusion and allow students to choose to attend diversity weekends, apply for scholarships related to community and diversity issues, etc. based on interest not on race/ethnic categories.

I noticed that our HS considers the hispanic students (ethnic category) as also "native american" by race...it is hte only way a school in northern virginia can have school profile with 40% of the school as native american..... Perhaps our school also identifies all kids with caribbean and/or brazilian heritage as african-americans--we have dozens of kids from Brazil, Portugal and africa that come from portuguese speaking homes. Obviously, with such diverse immigration patterns in south america putting south americans into one or two racial groups is gross simplification--like assuming all students who come from Boston are irish or italian americans...or, if you are from Minnesota you must be of swedish heritage...sometimes the whole race/ethnicity thing in the US just seems plain silly.

ceviche · 09-12-2011, 11:30 PM

did anyone go to the columbia university multicultural recruitment committee open house september 10th?