"Average" stats...do I stand a chance?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Average is subjective…y’all might think this is ridiculous for all I know. :)</p>

<p>Pakistani-born female. Residing in Texas for the last 11 years. First-gen /American/ college attendee (lol, I don’t think that matters, though…).</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9 UW / 4.5 W (Any A at all is a 4.0 UW. A in PAP/AP is a 5.0 W)</p>

<p>Rank: 8/600 in an average public high school. Hoping to get to #6 by end of senior year. #1-5 usually get into Ivies/prestigious schools without much problem.</p>

<p>AP: Some of these are 1 semester courses…
4 courses (3 tests) in 11th grade
6 courses (4-5 tests) in 12th grade
-Expecting 4’s and 5’s…</p>

<p>SAT: 2020 (CR: 670, M: 740, W: 610)
I’m retaking it! This was w/o studying and I know I can do better on W and CR. I’m practicing for the low-mid 700s, but assuming 700 minimum.
Believe it or not, this score is on par with what #1-5s usually get and considerably higher than what #6-10s get.</p>

<p>EC:

  • Yearbook & Newspaper as photographer (all 4 years)
  • A few minor photojournalism awards
  • Active in Art, mostly photography, in 9th grade. Won 2 awards on a local-level. Got to a state competition. Sadly, I “dropped out” after changing schools, but I plan on being active for my senior year…
  • Key Club (international club, largest in our school): Historian 11th grade, President 12th grade
  • Photography Club (second-largest in school): Treasurer 11th grade, some officer position in 12th grade
  • Other clubs: NHS (12th grade), FBLA (10th-12th grade)
  • ~50 service hours in 10th-11th grade. Should get another ~120 hours between now and next year. I’ve started regularly volunteering at an animal shelter I have grown particularly fond towards.</p>

<p>My parents have held the “all study and nothing else matters” mindset until VERY recently (a little too late). Everything I have done as of so far was almost a battle each time.
Regardless, is there anything I can do to strengthen my EC record? I’m a good photographer and web designer. Perhaps an internship? Maybe even freelancing (not sure how I would go about this…)? Suggestions are appreciated.</p>

<p>My Goal Schools: Columbia, Cornell, Rice, UPENN, Northwestern</p>

<p>Yeah, yeah, I know “people with perfect GPAs and SATs don’t get in sometimes”. I have my safety schools taken care of. I feel like I’m at the hugee threshold where I’m more than good enough for most colleges, but not at the level of these prestigious colleges. </p>

<p>I’m just wondering if I have a reasonable chance at all and what I can do in my senior year to improve my chances. I’ll probably apply ED to a school by November, so idk…
I don’t need to be accepted by all of them; after all, I’m going to attend one (hopefully one of the first three?).</p>

2

<p>Your GPA makes you competitive. I would recommend taking the ACT and a few SAT subject tests, just to see how you fare. </p>

<p>As for ECs, can you do more at the animal shelter? You’ve mentioned that you’re particularly fond of the place, so why not pursue it in greater depth? The rest of your ECs are scattered and don’t have a particular focus, though some colleges do look for Renaissance women. </p>

<p>Your test scores put you at a slight disadvantage right now, but you still have time to increase those scores. Here is my list in ascending order of likelihood: Northwestern, Cornell, Rice, UPENN, and Columbia. </p>

<p>Remember to give your personal statements some thought. I would not recommend waiting until the night before to write all of them.</p>

3

<p>I meant descending.</p>

4

<p>I think you’ve got Northwestern in the bag, and you have a very strong GPA. A solid improvement on your SAT and you have a fighting chance at just about any of those.</p>

<p>Here are my thoughts:
Northwestern: Solid target
Rice: Target
Cornell: High target/low reach
Penn: Reach
Columbia: Reach (then again, the Ivies are reaches for everybody)</p>

<p>I think it depends somewhat on what your intended major is. Photography?</p>

<p>(Chance me back, please? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1118399-chance-theatre-acting-inclined-junior-ill-chance-you-back.html#post12333784[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1118399-chance-theatre-acting-inclined-junior-ill-chance-you-back.html#post12333784&lt;/a&gt;)</p>

5

<p>Thank you both! Very helpful.</p>

<p>I am taking the ACT (no idea what score I’ll get, I just started studying for it- not going in blindly this time) and I plan on taking SAT II Math 2, U.S. History, and Literature. I think I should get a 700+ based on some friends’ scores.</p>

<p>You hit the mark on my scattered-ness… I try everything and have a wide variety of interests and hobbies. However, like web design, they’re mostly self-learned and hard to show (except photography).</p>

<p>I don’t plan on majoring in Photography. I’m interested in engineering (I’m taking AP Physics and AP Calculus next year), politics, or psychology. Completely different fields altogether, but I have a genuine interest in all three, especially the latter two.</p>

6

<p>Okay. That being said, I thought I’d pass along some advice from my English teacher (a Cornell alum).</p>

<p>She used to be in their engineering program, but backed out because she couldn’t handle it-- apparently, male engineering students are real pricks. She told us that sabotage and sexual harassment are the norm, and said she wouldn’t recommend their program to anyone who isn’t extremely assertive or driven. 'Course, this was the early part of the decade (she was class of 2004 methinks) so perhaps things have changed, but as long as you mentioned not going in blind, I reckoned I ought to bring that up. :)</p>

<p>You mentioned a few safeties-- which ones, specifically? There are several out there that are actually stronger in politics and psych than those you’ve mentioned.</p>

7

<p>Really?! That’s surprising. Thanks for the info. I definitely plan on visiting the campuses and researching them heavily before I actually apply.</p>

<p>University of Texas @ Austin and University of Houston are my safeties. I’m guaranteed a spot in UT (top 10% are guaranteed in any public state college; usually UT has to lower it to 8% because of the demand, but I’m in the 2%) and might as well be for U of H.</p>