Chance me Columbia & University of Chicago

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>(NOTE: I’m a full International Baccalaureate (IB) student, going for the full diploma, which means I also has CAS [Creativity, Action, Service] and the EE [Extended Essay] on top of honors IB classes)
Grade: Junior
Gender: Male
School: Large, public school, urban setting
GPA: Unweighted: 3.987
Class Rank: 4th out of 154 students
ACT: 28
Race/Ethnicity: African-American
AP/IB Classes: (Just this year, not including MYP) IB Physics, IB Visual Arts, IB French, IB World History, IB Theory of Knowledge, IB World Literature, IB Trigonometry/Pre-Calculus </p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-National Honor Society

  • Quiz Bowl Co-Captain (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)
  • Upward Bound (College predatory organization for inner city youth, provides tutoring and study time)
  • Model UN (Great Lakes Invitational Model United Nations conference, 9th, 10th, 11th, & 12th grade) (Michigan State MUN, 9th & 10th) Prime delegate (Vice-President) of group 2012-2013, Head delegate (President) 2013-2014
  • HCOP/SMA (year-round) (HCOP is a summer program that introduces students to various health careers and aids them in their pursuit of college; SMA is Saturday Morning Academy, a program that helps students prepare for the ACT)</p>

<p>Volunteering:

  • St. Michael’s Breakfast Program (throughout the year) (basically a soup kitchen; providing food to the needy every Saturday, I help around twice a month)
  • Alpha-Montessori (sporadically) (An early childhood school, I helped with various projects, as well as did a self-initiated project of painting flags with the kids and displaying their work at their yearly art show)</p>

<p>Teacher Recs: Will be very strong
Essay: Hopefully very strong, will be seeking help from certain teachers
Interview: Thinking about scheduling one, but I’m not sure.</p>

<p>My number one school is Columbia University, with the University of Chicago second, then NYU and Loyola Chicago after. What are my chances? I’ll be partaking in a new summer mural program this year, and any of my extracurriculars that are year round or I said I’ll be participating in for my 12th grade year. Also considering taking the SAT Subject Test for World History and retaking my ACT in June. Open to any suggestions, as well as any recommendations for other colleges, but keep in mind that my family doesn’t have much money for college (which is why I chose Columbia & UofC, considering their meeting of all demonstrated need).</p>

<p>Any help is greatly appreciated!</p>

2

<p>(Forgot to add this)
Extracurriculars:
-Varsity Tennis (one year, 11th) (played on the varsity team for a year, considering playing again this year; we didn’t place very highly, except for receiving an award as one of the best average GPAs for a team in our region)</p>

3

<p>Columbia: Reach
U Chicago: Reach</p>

<p>Please, either retake the ACT or take the SAT… aim for 32+/2150+</p>

4

<p>I have a retake scheduled for June. But I’ve heard of people getting in with worse scores than mine…</p>

5

<p>Of course there will be people getting in with lower scores, but to optimize your chances you really want to aim as high as possible :slight_smile: Remember that your college app essay is also very important, so spend time on that too. Otherwise I’d say decent EC’s.</p>

<p>Columbia and U Chicago are really reaches for even highly qualified applicants, so try and get scores near or around what Catria suggested. Around here (where I live) some counselors (paid, of course) even suggest 2350+ for Ivy-leagues. It all depends.</p>

6

<p>Well, in my post I also mention Loyola & NYU, so what about my chances there?</p>

7

<p>Loyola Chicago: Safety
NYU: High match</p>

8

<p>“High match” as in a match that might be a bit out of my grasp?</p>

9

<p>BUMP/UPDATE:
Ignore the topic title.</p>

<p>I took the SAT…</p>

<p>CR: 690
Math: 540
Writing: 670</p>

<p>Haven’t sent it to anyone, still holding out hope for my ACT retake this Saturday. </p>

<p>I’ve pretty much abandoned hope for Columbia, still holding on to UofC. So, could you chance me for the following:</p>

<p>NYU
University of Michigan Ann Arbor (in-state)
Michigan State University
Georgetown
Vassar
UofC</p>