<p>To hide my identity, I’m not going to give out too much information.</p>
<p>Hispanic female, living in NY
Hispanic National Merit Scholar
Probably National Merit Scholar (scored above last year’s cut-off)</p>
<p>SAT: 800 V 740 M 800 W
SAT II’s: 770 Lit 770 US and will take Math II in October
GPA: ~3.9 unweighted (all A’s and A-'s in a semi-intense courseload)
Class rank: unknown, but at least in top 10% of competitive private school
Hooks: None really (Hispanic, but parents make $100,000+)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars
Debate:
-Team Captain
-Some national debate awards from Princeton, Harvard, etc.
-Top 7 in district
-Qualifier to State Championship and Nationals
Journalism:
-Editor-in-Chief of school newspaper for 3 years
-Interned at local newspaper for 2 summers
-Published articles in local newspaper
-Won some national essay contests
Community Service:
-Over 100 hours of community service with certain organization
-President of another volunteer organization
-Organize several fundraisers
Sports (not that important, something I do for fun)
-Pole vaulting for 2 years</p>
<hr>
<p>I know some of these are high reaches, but chance me anyway!</p>
<p>What is the difference between an Hispanic National Merit Scholar and a National Merit Scholar? I’m assuming you are still in high school, so what is a National Debate award from Princeton or Harvard? Being Hispanic is a hook, your parent’s income doesn’t factor into that.</p>
<p>Hispanic National Merit Scholar is an “award” given to Hispanic students that score well on the PSAT. College Board sent my school a letter about it: it goes on your official College Board transcript, but you do not receive any financial aid/scholarship. </p>
<p>I am just saying that I have placed in high school debate tournaments on a national level (tournaments at Princeton, Harvard, etc.) Yes, I am still in high school.</p>
<p>I was on the debate team about 8,000 year ago at which time there was one national debate tournament each year. Is that still the case?</p>
<p>If your family makes close to $100,000 annually then you will qualify for need based assistance from HYP. That is good because a family income of around $100,000 isn’t enough to afford the sticker price at these schools. HYP are very generous with need based financial aid for the middle class, your parents will be expected to contribute roughly 10% of their gross income towards your tuition, assuming your family has a regular amount of assets. HYP will give you the rest in assistance. Good luck!</p>
<p>Have you taken any SAT 2’s? Your stats are really solid; we sound so similar though… I also am a Hispanic National Merit Scholar </p>
<p>Yale: mid-reach
Princeton: mid-reach
Penn (Legacy): match
Northwestern: match (depending on what school you’re applying to)
Tufts: match/in
WashU:low-reach
Cornell:low-reach
Amherst:mid-reach
Dartmouth:low-reach
Georgetown:mid-reach</p>
<p>these are reaches for everyone though; you have a better chance than most</p>
<p>oh oops I totally missed the sat 2 scores… then definitely I think you’re more of a match for some of your low reaches; you have really good stats.</p>
<p>haha @ the debate thing: there are 2, actually. There’s the National Forensics Tournament, which is hosted by the NFL (Ntnl Forensics League) and is the one that most people hear about. Then theres the other one called the Tournament of Champions, which is about 100000000x more presitigious. To get to it, you have to earn 2 bids at various national level tournaments throughout the year. It’s incredibly difficult to qualify to.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information about the National Debate tournaments. jrs1125, you have really strong qualifications. You’ve got a shot at Yale and Princeton and you’ll probably get into most of the others.</p>
<p>u have stellar grades, sat, and nice focus on ec’s
being hispanic helps cuz they are a minority in ur colleges
Yale: mid-reach
Princeton: mid-reach
Penn (Legacy): match
Northwestern: match (depending on what school you’re applying to)
Tufts: match/in
WashU:low-reach
Cornell:low-reach
Amherst:mid-reach
Dartmouth:low-reach
Georgetown:mid-reach
good luck</p>
<p>Yale: reach
Princeton: reach
Penn (Legacy): match
Northwestern: match
Tufts: match
WashU: match
Cornell: low reach
Amherst: low reach
Dartmouth: low reach
Georgetown: high match</p>
I think you’re in everywhere except Yale/Princeton/Penn, those are reaches for you (as they are for everyone…) just because of how competitive they are. But I would bet that you’ll get into at least one…good luck!