Chance me! (HYPS, NYU, Columbia)

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Hey guys, I understand that the number of these admissions chances threads is astronomically high, however it seems necessary because no two portfolios are the same. I am currently a high school junior, these stats are projections of what I would have by college application time (middle of senior year). Before I begin I would like to mention that I am a student at GSMST, the 3rd best high school in the nation as ranked by USNews. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>My GPA is rather low, by sr year probably a 3.4-3.5 because I messed up freshman year. My grandmother died then, and issues from my parents divorce came up, therefore, school took a back burner and I failed lots of classes and made a 1.7 GPA freshman year. Realizing the gravity of my mistake, I studied hard and turned myself around, I got almost all A’s sophomore year (3.875 GPA) and I’m about to make a 3.9 GPA this semester of Junior year. If I continue to get all A’s until end of Jr year I’m looking at a 3.3-ish GPA, I plan on taking some extra courses over the summer to boost my GPA, so by admission time, my projected GPA is 3.4-3.5.</p></li>
<li><p>My projected SAT score is 2050. I took the pSAT and made a 195 (1950 “actual” SAT score) and I plan to study more and take more PSAT’s therefore a 2050 doesn’t seem too out of reach. By the way, it’s the math that always brings me down, I always make 700’s on reading and writing and 500’s on math. </p></li>
<li><p>My extracurriculars are pretty strong. I worked as a lifeguard for the past 2 summers and plan to for the next 2, so that’s part time job experience. I also was on a swim team since 8th grade, however I never qualified for county. I am a member of several clubs, including newspaper (a writing-intensive club), debate, ModelUN, and I plan to be president of a Muslim Student Association I am currently working to create at my school. I am also about to be an Eagle Scout, I am currently working on my community service project required for the rank, I already have completed everything else, so that means lots of volunteer hours. (I would say about 400 hours throughout high school, most of them from Boy Scouts). Also, my Eagle project is about building a prayer garden for a local church, meaning that between that and my school’s MSA that I’m working to create, I have played a big part in my community’s interfaith relations. I am also an active participant in my school’s soccer club. (Since we are GSMST, we don’t have any sports teams, so instead the students formed sports clubs.) My school is unique in that it mandates internships for all of its students, Jr. year I am interning at a sports medicine clinic (I hope to become an orthopedic surgeon) and next year I will probably intern at a hospital. </p></li>
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<p>About myself, I my family hails from Egypt and English is my second language. I am Arab and therefore a minority, I will also occasionally label myself as African-American (Egypt is an African country, after all). Every little bit helps. </p>

<p>So I am hoping to attend some of the top schools, ie HYPS, Emory, NYU, Columbia, etc. I also need financial aid for college, since I come from a single family household and my mother has 4 kids; 3 of us will be entering college at the same time, and the poor woman couldn’t possibly afford the 40k+ a year at private universities. </p>

<p>I would like to mention that for universities that don’t count your freshman year GPA towards admissions, I would have a 3.8ish GPA with a pretty good SAT and rock solid EC’s. I apologize for the long post, but the college hunt consumes my life right now and I am pretty anxious since I know the mistakes I made freshman year are too great to completely recover from. </p>

<p>Sorry for the long post. Thanks Guys!</p>

2

<p>If you get a 2200 then your chances will be very good because you have upward trend and African american.</p>

3

<p>If you break 2200 on your SATs then you will have a chance, but if not than the ivies and schools like MIT and Stanford will be a reach. Also, just letting you know that egyptians are considered white, not African-American, as anyone from North Africa or the Middle East is considered white for the purposes of college applications; you will not benefit from affirmative action.</p>

4

<p>You’re an Eagle Scout and a URM but the rest of your application is definitely lacking. Low GPA, low test scores, no leadership or awards. You keep saying your ECs are great, but other than Eagle Scout, I don’t see anything really important (I’d say if everyone in your school has an internship or some kind that it’s not too important). I’d say you have a lot of work to do before you can think about Ivies.</p>

5

<p>All those schools are high reaches for you.</p>

<p>Given your scores, I’m doubtful about your competitiveness at any of the schools you listed. Do you really to go somewhere you’ll more than likely be academically overwhelmed? </p>

<p>My advice, go to a state school where they will more than likely offer you some kind of aid package, grind it out for 4 years and secure a strong GPA. Then look for a good graduate program. This is no-doubt the smart route if you actually want to save your mother money.</p>

6

<p>Biggest way to boost your chances is to get that SAT score above 2250. There’s a section on common app where you can explain a reason for your bad grades and you can use that to tell the colleges about the death and how it affected you. In fact, some applicants write their essays about deaths and sometimes those can turn out pretty well.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for your responses, in terms of grades, I got close a 4.0/very close for every year of high school besides freshman year, in which I messed up due to unfortunate familial issues completely outside of my control. I have pretty strong EC’s including Eagle Scout and leadership of a school club and lots of volunteer hours. I can probably get my SAT to the 2200 mark with enough studying. What are my chances for a top school? I would also like to add that classes at my school are much harder granted that it’s a charter and the teachers have the liberty to harden the classes at will. My school also requires AP Calculus and AP Biology as a graduation requirement. What are my chances for a top school? Thansk!</p>