<p>My dream schools are Tulane and Syracuse, I was just wondering if anybody could let me know how much of a reach acceptance might be.
I’m a white Jewish male from central Maine, my parents combine for an income of around 500k. I go to a small New England boarding school. I’ve spent four years there and one year at my local public school (where I think I received about a 1.5 GPA). The average accepted student from my school at both Tulane and Syracuse is a 3.3. My school has a good relationship with Syracuse though not much of one with Tulane. About five of my classmates plan on applying to both schools also and I believe my GPA is the lowest, there are about 60 kids in my class. My cumulative GPA is a 2.6 unweighted. For the most part I’ve gotten B to A- though there have been some discrepancies lowering my GPA. In these few classes there have been mitigating circumstances my college counselor feels may explain my poor grade. I took one honors class and one AP last year and got a B average in both and my AP score (AP Euro) was a three. This year I’m taking AP Calc and AP Environmental Science. So far this year I’ve gotten a 3.7 unweighted, and I know no one really believes me and they shouldn’t because of my history, though I am very focused and am going to improve upon the 3.7 and get even better grades for the rest of this year and beyond. As for extracurricular activities:
- three year XC mountain bike race member
- two year recreational snowboarding club
- two year competition snowboarding team
- three year lacrosse team member (one year captain)
- two year soccer team member
- one year of outing club
- three years school tour guide
- two year gay straight alliance member
- two year chinese club member (and vice president)
- scrabble club member (president)
- canadian american alliance member (president)
- two year amnesty international member
- two year international club member
- one year go global club member
- over 700 community service hours
- organized a canned food drive
- organized a clothing drive
- designed hats which are being sold in our schools bookstore
- designed and built a 900sq ft tarp pavilion on display in the quad of a college campus
- worked at a climbing gym for one summer
- top three placement at three climbing competitions (youngest competitor by far)
I wrote my college essay about how climbing taught me about preparation and fear. I’m interested in Tulane and Syracuse because of their architecture programs though I’m also interested in business. I have no portfolio to send though I am taking an independent study architectural design class and I have taken a summer class. - my SAT scores (670 math)(620 reading)(570 writing)
- I have pretty strong recommendations which really highlight the progress I’ve made at my current school
- I’m a second degree black belt in taekwondo</p>