Chances of getting in?

flyinglotus173
Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:40:05 +0000

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

Read full thread