Do I have a shot? (Difficult Schools)

kevin63138 · June 3, 2007, 3:30am

Okay, another chances thread (and I have scores now!) Okay, so here’s my deal: I want to go into some sort of engineering/math/science (not sure yet) field. My brother just graduated from University of Missouri - Rolla with an aerospace engineering degree and is taking a job in Wichita STARTING at $54,000 (!!!). SO, he’s kind of my “inspiration”.

Enough of the dull stuff. I’m a white male (SENIOR!!) going to a 93%ish African-American noncompetitive public. (Not sure if that matters), and my family is low-income.

Grades: 4.0 UW/4.26 W
Rank: 1/400ish…MAYBE tied (the other #1 is very secretive about grades)…and MAYBE 2nd (horrors!)…But that will change @ end of senior year.
ACT: 29 (E 31, M 29, R 30, S 25)–Retaking next Saturday
SAT: 1350/2030 (CR 660, M 690, W 680)

ECs:
100+ hrs. of volunteering at Lion’s Eye Bank
Have been in all 10 plays/musicals since fresh. year (takes up most all of my time…if your in theater you know)
Missouri State Thespians Communications Officer '07-'08
President Thespians '07-'08
Student Council Secretary '07-'08
“Peer Leaders” Videographer '07-'08
Treasurer Thespian Troupe '06-'07
Webmaster Thespian Troupe '05-'06
Other clubs: Mu Alpha Theta, blah

Various academic subject awards

Nothing stellar I know==Weak point.

Classes:
I’ve taken the most rigorous courses available to me–Read my last thread I started if you want a lot of ranting/reasoning. Anyway, I took 1 AP class/3 honors classes this year (most available). Seriosuly, not a lot of AP options until you get to senior year–I’m taking AP Calc, AP Chem, AP Bio, H Spanish IV (APish), Physics, and a CC class next year. The AP class I took this year was US History and I’m 99% sure I got a 1. Yeah…don’t ask.

So, I guess I’m asking is it POSSIBLE for me to get into schools like (in no particular order):

Cornell
Harvard
U of I - Urbana-Champagne
MIT (someone from my district [similar schools] just got in and I talked to him-33 ACT nothing like “OGMMGOMGMOGG”)
UC Berekely
Washington University - STL
Saint Louis University

Obviously, I’ll have to raise my scores, but with that…???

Be kind! ;P

s_snack · June 3, 2007, 4:41am

High Reach:
Harvard, MIT
(although MIT is completely unpredictable. I’ve seens plenty of geniuses get rejected, and just as many "nothing special"s get in)

Low Reach:
WashU

Matches:
Berk

Safeties:
the rest

kevin63138 · June 4, 2007, 9:47pm

Man, this must be the fastest moving board on CC!

Anyone else, please!?!!?

ses · June 4, 2007, 10:03pm

Out of state for Berkeley is murder. You won’t get in with those SATs, it’s the first thing they look for at state schools.

And if your AP scores are as low as you think, Harvard is basically out of the question too. You’re not ‘exceptional or unique’ enough to get in with lower scores.

You could get MIT. And you’ll almost definitely get WashU.

What you need to do is look at other schools. Northeastern LACs, Sewanee, Macalester, Carleton, Rollins, Rhodes. Great schools. But jumping from Harvard to WashU is a big gap.

collegekid100 · June 4, 2007, 10:17pm

If you want to be an engineer, you don’t want to go to Harvard. Look at the top tech schools like CIT, MIT, Stanford, then CMU, Berkeley. If you want an ivy for math it’s Princeton.

Sounds like an interesting story being a white minority. Raise your scores and you might make a top school.

kevin63138 · June 4, 2007, 10:53pm

Yes, scores, scores, scores. Doesn’t it suck so much how much scores are weighted in admissions? But, that’s life.

I know I need to raise my scores, as I stated in my first post. Agh, scores, but even then…?

Anyway, I was wondering about that…Colleges won’t even see my AP scores when I apply, will they?? They aren’t on my SAT score report, are they?? I mean, there’s a separate AP score report. For all they know, I didn’t take the AP test.

Well, Harvard because they do have an engineering program, and it is FREE TUITION for any one whose family makes less than $60,000, I think it is. And hey, it’s Harvard. :P

ses, I haven’t even HEARD of those schools you mentioned. Hmm, what does that say?

Could applying to MIT and being heavily involved in theatre be a help??

renix · June 4, 2007, 11:10pm

I hope he’s not doing one of those jobs at Boeing/Cessna/Raytheon where you lose your job whenever they feel like letting half their workforce go. Happens all the time!

Quantumlight · June 5, 2007, 12:09am

they lay off the production line not the engineers

ses · June 5, 2007, 12:24am

Don’t apply somewhere just for prestige. You’ll be miserable.

CDS32090 · June 5, 2007, 2:07am

Yo I’m from Missouri too are you KC or STL?

rainynightstarz · June 5, 2007, 2:50am

Berk from out of state …better have at least 2200s for chance even like higher if you are applying for engineering(if in state, 2200 is like safe)

you want to do engineering stuff but you haven’t done enough math and science.

and don’t count on yours honors class to be always weight by college cuz my school district the smartish(top 25% ish) people take geometry 8th grade, and get to calc by junior year. and the smartest people take calc freshman sophmore year. and the only honors in math is precalc…( this is a public school)

and you are a bit too hopeful( the more hopeful you are, the harder you fall? no?)… I want to go to MIT too. but the chances are not easy ( my school gets people into MIT every year, 2400s in every graduating class. like last year 80 got into berk. etc, so knowing who got in and who didn’t, i know how hard it is to get in)

I used to live in St. Louis (Clayton), its suppose to be really good, but its only so small part of U.S., no one there even made to like USAMO for math.

have you win any math contests things ?
MIT has place for AMC and AIME scores ( you should have done them if you are interested in math )

and since you don’t have anything really special, you need like 2200 to have a chance for MIT
and math needs to be higher than 690,
you’ll need a math SAT2 and science SAT 2 too

oh yeah if you got an A in APUSH and a bad score on the AP test, it only shows how easy your school is, which makes your GPA less spectacular looking.
my school AP class is more like you are only gonna get A if you can get a 5 on the ap test
depends on class, a D in my stats class can get you a 4 on the AP test ( imagine how hard to A is to get)
A to B in calc BC will probably be 5 and B to C ish will be more like a 4, 80/120 got 5, max. 1 person didn’t pass (2 or less)
for Chem, your grades shows aproximately your AP score

so a B with 5 on the AP test can look better than A in the class and 3 or less on the AP test
but then college don’t look at AP scores, but they do know approximately how good your school is

don’t go into a major for the pay. go into for your interest, or you are gonna suffer in college and the rest of your life with something you are not interested in, nor care about

kevin63138 · June 5, 2007, 10:08am

No, he’s working at Spirit in Wichita (which broke off from Boeing I believe)…And I’m from St. Louis.

Anyway, I am not just going to a place for prestige–I want to go somewhere were I know I’ll get a good education/job.

But that’s not just it either. I really do like math & science (I despise English/history), but we have no math/science competitions at my school, which is unfortunate, and I’ve been to busy to start one up. Also, I haven’t been given many opportunities class-wise.

I’m not being hopeful…I know how slim my chances are at those schools. (Those aren’t my only schools I’m applying to obviously haha). I’m going in with the mindset, “If I don’t try, I’ll never know.”

CDS32090 · June 5, 2007, 11:35am

Yeah this is definitely an amature opinion because I’m still in high school too but I would say improve your scores…for an average white kid to be competitive he must start with good standardized test scores. What high school do you go to?

kevin63138 · June 5, 2007, 5:12pm

I go to high school in St. Louis–Hazelwood East.

CDS32090 · June 5, 2007, 6:56pm

yeah i know i’m from stl too, MICDS. You probably haven’t heard of it lol it’s a small-er private school

CDS32090 · June 5, 2007, 6:58pm

Oh I suppose another thing that couldn’t hurt is applying to those schools from Missouri. We’re not an over-represented state like New York or California

kevin63138 · June 5, 2007, 11:12pm

Yeah, will that be good?? Others???

tknogk · June 5, 2007, 11:26pm

I think Harvard likes community service, or so I understand.

By the way, does anyone have any opinions on if it’s bad to almost completely focus on one interest? (Mine is chemistry, and I’m president of the chemistry club next year), but I think I’m going to find it hard to be president of many other clubs, honestly. So is this a detriment?

Xeneise · June 6, 2007, 12:18am

Cornell is a reach, which he listed (probably by mistake) as a safety. WashU is also a reach. Both getting incredibly tough to get into.

and berkeley is definitely not a match Out of state with those scores. Reach.

I don’t want to discourage you, though. You’re qualified, it’s just real tough.

aquamarinee · June 6, 2007, 1:15am

^ I agree with Xeneise’s evaluation. Someone said that WUSTL was a likely, but I believe that it may be more of a reach. Simply bring up your scores to have a better chance! =]

Do I have a shot? (Difficult Schools)

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