Few questions!

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Perhaps this is not the correct place to post this in but I think it is :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Sorry to write such a long post!</p>

<p>I’m not going to ask for your guesstimations of whether or not I will make it into some fantastic ivy league college! I just want to know in general what type of colleges I should apply for. I’m very stressed out regarding college admissions, and I think it would be wise of me to take as much advice from you lovely people as possible.</p>

<p>General Information
-MALE
-LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
-17 Years old, In the class of '09 (as of writing this post, I am a junior).
-I attend Western High School…it is not one of the best high schools, very high dropout rate.
-I am Caucasian. I am 3.125% Native American if that helps. And I think my grandma may have slept with a few chiefs at the local reservation, so that figure may be even more advantageous (kidding lol).</p>

<p>Cumulative Grade Point Average<a href=“I%20have%20put%20my%20weighted%20first,%20because%20it%20looks%20prettier”>/u</a>
WEIGHTED: 3.668
NON-WEIGHTED: 3.143
CLASS RANK: 30 out of 425 (weighted) and 54 out of 425 (non-weighted).</p>

<p>Awards
None. Nothing. My high school counselors never talk about awards (they have a hard enough time getting kids to GRADUATE, let alone go to college), I have never really focused on them until NOW…so next year I will try and get as many as I can. Would JROTC awards count?</p>

<p>Extra Curricular Activities
JROTC: 4 years (upon graduation)
Tennis Team: 2 years (upon graduation)
Russian Club (President): 1 year (upon graduation)
Varsity Quiz: 2 years (upon graduation)
Bowling Team: 1 year (upon graduation)
I will also spend quite a few hours next year doing community service. </p>

<p>Other Information
-I am taking 3 AP classes this year (junior), they are US History (I totally passed the exam I know it), English, and Biology II.
-I have a good chance of becoming the #1 JROTC commander next year (known as Corps Commander). Is this really advantageous?
-I can speak fluent Russian.
-In my senior year, I will be taking 4 AP classes. World Government, English, Chemistry, and Statistics.
-I have sexcellent writing skills and I think I will be able to write very good admissions essays…I hope.</p>

<p>General Worries and Concerns
-My GPA is not the best. Especially my weighted!
-My freshmen year was spent playing video games, and not doing my homework. As a result, I believe my freshmen GPA was 2.7
-During my Junior year (earlier this year), during the third quarter, I received a C in AP English and a C in Alg II/Trig Honors. These are the only 2 C’s I have received since my freshmen year, but most people on here never get C’s!
-I do have high ambitions and I hope to eventually attend an ivy league school. But I highly doubt that I will be able to make the cut by graduation. Is it possible to switch schools during college? To apply to ivy league schools during my college years and transfer? If this is a plausible strategy, I was thinking of attending the University of Reno and applying to an ivy league from there.</p>

<p>I hope to eventually attend some ivy league schools and get an MBA, but I don’t really have any specific schools in mind at the moment.</p>

<p>Thank you for any information you may provide!!</p>

<p>-Brad</p>

2

<p>Always, always, apply where you want to go, unless you are absolutely certain you are not qualified.</p>

<p>I’d say that your GPA is quite too much on the low side to have much of a chance at any of the ivies, but you should still figure out which one you like the best and apply anyways. You have no chance of getting in if you don’t.</p>

<p>Try looking along the bottom half of the top 50. They should be matches.</p>

3

<p>Hey Night - Stop worrying and try to do the best that you can through out the rest of high school.</p>

<p>I didn’t find this site until my son graduated from HS and I swear if I had found it before, I’d have been a wreck. Still don’t understand half the terms used here. Found it very helpful though.</p>

<p>Here is the deal. Find a counselor that will take the time to talk to you about your options. If there are specific colleges that you are interested and your counselors at the HS are way too busy graduating students, start contacting colleges now. This site can be very intimidating.</p>

<p>My son was a great student, no where near the very top, but worked his butt of in school. He had HS counselors willing to provide the time and energy to help us. He is the first child of many of my family to go to college. It took a lot of work and determination.
We did it. So can you. He applied to 10 colleges and was accepted at all 10.
I never, ever thought I could afford it. Well, we did it. BTW I’m a waitress and he is at UCSB completing his freshman year with Dean’s Honors. You must reach out. It takes a lot of time and effort, but it can be done.</p>

4

<p>Thank you both for your help!</p>

<p>Excelblue: would you recommend using USNews’ top 100, but looking at the bottom 50-100? Is that what you mean? Is my over all academic and extra curricular performance good enough for that if I get a good SAT score?</p>

<p>Thats cool about your son mtnmagic. Seems that he is doing very well! You’re financing his college education? Don’t California students get heavy tuition subsidies from the state gov? What is me, an innocent Nevada student, wanted to go to college in California? How much do you guesstimate it would cost?</p>

<p>Do you guys think that being JROTC commander at my school would be a huge bonus? Or just another thing that you would put at the bottom of your “EC” list? </p>

<p>How about being fluent in Russian, is that a bonus? Unfortunately there is no AP Russian exam :)</p>

5

<p>Hey Night - I financed very little of my son’s education. Took a bunch of research, and a lot of applying for grants scholarships and what is available out there really. I make less in a year then my son’s annual college costs.</p>

<p>Where are you in Nevada. I live in Tahoe. CA/NV border.</p>

<p>I think that JROTC commander at your school is a huge bonus. You need people to encourage you and help build your strong points. Fluent in Russian, another plus. Now how to find some one to help you build on your accomplishments.</p>

6

<p>I wish I could edit posts, I made a stupid mistake in my last post (read excelblue’s post and then mine and see if you can find it).</p>

<p>Now assuming I highly improve my GPA’s by an estimated .2 or .3 each (3.4u/w 3.9w), what would you say my chances of getting in to UC Santa Barbara are?</p>

<p>Mtn: I live in Las Vegas.</p>

7

<p>Getting your GPA up will definitely help so try for it. UCSB isn’t necessarily a tough UC to get into but you may have a slight disadvantage because you’re not from California. Make sure your SAT/ACT scores are good and you have a fair chance.</p>

<p>Also, you can definitely transfer from even community colleges to the top-tier schools.</p>