LoW GpA/SaT...Am I ScReWeD?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>School: Competitve magnet school
**Me: **White Male and going to be a senior
SAT: 590CR /580 M / 570 W
**Numeric Average: **86.8
Courseload: Have taken AP US History, AP World History, Dual Enrollment-Statistics and College Algebra, all other classes were mainly honors.
Senior year: Taking all classes through dual enrollment. First Semester will be Macroeconomics, Introductory Physics I, Introductory Physics I Lab, Intro to General Psych, English Comp I. Semester two will be Introductory Physics II, Introductory Physics II Lab,Abnormal Psych, Microeconomics, English Comp II.</p>

<p>For extracurriculars I’ll just go ahead and post my resume</p>

<p>EXPERIENCE
**2009-Present Atlanta Legal Aid Society **
Volunteer Intern: Responsible for system and compliance projects.
 Created a human resource system to track and document all current and past employees of the organization. Accomplished this by saving the Society thousands of dollars by developing and installing a custom single system of record for tracking sixty years worth of employment history. This system increased visibility of personnel information, complied with legal and security obligations, and improved productivity. Responsible for creating and implementing an Emergency Management Plan in five offices throughout Atlanta. This plan focused on protection of human life and property, disaster recovery and IT management. Accumulated over 500 volunteer hours.
**2009 150th General Assembly of the State of Georgia **
Congressional Page: Served as support staff for the Georgia Legislature.
 Assisted in legislative correspondence. Delivered messages from lobbyists/constituents to the respective representative.
2008 The Law Offices of XXXXX
Summer Intern: Responsible for assisting with client meetings, legal research, clerical support, and general case management.
 Managed case files. Drafted complaints, correspondence, discovery requests/responses. Made outbound calls to both opposing counsel and clients. Formed trial notebooks through summarization and trial indexing.
**2007 The XXXX Law Firm, LLC **<br>
Summer Intern: Served as assistant to lead attorney to carry out systems projects and assist with real estate case magement.
 Established electronic records systems for case management. Researched security deeds, liens, and other real estate history. Wrote and placed foreclosure advertisements in publications. Researched and drafted memoranda in the areas of bankruptcy/foreclosure law. Managed clients files regarding foreclosure and bankruptcy status.</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES</p>

<p>**2007 -Present XXXXX School Debate Team **
Captain of Debate Team
 Due to school financial constraints, captain must take on duty of coaching and recruiting. Increased membership by 50%, teams made finals at every tournament, designed and instituted new curriculum for debate education. Implemented debate clinics. Edited and published articles for the International Debate Education Association. Attended Emory National Debate Institute. Received over ten speaking awards.
2008-Present Team XXXX Cycling
Cyclist
 Race on a semi-professional cycling team. Race in time trial events and train 10-15 hours per week. Member of USA Cycling. </p>

<p>**Stuff not included in my resume (because I haven’t finished working on it): **Deans list, volunteered for habitat for humanity, volunteer political science tutor (two hours a week sopomore year), designed and managed a website for a non profit freshman year, well over 650 volunteer hours, top 3 finish at state for FBLA entrepeneurship, and various FBLA awards.</p>

<p>**Schools of Interest: **
BostonU
UMich (Parents are alumni, uncle is endowed professor, aunt attended, other aunt was a professor)
Fordham
GW
American
Penn State
Tulane</p>

<p>**Essays:**Solid, talk about interest in law/politics through anecdotes</p>

2

<p>I think you should just work on raising your SAT score. Your GPA isn’t too bad for some of those schools (ranking would be more helpful since in my school there is a TON of grade inflation making an 86 like the 50th percentile or something) and you have pretty solid ECs.</p>

3

<p>That’s the problem. My school has rediculous amounts of grade inflation. I’m exactly 50th percentile with a high 86, almost 87. How someone can make an argument that grade inflation doesn’t exist is beyond me…</p>

4

<p>If you do REALLY well your senior year it could help a lot. Raising SAT scores will help a lot too. Sorry I can’t really offer much more advice; it’s too late to change your GPA.</p>

5

<p>I agree with those above. You can take pride in your excellent ECs/resume, though. They stand out quite well.</p>

6

<p>BostonU REACH
UMich (Parents are alumni, uncle is endowed professor, aunt attended, other aunt was a professor) REACH, but don’t know what your hooks will do.
Fordham REACH
GW BIG REACH
American REACH
Penn State REACH
Tulane REACH</p>

7

<p>I guess the following question came to my mind: If you have not been able to achieve high level scholastic results in high school, why would you want to throw yourself into a situation where you will be surrounded by students that have? With the exception of Penn State, which has quite a mix of students and abilities, you very well might struggle at these schools. Doesn’t it make more sense to take a year in a less competitive environment, prove to yourself you can really succeed at the work required, and then transfer if things go well? You say your school has “rediculous”(sic) grade inflation, yet you only rank in the middle. Your SAT scores are below to well below the average for the schools you mention, again except for Penn State.</p>

<p>It is always tempting to want to go to the best school you can, even if you are at the bottom of the class. That may not be the best move.</p>

8

<p>Fallenchemist gave great advice. With the exception of PennState, its reaches all across the board because of your class rank and SAT scores. I’d pick a few lower tier schools that seem like good fits and transfer after 1-2 years if you can.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>