<p>I’m a sophomore right now in Colorado, barely moved there this year from California. My dad lives in California.</p>
<p>asian
Low income
single parent household
dad abandoned family for 4 yrs (probably doesnt help)
my hs is really ghetto. only 30% actually go to college. They usually go to State schools. only offers math, language, and science ap classes. school doesn’t offer AP classes to soph.
GPA: 3.92 UW, school doesn’t weight
rank: top 10%
PSAT: 154, I know, really bad, got tired during test and skipped a bunch of questions and BS’ed the rest.
H. English (9th) 3.83
H. Chem (10th) 4.0
11th grade classes : AP Environmental, AP US, H. precalc. Brit lit (h. english) H. drawing
12th: AP chem, AP Calc, AP Spanish, Block of H. English and history combined</p>
<p>EC: unimpressive
volunteers at hospital: 200+ hrs.
misc volunteer hrs: 60+ hrs
NAHS (10th and going to be officer next year)
Leaders challenge (civic engagement, completes 100+ hrs of community service)
JSA (9th)
NHS (11th - )
Community service club (11th -)
Color Guards (11th -)
Track & Xcountry (9th)
Yearbook Copy Editor (10th-11th)
Yearbook Editor-in-chief (12th)
work 15 hrs a week at moms restaurant, under the table, not sure if that counts.
mom will only pay for colorado schools, UCSD, and USC. Want to get into CU Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, UCSD, UCI, and very very big stretch irvine. Crammming this summer for SAT’s. relatives went to UCLA, CAl, Stanford, Columbia, Harvard etc. i’m a disappointment basically.</p>
<p>How are you a disappointment with a 3.92 unweighted?</p>
<p>The only thing that hurts is the PSAT, and they don’t always ask for that, it just determines whether you’re a national merit scholar or not. Just take the SAT later, and make sure you don’t do the same thing, yeah?</p>
<p>you can def use your dad’s abandonment for your personal essay. i would imagine most UCs to look favorably upon a person who has demonstrated that they are very independent and has helped out their family immensely despite life’s obstacles.</p>
<p>Your dads abandonment is a great essay topic and your GPA is suited for UCLA and BERKLEY. Don’t worry about your PSAT it just counts for national merit and doesn’t hurt you in your application. Get 2000+ on your SAT and you’ll be a strong applicant to LA and BERKLEY and a forsure bet at UCSD.</p>
<p>If your dad still lives in California, you may possibly still qualify as a California resident–which would make a huge difference in your chances for acceptance. If your mom is paying for your bills entirely–and your dad hasn’t contributed anything–then you may not qualify as in-state–and this cuts your chances tremendously.</p>
<p>As a person coming from a single-parent, low income home, you would get extra points in the UC ratings scale–but like I said–in-state or out-of-state is also a giant item in determining your status–and therefore also in determining what you would have to pay to go to a University of California campus. (You are aware that it’s about $7,000 per year for in-state versus $24,000 for out-of-state and that’s not counting the $12,000 per year for housing and meals that you have to pay if you are going to live there).</p>
<p>If you are truly in and economic bind, you should consider applying to schools that would give you a break based upon your situation–and possibly pick up more of the costs–which are not public universities in other states from where you live. You need to consider your own in-state public universities (Univ of Colorado and Colorado State)–and you need to consider private universities that would give a student with a 3.92 UW–even at a lower school–a chance–and pay most of the cost. Schools like Stanford, Rice, MacAlester, Brown, and maybe Swarthmore would be better spots to apply.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>thanks for all the help. well my dad is a deadbeat who does not give us any money at all so I don’t qualify as a California resident even though my parents have joint custody of me and my sister. I don’t care about the tuition problem because my mom will pay for any school she approves of. Cu Boulder is my backup in case i don’t get into UCSD or any other schools I prefer. I harbor an intense for colorado so i would prefer not to go there for my 4+ years of school. I wish I was good enough to apply to those private schools but I do not even compare to the applicants who are applying at those schools. It should help that both of my parents never attended a college. I know being asian doesn’t help, but what if I was an asian in a 66% white/30% hispanic/4% other school? I am too desperate.</p>
<p>I do want to write about my abandonment issue but I don’t want it to seem like I want sympathy or that i’m wallowing in self-pity. I was planning on writing my personal statement about ramen noodles or some object that has profoundly impacted my life and outlook on life. Too risky and lame?</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure you’d make it to SD.</p>
<p>If you write about your dad, make sure you write positively and focus on how it altered your life and made you a better person. Don’t try to make them feel bad. It’s annoying and ineffective.</p>
<p>I like your idea of Ramen Noodles. Remember: random things like that slightly tweak your perspective in life, they don’t change you so drastically and make you a totally different person.</p>