what do you think are my chances for acceptance to UMD (college park), UVA, UNC @Chapel Hill, Penn State, University of Richmond, Virginia Tech, Duke (reach), & NYU (reach) regular decision 2024?
female
African American
virginia residen
parents didn’t go to college (single mom), therefore first generation student
brother & sister went to Virginia Tech for undergrad
low income
4.3 gpa
1220 sat (super score)
first SAT - EBRW: 560 MATH:600 Toal 1160
last SAT EBRW: 620 MATH: 580 Total: 1200
10 AP/IB classes taken
varsity cheer for four years, won MVP, 1st team all district cheerleader
cheer captain my junior & senior year
competitive cheer travel team 9-12
girls basketball my sophomore & junior year, rookie of the year award, co captain my junior year
had a job at Wegmans my sophomore year & working at Dunkin donuts from 11th-now
national honor society, science national honor society, student government class senator & executive board secretary, National Healthcare Association (NHA) Certified Medical Assistant, National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) All American Cheerleader
applied major: chemistry
strong personal statement about overcoming micro aggressions & racism that I faced due to my dark skin, which lead me to a traumatizing decision of bleaching, explaining how it tore my skin & confidence apart but In the end it taught me to love myself more & you know other good stuff
I feel like I am a strong well rounded student for most of these schools but scared by SAT scores is what will set me back, any thoughts?
Same. I feel my application is pretty strong save my SAT Score.
Not sure how much of an effect SAT Score will have on the outcome, but I was told by one interviewer that in some universities, admissions is similar to passing set limits for some factors.
Like if the bottom threshold for SAT was 1200 according to them, you would pass that requirement and it will not be looked into again. The rest of your application will be assessed accordingly. This would obviously apply to quantitative aspects of an application only.
Either way, all the best!
Bring first gen and URM you may get a bit of leeway with your SAT score. What are your UW GPA and class rank? If high enough, that may help offset the SAT.
That said, the OOS flagships should also be considered reaches, especially UNC. Richmond also.
Hopefully you’ve already been admitted to your safeties.
Being URM, First Gen, Female, and STEM major should be helpful over your lower SAT scores. I would say you have a decent shot at VT and Penn St. The others are all reaches. The question is can you afford to go some of these schools. Penn St is +50K per year and won’t have much financial aid OOS.
NYU is a reach BUT it’s also test flexible. That means that you can submit three AP or IB scores instead of your SATs. So you may be a stronger applicant for NYU than you think. However, with an acceptance rate of 16%, it’s still a reach.
my school doesn’t rank & only my weighted GPA is listed on my official transcript but all my final grades were A’s or A-'s & I had one B+ in AP Gov my sophomore year. Although my school does not rank I know the highest GPA in my class is about a 4.4 something, therefore I would assume I am around the top 5 & definitely top 10 out of about 400 kids or so
How did brother and sister do with VTech? That should give you a good idea at least for VT, and then you can find out from your guidance counselor how your school does with the colleges you’re considering. They should have recent information for the in-state colleges, at least.