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Here are my stats. Please evaluate my chances.

Black male from Mississippi
Average public high school
3.32/4.0 (will be higher)
Have taken toughest classes available(so far 3 AP's with Advanced, Honors and Regular)
School offers 6 AP's

Test Scores:
SATs: 1300(700v 600m)-will not retake
SAT IIs : Writing and Lit - 750+
ACT-30 retaking in Oct

EC's (In School)
Key Club
-Member 9-12
-Treasurer 11/12
-Service Awards 9/10
-100s of hours of Comm Service
Student Council
-Treasurer 11/12
-Essay Committee Chair
Speech and Debate 10-12
-NFL Member with Distinction
-National Competitor
-Accepted into Barkley Forum at Emory
-Member of Forensics Board
-Co-captain
-National CFL Qualifier 10/11
-MS State Youth Congress Delegate 10/11/12
Teens Getting Involved for the Future 11/12
- Teach abstinence to 8th graders
FBLA 11/12
-President 12
-National Qualifier 11(first year/self coached)
Principal's Leadership Team
-Appointed by Principal and Teachers
-Mentor Freshmen
-Mentor Elementary school students
-Teach Elementary school students about drugs
Science Club
Mu Alpha Theta
Starting a Young Independents club

Outside of School ECs
-Salvation Army Volunteer
-Red Cross Volunteer
-Starting Scholarship for Disadvantage Youth(projected to be up and running Fall 2005)
-MPAC Tutor(job)-11/12
-Clothing Drives for Abuse Shelter
-Starting a tutoring service for elementary school students

Awards and Honors
-Speaker at University of Southern Mississippi's Black History program
-National Achievement Award in Science: Biology/Physics
-Leadership Award 9-11
-Citizenship Award 9-11
-Key Club Service Award 9/10
-3rd place in Biology category of Science Fair
-Awards for Speech and Theatre
-Special Award from Mississippi Theatre Association -1st in reg. and 2nd state


Rec's from Speech coach, AP Eng Teacher(11th), and Key Club Advisor

Essay will be good if not great dealing with justice and civil rights.

Possible major Near Eastern Studies or something dealing with Public Affairs and Education

Super Reaches
Princeton
Dartmouth
Cornell

Reaches/Matches
Brandeis
Tufts
Middlebury
Rice
Tulane
University of Chicago

Safeties
Mississippi State
Rhodes

By Massdad (Massdad) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 11:11 pm: Edit

You do not mention your class rank, which will be looked at carefully by the more selective schools.

My immediate reaction is that your GPA is on the low side, but that depends on the grading approach of your school, and would be reflected in your class rank. I do hope your GPA is unweighted.

Have you, or do you plan to take, a math SAT II? That could be important at some of your schools.

Have you taken any AP exams? Scores?

Being a URM will help you, of course, but your GPA is a big warning flag. You will need to explain or compensate. Good luck, and I hope you can discover a whole new world out of state. Everyone needs to break out of their comfort zone. That's why my freshman D is at Chicago, not here in New England.

By Deloren986 (Deloren986) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 11:38 pm: Edit

I don't plan on taking SAT II math because my major is not related to that and the aforementioned colleges do not require it unless I plan on engineering, math, etc. I have taken 3 AP Exams(World History, US History, English Language 3s on all very upsetting esp English but I determined the cause and will be retaking it). My essays and teacher recs should compensate somewhat for my GPA but my test scores are good so that hopefully will help too.
Rank: 11/169 ~top 7%.
My school does not weigh gpa only class rank
My gpa should be 3.5ish by semester's end(Dec)

By Thinkingoutloud (Thinkingoutloud) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 12:05 am: Edit

If you are looking at schools like Tufts and Middlebury, you may also want to take a brief look at Wesleyan University. It offers a superb education but has suffered a dramatic reduction in the percentage of African Americans it has admitted (11 percent five years ago, 6 percent recently). Schools suffering an annual decline in the percentage of URMs will be hungry for a solid student like you.

By Ahwosg (Ahwosg) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 06:17 am: Edit

just to let you know, middlebury's requirements for SAT IIS are: one writing test, one quantitative test, and one of your own choice.

the quantitative tests are: Chem, Math (I and II), Physics, AP Calc, Chem, CS, Econ, Physics, Stats. And you have to already have your AP grades. so nothing like
'oh i'm taking that.'

so if you're serious about middlebury, i'd say, get studying for november's SAT II test!

By Deloren986 (Deloren986) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 06:12 pm: Edit

The Act will satisfy all our requirements, so you don't have to take the SAT II's unless you want to = ).

Middlebury College Admissions

By Ahwosg (Ahwosg) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 09:18 pm: Edit

WHAT. jeez man. okay i have to read more closely.

grrr. good luck!

By Deloren986 (Deloren986) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 10:05 pm: Edit

I have decided to take the Ivies off my list. I am considering applying ED to Brandeis Tufts or Middlebury. Also strike Rhodes and Rice from the list.

By R2005 (R2005) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 10:54 pm: Edit

Barkley Forum!?

Did you go to ENDI last year?

I've gone there for the past 2 years.

Division?

By Northstarmom (Northstarmom) on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 12:16 am: Edit

Depending on where you apply, you can leave Ivies on your list. There aren't that many Mississippians who are willing to go out of state. There are very small URM Mississippians willing to do that -- and who have the scores/curricula to do that.

I'd think that your best chances for Ivy would be at Cornell and at Dartmouth since they probably have the hardest time attracting URMs.

Personally, I think you can get merit money from Rhodes. They don't have many URMs, but, I'd bet want to diversify. Your scores are well in their range. My question: Do you really want to go to a college where you'd be such a minority?

Top 7% sounds decent for many schools, including top ones. Yes, you'd have to take SAT IIs to go to many top 25 schools.

Have you considered places like Emory and Wake Forest?

And do you need money to go to college? That also would influence your choices.

By Deloren986 (Deloren986) on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 02:28 pm: Edit

Congress at Barkley Forum did not get ranked one round so that ended my chances.
I decided not to apply to the aforementioned ivies because I will not have an opportunity to take the necessary tests but I am applying to Brown and I really liked providence. I have no problem with being such a minority I am the only black person in all my classes except AP Chem there's another guy and gov't because it's not advanced and the majority of my friends are white so there ya go.
I did consider Emory and Wake but Wake needs the SAT and I don't like my score and I don't want to live in Atlanta traffic is horrible and it's too close to home (~ 5hrs driving) also I did not like Emory the times I visited.

By Deloren986 (Deloren986) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 10:17 pm: Edit

I decided to go ED to Brown.

By Northstarmom (Northstarmom) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 10:42 pm: Edit

If you are applying ED, make sure that you know that you can afford to go there regardless of what financial aid you are getting.

If you are not applying for financial aid, ED can be fine. However, if you are applying for financial aid, applying ED can lock you into a financial aid offer that is far lower than you could get elsewhere.

For all you know, you might qualify at some top schools for such stellar merit and /or need-based aid that your parents would not have to pay anything.

If Brown guarantees to meet 100% of students' demonstrated financial need, that doesn't mean that you'll get everything that your parents feel they need. It means that you'd get everything that Brown things you need. Part of that also probably would be in loans, summer earnings and work study, which might be more than you'd want to take on.

Of course, if you are fortunate enough to have parents who can easily pay your way to Brown without aid or loans, congratulations for having such good luck!

By Deloren986 (Deloren986) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 04:59 pm: Edit

The cost is not a problem I got a crap load of scholarships approx 30k not counting the ones I am waiting to hear from I more worried about my ACT score I want at 32 at least and those essays god how I hate them.

By Northstarmom (Northstarmom) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 05:43 pm: Edit

Congratulations on your scholarships! What kind of scholarships did you get?

If you happen to not be bi-racial or of recent immigrant African or Caribbean heritage, that will be a big advantage in admissions. Due to a undergraduate's recent research study, Harvard (and presumably other elite colleges) have started noticing what a small percentage of their black students are not biracial or offspring of Caribbean or African parents.

At Harvard, for instance, one-half to two-thirds of black students are children of African or Caribbean immigrants.

In the Sept.-Oct. issue of the Harvard alumni magazine, a Harvard sociology professor was quoted as saying, "If you have two black applicants, one from the American South, the other from the Caribbean, the black American may have come a lot further than the Caribbean student. ...I would hate to see Harvard not reachign out to those African Americans who have been in the United States for generations.

"Are we not loooking as hard as we should in Mississippi or Alabama for kids who would do well if they were recruited?"

Meanwhile, I know that Ivies in general have a hard time getting good applicants from Mississippi. A classmate of mine told me that one year, there was just one student from Mississippi who decided to attend Harvard. Even if you were a white male, you'd be attractive to Ivies for diversity reasons.