Am i meeting the criteria?

[metrokid]

Hello, I am going into my senior year and college is definately on my mind. I plan on majoring in Journalism/ Communications or English. I am an African-American male and so far i have a 3.4 GPA, 26 ACT (taking it again), my extra-curricular incluce Varsity Baseball, Softball Manager, Student Council, Newspaper Co-Editor, Community Service, and recycling. I have 211 hours community service and i need 300 to graduate. I go to Metro High School, which was ranked 118th nation wide this year. If anyone can help, how are my chances looking for these schools? My counselor told me my chances were pretty good because there is a shortage of males and Af. Am. going to schools nowadays:Northwestern Vanderbilt Loyola University in ChicagoSt. Louis UniversityWebster St. LouisWashington University St. LouisMizzouOkay..so i forgot to mention that i take IB classes. Those are International Baccalaureate classes. They are pretty much like AP classes because they provide students with a challenge. Students can choose to take the full diploma program, which is two years (junior and senior), and they take all IB classes (History, Biology, Lit, For. Lang, Art or Music, Theory of Knowledge, Math Studies). I take History, Biology, and Math(senior year) I will probably take AP English next year too. Still thinking about it. Here's the websitehttp://www.ibo.org/And yeah I want to at least get my ACT up to a 28

[yaygoval9988]

Honestly, it sounds like you'll be just fine...but you should visit www.loyola.edu and a couple others just to see what the admission requirements are... some schools list a certain act score

[heyjealousy]

Okay, these are my predictions with the ACT you have right now - if you can bring it up to a 28 at least, you'll have a much better shot. Also, are you in any weighted or AP classes? Is that a weighted or unweighted GPA? I can tell you more accurately if you tell me that information. Your extracurriculars are great, though. :] Your counselor was wrong about the shortage of males going to schools nowadays though, FYI.Northwestern - Probably won't get in, both the GPA and the ACT are too low :[Vanderbilt - More likely then Northwestern, but it's still a reach.Loyola University in Chicago - Definitely acceptedSt. Louis University - Most likely accepted.Webster St. Louis - Sorry but I've never heard of it :[Washington University St. Louis - About as hard as Northwestern, so probably a rejection.Mizzou - Accepted.If you have any questions or can give me more information about what I said earlier, I can give you more opinions. :] Maybe try looking at some Big Ten schools like UIUC or Wisconsin? They seem fitting for you. Good luck.EDIT: With the tough coursework that you have and a 28 ACT, plus a challenging senior schedule, you have a much better shot. Vanderbilt is more likely, WashU and Northwestern are still reaches but not as much. The others you are basically guaranteed to get in - but that's never 100% because nobody really knows what's going through the college admissions officer's minds these days. Too many people who are very highly qualified are all applying and college is basically just turning into a crapshoot. Once again, good luck. :] I hope you get in!

[sarah6564]

Your chances seem good.. except for vandy. I feel you on the nationwide ranking--we were ranked 10th the year everyone applied and my b/f STILL couldn't get into vandy. not even with a 3.96! So unless your heart's set on it or if you're promised a scholarship... i might not waste my application fee money on that one. The others look good, you look solid but i'd go to their websites and check out their class profiles to see what their averages were. Good luck!

[NotAnyoneYouKnow]

Metro:I don't know about a shortage of African-American males, but it is no secret that most academically-selective universities give some preference to under-represented minority groups, including African-American and Hispanic students. However, you should also know that several states have banned the practice of so-called "race-conscious" admissions - those states include California and Florida.To be very honest, none of the elite schools are very likely to ever publicize separate admissions criteria for different racial or ethnic groups - race-conscious admission is kind of the dirty little secret of the academic world, and issues of equal protection and constitutionality have been hashed out in the nation's courts many times (and surely will be hashed out again). What this means is that no one can tell you that "since you're an African-American male, you'll only need to satisfy X in order to gain admission to such-and-such school". About the only thing safe to assume is that many schools will take your race into consideration in the admissions process - and that consideration will be a predominately favorable influence on the decision. How much of an influence, I don't think anyone here can tell you.Many of the schools that you mentioned are highly selective - Washington University accepts less than 1/4 of its applicants, Northwestern accepts about 1/3, Vanderbilt about 40%. Very selective means that the school receives far more applications from qualified students than they could ever possibly accept - and therefore, thousands of students with excellent GPAs, SATs, letters of recommendation and extracurriculars are routinely rejected on a space-available basis.It sounds like you have a lot of fine credentials - I would also recommend that you take advantage of the opportunity to take any AP and honors courses available to you - and that you take the AP exams in those subjects.I'll give you the advice that I give to all students with good grades and exam scores - find the time to do something UNIQUE - something that all of those other students aren't going to have done. They've all taken hard classes, received good grades and joined a few clubs. What have you done that's different??? That's the key to getting into a very selective school - the ability to sell yourself as a unique and interesting person - and someone who will be an asset to the university community. Your race is not your "uniqueness", and I would hope (and expect) that you have more to offer your university than the fact that you're an African-American male with college aspirations and good grades.Good luck to you!