Am I anywhere near the track to a decent college?

Question

I really want to get into a good college and I didn't start to take school seriously until just recently, the last half of my junior year. As a result I have a 2.6 GPA, and I just got my SAT scores of Reading- 530, Math- 320 (I forgot my calculator), Writing- 500.

I have been doing extra things to help my chances...This will be my fourth year going to a gifted an talented camp, and I went to girls state (and did well).

I'm involved in a sport, have many awards, and I have business experience from working with a company.

I also have a good reference from a graduate (non-relative) that went to the college that I want to go to.

To sweeten the pot I figured it wouldn't hurt if I let the college know I come from a bad school, live below the poverty line, both of my parents were drop-outs, and me being the youngest child, none of my brothers or sisters went to college.

....What I'm asking is do I have a decent case to plea, or will many admissions officers laugh in my face?

Answer 1

are you a minority? because that would help. if not, paint your skin.

Answer 2

A lot of colleges want well rounded people.  You could have a 4.0 and not have done anything else but the 2.8 with the swimming record, volunteer work etc.  will be picked.  Think well rounded. Also don't play up the bad school thing.  You can mention that your school did not offer many programs etc.  But just like you wouldn't tell your new job manager your old one sucked, you shouldn't do the same with education facilities. First generation college go-er is only good for financial aid

Answer 3

My guess is, and this is just a guess, that since you did fairly well in reading and writing (you may want to take Math a second time and bring a calculator this time... just to see if you can up the score to near your reading and writing at least) that while you may not receive any educational awards, you'll probably get into the school you want to get into if you can show them that your habits over the past year have changed. You may also receive state and federal aid due to your economic status. I wouldn't necessarily play that up for the school though. Rather, I'd play up the fact that your habits have changed in the past year, your extra curricular activities, the gifted and talented camp, the job, and sports and keep studying really hard.

Answer 4

Really, it just matters what you consider "decent." Personally, many people with your academics can easily make it into a State College. All throughout this summer and senior year you should be scheduling college day trips where you can take a tour of the campus. Usually on these tours you'll sit down and be given a presentation of the average grades/SAT scores of the students accepted at the college. Really, the grades don't matter too much but they want to see if you've also done volunteer work and such as well. Mention if you've been in scouts, worked as a volunteer at the public library, etc.

Consider trying out for a scholarship in sports and remember, it all depends on what your major will be as well. Some schools you have to be accepted academically then whatever school (school of music, school of law, etc) that you're trying to get into.