Can I get into University of Michigan-Ann Arbor?
I have a 24 on the ACT. I did 40 hours of volunteering. I also have job experience. I am involved in peace jam at school. I took AP Chemistry and AP biology last year and I will be taking AP Physics, AP statistics and AP Calculus next year. I will also be taking one college class at KVCC next year called introduction to political science. I will also be writing/editing the Knight Life School Newspaper next year. I will be attending a week long journalism camp this summer (by the way, do summer camps count as extracurricular for college?). I also attended an engineering camp at western Michigan University (I don’t know if this one counts because i did it in middle school – 6th grade). I am a minority student and I heard being a minority has advantages at U of M (is it true?) since it is very diverse. I am a woman wanting to become a chemical engineer (I heard that this has an advantage too because they want more women engineers). So, do I have a chance of getting into University of Michigan considering the fact that all the other stuff can cancel out my act score.
I get 100% of the Kalamazoo Promise so paying for college will not be a problem.
A 24 on the ACT is pretty low for U of M. Most U of M applicants will probably be taking AP classes and volunteering so those won’t really put you above applicants.
In 2006, the state of Michigan amended its constitution forbidding public universities from giving preferential treatment based on gender or ethnicity, so your background probably won’t make a difference.
It sounds like you should be able to get into lots of great colleges. UofM does have give a small advantage to minority students, but you probably don’t need that to get into a good school.
UofM is large, and it has a good reputation, but not every department lives up to it. Some of their departments are stellar, but a great many are at best mediocre. Depending on what you want to study you may get a better education at a smaller less known school, and save yourself some money as well.
A2 is one of the most pretentious places I’ve ever lived. It’s a great town for LGBT people as they’ve long had domestic partnerships and UoM employees can share benefits with same sex partners. On game days you want to find a rock and stay under it as the town is flooded with drunk angry people who will run you over and beat you up to get a parking place.
Keep your options open and apply to several schools. You’ve got a lot going for you, don’t sell yourself short. All those extra-curricular activities are going to impress lots of entrance committees (and will be more heavily weighted in your favor than your minority status). Women aren’t uncommon in engineering like they used to be and have been overtaking boys in Mathmatics and Science for a while now.
Just off the top of my head I’d say you might want to look at these schools: Lehigh(PA), Ball State (OH), or Perdue(IN). Lehigh is in a nice little town, and you’ll get fit as you’ll be walking up and down hills all day.