what are the odds?

Dude, you’d better learn to do some research if you want to be successful in college! Just kidding–I know it’s a big decision!

Four tips:

(1) Go to the web page of each college and search for freshman profile (try it with and without quotation marks) I did it for you for UCLA: http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/Adm_fr/Frosh_Prof06.htm

You will usually get average GPA and SAT/ACT scores for the most recent crop of freshmen.

(2) As long as you are on the college’s web page, find out who in the admissions office is responsible for the area you live in. Contact them and ask some questions (not stuff that is covered on the web page–that just makes you look dumb). Ask them when they will be at a college fair in your area. Go to the college fair and talk to them. WRITE A THANK-YOU NOTE!!!

(3) Get someone at your school–a guidance/college counselor or a smart but no BS teacher to help you write a résumé because no one is going to read a long list of high-school activities like the one you posted above. Tailor your résumé to each scholarship or college you apply to/for, e.g., if you are applying to a scholarship from your church, go into detail about your youth-group activities and Key Club activities and skim over the rest. BTW, make sure everything is correct–back in the day, it was the National Honor (not Honors) Society–are we talking about the same organization? This is where that straight-talking teacher will be helpful–you need someone who will tell you if your application is full of it or not.

(4) Look at these websites: www.collegeboard.com/student/plan and www.fastweb.com

Good luck!

ACT 28 might be a little low for U of Illinois engineering programs.

a lot of colleges require writing so you should probably check if they require the writing portion or not (in fact i was accepted to UCLA but i cant remember if they required writing or not)

Post at www.collegeconfidential.com, in their “What are my chances?” section. From your credentials, I think you have a good shot.