Originally posted by: freesia39
um, 30 hours the entire time you've been in high school is not impressive. i know people who get that in half a semester...
also, i wouldn't list IM sports as they aren't a real "varsity" sport that they're looking for. as a former varsity athelete, i'd get mad if someone who played basketball on their lunch hour was given as much attention as the hours i spent after school playing sports and then going to away matches and still keeping up the gpa.
your SAT score is nice, your GPA is a tad low. go get the US news college rankings and see how first your numbers stack up. if you were hoping to get in on a comprehensive review, i don't know if you have enough (i.e. you didn't list leadership positions, club membership outside of chess club, etc.)
if your community service is someplace significant (i.e. i want to be a doctor and i candy striped at a local hospital) that's a better mention than "30 hours of community service."
and write a kick ass admissions essay. nyu is private, so get good recs.
Nah, if he was in intramural sports then he should put them on his application. They might not look as "good" as actual varsity sports, but they still make a person seem well-rounded, and they show that he wasn't completely wasting all of his free time.