36 ACT, etc. Chance Me!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Student:</p>

<p>User Name: keellota
Gender: M
Location: Tennessee
College Class Year: 2015
High School: Public
High School Type: sends some grads to top schools
Will apply for financial aid: Yes</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 4.00
GPA - Weighted: 4.00
Class Rank: top 5%
Class Size: 497</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>SAT I Math: 770
SAT I Critical Reading: 770
SAT I Writing: 800
ACT: 36
SAT II Biology - M: 780
PSAT: 225 (National Merit!)</p>

<p>Significant Extracurriculars: </p>

<p>(extrapolating to senior year; order of interest)
Cross Country and Track, all 4 years
Model UN, 2 years
Science Olympiad, 3 years
Green Club, 3 years
Key Club, 3 years
Excalibur, 3 years</p>

<p>Leadership positions: </p>

<p>9th Grade: N/A
10th Grade: Excalibur- Treasurer
11th Grade: Green Club- Co Vice President; Key Club- Service Coordinator, Habitat for Humanity Chair
12th Grade: Green Club- Co President; Key Club- Senior Citizen Chair; (maybe) Habitat for Humanity Chair; TBA</p>

<p>Athletic Status:</p>

<p>9th Grade: Cross Country, Track, Tennis, and Soccer
10th,11th,12th: Cross Country, Track
Okay in Soccer and Tennis, found out I loved running a whole lot more. I have always been one of the best few runners on the XC team, though I haven't received many significant running awards/medals.
Running is definitely a passion of mine, so it was unfortunate when I had an injury in the first week of October 2009. I am still on the team, doing rehabilitation and easy runs, but I have been out of competitive running for quite some time now. I have also been to PT's, orthopedists, and some other doctors, to no avail. (see Volunteer/Service Work for more info)</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work:</p>

<p>9th Grade: 30 hours at a Math&Science Camp that I had attended for four years prior; 20 at a Goodwill-esk place
10th Grade: Habitat for Humanity, <20; a kids science museum, ~20; Green Club, ~10; miscellaneous stuff, a few hours
11th Grade: Habitat for Humanity, <20; elderly home, <20; science museum, a few hours; spanish tutoring, a few hours</p>

<p>Because of said debilitating injury (see Athletic Status), I am planning my own 8k race for this summer to donate funds to a local organization. The race plans are far underway, and hopefully it will be successful. I am planning the entire race (funding, paperwork, advertising, etc.) solo. I am doing this as a way to stay involved with running as well as giving back to the community. Hopefully, I can convey this diligence, etc. to colleges.</p>

<p>I am also helping with planning a two week science and math camp targeted at children with need (most are free or reduced lunch). Originally, I was going to do the bulk of it, but now I have partnered with the head of our city school system and some college professors, so I will be working mainly on itinerary planning, teaching, etc.</p>

<p>Honors and Awards: </p>

<p>Valedictorian (though there are ~15; lame, I know)
National Merit Semi-Finalist (Not officially, but will be based on score)
I won this statewide short story contest at the school level (and $100!)
Model UN- Best Delegate of my committee AND Best Delegation in same conference (spring, 2010)
Science Olympiad (all Junior year, regionals): 1st in Protein Modeling, 3rd in Ecology, 3rd in Dynamic Planet (earthquakes, etc)
XC- sophomore, 1st Place in Regionals for JV (by a long shot, should have been Varsity that race); most likely would've received awards Junior year, but had injury; also, if of import, I've ran an 18:30 5k, 5:13 1600m, and 2:12 800m.</p>

<p>College Summer programs:</p>

<p>3-week residential camp, summers pre-eighth (chemistry), ninth (physics), tenth (chem/phys of light)
5 week Governor's School for the Sciences- specialized in Chemistry</p>

<p>Colleges of Interest: (top 3, and then random-ish order)</p>

<p>Princeton University, Duke University, Emory University, Washington University in St. Louis, Yale University, Northwestern University, Vanderbilt University, University of Chicago, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill</p>

<p>Area: East Coast, Southeast
Importance of cost: Important-- I'm really hoping to get full merit ride if possible!</p>

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<p>“I’m really hoping to get full merit ride if possible!”</p>

<p>Make sure you investigate Emory Scholars asap; you are a perfect candidate…</p>

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<p>I am definitely planning on asking for a school nomination! Thanks!</p>

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<p>You honestly had to post in the chances forum? Your perfect in every aspect as a student. Get out and have some fun now bro.</p>

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<p>Let me change it to this: What are my chances for full merit scholarship at these colleges? Duke, for instance, has 20-50 full scholarships for out of state with over 25,000 students vying for them. And Emory has a similar amount, albeit with a smaller competing group.</p>

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<p>UNC has a few scholarships as well, including the Robertson scholarship, which I believe is split with Duke. If you try getting GC nominations now, you will have a better shot. I believe they also have the Morehead Scholarship.</p>

<p>If you’re willing to consider UVA, you might want to look into the Jefferson Scholars program as well; ou sound like a good candidate.</p>

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<p>I will look into UVA, thanks.
If anyone is currently at Princeton/Yale, or has been admitted to full merit scholarship program at any of the other colleges I have listed, your opinion would be greatly appreciated!</p>

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<p>I don’t know if anybody on CC used to be or currently is an admissions officer for any of these schools, but your opinions would be appreciated as well!</p>

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<p>Go for more selective with that perfect ACT</p>

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<p>I mean you can’t get much better than that. However, I do have a question for you. Does your school offer honors/AP clases? Is there a reason you didn’t take any? Or did you just misreport your weighted GPA (4.0 UW & 4.0 W)? Everything looks great, minus that one thing that seems weird to me.</p>

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<p>@akalboy
My school does offer AP, and I will have taken five by this summer (1 soph, 4 junior). We don’t have weighted GPA though… It just asked for weighted on the stats page I copied and pasted this from…</p>

<p>By the way, in case anyone is legitimately wondering if I am ■■■■■■■■ or not, I honestly am wondering about my chances, mainly with the full merit scholarships (such as Emory Scholars) as they are so selective. For instance, I realize my community service is lacking (<50 hours per year) compared to a lot of people, and I also haven’t won any state/national competitions, athletic or academic.</p>

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<p>In terms of aid, top schools have need blind financial aid policies, which may mean you don’t need to win a merit scholarship to attend. However, it’s difficult to chance for scholarships. I’d give you a decent chance at the Emory one, but not so much the Duke, UNC, or UVa, which are all highly competitive and usually geared at kids they’re trying to lure away from HYP (meaning kids with extradinary accomplishments). </p>

<p>I’d add Davidson to your list–they have phenomenal merit aid, and you don’t seem to have any qualms about southern schools.</p>

<p>Still, CCers can’t really chance you for scholarships. A lot of it comes down to how well you vibe with the scholarship committee. As there are rounds of interviews and group discussions with other candidates, there’s an element of personality that comes into play, and that we can’t really gauge online.</p>

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<p>@glassesarechic
I notice in your bio that you’re a hs freshman, ;).
Assuming that’s outdated, you would now be a junior. So what experience do you have with the Duke, UNC, or UVa scholar programs other than word around the block? And for that matter what are some stats of these “highly competitive” students that get in, relative to mine?</p>

<p>Davidson-- I’m not much for small LAC’s. And no, I don’t see any problem with the south, geographically. I’m not inclined to much southern culture though… The “southern” colleges I’m interested in have diverse student bodies and eclectic cultures within and around.</p>

<p>True, true. But if there are any adcoms or current scholars, they can give me advice based on what they see/did to get in.</p>

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<p>buh-bump… buh-bump…</p>

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<p>you won’t even get into the local community college</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>I only have anecdotal evidence, but:</p>

<p>Duke: I know three people nominated this year for the AB. Two were national debate champions, and one was incredibly, almost single-mindedly, devoted to creative writing. To my knowledge, none of these people actually received the scholarship. But this is a scholarship that, from what I’ve seen, goes to those with very focused, accomplished extracurricular activities. Your ECs are great, but they convey more diligence than raw intelligence, and while I’d give you a good chance at top schools (HYP), I wouldn’t say you’re a shoo-in; it would depend on the strength and talents of the rest of the applicant pool and whether or not you fill an institutional need, whereas the kids I know nominated for the AB were all easily accepted to top schools. Remember, the goal of this scholarship is to pull the tippy-top kids from tippy-top schools.</p>

<p>UNC: A kid from my school got the Morehead a few years ago. The application can be deceptive, since it seems to cater to the well-rounded individual (athletic requirements, etc), but this kid was science through and through, and it was only through happy circumstance that he was on the tennis team to fulfill the athletic requirement. His accomplishments were all concentrated in science (biochem) and he was an avid competitor in the top science competitions.</p>

<p>UVa: I don’t know much about this scholarship, but you may be a better candidate for this than the others, as the people I know who were nominated were fairly well-rounded.</p>

<p>Of course, this isn’t statistical evidence; for all I know, the people who actually received these scholarships were more typically well-rounded than the people I know who were nominated. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Davidson hardly lacks diversity, though it gets an unfairly bad rep for a lack of diversity. They do a good job, between merit aid and finaid, of getting kids from all walks of life. The size, however, is a fair reason not to apply.</p>

<p>And just a side note, I’d put your chances at your schools pretty high (YP being the exceptions, for the reason–institutional need–I mentioned earlier). You’re an exceptional candidate, but scholarships can be quirky.</p>

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<p>

Thank ye very much! The info was helpful.</p>

<p>

Ay, true… But then how do I “prove” my intelligence at this point? As far as EC’s go, that Science Olympiad award you see could have gone state or national, but unfortunately one doesn’t move on individually, only as a team in SO.
Personally, I think of myself first as intelligent before well-rounded, diligent, etc.
So… hmm… my taking college multivariable/diff eq senior year? recommendations praising intelligence? superlatives (hah)? IQ tests? -sigh-</p>

<p>Also going to Boys State! (that doesn’t really help me for this case, but still, forgot to mention)</p>

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<p>Your chances for a Duke Robertson or any similar ultra selective elite school scholarship are almost non-existent. While your objective stats are very good, your EC’s are pretty run of the mill. However, you’re certainly a competitive applicant at all of the schools on your list.</p>

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<p>I suppose they are if everyone applying for them are as intrinsically awesome as yourself (so I’ve heard around the forums). And there we go with the “your EC’s are weak” bomb. Does no national awards always equate to “weak?” I was under the impression that colleges valued passion, hard work, etc. -sigh-</p>

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<p>That’s not to say I haven’t any awards whatsoever… Model UN awards, even regionally, are pretty awesome… as are SO… and simply being on a varsity team for 4 years is muy bueno… -more sighs-</p>