A Preemptive Junior Year Chance Thread or: LOOK AT THIS CLEARLY UNUSUAL CHANCE THREAD

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Apologies for the title, but you're here, aren't you? </p>

<p>READ FIRST: My class has something like 150 kids in it, and my school offers – literally – 4 APs. To supplement that, I took (and am taking) a mess of classes at a local community college. I took English 104, American Government, Sociology and a handful of others (Spanish 1, Oceanography), so I’m not just going there and taking art or something. Unfortunately, I’m still not going to have either physics or chemistry (though I will have 3 lab sciences – one at the college level, two AP Bio), and neither pre-calc nor calc.</p>

<p>With all that said... </p>

<p>STATS: </p>

<p>GPA: 3.934 uw (3.7 ish freshman year, 4.0 since).
Class Rank: 10/150 (I know I’m 10th, not positive on the exact # of kids)
SAT: 2050 (750 critical reading, 720 writing, 580 math) – 1 test, average studying. Should go up.
SAT IIs: Lit: 720, World History: 680, Bio (not sending): 580
ACT: Not taken yet, but practice test with no studying was a 29. Assuming that will go up w/ studying. </p>

<p>APs: Biology, Stats, English Lit, US History – was unable to take the Bio test; the other three are in my senior year.
CLASSES: 7 English credits, 4 science (3 labs), 5 math, 5 history/social studies, 4 language (2 thru junior year, presumably 2 next year.)
ESSAYS: I don’t know how to say it without coming off as incredibly pretentious, but I’m really good at writing. My essays are, if nothing else, well written. I wasn’t born in the forest and raised by wolves, but I am pretty adept at scribbling some words on a page.
RECS: One was amazing for sure. One had the potential to be amazing, but I dunno. </p>

<p>Gender: M
Ethnicity: White
Hooks: lol, no. Unless you consider the income to be so low that it’s a hook. </p>

<h2>Financial Aid: Yeah. Lots.</h2>

<p>My Important ECs:</p>

<p>Audition-Based Jazz Band: One of the best jazz bands in the country; played alto, tenor, clarinet. Huge time commitment, and I love doing it.
Wind symphony: selected to the “varsity” band as a sophomore; played 2 years (2 years wind, 2 years jazz… it’s how it works).
National Honors: yeah.
Big Brother, Big Sister
Volunteering: approx. 200 hours
Boys' State
Editor in Chief of School’s newspaper for 1 year; editor and columnist 1.</p>

<p>Summer:
Attended writing classes/seminars at two universities (both respected). </p>

<hr>

<p>List:
Reed
Brown (for kicks)
Pomona (mostly for kicks)
UChicago
Berkeley (out of state)
Vassar
Washington University in STL
Emory
Emory @ Oxford
Wesleyan
Claremont McKenna
Colorado College
Rice
Carnegie Mellon
University of Washington (in state)
NYU
Macalester
Carleton
Whitman
Grinnell
Hendrix
Bard
Bennington</p>

<p>Barring something unforeseen, I'll use my ED on Reed. </p>

<hr>

<p>Thoughts? Opinions? Criticisms? There are quite a few holes in my app for the schools I’m looking at, but I figure I have a decent shot at landing an acceptance to a handful of them. I know some of them are ridiculous, but some of them are reasonable realistic, I think/hope.</p>

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<p>I think you have good chances at Reed RD, so I don’t know if you should apply there ED–if you get into Brown or UChicago, you might regret your decision. I’m not saying you will, because these schools are reaches for everyone and you have never taken any serious math classes, physics or chemistry, which looks kind of bad, but I think that if your essays are very good, you’ll stand a chance at all of your schools.</p>

<p>Reed and UChicago really care about fit, so make sure to show that you are the kind of person they want. I imagine the same applies to Bard, Bennington, Hendrix, Carleton, Wesleyan, Vassar, etc.</p>

3

<p>Your chances are decent all around.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the responses. Really nice to hear from someone who will be attending Reed. The ED situation that Ghostt brings up is interesting, and I’ve thought about it myself, but I think Reed genuinely <em>is</em> my first choice at this juncture, but I’ve only visited for just a standard tour. I’d have a really tough time turning down Berkeley or UChicago if I was lucky enough to get in, though. </p>

<p>Does anyone else have input regarding whether or not to apply the ED strategically to a school that is a massive reach, even though I’m not likely to get in with the ED? I’d love to go to Reed (again, need to spend more time with it), and I’d hate to get rejected from, say, Chicago ED and then rejected RD at Reed.</p>

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<p>Chicago offers EA, not ED. My advice would be to apply EA to Chicago and then, if you’re still set on Reed, ED II to Reed.</p>

6

<p>“… apply the ED strategically to a school that is a massive reach …”</p>

<p>FWIW, Reed is not a massive reach for your stats. :)</p>