academically qualified?!?!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Smith College
1

<p>Okay, the dreaded (and obnoxious) chance me thread. Admissions is a crapshoot, that much I realize. But am I academically qualified? </p>

<p>Asian female
Type of school: Large Public (2700 students); random fact: Hilary Clinton is an alumna (haha....)
GPA : 4.38/5 ...don’t know unweighted
Rank: 30/657
Extracurriculars:
- COACH 10-12 (volunteer tutor at high school)
- Brotherhood 10-12 (service organizational group); also a Board Member for Brotherhood organizing soup kitchens
- Key Club 10-12 (service)
- Hawk Pride Leader 11-12 (service; school leader, give out monthly lessons on ethics, morals, respect, school issues to lower classmen)
- Model UN (11-12)
- Constitution Team (12) <-- this is going to be a huge time commitment, ate up my summer
- Volunteer for Campus Kitchen at Northwestern University 10-present
- did 60 hour unpaid pharmacy technician internship at Walgreens
- Hawk Honor Card 11-12 (given to students who miss less than 8 days of school per year, with a GPA of 3.5+, a leadership position, and good character)
- National Honor Society
- Zoetrope Film Society (Co-founder)
- Equinox Literary Magazine (judge)</p>

<p>Achievements:
not many..................
- Spanish poem published in Reaching (school’s foreign language literary magazine)
- Founder & President of Zoetrope Film Club </p>

<p>Awards:
- English Department Award: Student of the Month (Jan of 10th grade)
- Perry Rose History Award (11th grade; probably the only big award I've actually won during my entire hs career thus far.)</p>

<p>OTHER:
- I took a summer course at University of Chicago ("American Fiction in the 19th Century" with Professor Veeder, who's a fairly well known literary critic on Henry James and other gothic lit).
- I work as a tutor at Kumon.</p>

<p>Classes taken:</p>

<p>FRESHMAN YEAR</p>

<p>World Cultures Accelerated A A
Algebra II A A
Spanish I A A
English I Accelerated A A
Biology Accelerated B B
Intro to Business A A</p>

<p>SOPHOMORE YEAR </p>

<p>AP European History (3) B A
English II Accelerated A A
Chemistry Accelerated B B
Accelerated Geometry/Trig B A
Spanish II A A
Journalism PASS (A)</p>

<p>JUNIOR YEAR
AP US History (4) A A
English III Accelerated A A
(AP Eng Lit & Comp 5)<br>
Accelerated Math Analysis B B
Physics Accelerated A B
Spanish III A A
Pharmacy Technician Internship PASS (A)</p>

<p>SENIOR YEAR
AP English
AP Calculus BC
AP Bio
AP Economics
AP Comp. Government
Spanish IV</p>

<p>ACT: 30 (only took it once, but will take it again).
SAT REASONING: Will take in the fall.
SAT II's: (also took all of them once; will probably retake)
Literature- 670
Korean w/ listening- 770
US History- 650</p>

<p>Basically, I know my stats are pretty mediocre and asking about my “chances” is pretty ridiculous since the whole admissions process is a crapshoot, but I guess I can’t help but post another obnoxious chances thread.</p>

<p>I know the info I've provided doesn't give a holistic picture of what my application will look like, but what are some weaknesses that I could work on (improving my ACT score being one). I'm going to take the SAT Reasoning in the fall and I'm retaking some subject tests too.</p>

<p>Oh, I'm also an intended English major. I definitely want to double major or at least minor in Art History as well.</p>

2

<p>MSHP, if Smith is your top choice and you don't need a lot of aid, then you have everything to gain by applying ED. It might give you application an edge.</p>

<p>No one here can determine whether you're "academically qualified," although I don't see anything that automatically rules you out. In fact, I see a lot of good things, especially on the EC front. If you get excellent recommendations and work on your application, I'd say that you have a decent chance of being admitted.</p>

3

<p>I would NEVER apply anywhere ED if I needed a lot of aid. I know far too many horror stories.</p>

4

<p>Right. Applying ED, you're locked into whatever FinAid is offered, you can't compare offers and you don't have other offers that might prompt a reassessment. </p>

<p>FinAid wasn't the top of our requirements but neither could we afford to ignore it.</p>

5

<p>Oops! I forgot the negative, Mini! I'm going back to edit. Sheesh. (Why I typed "have need" instead of "don't need" is beyond me.)</p>

6

<p>it's not so much that admissions is a crapshoot, but that the people on this board are not admissions professionals, and unless you're ridiculously over or under qualified, we can't always offer assurances that are as iron clad as most of the posters seem to want. </p>

<p>Okay, now that I've said that, I don't know why you're being so down on yourself. Your stats seem perfectly respectable to me, within the parameters smith looks for/me and my peers had coming in. I think you've got a pretty good chance, and a good interview or essay will probably make your stats stand out from the pool.</p>