Ah yes... another "Chances" thread

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>As a high school junior stressing out INSANELY over college, I feel like all the advice people give me when it comes to college is biased - perhaps because they know me well. To that end, I decided to ask total strangers who have no idea who the heck I am!</p>

<p>ABOUT ME:
-1st generation American citizen, born in India
-Father went to MIT Sloan School for professional degree
-Looking at targets like Johns Hopkins and Northwestern, reaches like.. Ivies. My dream school is either Columbia University or Williams College.</p>

<p>GRADES: (my school doesn't give out A+'s)
-High Honor Roll (e.g. maintaining unweighted GPA of 3.6) all years
--Unweighted GPA of 3.62 and Weighted GPA of 4.01
--Unweighted GPA of 3.82 and Weighted GPA of 4.42
--Unweighted GPA of 3.75 and Weighted GPA of 4.73
-My school doesn't rank but I'm a lock for top 5% in a class of about 400</p>

<p>-FRESHMAN YEAR: Modern World History Honors (A-), French 2 Honors (A-), English 1 Honors (A-), Environmental Science Honors (B+), Geometry CP1 (B+)</p>

<p>-SOPHOMORE YEAR: AP US History I (A-), French 3 Honors (A-), English 2 Honors (A), Biology Honors (A-), Algebra 2 CP1 (A)</p>

<p>-JUNIOR YEAR: AP US History II (A-), French 4 Honors (A-), AP English 3 (A-), Chemistry Honors (A-), Precalculus Honors (B+), AP Environmental Science (A), AP Statistics (A)</p>

<p>-SENIOR YEAR: AP European History, AP French, English 4 Honors, AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, Bionuclear Chemistry, Organic Chemistry (will be taking AP Bio, Calc AB, Euro, and French exams)</p>

<p>SCORES:
-PSAT: 233 (78 math, 80 reading, 75 writing)
-SAT I: 2340 (800 math, 780 reading, 760 writing)
-SAT II Literature: 780
-SAT II Biology: 760
-SAT II Math II: 770
-SAT II US History: 800
-SAT II French: 770</p>

<p>-AP US Exam: 5
-AP Envi Sci: 5
-AP Statistics: 5</p>

<p>HONORS:
-National Honor Society
-National French Honor Society
-National Science Honor Society
-National Merit Finalist</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS:
-Volunteer weekends at Gurudwara (place of worship of Punjabi Sikhs) preparing meals and cleaning the dining hall post-service
-Humor Editor/contributor for school newspaper
-Member of the Environmental Genomics Institute, a nonprofit organization made up of scientists/professors currently researching shrimp metal levels and allergies, headquartered at Boston College
--Spend breaks from school up at BC doing lab work with EGI members
--Spend summers abroad in Ecuador helping the doctors collect shrimp samples
--Coauthored a research paper published by the Institute; of seven authors including myself, five were PhDs</p>

<p>This is the same me colleges are going to see. What do you guys think are my chances of admittance at places like Hopkins? Columbia?</p>

<p>Thanks a lot, any responses--good or bad, I don't care, as long as they're constructive and honest--would be hugely appreciated!</p>

2

<p>I’d say you’re definitely in at your matches…Northwestern and Johns Hopkins, even though Northwestern has a record low admissions rate of something like 20%</p>

<p>Your grades are pretty solid but not magnificent, but I think your ECs are pretty ridiculous (and these days, I’d say they matter more than grades to make you stand out.) They show you’re extremely passionate and good at what you do. Your test scores are really good also.</p>

<p>For these reasons, I’d say you have a great shot at Williams and Columbia (low reaches? they seem to be a reach for just about everyone.) I’d even look at more schools of this caliber because I’d bet you get in.</p>

3

<p>what’s your cumulative gpa?
i’d agree you’re a good match for jhu and northwestern. columbia is columbia so it’s kind of a crapshoot for anyone. williams is probably a low reach.
you probably want to add another reach and a safety onto your list. get good teacher recs and do well on your essays and i’m sure you’ll be successful :)</p>