An interesting chances thread?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey guys, I've already posted a similar thread but only got one reply. I have some updates, so I figured I'd give it another shot.</p>

<p>GPA - 3.6 w, 3.4uw maybe not exactly sure; huge upward trend: 3.3 uw freshman, 3.2uw sophomore, 4.0 uw junior. No excuses, no life changing event; I accept I'm at an immediate disadvantage, but I really just grew up a little bit.</p>

<p>Rank: Top 25%. Depressing, I know.</p>

<p>SAT: 2100 first try -- very confident that I can break 2200 October.</p>

<p>SAT IIs: 750 US History, 700 Lit.</p>

<p>APs: US History (5), English Language (5). Plan to take AB Calc and English Lit next year. That's pretty much all my school offers, other than Chem and Bio, but I'm really not interested in the sciences, and unlike a lot of CCers, I'd rather take electives that I'm interested in than take APs that I hate.</p>

<p>EC's/Awards: Probably the more interesting aspect of my application.</p>

<p>-Four years varsity golf, hope to be captain next year. "Most Outstanding Freshman" award.</p>

<p>-Co-captain Mock Trial.</p>

<p>-NHS (much tougher to get into at my school--we also do a lot more).</p>

<p>-I give weekly guitar lessons.</p>

<p>-50 or so hours of CS, probably more once I apply.</p>

<p>-Internship at a law firm this summer.</p>

<p>-"Academic Excellence in English 2006-2007" Award.</p>

<p>However, my strongest EC and focus of my essays will be my band. From my freshman to junior year, I was the guitarist of a rock band. We played over 150 shows in more than five states, wrote and recorded two CDs and sold almost 1,000 copies of them from everywhere to our home town to Belgium to Japan to Bolivia and many countries in between, along with hundreds of t-shirts and other merch. We have over 1,000,000 plays of our songs online, and we draw a lot of kids to our shows, who love to sing along and such. We've played in front of audiences of more than 500 kids, and have put on two benefit shows that have raised thousands of dollars to keep a local venue alive. This year, after all of the hard work invested, we were offered a pretty huge record deal (six figures). Only problem was, the label required extensive touring. The offer happend to come at the same time I was beginning to change academically (see GPA trend above). After a lot of consideration, I made a decision completely on my own to leave the band and continue with school. If this had happend a year ago, I can tell you my decision would have been quite different (and I would want to kill the present day "me").</p>

<p>The teachers giving my recommendations couldn't be better. Two are from my history and English teachers from my junior year, and one is from my world history teacher from my sophomore year (who gave me a B-). The first two teachers never knew me until after my academic change of heart, but my world history teacher knows the "before" and "after." I thought it'd be an interesting representation.</p>

<p>I'm also very confident in my ability to write my essays.</p>

<p>Colleges I'm looking at:</p>

<p>Tufts, Boston College, Colgate, Hamilton, Haverford, plus some more safeties. Maybe Williams, but trust me, after browsing this forum enough, you don't have to tell me how much of a reach it is for me.</p>

<p>Intended major/minor in something like political science/literature.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot guys, I appreciate it.</p>

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<p>ur thread sounds a lot more interesting than generic chances forums..
now, only if u can maintain the same tone in ur essays..</p>

<p>Good for all but Williams and maybeeee tufts</p>

<p>(assuming you do break 2200)</p>

3

<p>Tufts: REJECT
Boston College: In
Colgate: In
Hamilton: In
Haverford: In
Williams: REJECT</p>

4

<p>I love the very direct responses from Gaffe.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot though guys. Anyone else?</p>

5

<p>you might like connecticut college, which is quite similar to the schools you listed (especially hamilton), with their MOBROC (Musicians Organized for Bands' Rights on Campus) organization- here's an article about it </p>

<p><a href="http://aspen.conncoll.edu/camelweb/index.cfm?fuseaction=publications&circuit=cconline&function=view&uid=24&id=813810716%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://aspen.conncoll.edu/camelweb/index.cfm?fuseaction=publications&circuit=cconline&function=view&uid=24&id=813810716&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://connwiki.conncoll.edu/index.php?title=MOBROC%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://connwiki.conncoll.edu/index.php?title=MOBROC&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>A huge record deal would be lots more than 6 figures. Sorry, no chance at Williams or Tufts and the others are a reach.</p>

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<p>Well for a highschooler 6 figures is pretty huge, even getting the record deal was a pretty good success, I mean, a high school band getting a multi-million record deal is pretty scarce, that would be phenomenon</p>

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<p>Name of the band?</p>

<p>And you should've just gone with the band and after you got paid go to college.</p>

9

<p>
[quote]
you might like connecticut college, which is quite similar to the schools you listed (especially hamilton), with their MOBROC (Musicians Organized for Bands' Rights on Campus) organization- here's an article about it </p>

<p><a href="http://aspen.conncoll.edu/camelweb/i...4&id=813810716%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://aspen.conncoll.edu/camelweb/i...4&id=813810716&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://connwiki.conncoll.edu/index.php?title=MOBROC%5B/url%5D%5B/quote%5D"&gt;http://connwiki.conncoll.edu/index.php?title=MOBROC

[/quote]
</a></p>

<p>You know, I've been looking into Connecticut College, but I actually forgot to list it when I posted the thread. The thing is, although I love music and continue to play the guitar, I'm not exactly looking to do much music related in college. I know it might hurt the "focus" and "passion" in my application, but hey. It still shows, in my opinion, tangible success resulting from hard work. Thanks though, I think I'll visit Conn College soon.</p>

<p>
[quote]
A huge record deal would be lots more than 6 figures. Sorry, no chance at Williams or Tufts and the others are a reach.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I figured I'd get a handful of people telling me I had no chance. With my GPA and class rank, that's quite realistic. But I have to disagree with you-- you can't tell me that a six figure record deal isn't impressive for a band full of high school kids. Most don't even leave their garages. Either way, thanks for the input.</p>

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<p>I too am intersted in knowing the name of your band, it sounds awesome for a high schooler to have popularity worldwide!! It'd make a great essay too. </p>

<p>I think colleges really do look at progress and it's good that you have such a dramatic increase - but they're also looking for you to challange yourself - and I see your taking AP courses, but I remember my college councelor told me to be careful with electives. For example, if a prospective business students takes business electives in high school, then they may ask to place out of them in college, which is not good becuase colleges want to teach their business courses their own way - which I hope s helpful for you to keep in mind.</p>

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<p>Definitely don't NOT apply to Williams and Tufts if you like them a lot. You'll only have a less of a chance of getting in if you never send in that application! ;) Good luck, you'll do great wherever you go!</p>

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<p>
[quote]
I think colleges really do look at progress and it's good that you have such a dramatic increase - but they're also looking for you to challange yourself - and I see your taking AP courses, but I remember my college councelor told me to be careful with electives. For example, if a prospective business students takes business electives in high school, then they may ask to place out of them in college, which is not good becuase colleges want to teach their business courses their own way - which I hope s helpful for you to keep in mind.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>No, I know exactly what you mean. When I said that, it probably came off differently from what I really meant. I've taken every AP at my school except bio and chem, which are only available to seniors. I had a full schedule senior year with the option of advanced writing or AP bio or chemistry. I chose advanced writing, and I don't feel that it was the worst decision to make, especially because that's what I'm looking into in college.</p>

<p>And thanks lolabelle, I appreciate that.</p>

<p>My band, for any of you who were interested, is called Our Last Night:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.myspace.com/ourlastnight%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.myspace.com/ourlastnight&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.purevolume.com/ourlastnight%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.purevolume.com/ourlastnight&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The best song up there is probably "Escape." Just as a forewarning, not all of you may like the uh... genre of music.</p>