Another one of these, I'd appreciate a chance or two :)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Williams College
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<p>Hey guys,
It would be great if you could chance me.
I know no one can reliably predict a decision, but lately I've been really worried about my chances at Williams (I posted this thread on Amherst's forum as well, but Williams is my first choice).
Thanks for your time!</p>

<p>Applied Early Decision to Cornell Human Ecology for the HBHS (Human Bio, Health, and Society) major and got deferred.
My parents are Russian-Jewish immigrants, and I speak Russian at home.</p>

<p>SAT: 720 CR, 780 Math, 800 Writing
SAT IIs:
790 Biology E
760 World History
750 Spanish (not with listening)
680 Chemistry
640 Math I (took it freshman year)</p>

<p>GPA: 96 unweighted (my school does GPA's out of 100) doesn't rank, and doesn't weight.</p>

<p>Classes:
Freshman Year:
Earth Science (required, didn't offer advanced when I was a freshman)
Honors English 9
Math 11-1Y (two years accelerated math)
Honors Global (world history) 9
Spanish 2A (honors)
Music Theory</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
AP World History
Honors Precalculus (two years accelerated math)
Chemistry X (the options were Regular Biology, Enriched Biology, or Chem X and Chem X was the hardest option available in the sciences)
Spanish 3 (choices were Spanish 3 and 3B, 3 being the more advanced option)
Honors English 10
Science Research</p>

<p>Junior Year:
AP Biology
AP Calculus BC (two-years accelerated for my school)
AP US History
British Literature (most advanced English class for juniors)
Intermediate Spanish (college-level Spanish, through University in High School program at SUNY Albany)
Health (requirement)
Human Physiology (1/2 year elective)</p>

<p>Senior Year:
AP Economics
Mandarin Chinese 1 (first year my school offered the language to any students)
AP Literature and Composition
AP Physics B (considered toughest class in our school, the teacher is tough and the school doesn't offer Physics C)
Calculus 3/Linear Algebra (still 2 years accelerated)
AP Spanish</p>

<p>I had PE every year, so I had a full schedule with one free each year.</p>

<p>AP Scores:
AP Biology: 5
AP US History: 5
AP World History: 5
I canceled my AP Calc BC score because I was pretty sick that day and did poorly.</p>

<p>Awards/Honors:
Toshiba ExploraVision Contest Honorable Mention (10th grade)
Spanish Department Award for Excellence in College-level Spanish
AP Scholar (eh, I got it so might as well list it)
New York State Scholarship for Academic Excellence
NY State Math Honors Society Inductee (also an EC, but I won't list it again)</p>

<p>EC's:
I'm not going to list all of them since it's really pointless to do so on CC so I'll put my main ones.
Worked for two summers 3 days a week for 9 hours a day at a local endocrinology clinic as a checkout person, I took copayments, helped with patient issues, scheduled/rescheduled appointments. I also got to shadow a couple doctors there a few times to see what it was like to be an endocrinologist.</p>

<p>Volunteered at the local hospital for 3 summers (9th, 10th, 11th), ended up shadowing a couple doctors there as well a couple times</p>

<p>Co-President of school Masterminds team, member for four years (sort of like Quiz Bowl)</p>

<p>Piano for 12 years, performed some high-end pieces at recitals each year.</p>

<p>Those are the main ones, the others aren't as important. Basically, I listed the ones that take up most of my time.</p>

<p>Essays were definitely on unique topics, kind of quirky, but also a bit long.
One teacher rec should be spectacular, the other one I don't really know.</p>

<p>So, yeah, there's my cliched chance thread, please don't berate me for posting one, I truly couldn't resist.</p>

<p>Good luck to all! And sorry for the REALLY long post!</p>

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<p>Aww, no replies?</p>

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<p>I think you have a very strong shot.</p>

4

<p>Wow, really? That’s so good to hear… this is my top choice school.
Thank you!
Any other opinions?</p>

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<p>Chandler, you from around Albany somewhere? My son had more or less same schedule you did, roughly comparable scores, etc and got in ED–He was school and premiere soccer player and school and premiere orchestra (wasn’t recruited for either soccer or music), but you seem to have a ton of EC’s–I’d say you have a pretty decent shot</p>

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<p>You’re definitely in range in terms of SAT 1 and grades. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>What I, however, really really liked was “Worked for two summers 3 days a week for 9 hours a day at a local endocrinology clinic as a checkout person, I took copayments, helped with patient issues, scheduled/rescheduled appointments.” That’s going to make you stand out from other applicants who have the same sat/grade range. That’s a pretty unique summer experience – internship in an endocrinology clinic. (are you planning to go pre-med?)</p>

<p>Even though your class schedule isn’t studded with that many AP’s, I see that you are indeed taking the hardest classes that are available. I feel like you have a very solid chance at getting in. Really, the only slight deterrence I see is that other unsure rec. :confused: But overall, I really feel like you have a very good shot. </p>

<p>p.s. are you a language-phile like me? I’ve also mastered two languages (korean and English), conversational in spanish (took AP Spanish like you), and trying to learn another language or two. <em>coughRussiancough</em> It would be awesome if we both went to Williams and taught each other new languages. :)</p>

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<p>grundoon- Yeah I am, congrats to your son! He actually sounds exactly like a kid I know, might be the same person.</p>

<p>limetime: Yes I’m a huge language-phile! I know Russian and English, Spanish more or less fluently (some days are better than others, but I can definitely hold a conversation), and I started taking Chinese this year! Korean must be awesome to know, all I know in it is “sarang hae” haha. Hmm Russian is a really tough language grammar-wise, I make mistakes with it often unfortunately.
Absolutely! Williams is my top choice, so I’m really hoping to get in. Congrats on your Early Write, btw, that’s awesome.</p>

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<p>Oh and yes, limetime, I’m planning on doing pre-med.</p>

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<p>hahah I’m planning to do pre-law or at least some sort of preparation for law school :smiley: my my aren’t we all a bunch of pre-professionals. </p>

<p>Thanks for the congrats! I really, sincerely hope to see at the Previews weekend (and I think you have every chance to be there.) I also take Chinese calligraphy, we could teach each other so many things! lol :)</p>

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<p>Haha, wow, applying to LACs as pre-professionals are we? I guess I can call myself a pre-professional with liberal arts tendencies. Without foreign languages in college I will DIE.</p>

<p>I hope to see you there, too. If I get into Williams, there is almost no doubt that I will go. Calligraphy, nice! My Chinese class is averse to writing characters, so we generally learn a lot of vocabulary and some characters to read, but very few to write. So I’ve only ever used a pen to write the characters, and have learned to love pinyin!</p>

<p>Just curious: were your stats a lot better than mine? You got an Early Write, meaning that you must have pretty much blown me out of the water!</p>

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<p>to be very honest, no. :confused: I really don’t see much difference!</p>

<p>My stats are:
2310 SAT (780 CR, 770M, 760 W)
3.93 UW 4.73 W (probably translates to about 95-96?)
Courseload: I did take a ridiculous amount of AP’s (total of 8 by end of junior year, will be 14 by end of my senior year), but only because our school offers a gazillion. Like, literally. >_>
ECs: Captain of debate team, president of Spanish Honor Society, vice-prez of philosophy club. Several national honor societies. Mock Trial. School’s small and not well known honor program.
Volunteer hours: around 550 total, most are from my church and my summer volunteering at the State’s Attorney’s office.
Violin/Viola for 9 years, co-principal Viola at a local orchestra.
uhm…no real major awards. ^^; National AP Scholar?
Female, Asian. </p>

<p>Nope. I’m not seeing any big differences. I can make parallels almost everywhere. And I definitely did not do something as unique as volunteering at an endocrinology clinic. :/</p>

<p>[edit] Learning Chinese calligraphy can be very…patience-training. For a few weeks you do nothing but train your posture, handgrip, etc. :slight_smile: I do like it because it clears out everything else from my mind though. And yes, we really do use a brush and ink. :D</p>

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<p>I think your chances are really solid. You seem to have a lot of passion and commitment. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Your stats are fantastic though, the 14 AP thing is super-impressive, but yeah, the earliest you can take AP’s in my school is sophomore year and you can only take AP World History.
Haha I worked at the endocrinology clinic (as in got money :P) The volunteering was at the hospital.
That is so awesome!!! I wish I could do Chinese calligraphy, but the language itself is more fun for me :P</p>

<p>Thanks, TheWerg, I really hope I get in.</p>

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<p>Большое спасибо! (I only know this because of Google translate. haha :slight_smile: )
I know different schools have different rules about APs, but it definitely seems like you are taking the hardest course-load possible. And working at an endocrinology center is even better than volunteering because it shows that they took you very seriously. Best of luck! :)</p>

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<p>Hahaha, even spelled correctly! (I epic fail at spelling things in Russian becuase nothing is spelled like it sounds!)
Yeah, I took as many as I could get my hands on (except AP Stats, but I think 4 AP’s senior year plus Linear Algebra is sufficient…)
I really hope you’re right! Getting into Williams would be the best day of my life.</p>

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<p>You’ll be fine, I got in with less impressive stats than you did. But then again my essay was beyond spectacular.</p>

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<p>you’re a really strong candidate, I’d say you have a very good shot. Not only academics, but EC’s as well. No sports though?</p>

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<p>Yeah, the only sports I had were tennis lessons for a couple years but I decided not to include that since it was 8th grade and freshman year and wasn’t really impressive at all…
No sports unfortunately.</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t worry about it, you’re in good shape. best of luck!</p>

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<p>I didn’t do sports either; it’s certainly not a requirement by any means.</p>