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>

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<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. :) </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. :/ 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 :D 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. :/ 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. :) 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 :) )
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>