Another one of those...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello,
I'm a junior in high school, and, like every other person on this board, I was wondering if I could be chanced. I'll try to be as specific and clear as possible. I also realize that chance threads usually make the OP sound really conceited, so I'm sorry if I come off that way. I'm really not.
Thanks!</p>

<p>Grade: 11
High School Type: Public (very competitive)
Rank: no idea about specific number, but top 3% (300+ people in grade)
GPA: 4.04 (W; not sure for UW)
SAT (I plan on bringing up CR by at least 120, and writing over 750): CR- 600; Math- 760; Writing- 740...no clue how that happened for math!! I suck at math and I'm great at english (and I'm...grammar police -_-)!! hahah :p
SAT II: French Listening- 770 (Taking Math II, Literature, and Spanish in June, expecting nothing below 720)
APs: (our school doesn't offer very many for non-seniors) AP French as a sophomore- 5 (Taking AP Bio, AP Calc AB, AP Spanish senior year...assuming 4/5, 4/5, and 5 respectively for scores)</p>

<p>Gender: Female
Ethnicity: White (Italian), Middle-Eastern (Lebanese), Asian (Chinese), Trinidadian (I realize this combination is weird...but hey, I like it :D)
Geographic location: suburb of MA
Income: middle-class? it's average for where I live
Languages spoken: fluent in English, French, and Spanish; and I taught myself Japanese.
Personality: ....not really sure what to put here. I'm very real and 'self-motivated', I guess. I make people feel comfortable, but I don't mince words. I'm a great interviewee and have been told by several people I'm extremely charismatic. ....again, sorry if I sound arrogant.</p>

<p>Courses: (I am a humanities/language person)
Grade 9
Honors English- A-
Honors Spanish- A-
Regular History- B+
Regular Geometry- B+
Regular Biology- B+
Studio Art I- A-</p>

<p>During freshman year I was recovering from clinical depression (5th to 9th grade, hospitalized for a period of time [around 5 people in my family had cancer at the same time, school issues, eating disorder stuff, etc.]) so my grades obviously weren't stellar. My counselor is mentioning my "medical issue" in her letter to explain the grades. (By the way, everything is 100% better now)</p>

<p>Grade 10
Honors English- A-
Honors Spanish- A
Regular History- A+
Regular Algebra II- A-
Regular Chemistry- A
AP French- A- (5 on exam)</p>

<p>Grade 11 (This is what I have currently)
Honors English- A
Honors Spanish- A+
Honors History- A/A+
Regular Precalc- A
Regular Physics- A+
Speech and Debate (Semester Course)- A-
Studio Art II- A</p>

<p>Grade 12 (Just listing the courses I'll be taking next year
Honors Humanities (Interdisciplinary double-block course. English, History, Art, and Music. Extremely demanding but the best course our high school has to offer).
AP Spanish
AP Calc AB
AP Biology
(Deciding between Honors Art, Drama, Economics [Macro/Micro], and Economics/Sociology)</p>

<p>Recommendations: Two teachers asked me if they could write them (My English teacher of sophomore year/speech and debate teacher of this year and my physics teacher of this year). I know they'll both to a phenomenal job and they know me extremely well. I talk to my guidance counselor frequently and I am sure it will be great.
Essay topic: I have a fantastic topic to use for the common app, and I'm a great writer.
Interview: Like I said earlier...I'm quite charismatic and have no problem with interviews. I am sure wherever I interview it will be beneficial.</p>

<p>Activities: (for the ones that also say 12, I'm assuming they will be continued).
AWARDS: (kind of lacking, but junior year awards are being given in a week and I've been told I'll be receiving a few).
NHS (11, 12)
Spanish NHS (11, 12)
High Honors? (Just for my town) (9-11)</p>

<p>MUSIC:
Piano (11 years; composition, plan on recording pieces over the summer...piano is my life. I literally play for 1-3 hours a day just improvising and playing covers.)
Voice (instruction for 3 years; I sing in an ensemble every Wednesday night)
Guitar (3 years; composition)
Drums (2 years)
Octets (by audition, 12)</p>

<p>COMMUNITY AND SCHOOL SERVICE: (I know it's not a long list but the water project is what I'm really pushing for. These next two things are my leadership things)
Started a clean water initiative (buying and selling stainless steel water bottles, for which I designed the logo as well) to fund the building of biosand filters and borehole wells in Antigua, Guatemala; and Gitwe, Rwanda. I have recruited people from schools in MA, NY, NH, and DC. It goes much more in depth, but at the rate we are going, we will have raised over $100,000 (that's all we need but we hope to go beyond our goal). The state representative has contacted me and wants it to 'piggyback' off of something he is working on. He has invited me to speak at the state house.</p>

<p>Currently working on petition to provide Low-E(mittance) coating for the horrible plexiglass windows of the school. Presenting it to town hall in less than a month.</p>

<p>Volunteered in orphanage in Antigua, Guatemala, for the mentally handicapped (1 week)
Volunteered in hospital (working with kids and as dental assistant) in Quito, Ecuador (1 week)
Volunteered teaching English at a boarding school in rural Beijing over the summer (2 weeks)
Volunteered in Gulfport, Mississippi, for hurricane (Katrina) relief (1 week)
Active member in a service-based youth group (we do many community service projects around town, but they're not significant enough to list individually)
Teacher's Assistant in the English Department of my high school (3 hours/week)</p>

<p>ATHLETICS (lol):
Black belt in Tae Kwon Do (8 years)
....that's it. >_></p>

<p>NEWSPAPER (school newspaper; 11, 12):
Created foreign language section of paper; head writer of section
Copy editor
Comic Artist</p>

<p>ART:
Freelance artwork (I am an avid sketcher and...photoshop...per? I dunno. I'm pretty good though. I donate my sketches at various auctions and they usually go for about $300-400. I also plan on submitting a supplement).</p>

<p>WORK EXPERIENCE:
Self-employed artist; I have designed logos for restaurants, dental offices, and, like I said, the water project.
Summer camp counselor at local theater day camp (25 hours/week)
Babysitting (certified babysitter, lawl...as if that counts for ANYTHING...usually like 2 hours/week)
French Tutor (Grade 10; 3hrs/week)
Spanish Tutor (Grades 10, 11; 4hrs/week)</p>

<p>MUSICAL THEATER:
Grade 9- Chorus (10hrs/week--Jan through March)
Grade 10- ""
Grade 11- Set crew (same times)
Grade 12- (I'm 99% sure I will get the lead, however cocky that sounds. That will probably be like 20-25 hrs/week)</p>

<p>So yeah, activities...I guess there could be more, but I think they're pretty concentrated.</p>

<p>College List (in order of preference):
Yale, Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Wesleyan, Georgetown, Barnard, George Washington, Tufts, Johns Hopkins (maybe Cornell, maybe Stanford [don't know if I want to go all the way to Cali)
Hooks (maybe? not sure if these besides URM count for anything): URM (Trinidadian), legacy at Johns Hopkins (I think. Both of my paternal grandparents went there; my grandma for nursing and my grandpa for his dermatology residency and some big fellowship later on. They are continued donors.), my dad taught at Harvard Dental School for 10 years, my cousin goes to Brown (well, she just graduated. She's very well-known in athletics though), cousin goes/uncle went to Stanford (he was also just offered a director..something job in the medical department of Yale. Not sure if he'll accept), cousin at GW, cousin went to Tufts, cousin at Columbia, very close family friends (different families) who are huge at Harvard (who love me, hahah. They've known me since I was 6 or so. 1 is a law professor there, and the other 4 are incredible donors. Like...billionaires.), family friend is a lit prof. at Yale, uncle did residency at Yale.
Also, diverse background. My mom grew up in an Italian family of 12; her grandparents were fresh off the boat from Italy. My dad was grew up in Lebanon during wartime (but was German-educated??) and had to flee to the U.S. when he was in high school. My paternal grandfather was born and raised in Lebanon/Palestine, and is a world-renowned dermatologist. My paternal grandmother was born and raised in Trinidad, and is also Chinese. I went to a bilingual school (for French) until I was 12, and grew up in a very international household. Again, I have NO IDEA if any of these have any bearing whatsoever. </p>

<p>Plan of action? I will be applying Early Action to Yale (getting all my apps done over the summer...or so I say), assuming either deferral or rejection, so I'll definitely have all of my other applications ready.</p>

<p>Advice on courses would also be appreciated. Thanks so much; I know these threads always make the OP sound extremely arrogant, but...I dunno how else to present myself. I promise, I am not a jerk :p My dream school is Yale, and I know there's like a 0.1% chance of me getting in, but there's always hope !...yeah. Oh, also I dunno if this matters, but at my school it's easier to get into Harvard than Yale, Princeton, or Brown. Of course, it's still an EXTREMELY long shot, but we usually send 4-5 off to Harvard every year, whereas it's generally 1 for Yale, 1 for Brown, and like...1 every 5 years for Princeton. Luckily I don't want to go there, hahah.</p>

<p>Sorry if I sound really pompous :/ And wow this post is long. Also, in relation to my username, shout-out to all the Incubus fans out there :D So yeah! Thanks, and chance away I guess! </p>

<p>(just tried to post it and it didn't work..apology in advance if I accidentally double-posted)</p>

2

<p>H - have no idea
Y - no idea
S - no idea
Columbia - possible waitlist
Brown - possible waitlist
Johns Hopkins - acceptance
Wesleyan - acceptance
Barnard - acceptance
Cornell - acceptance
Tufts - possible waitlist (Tufts Syndrome)</p>

<p>Also, I’m not sure it’s worth the cost/benefit of explaining a string of freshmen year B+s by using clinical depression as the reason.</p>

3

<p>First of all, thanks so much for the reply. I was reading over what I wrote after I had posted it and realized that despite my best efforts, I came off as extremely arrogant, so I apologize for the thousandth time. And it’s hard to read without boldness.</p>

<p>I forgot to mention that the Harvard law prof. at Harvard was very taken with one of my piano performances and will be introducing me to some faculty members in the art and music departments. Will this help at all?</p>

<p>Truthfully, the things I’m most worried about are…well, I’m worried that I haven’t taken all honors (except for next year), and I’m worried about the B+s on my freshman year transcript, especially since they weren’t even in Honors courses. How much does freshman year matter? I know Stanford doesn’t look at that year’s grades. (Also, my counselor isn’t mentioning the depression. She’s just saying that I had a medical issue).</p>

<p>Also, I was wondering about what I should do about my Asian ethnicity. My name is not Asian at all, so I have the option of not checking it off. Should I just put down Trinidadian? Or should I include the other ethnicities? I’ve heard that putting down that you’re Asian will hurt you in some cases, and in others it won’t do a thing. Obviously it differs for each school (i.e. I’m assuming the number of Asian applicants for Georgetown is less than that for Harvard) so I was just wondering what you guys thought.</p>

<p>As for the courses, I’m still not sure about Art as opposed to Drama or Economics/Sociology. I’m really passionate about art, but art class isn’t exactly a great outlet for me. I just don’t know if my not taking it senior year will affect my level of passion on paper.</p>

<p>So, out of curiosity, how can I improve? I definitely see my weaknesses, but I’m not quite sure how I should go about minimizing them. >_></p>

<p>For colleges, I’m wondering if I should add more safeties. I know I have a lot of reach schools, but I don’t know for match/safety, etc. Also I don’t want to apply to more than I need to…judging from the general consensus, applications are very tedious (clearly).</p>

<p>These questions are probably excessive, but I’m just really nervous, as are probably 99% of all juniors. I really want to know how much my freshman year grades will affect me in the running (with the medical information?). Seeing as I’ll really be competing the most with others in my school (obviously), I’m just trying to see what I have/can do that will make up for it, because truth be told, my class is pretty unimpressive besides academics (for the individual). However, despite this being one of its few qualities, it is by far the strongest.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

4

<p>Don’t worry about your courses – what’s done is done. worry about your essay. you’re going to need something that pulls everything together (and by that, I don’t mean, explaining your grades.) </p>

<p>Right now, you come across as very intelligient, somewhat privileged, with some rather cool family connections (the ethnic/racial identity thing is a wash, IMHO.) Like I said, I have no idea whether that’s enough to get you safely across the finish line with Yale or Harvard. I don’t think anyone knows the answer to that. But, you should at least give them a better idea of who YOU are (not your family, not your school, not your nationality) that’s the only thing you can control right now.</p>

5

<p>bump; still wondering about ethnicity. The NHS section of my high school is entirely WASPy/asian. Basically I’m saying that coming from my school, ethnic diversity is huge, so I’m just wondering the best possible angle for that on my application. In short, should I check off the little box that says “Asian” or not?</p>

<p>As for the essay, I don’t plan on explaining my grades.</p>

<p>Another question: I know this has been asked a lot, but I’ve heard mixed answers from people-- what’s the deal with extra recommendations? If possible, I’m definitely going to have one from my tae kwon do instructor, but how much do recs help say, for example, if I were to have one of my family friends do one for Harvard? Is there a limit? I know they get annoyed with a ton, but I always hear of people sending lots in.</p>

<p>Anyone have any thoughts on Georgetown/GW? Also, what bearing does intended major have? I’m thinking Humanities (Languages)/Social Sciences (Economics), but the only place I’ve heard preferences for majors is JHU (non-premed).</p>

<p>Any help at all would be appreciated.</p>

6

<p>last bump, then i’ll let it die…probably make a newer, much more condensed thread in a few weeks. the first post was definitely way too long.</p>

<p>regardless, i’ll gladly chance back if you provide a link.
thanks!</p>

7

<p>Regarding the recommendations, they really only want two. Three max. Sending in a million can get annoying because they have so much to deal with. I heard that Columbia reads your two worst, haha, or two first, or something like that. So pick them wisely.</p>

<p>Yeah, you don’t come across as arrogant, just very high-energy and intelligent.</p>

<p>I’m a black belt too! I stopped before I entered high school though, haha. Maybe I should’ve taken the job offer… what’s done is done.</p>

<p>As for the colleges, I think johnwesley’s list was solid. I think you have a better shot at Harvard since your dad worked there and you have other connections. Do they know any adcoms? And as for your dad, you can mention in your interview that you loved Harvard when you visited it when your dad worked there (if that’s true… or not haha).</p>

8

<p>I think one of your main focuses should definitely be your water project. That’s amazing that you managed to raise so much money! That and your proposal for the school windows really helps showcase your leadership capabilities which is always good.</p>

<p>I would just say bring up your SAT score and you should be good. But I think CR should be your main point of emphasis when you study, as your writing score is already very good. Unless of course you think you can easily raise it.</p>

<p>Overall I would say you are very well-qualified based on your leadership and foreign language skills. But of course it’s impossible to be a good judge for the schools you have. Good luck!</p>

9

<p>first of all, thank you both !</p>

<p>joshcasto: my dad worked there from like…'89-'99 i wanna say. so I would’ve been too young to know…definitely doesn’t hurt though hahah! As for our friends, I’m sure they know people in the admissions dept. I’ll have to check…that’s what summer’s for I guess :p</p>

<p>asha.papillon: yes I definitely plan on focusing on the water project. my dad, who is foreign, and whose third language is english, ironically happens to be MUCH better at critical reading than i am -__- (I really don’t know how that happened. lol.) So he’s been helping me a lot and I feel much more confident. I’ll take the SAT again in October, and in June I’ll take the Lit test (hopefully if I do well on that it’ll make up for my less than adequate CR score?). And yes, I am obsessed with grammar, so I don’t think when I study I’ll focus on that :stuck_out_tongue: Both times I took it I ended up with the same MC score (69) and essay score (11) so hopefully I’ll be able to get above 750!</p>

<p>Does it matter which SATIIs I send in? If I can only send in 2-3, should I send in the ones where I have the best scores or the ones that show a “balance?” (i.e. 2 language ones or 1 language and math or 1 language and lit, etc…)</p>

<p>Thank you both again and good luck!!</p>

10

<p>sure thing</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/720011-chances-awesome-nj-wasp.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/720011-chances-awesome-nj-wasp.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11

<p>Well, I took the Lit test, and I honestly thought it was easier than CR (800 Lit, 730 CR). But that could have been due to a bunch of things. But yeah, doing well on Lit should definitely make up for CR, although it won’t hurt to bring it up to at least 700.</p>

<p>I’ve heard differing opinions on which tests to submit, but I agree with the mentality that you should submit the ones you do the best in. Subject tests are meant to enhance your application, and I think showing that you can truly excel at something is better than showing that you can do decently at a variety of things. Just my opinion though.</p>

<p>Btw I added an explanation of my clubs to my thread, if you wanna go check it out. Thanks!</p>

12

<p>Okay, you need to MILK the fact that you are tri (quad?) lingual. Get good SAT II scores in Spanish and if you can Japanese. That will help mucho. Also, your math “weakness” is made up for by that SAT score. There is one thing you MUST do: IMPROVE THAT CRITICAL READING SCORE! I know you can do it simply based on your other stats, and you are WAAY above a 600. You can easily get a 700. Just try your best and im sure youll succeed. As far as being destined for HYP, that is up in the air and a big reach. Brown, Columbia, and JHU are much more reasonable.</p>

13

<p>I think you have a great chance of getting in. CR needs work but it’s definately possible. YOu seem to have family connections everywhere! take advantage of that! Definately get the scoop on what you can do to improve your chances with each school. I wouldn’t report the “sports” but I would concentrate more on your community service. You had the opportunity to do great things. Talk about it. Make sure you say why you chose to do them. I read somewhere that colleges hate when applicants go oversees a summer before senior year to buid a house for someone without any previous involvement. You’re definately not the case but I would elaborate on what it means to you to participate in all of them and how you can continue all these efforts in college. Your letters of recommendation and essays are very important to make sure to ace them, but other than that I think you’re good to go! =]</p>

14

<p>You’re stuff looks great (especially your ecs/comm service)
You’re solid academically, obviously the CR needs to be brought up, but it sounds like a 720+ is easily within your reach!
Yale, ~25%, ~40% EA
Harvard, ~30%
Brown, ~35%
Columbia,~50%
In at the rest (except for one or two flukes MAYBE)</p>

<p>I think you’ll do fine =D</p>

15

<p>Yale 20%, 35% EA (EA doesn’t give you a huuuge bump, but it does give you a little bump)
Harvard, 20%
Brown, 30%
Columbia, 30% (Columbia actually has a very high rejection rate and is pretty selective)</p>

<p>And I would agree you are in at most if not all of the rest</p>

16

<p>hmm i am not good with percentages at all but I would say you have a pretty good chance at most of them. however, i think that your gpa may be slightly too low for the ivies. it’s great that it has been steadily increasing, however, there are many students who have had straight A’s from the get go. that being said, you have great ECs that I think will help you out a lot. so basically im saying that you will lmost likely get into all of your non-ivy league schools, but may only get in to one of the ivies.</p>

<p>hope this helps :D</p>

17

<p>Ah, thank you all for the replies. I’m assuming I’ll better on the Spanish SAT2 than on the Lit/Math2, but I don’t plan on taking the Japanese one (time constraints)</p>

<p>I definitely plan on talking about the service projects…I know what you mean about those people. For me (like many others) it’s been a part of my life since I can remember. My dad co-founded a non-profit organization before I was born that goes around the world performing corrective surgeries, so I’ve accompanied him frequently (those listed above were just the ones I did while in high school). I might actually be going to Rwanda with him in November, partially for the water project and partially for medical work. For now I’m trying to get the project going in specific colleges where I have family members.</p>

<p>Thanks for the percentages–I was curious as to what you all specifically thought.</p>

<p>I’m still worried about my GPA. I know what’s done is done…but I can’t help thinking it might be what holds me back. I certainly don’t want to write an essay talking about my depression, not that I should, but I really hope that my freshman year grades won’t be taken into account AS HARSHLY because of the “medical issue.” After freshman year I have not gotten below a 4.0 (our GPA is out of 4.5, meaning getting A+ in all honors classes all 4 years). This year, I know for a fact that a LOT of people’s grades (who were previously ranked higher than I was) went down, so I’m hoping my rank will go up.
Also, I was the only sophomore to take an AP class in my grade (which I realize may be common in other schools, but in my school it’s extremely rare). Only AP US History is offered to juniors as a part of a regular course load; one or two people took AP Chem as an elective. But generally people don’t take APs until senior year…people rarely graduate with more than 5 or 6 AP classes.</p>

<p>I’m curious as to what you all think about the whole Trinidad thing. It’s pretty iffy at this point, but is it considered URM (it’s in the Caribbean)? I have dual Trinidadian citizenship, if that matters (well, I’m in the process of getting it). Will that affect my application at all?</p>

<p>Thanks again; I know I have an absurd amount of questions. But hey, everyone does, and what’s the use if they aren’t asked? :)</p>