SAT: 2120 (CR-660, M-800, W-660 Essay:10) CR+M (1460)
SAT II: 780 Math II, 720 Biology M
UC GPA (Capped at 8 Honors) - 4.0
9-11 UW- 3.68
9-11 W- 4.16
10-11 UW GPA- 3.69
10-11 W GPA (Uncapped)- 4.23
UPWARD Trend:
Freshman (8 A’s 4 B’s)
Sophomore (6 A’s 4 B’s 2 C’s)
Junior (13 A’s)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10% (Not sure exactly how I made it LOL, maybe course rigor?)
AP (12 AP’s total (rigorous)):
Chemistry (3)
European History (3)
Calc AB (4)
Physics 1 (3) (LOL)
Spanish Language and Culture (3)
US History (4)
Senior Year Courses:
AP Computer Science
AP Gov
AP Physics C
AP Psychology
AP Calculus BC
Advanced Composition
Major Awards: None are major, but OCMC 5th place (math competition for my county).
Extracurriculars:
Summer@USC Summer Camp (Got an A in the Discover Engineering course!)
JHU CTY- Intro to Java Course
Intern at Social Security Office
Kaiser Hospice Office Intern
Mathnasium Tutor
CSF (3 Years)
Key Club (3 Years)
Spanish NHS
Taekwondo 3rd Degree Black Belt (13+ Years)
1st Place Cal State Open Taekwondo Tournament
Junior Leadership Team for Taekwondo
Taekwondo Instructor Experience (200 Hours)
Volunteer as Taekwondo Instructor (50 Hours)
Technology Director-Spanish Club
Love 2 Read (Library Reading Program)
Teen Advisory Board at Library
AP Scholar With Distinction
600+ Community service hours
Major:
Duke-CS
Hey Jim - I can sense how excited you are to be starting your college journey by applying ED to Trinity. It is a really big first step in the next phase of your life and I wish you all the luck in the world. I want to preface what I am going to say by saying that I am a former admissions counselor for a university that competes directly for students with Duke. In other words, the school I worked for is a Top 20 university. I know many of the people who work in admissions for Duke since we used to run into each other all the time at college fairs, high school visits, etc.
I would like to give you an opinion of your chances are because I can see how anxious and excited you are. But I can’t give you one. And in fact, no one out there can give you one. Because no one out there has the slightest idea what is being said inside the conference rooms at Duke. No one knows if they have 10,000 kids out there applying as CS majors this year making CS incredibly competitive. No one knows what your essays look like and how they resonate with your admissions counselor. No one knows how many people from your area applied to Duke. No one knows how your letters of recommendation read. It’s a complete crap shoot. So that’s why I am going to hijack your topic to say this:
CHANCE ME TOPICS ARE WORTHLESS!
They will give you a sense of false hope or despair. Anyone that comments on them, is only offering their opinion. And they have a 50/50 chance of being right. I rejected plenty of people that had perfect test scores and perfect GPA’s. These same applicants may have had great activities too. But at the end of the day, they didn’t fit into what we wanted in our class. Maybe we already had too many people interested in studying anthropology (or fill in the blank with whatever major you choose). Maybe they had a letter of rec that showed a weakness that concerned us. Maybe their essay’s were too cocky, too boring or too full of mistakes. It doesn’t matter, because we had the power to reject anyone for any reason and we didn’t have to explain to anyone why we rejected them. But I promise you, there was always a reason and it was always a good one.
So, I will tell you this: you have a great chance of getting into Trinity and you have an equal chance of getting rejected. The best thing I can tell you is to look at the threads that are the decision threads. Look at the profiles of the kids that got accepted and rejected. Does your profile compare favorably to theirs? And here’s another warning, this is really sketchy too - who knows if the people on those forums are lying about their rank, gpa, test scores, etc. I know you know this but people lie on the internet. So take it with a grain of salt.
Finally, I hope with all my heart that you get into Duke. But if you don’t, please know that you will find somewhere amazing to go to school. You are a very bright student and you will find a great fit. The one thing I truly believe after being in admissions all these years is that the process works. You will match with a school that fits you. And at the end of the day, it’s all about fit. You’re too young to understand this now, but you will one day.
Best of Luck.
Thank you! Also open to other suggestions too! @universitydude do mind looking over my essays for me?