brutally chance me

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello, I am currently a senior and am super worried about my chances for admission. I am getting the college admission heebie jeebies right now, and I would like your help in warding off the anxiousness. Comments will be greatly appreciated!

I applied to Emory, Boston College, BU, UMich, Vanderbilt, Claremont McKenna, NYU, Notre Dame, USC, Tufts, Northwestern, Georgia Tech, Cornell, and the list goes on.

Major: Biology or Computer Science

SAT score: 1450 (superscored)

GPA: 91.56 unweighted, 95.588 weighted
Class size: 500
Rank: We don’t rank, but I’m guessing top 10%.

Courses:
I will have taken 13 APs by the end of my senior year.

  • AP Biology (4), AP World (4), AP US Government (4), AP Chem (3), AP Language (2), AP Calculus AB (3), AP Physics (2), AP Computer Science Principles (3).

Current Senior Course Load:

  • AP Stat
  • AP Computer Science A
  • AP Literature
  • AP Calculus BC
  • AP Spanish
  • Honors Anatomy
  • Online Econ (2nd semester, extra class)

All of my other classes were Honors classes except for:

  • PE, Health, Intro to Art, Online USH

Activities:

  • GIS (secretary and VP)
  • National Honor Society (11, 12)
  • Mu Alpha Theta (11, 12)
  • National English Honor Society (12)
  • Rho Kappa (11, 12)
  • UNICEF (9-12)
  • FBLA (11, 12)
  • School-sponsored Tutoring (10-12)
  • National Spanish Honor Society (Nominee)
  • National Art Honor Society (Nominee)

Awards:

  • QuestBridge College Prep Finalist (11th)
  • QuestBridge National Match Finalist (12th)
  • GHP Engineering Nominee (11th)
  • AP Scholar Award with Honor (x2) (10th, 11th)
  • National Spanish Exam Bronze (9th)
  • Honor Roll (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)
  • NCWIT Nominee (12th)

Work experience:

  • Work at a local office for 4 to 5 hours a day (for 7 days/week)
  • Own a pet-care business (babysits pets for 2 to 6 weeks at a time, 24/7)
  • Tutor peers in my free time (2 hrs at a time 3 days/ week)
  • I also work for my neighbors when they need help with creating documents and stuff like that

Hooks:

  • Low income ($23,000/yr)
  • Single parent household
  • Passionate about lupus (mother suffers from it) and I have done small research on this disease
  • Asian girl
  • Trilingual, learning Chinese
  • Goes on business trips for job sometimes

I’m extremely worried for the regular decision round because my first semester senior grades aren’t looking too hot. I know I will end up with a C+ in AP Stat (teacher graded quite harshly this year) and a B in AP Calculus BC (teacher was also hard).

I was accepted to GSU, UAB, and LSU (and their Honors Colleges, too). I participated in the QuestBridge National College Match, but did not match. I was also deferred from UChicago EA.

If you have any questions, please let me know by commenting!
Thank you!

2

pls

3

Which schools did you list on your Questbridge app. ?

4

I think the best chance school is BU. BC possible as well although that’s not the best for STEM.

Standardized scores are relatively mediocre for schools like Vandy, Cornell, and Northwestern. Consider those high reach.

The STEM AP scores are mediocre as well except for Biology.

5

I think that you are a strong candidate for admission to BU, Emory, UMich, NYU, & USC among your listed schools.

Georgia Tech considers state residency in the admissions process. Northwestern is a reach and unlikely.

Your AP scores are a bit on the low side.

6

@crescat - you have great scores and grades and there’s not much “wow” in your ECs. You’ve applied to some very tough schools and some slightly easier ones. The problem with “chancing” for competitive universities is it’s all guesswork. You have a chance but having someone on CC say “sure - you’ll get in!” or “you’re screwed!” would be totally bogus at this point - so much depends on what the school is looking for this year, who else applied and how your applications hits the admissions committee. Your senior grades may make admissions at the more elite schools tougher but that’s water under the bridge. At this point there’s nothing you can do - you have already applied and your grades are in - so rather than asking for chances that mean nothing start focusing on the future you know you have. You are already into 3 good schools which I assume were your likelies. I would put your anxiety about the other applications in a mental “box”, close the lid and start looking at the good things about the honors colleges you are already accepted to. As/if you get into other schools you can focus on those. It’s a long time from now until April 1, get yourself off the hamster wheel of applications anxiety and live your life. I hope you have a happy holiday season.

7

CS is a tough major at Georgia Tech. Because you applied to GSU, I will assume that you are a resident of Georgia. Even so, CS at Tech is a reach.

BC is should give you good news, in my opinion.

8

Brutally? Begging for some punishment are you? Think you can take it?

ZERO! Take that you miserable …

I challenge anyone to be more brutal than that!

LOL
(just kidding about the Zero kid. I have no idea what your chances are, but your record looks pretty decent)

9

BC ea average admitted this year was 1478 sat and 34 act which included all the recruited althletes which brings this down slightly from the average non hooked applicant profile. The acceptance rate overall this year is projected to be 23 percent down from 27 percent. And extra 6000 applicants applied ea. Taking projected application totals from approx 31000 to 37000 applicants for 8200 admissions for 2100 seats.

I think you are super competitive for all schools. And hope BC is a yes. I would personally be more confident for BU for you. But I would be not be surprised by you getting into any of the schools you’ve chosen.

On the bright side at BC. Your economic status being Pell grant eligible may be a big hook this year. I feel that their increased hyper selectivity was offset in the national rankings by the low number of pell grant students in the new usnwr formulas. I think it pissed them off. So much higher average profiles will be supplemented by pell candidates. That’s good for you. You are both a really strong candidate and a quiet hook. (Please note. These are all simply my hypothetical musings only.). Also not good at stem is bs. No engineering school (that’s coming in two years already announced ). They are opening the new and state of the art integrated sciences school. Launched a new neuroscience major this year and global health major. They are not weak in stem excluding the engineering of course.

10

You should get into BU, probably BC, and I think Tufts and Cornell are at least 50/50. You already have some acceptances so you’re going to college, pat yourself on the back for all your hard work and keep your fingers crossed if there’s a particular school on that list that’s a favorite :slight_smile: You just never know!