<p>I was wondering if anyone could comment on my chances as a prospective freshman for the class of 2012. I took my first two years at a public high school in the Twin Cities. During my Junior and Senior years, however, I took all of my classes at the University of Minnesota. Both of my recommendations are from teachers at UMN (1 professor and 1 TA). I'm a white male from suburban Minnesota.</p>
<p>Academics
ACT: 32 (taking it again in June)
GPA (high school): 3.8 UW
GPA (UMN): 3.9 UW
Class Rank: 16/380</p>
<p>Band - 4 years
-Trombone (won State Superior Contest Rating 3x, First Chair, Section Leader, All-Conference)
-Electric Bass (Jazz Band Section Leader, won recognition at college jazz festival)
-Caribe (Local Salsa Band, performs around Twin Cities)</p>
<p>Theater - 4 years
-8 School Productions (Acting)
-2 School Productions (Pit Band)
-Letter (2x)</p>
<p>Govt/Politics
-Finance Intern for US Senate Campaign
-Friendship City Commission (City Commission that conducts relations with our sister city in Costa Rica, Youth Member)
-Boys State (Elected to State Office, Chief Editor of Newspaper)</p>
<p>Work
-Lifeguard at Local Water Park (2 years, 15 hrs/week)</p>
<p>I'm planning on applying to:
Yale (EA)
Amherst
Brown
Swarthmore
Brandeis
Clark University
University of North Carolina--Asheville
William and Mary</p>
<p>All of your help is greatly appreciated. I know it's a lot of info and your help is really great. Also if anyone can think of anywhere else to apply I would appreciate it.</p>
<p>Assessment: Your ACT score is decent, but could be higher for Yale. Your GPA is also a little low, but that’s mitigated by your class rank I think (you’re in the top 5%). ECs are quite good; your music and Boys State leadership as well as your senate campaign internship help substantially. Overall:</p>
<p>Yale (EA) - Reach w/ ~20-30% chance of acceptance
Amherst - Low Reach/High Match w/ ~55-70% chance of acceptance
Brown - Low Reach w/ ~50-65% chance of acceptance
Swarthmore - Same as Amherst
Brandeis - Low Match w/ ~75-90% chance of acceptance
Clark University - Safety w/ ~95% chance of acceptance
University of North Carolina–Asheville - Same as Clark
William and Mary - Match w/ ~65-80% chance of acceptance</p>
<p>Hey stemps! Thanks for chancing me … you played the same card as I did last week (The Chance Me and I’ll Chance You Card) </p>
<p>Your GPA is solid, but I can’t tell if you actually took any APs or Honors. If you did APs or Honors, that would help more with admissions. If your school doesn’t offer AP/Honors, I highly recommend that you take classes at your local community college so that you can show colleges that you like to challenge yourself. Your ACT score is very good, as it puts you in the Top 1%-2% of the US. Your class rank of about Top 5% is also nothing to scoff at (mine would be very low … at least my school doesn’t rank at all!!) Your ECs are pretty typical … as you did the Music + Theatre + Sports route (a difficult combo), but you were involved with gov’t and politics. That’s good. However, if you want to go to a top school like Yale, it would have been safer if you were part of an academic club (say, Q Bowl, etc). </p>
<p>Overall, you’re a pretty good student. </p>
<p>**Chances: ***I don’t know most of the schools you’re applying to, so I’ll just chance the ones I’m familiar with. *
Yale EA: High reach
Brown: Reach (emphasize your theatre experience and how much you love it in your essays … they’ll like that … and it’s an ivy so it’s a reach for almost everyone)
UNC-Asheville: Why? </p>
<p>And … UNC-Asheville??? You’re pretty good! Go to UNC-Chapel Hill! It’s the flagship campus!</p>
<p>-All of my core academic classes have been honors. I took AP World Hist (only AP available to sophomores) my Sophomore year and got a 3. Since then (Junior and Senior year) I have taken all of my classes at the University of Minnesota (not exactly Ivy League, but its reputation is growing and a 3.9 there looks a lot better than a 4.0 at my high school).</p>
<p>-By the way, my grades at UMN aren’t weighted at all, so even if I got a 4.0 there I probably wouldn’t make the top 10.</p>
<p>-I guess my participation at UMN is kind of like an academic club - it’s actually through a state-funded program called PSEO.</p>
<p>-UNC Asheville is beautiful, small, undergraduate-focused, and cheap. I’m really not into the huge university scene at UNCCH, and I’d probably be a good candidate for scholarship money, too.</p>
<p>Your GPA and ACT scores are wuite impressive and its nice to find another band member!!! Your ECs are also quite good (who’s sente campaign? Klobuchar?) but at the ivies, who knows? Try to mpossibly add a few more ECs or try to win a medal in track (I wish I had time for that…). Sadly, one thing all of us caucasians have working against us is simply our skin color but w/e. Anyway, good luck!!!</p>
<p>Yale (EA) - high reach
Amherst - high match
Brown - reach/high reach
Swarthmore - high match
Brandeis - match
Clark University - safety
University of North Carolina–Asheville - safety
William and Mary - safety</p>
<p>what??? no minnesota schools :)</p>
<p>good luck stemps. </p>
<p>p.s. are you in the running for National Merit?</p>
<p>Nope, my PSAT scores were anything but spectacular (I got a 190 I think). Interestingly enough, I got a 32 on my ACT. I guess it’s just about finding the right test for you.</p>
<p>Yale (EA) - high reach
Amherst - high match
Brown - reach/high reach
Clark University - safety
University of North Carolina–Asheville - safety
William and Mary - safety</p>
<p>these are just the ones i know but you are defs a good applicant.. find some more low reaches like rice vandy? idk</p>