ch-ch-chances...?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Pomona College
1

<p>it's a chances thread. SORRY! i know pomona is the biggest shot ever. i really like it but my grades/rank are just heinous. so...i don't know. i do like my essay and my letters of rec should be fairly good. unnngh. </p>

<p>GPA:~4.0 weighted (my public HS is top 2 or 3 in cali) my unweighted is 3.68. um...my ranking is 100 something/300 something. i know. i know. but most of my b's are in math/science area.</p>

<p>APUS: 5
AP Bio: 4 (I thought this was okay until I looked at the AP forums!)
AP Calc AB, AP Lit, and AP Spanish Senior year.</p>

<p>SAT I: (only taken once in March, waiting for retake in Dec.): w: 740 cr: 800 m: 670
SAT II:
Lit: 770
US Hist: 770
Math IC: 580 (ouch, long story) shoud I take the IC so as not to leave this blemish on my record? my math is shaky at best.
Writing: 790</p>

<p>Extracurrics:
School newspaper (Section Editor)
National magazine:Served as political correspondent by attending New Hampshire primaries and writing articles on politics)
Soundings School Literary Magazine
ASB (Head Commissioner of Newsletter)
Mosaic Newspaper
Cupertino Historical Society
Stanford Sociology/Psychology intern
Children’s Discovery Museum
Sedgwick Autistic Program (Received Outstanding Service Award)
Yang-Ching Chinese Percussion
Studio 10 Dance
Fong Art Studio
Grail Family services (Illustrated children’s novel to promote literacy)
Villa Montalvo (Received “Exceptional Service Award” )
Key Club
Chinese School
Honors/Awards:
1st prize, Third New Century International Youth Fine Art Contest Committee
Your Magazine—won essay contest; invited to write for the magazine and website, covering the primary elections in New Hampshire
Ladies Home Journal; Wrote article that was published on primary election visit
1st place winner, World Journal International Art Contest (11); Published in newspaper
Poetic Power-in Celebrations of Young Poets book
TeenInk Poetry Journal
Mosaic Journalism workshop-Most Accurate Reporting, accepted into the workshop (only 20 from Bay Area). Work appeared in Nuevo Mundo and San Jose Mercury News</p>

<p>other top choices are wellesley and bryn mawr. yep. all reaches.</p>

2

<p>Well, I say that your chances are ok. Your grades aren't ideal but I feel that you ECs are pretty strong. Pomona does take a lot of students form Cali too. This is probably a cliche, but Pomona chooses students who they believe will be good fits, so your essays and recs do matter quite a bit. </p>

<p>Off topic, but I used to play the Yang-Ching too, which I believe is also called the Dulcimer, haha.</p>

3

<p>dulcimer sounds fancy. very good.</p>

4

<p>Yeah, I would say that you have an okay shot, but I agree with dcrono in that your essays and recs are extremely important. Don't let other people edit your essays down to what they think Pomona is looking for. When I talked to admissions people there, they just kept emphasizing that they are sick of receiving polished apps and essays telling them what they wanna hear, so don't be afraid to let your essays stray a bit from the norm. Also, I would recommend organizing your extracurriculars into categories on a resume to let them know what your top areas of interest are like make a heading that says journalism and then list your achievements in that area and then do the same for fine arts, psych, etc. I got into Pomona with grades that were a little lower than yours, SATs a little higher, SAT IIs a lot lower, and ec's about the same, but I really think that it was my essays and recs that did it. Anyways, don't worry too much about numbers and work on the personal stuff. Good luck!</p>

5

<p>Thanks. Yes, on my app my ecs are organized into categories w/ writing at the top. I hope my recs are good. I think one might be a little generic but the other two should be great. Really appreciate the advice!</p>

6

<p>I'm very impressed by your ECs as will, I believe, the three schools you named (one of which is my alma mater--Wellesley). Good luck!</p>

7

<p>Thanks. I'm hoping my ecs will help tip the balance. Isn't Wellesley a great school?</p>

8

<p>It definitely is, although others might differ. ;)</p>