Chance a "bright slacker" por favor?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Hey guys, I have always been lurking these forums but I have just made an account today. I'm really stressed out about college applications and I'm wondering if you guys have any ideas on where I should be applying to. Also below are my stats and the colleges I've been looking at. I realize I don't have a great chance at most of them.</p>

<p>GPA</p>

<p>Fresh UW: 3.16 (Hardest classes possible except I took accel spanish)
Sophmore UW: 3.16 (Same as above)
Junior UW: 3.5 (Took AP Chem, AP World, Hon pre-calc, Hon Physics, AP English)
Senior 3.66 (AP Calc AB, AP Physics 1, Hon Gov, Hon Robotics, AP English) </p>

<p>Class rank: Decile 2, or within 20%. My school does not post class rank on the transcripts :) </p>

<p>Sats</p>

<p>Math:770
Cr:780
Writing:700</p>

<p>Subject tests:
Chem: 710
Math II: 720 (Another result comes back on the 20th)</p>

<p>ECs</p>

<p>Music:
Lab Jazz Band (pretty much JV Band) alto sax. Accepted into Jazz Band Sophomore Year for Tenor Sax but didn't join. Joined Jazz Band junior year playing alto and soprano sax, our section won best sax section out of 15 schools. This only happened at one out of many competitions.</p>

<p>Sports:
Freshman soccer and JV soccer.
Track fresh, soph, junior, and senior year. Terrible hamstring injury junior year but still one of the fastest in my school but unfortunately no times. Hamstring injury limited me to the 4 by 100 relay, but I was still able to run at the Penn Relays.</p>

<p>Clubs/other:
NHS general member
Founder of Asian Culture Club. My school is 95% white too and this is the only cultural/ethnic club we ever had. I've had several meetings with decent turn outs of 15-20 people.</p>

<p>Work in southwest philadelphia in the ghetto area one summer with my dad. Wrote my essay about this experience.</p>

<p>School: Council Rock South, above average public school for sure, but not a magnet school. We are terrible at getting people into IVYs though, but better for any other college. It's also near Philadelphia (30 minutes away).</p>

<p>Additional
I realize my grades are really low for most of the schools on my list, but I plan on writing an essay talking about the severe test anxiety I had sophomore year. I really do try in school, but I'm not good at getting the best grades. I don't want to be seen as a "bright slacker".</p>

<p>Also,for most of the colleges on my list Naviance doesn't help same with most SAT/GPA graphs. I'm in an area that not too many people are in and it is very hard to judge.</p>

<p>AVG GPA for acceptance in my school into these colleges is 4.4 Weighted and 3.7-3.8 UW. I'm at 4.0 weighted and 3.3 unweighted. I'm hoping my constantly upward trend along with 100-150 point higher sats (out of 1600) than the average will make up for it.</p>

<p>I'm majoring/want to major in undergraduate business. Preferably entrepreneurship, but I don't know how that fares for job placement. Also the direct admissions into the business schools seems to have a lower acceptance rate than the overall university. Like IU-Kelley school of business has much higher SATs than the overall college.</p>

<p>University of Michigan (Match, Low Match)</p>

<p>Washington University (Reach, Low Match)</p>

<p>Cornell (Luck)</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon (Match, Low Match</p>

<p>University of North Carolina (Match, Low Match)</p>

<p>U Penn (Already rejected, no one in school admitted despite high grades and sats)</p>

<p>Drexel (Already applied, safety and I'd expect a good amount of money)</p>

<p>Temple (My friend with a 1600/1600 and 2350/2400 with similar GPA worse classes got a full ride, I want a full ride too)</p>

<p>Indiana University (Match, Safety)</p>

<p>Babson (Safety)</p>

<p>Emory (Low Match, Match)</p>

<p>Notre Dame (Low Match, Reach)</p>

<p>Villanova (Match?)</p>

<p>Penn State (My sister said I'm too late and I'll be accepted into an off campus version?)</p>

<p>I wanted to apply to UT at Austin but didn't realize deadline was Dec 1. UT at Dallas sent me mail implying that I would get good money, but I have no idea if they have a reputable business program.</p>

<p>I think I have almost all the good business schools on the list with obvious omissions of MIT, Georgetown, ect... because I already have quite a few reaches</p>

<p>Also, I'll doing all my applications during winter break, which is next week for me. I know some of these are rolling admissions, and my chances are reduced because I am applying late.</p>

<p>Oh, and my counselor thought I had a good chance at places like Emory and Carnegie Mellon. But hey, what do counselors know? I hear so many stories from my school of counselors being overly pessimistic, but I think in my case it is the other way around.</p>

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<p>Oh, and my definition of match=50/50 chance.
Low match 25 accept 75 reject.</p>

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<p>Whoops, I may have botched the terminology. Is low match=lower chance match? or is low match=higher chance match? I meant the former…</p>

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<p>No, a low match means you have a better chance then a match.
CMU is a reach not a match, same with UNC and Michigan. You will get into Temple, but not sure if you will get a full ride (though you will probably still get merit). For Penn State, you have a shot because the value test scores, if you are interested apply ASAP, you may get into the main campus, though you will get into a branch school for sure.</p>

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<p>Are you sure? I have looked at the GPA/SAT graphs and I seem to be in a grey area. I also took the hardest classes possible except for senior year.</p>

<p>[Carnegie</a> Mellon - GPA and Test Scores Needed for Admission](<a href=“http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/carnegie-mellon-admission-gpa-sat-act.htm]Carnegie”>Carnegie Mellon: Acceptance Rate, SAT/ACT Scores, GPA)</p>

<p>[UNC</a> Chapel Hill - GPA and Test Scores Needed for Admission](<a href=“http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/unc-chapel-hill-admission-gpa-sat-act.htm]UNC”>UNC Chapel Hill: Acceptance Rate, SAT/ACT Scores, GPA)</p>

<p>[University</a> of Michigan - GPA and Test Scores Needed for Admission](<a href=“http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/university-of-michigan-admission-gpa-sat-act.htm]University”>University of Michigan: Acceptance Rate, SAT/ACT Scores, GPA)</p>

<p>For Umich my area seems to be mainly waitlists/acceptances. CMU looks 50/50. and UNC looks 40/60.</p>

<p>At least that’s what the graphs seem to indicate. Numbers don’t always paint a whole picture.</p>

<p>I don’t want to sound as If I just want to hear good news, but you sound a tad pessimistic to me, or perhaps I am too optimistic…</p>

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<p>I am basically in the same the situation. My stats are a little higher( 3.5 UW and 2350 SAT) but still basically the same thing. I am hoping that my sat overcomes my GPA, and am applying to schools in the same tier that you are. Go ahead and apply to all of them, although I would cut Notre Dame, as my counselor told me they care a crazy amount about GPA and not that much about SAT scores. Other than that, I hope we both get in somewhere great.</p>

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<p>OOS for Michigan and UNC will hurt your chances, hopefully not to badly. Carnegie Mellon might be a bit more challenging to get in to (more towards low reach) based on what I’ve personally seen, but otherwise your rankings seem pretty accurate if you can write great essays and get good recs. Penn Relays is impressive by the way, do you have an estimate of your 100 time?</p>

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<p>The issue becomes the reality that you will probably be precieved as lazy and unmotivated due to a GPA that is rather low for most of these schools combined with extremely high test scores. Your ECs are average which will not help compensate for the GPA. As for CMU I live in the city where the school is and go to one of the best public schools in Pittsburgh (we have had the highest test scores/highest graduation rate in the district for years) and know many people who have applied, some now go there, some where rejected. I have noticed a trend that they tend to value the GPA more then the test scores since they want a strong work ethic.</p>

<p>As for UNC and Michigan you have to remember they are looking at the whole package and despite the strong test scores you are lacking in the one thing they value most. I am not being pessimistic, I am being realistic. You may get into every school you apply to, you probably won’t. Be realistic, a 3.1 for two out of the three years that colleges look at (remember senior year is not valued as much) is extremely low when these schools mainly accept 3.75+ uw GPAs.</p>

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<p>I ran 11.6 at practice with an injured hamstring to get onto my high school team. That was the only time 100m I ran last year due to my hamstring. This year, I still struggle with my hamstring injury. I don’t think my track will help me very much. There is a meet this Saturday and I don’t know if I can run in it. But it is a 60m (which is best for me) and I’m a bit off form.</p>

<p>Thanks for the response hardamcgee, and good luck to you tyson!
I guess I’ll check out Notre Dame and probably cancel them from my list.</p>

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<p>Artsy, I do realize that, but my I did not really slack. Freshman year I was just immature, yes, but CMU doesn’t look at freshman year I believe. I went and visited them during the summer.</p>

<p>Sophomore year I had severe test anxiety that I can hopefully explain well, but I really did try.</p>

<p>Junior year my base from previous years was weak and my test anxiety lessened though and my GPA went up…</p>

<p>I don’t know if these mean anything but we were ranked 314th nationwide. North the original school that split into South due to overcrowding is always ranked higher because South has a much superior special ed. program. So the people with severe disabilities prefer to go to South. </p>

<p>[Council</a> Rock North and South among best high schools in nation, according to NEWSWEEK ranking - The Advance - BucksLocalNews.com](<a href=“Bucks County – thereporteronline”>Bucks County – thereporteronline)</p>

<p>Obviously this is just a newsweek ranking and the weight it holds is questionable…</p>

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<p>Good time, especially on an injured hamstring. I’m a hurdles guy, but I do the 100 for decathlon as well. Good luck on that upcoming meet!</p>

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<p>Thanks, I used to do hurdles… But I sucked at that, being short has its downfalls… The decathlon sounds like a lot of fun, but I do not know of any school sponsored decathlon events. I know most decathletes lean towards the fast twitch sprinter type, but I’d have a tough time at my height. I think one of the USA gold medalists in maybe two olympics ago was only 5 foot 7 though… Ahh, off topic.</p>

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<p>Anyone have any ideas on where else to apply? I think I have a decent shot at NYU, but I don’t think I can afford it.</p>

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<p>I keep posting too much in my own thread, but I just remembered something: Should I mention that I have lived in three different countries? Singapore, Scotland, and America?
Moved to America when I was seven though… but struggled a lot with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade.</p>

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<p>I don’t think that the fact you lived in 3 countries would hurt at all. I would mention it, since colleges want culturally diverse, interesting people. I think you know that ivies are reaches for everyone, but you have pretty great chances at Temple, Indiana, Emory, Penn State. You probably already know this, but that GPA is really going to hurt you at the top schools, because although your SAT proves that you’re intelligent, the GPA makes you look lazy. But as long as you can thoroughly explain yourself without sounding like you’re making excuses, you still have a shot. Good luck! :)</p>

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<p>I think you have a decent chance with very great essays. The ivies might not be as good of a chance just cause of GPA but you never know! Chance back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1431373-chance-top-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1431373-chance-top-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thanks! I’ll definitely make sure to write the best essays possible even though I’ll be doing them all next week during my winter break…</p>

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<p>i also applied to villanova and cornell; i think villanovas a solid match for you and yeah haha, cornell is pretty much just luck.
not quite sure about the other schools since i didnt apply to them…
i’m kind of in the same predicament you are, with an SAT 2310 and a 3.4 gpa uw, but my mom went totally berserk asian on me and made me apply to a lot of crazy good schools…</p>

<p>care to chance me?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1433058-my-sats-gpa-dont-match-chance-me.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1433058-my-sats-gpa-dont-match-chance-me.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>No reason to worry about you having lived in several countries… this is probably a good thing since that’s the kind of people that colleges look for. Culturally diverse people.</p>

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<p>Shameful bump…</p>