chance a low gpa, 36 ACT junior for duke, uchicago, etc.?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi to all,</p>

<p>Background: I'm a junior at a top Illinois public school. I skipped the second and third grades but went back a grade for athletics when I transferred to a public middle school. My ADHD really affected my freshman and sophomore years as it went untreated, but with medication I've really been able to buckle down and get some decent work done.</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Hispanic</p>

<p>GPA: (W on 5.00 scale, since classes were all honors/AP)
Freshman--3.80 (My freshman year was completely mediocre--see above--with a 3.80/5.00 while in all honors classes. I think that was mostly due to the ADHD, an elongated acclimation period and my immaturity compared to my peers.)
Sophomore--3.70
Junior--4.20 (first sem), 4.80 thus far second sem</p>

<p>Class Rank: somewhere in the top 10 or 11%</p>

<p>AP's: Junior--AP English Lang/Comp , APUSH
Senior--AP English Lit, AP US Gov't, AP Comp Gov't, AP Econ, AP Bio, AP Stats, AP Calc AB</p>

<p>EC's:
-two year class council member
-baseball soph/jun--getting recruited by Ivies, smaller D1 schools, multiple D3 schools
-club/travel baseball every summer
-swimming frosh
-1st chair alto sax in wind symphony frosh/soph
-1st chair alto sax in jazz band frosh/soph
-writer on school newspaper frosh/soph, production editor jun
-writer for the teen newspaper of a major, big city paper (very, very selective)
-member of Tri-M music honors society
-Project Lead the Way pre-engineering courses frosh/soph/jun
-captain of/leading scorer for scholastic bowl frosh/soph/jun
-italian club council member jun
-eucharistic minister and minister of care for Archdiocese of Chicago</p>

<p>Honors:
-National Honor Society jun
-Foreign Language Honors jun
-English Honors jun
-Tri-M Music Honor Society frosh</p>

<p>Schools: Duke (ED? only if i dont play baseball), UChicago (baseball recruit, somewhat legacy, cousin '09 was a Rhodes finalist and a Marshall Scholar), UIllinois engineering (legacy), Notre Dame (huge legacy, my family's donated $$$$$ for whatever reason), Yale (baseball recruit), Harvard (baseball recruit), Cornell (baseball recruit) Miami University (Ohio), Wake Forest, Washington & Lee (baseball recruit), Boston College, Tufts</p>

<p>Standardized Tests:
-AP Comp--36 (36 R, E, S; 34 M)
-SAT--2370 (800 CR, 800 W, 770 M)
-PSAT--223
-SAT II: not taken yet</p>

<p>Recommendations:
-Editor for my newspaper
-School psychologist/counselor
-Baseball coach</p>

<p>Thanks, everybody!</p>

2

<p>How is it possible to take that many AP’s senior year?</p>

3

<p>Govt Stats and Econ all are 1 semester classes.</p>

4

<p>hahaha ap comp and us gov’t are considered one class, but we take both tests. we take macro and micro tests for the ap econ class. and i’m not taking stats… gotta change that</p>

5

<p>If you receive the promise of a likely letter as a baseball recruit, then your early GPA will not matter, I’d guess. With the 36 ACT and URM status, a slot to play baseball will clinch it for the Ivies. Now, for Duke, it will be much more iffy. </p>

<p>What are your top choices?</p>

<p>P. S. You only need the 2 teacher recs and one counselor evaluation. No need to pad your file with extras–maybe one extra, but one only. Remember the adage: The thicker the application, the thicker the applicant.</p>

6

<p>well, if i end up playing baseball collegiately, i will most likely take a post-grad (PG) year at an east coast prep school. in that case, my top three would be cornell, yale, and harvard. if i end up not playing baseball–a distinct possibility, considering how fragile my arm can be hahaha–then it’d be uchicago, ND, and duke.</p>

7

<p>i’d also like to mention a few ec’s that i’ve began participating in since the last time i posted a chance thread…
-currently a blogger for an extremely popular “college” music site (think really, really obscure white rappers hahah)
-in the midst of setting up a large-scale concert featuring a few popular artists (dukie mike posner, perhaps?) to raise money for children’s memorial in chicago</p>

8

<p>Hispanic, recruited athlete, 36 ACT and top 10-11% of class? I don’t think you have anything to worry about – just do well this semester and you’ll be sure to be within that top 10% threshold.</p>

9

<p>thanks. bumpski?</p>

10

<p>And also… don’t quit playing baseball. :)</p>

11

<p>^^LOL…Well, even if the OP’s arm gives out, his 36 ACT and URM status will likely make him attractive to ND, Chicago, and Duke.</p>

12

<p>bumpski andddd hutch</p>

13

<p>In what “top illinois school” can you get a 3.8/5.00 freshman year and 3.7/5.0 sophomore year and a 4.2/5.0 first semester junior year and somehow be in the top 10%.??? And those are your weighted GPAs? You wouldnt be in the top 50% class rank in the top illinois schools for which i have familiarity. </p>

<p>And you have only taken 2 AP’s. Seems to me that you might have some issues with rigor of your HS if you are if you are going to be judged as a non-recruited athlete.</p>

14

<p>extremely strange applicant
i’d say ivies are low reaches, unless they’re recruiting you, in which case you’re basically already in, but your unweighted GPA is very low. Even junior year, you got a 3.20 unweighted, which is like 4 B’s and only 1 A… yet you have a 36 on the ACT? Why did you even take the ACT and SAT?
I think you are in everywhere but ivies, and ivies if you’re being recruited…</p>

15

<p>i received a 223 on my PSAT, and to qualify for NMSF one has to take the SAT and score at an equally high level. yeah, my grades are weird… lots of 89’s instead of 94’s, a lot of high test averages and low homework grades. i suppose it’s a textbook case of being pretty smart, but really, really, REALLY ADD. but my weighted average is enough to get me into the top 11%, and it’s kept climbing; i’ve got 4 a’s and a high b right now, and i hope to keep that up.</p>