Chance a rising senior?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey, in a few months I'll be applying for colleges, and now that I have AP scores, I think my stats are pretty much complete. I've put asterisks around a few important things if you want to skim since this is so long. </p>

<p>I'm a white female. </p>

<p>Speech (91)
Current Events (98)
Health (98)
Vet Med (98)
9th Grade Band (97/99)
10th Grade Band (98/99)
French I (98/97) --- the "first semester" was 7th grade, second was 8th..
Honors English I (90/89)
Honors English II (93/94)
Honors Algebra I, 8th grade (90/91)
Honors Geometry (88/88)
Honors Algebra II (94/92)
Honors Precalculus (87/93)
Honors Biology (91/90)
Honors Chemistry (97/96)
Honors Physics (94/96)
Honors French II (96/97)
Honors French III (97/97)
AP Human Geography (92/87)
AP English Lang (90/90)
AP European History (94/93)
AP World History (93/97)
AP US History (90/90)
AP French Language (98/99)
AP Art History (100/100) </p>

<p>So the final grade breakdown is...
10 semesters of A's in regulars classes (8 if you don't include my middle school french)
18 semesters of A's in honors classes (16 if you don't count 8th grade algebra I)
4 semesters of B's in honors classes
13 semesters of A's in AP classes
1 semester of B's in an AP classes</p>

<p>If I am calculating unweighted GPA properly, that puts me at a 3.8913. Not great, but not terrible. It goes down a bit if I don't include the middle school classes that show up on my transcript. I go to a really difficult and competitive school so honestly I'm okay with those grades - my most recent class ranking put me in the top 3%, and I've had really good grades since then, so I'm probably in the top 2% or better by now. I'm frustrated that I couldn't lift those high Bs to As (especially the two 88s in Geometry.. the tests were so easy but being the rebellious freshman that I was, I didn't feel like doing/turning in any of the graded homework, and ended up having a grade that suffered). </p>

<p>Expected Senior Courses (I haven't actually registered yet which I'll get to below):
AP English Literature
AP Calculus BC
AP Physics C
AP Econ/Gov
Physical Education
Some kind of career elective like Law or Marketing </p>

<p>AP Exams: I took 7 (the classes are listed a bit above), and got all 5s.<br>
PSAT: 236 (80 on W and CR, 76 on M)
SAT: 2280 (740 on W and M, 800 on CR) - I know these are great scores but I feel like I could do better if I tried again based on the PSAT score.. but I also have to do SAT IIs so I guess I'm stuck with the score I have.
SAT II's: none taken yet... science isn't my forte, so I think I'll end up doing Math Level 2, English, and French in October. I really should have done these earlier - for some reason I thought that there was an August test date, but unfortunately, that's not true, so I only have one shot with these. If I end up not taking these, will my chances for the schools that don't require them go down a bit? (especially for Stanford)
<strong><em>Class Rank: I have no idea... I moved to a new state and haven't even registered for school yet. The schools around here are super competitive and I'm really worried that a low class rank compared to these students that have had different classes and probably inflated grades will make me look bad and effect my chances.</em></strong>* </p>

<p>My ECs aren't great... </p>

<p>I'll probably be a National Merit Finalist but that process hasn't really started yet. </p>

<p>French Stuff:
-Competed in a local French competition in 9th and 11th grade. Didn't win anything 9th grade, but got 2nd Place Individual sweepstakes this year.<br>
-Competed in the state French competition, got a 2nd place ribbon in an event (which is pretty hard to do since it's the whole state), and spent several months preparing a French drama skit that didn't end up winning anything, but I put a lot of effort into it. That's got to count for something :P
-Got 10th place (in the nation) on the National French Exam (sounds more impressive than it really is...).
-National French Honors Society (this basically means nothing, I don't even know if I should include it on my apps)
-Regular Participation in French club activities </p>

<p>Quiz Bowl Stuff:
-Participated in Quiz Bowl every year since 6th grade
-team captain many of those years (6th-8th, 11th)
-team occasionally won local awards but we didn't have the funding to compete at a national level
-I loved it so much that I pretty much never missed a practice, unlike some other people... I have been going to quiz bowl every Wednesday afternoon for so many years now and it's probably the highlight of my week. Yeah, I'm a huge nerd :P.<br>
-also went to a Quiz Bowl summer camp 2 years to improve </p>

<p>Music Stuff:
-Marching Band 2 years
-playing keyboard in a band most weekends, which requires quite a bit of time and effort
-I used to do piano competitions and won lots of awards (albeit awards called "superior performance" or something for a local festival.. not anything that places me on a national scale, because 1. I'm not that good at classical piano, and 2. I get way too nervous when performing and public and thus tried to avoid high stakes competitions). Most of these were in 9th/10th grade, probably. </p>

<p>Not very important stuff:
-NJHS in 8th grade
-NHS 10th/11th grade
-with those comes many, many hours of community service (probably 200+), but I know that's not anything impressive these days
-love learning, have done a lot of outside of school learning for fun throughout high school using things like MIT Open Courseware, Udacity, and Coursera.
-Grand Recognition for Duke TIP in the 7th grade (probably won't even mention this)
-I applied for TASP but didn't get in :( ..won't tell them this, of course, but it makes me doubt my essay writing skills, because i thought my essays were really good</p>

<p>I might remember other ECs after posting this, and will update you, but honestly I haven't done nearly enough :( . I only joined the clubs that truly interested me (like French and Quiz Bowl), and I definitely haven't done anything out of the ordinary in the community service department. </p>

<p><strong><em>So I mentioned above that I'm going to a new school, in a new state for senior year. I'm really worried about Recommendation letters, teacher letters, and class rank because of this. My old counselor informed me that schools will want to see recommendations from teachers and counselors that you are currently at school with, but I know my old counselor and teachers way better than I think I will ever get to know my new ones, especially before I'm applying to colleges this fall/winter. What should I do about this?? Also, as I've mentioned above, my class rank will not be an accurate representation of how I've actually performed. Will colleges see my class rank at my old school, because it was actually really good!</em></strong>* </p>

<p>At the moment I don't have any specific area that I want to study. </p>

<p>Ok, the colleges I'm thinking about are:<br>
Princeton (my brother will begin going there for graduate school next year, so I would like to go as well... will his attendance there help me any??)
Stanford (I now live in Cali, so this would be fairly close)<br>
Cornell or Columbia
UC Berkeley
UCLA
USC (Southern California, not South Carolina)
NYU
UNC
University of Michigan
University of Washington </p>

<p>I've arranged them in the order or difficulty that I think it will be in getting in. Do you think my arrangement is about right? Is it even worth applying to the first 3 based on what I've given you? Can you think of any really good schools that would give me a scholarships for National Merit? </p>

<p>Finally, do you know of any scholarships/essay contests that I can work on this summer? If I do by some amazing luck get into one of the first three schools, I'm definitely going to want to help my parents a bit with paying for it. We make a bit too much to be able to get any real financial aid, but that doesn't mean that we want to spend 50-60,000 a year on education. My parents will probably be able to pay for it, but I really want to help them with getting scholarships if possible (I know it's probably not as easy as it sounds). </p>

<p>Thanks so much if you actually read this. I know this got super long, and I really appreciate any answers you can give.</p>

2

<p>I think the ivies and “lower” ivies are high reaches for you because of your ECs. Not sure about other schools. Great academics! Sorry I’m not of much help.</p>

3

<p>Have you done anything outstanding with the volunteer activities you’ve done?</p>

4

<p>^Yeah, that’s kind of what I assumed. The band I was in was a volunteer band for a church, so I guess that could kind of be considered a volunteer activity that I was actually committed to. Other than that, I didn’t really have any outstanding volunteer activities. They were pretty much all things at my school (tutoring, helping teachers, running events, etc). I also did a bit at the local Teen Court and helped in a local garden, but I really don’t think that there is anything significant about my volunteer work.</p>

5

<p>Colleges are usually looking for a “hook”, aka something that sets you apart from others. You need to find that hook.
(To be honest, I wouldn’t completely rely on me; also a rising senior.)</p>

6

<p>Bump.
I forgot to ask about UChicago.</p>

7

<p><em>bump</em><br>
Any ideas of what I could do to set me apart? I know it’s probably too late, but I hate how you have to start a freaking business or win a national competition to get into an Ivy League college. I mean, I totally understand WHY it’s necessary but now it’s turning into a situation where people do things that they don’t even care about just so they can get into a “good” college. For example, I had a friend the other day tell me that she didn’t care at all about politics but was doing the senate page program just for college admissions.</p>

8

<p>You have included a lot of stuffs from middles school that most colleges would not count, particularly GPA. You said it would be lower without middle school grades, how much is it? Right now your GPA is near the average for admission, so it is critical to know the exact number (with and without freshmen grades). Your SAT score is great. Although some schools do not require SAT2 (e.g. UMich), you do need them at least for certain program. It seems you did not receive much advice in college planning. Your PSAT score is great. You should have finished retaking SAT1 and taking SAT2 by June. 2280 is a great score, buy you do have a potential to get even higher. Waiting for your revised GPA to chance you.</p>

9

<p>Without middle school grades (which were only Algebra I and French I, which are courses that my school does count in GPA calculation. Are you saying that those 2 grades won’t be counted by college?) it only goes down a tiny bit, to 3.88. </p>

<p>Up until a few months ago, I thought I was just going to go to my state school (UT austin) or OU (both my brothers went there and I would go for free because of National merit, so I didn’t bother with retaking the SAT or doing the SAT IIs. Now that I’ve moved, I won’t be an ********* to UT and I dont want to go halfway across the country to a run of the mill state school like OU. And I’ve recently realized that I possibly do have a chance at too schools (I had previously thought my grades disqualified me).</p>

10

<p>3.88 is fine. It is not too far off from the average admission for top Ivies, and above average for UMich, UCLA, etc. Your SAT1 is good, you just need to focus on SAT2. Since you are running out of time, you probably should go for 3 SAT2 together. Most schools just need 2 but you do want to have a spare just in case. What is your intended major? At least, is it science or engineering related? For most science or engineering major, go for Math2 plus one science. The third one could be a second science or other. For non science major, you may do Math1 or Math2 plus a language or social science. The third one is up to you. As of now, you should be a match for UMich (as it does not require SAT2). I am not so sure about the SAT2 requirement for the other schools. Assuming you have good SAT2 scores, you should be low match for UCLA, match for UCB, USC, and UNC. Low reach to reach for Cornell and NYU. Reach for Stanford.</p>

11

<p>Thanks so much! </p>

<p>Honestly, I don’t have much confidence about which major/career I want to pursue. I’m pretty balanced skill-wise in all subjects, and which class I like the best depends on other factors (the teacher, classmates, how easy it is, etc). Most of my friends have a strong preference for either the math/science realm or the english/history realm, but I’ve never had a preference for either. With that said, I <em>think</em> I want to be a doctor- however, my intended major is more along the humanities/social science line, with psychology, art history, and anthropology sticking out in my mind. However, this summer I’ve been independently learning some mathematics and science (and really enjoying it) and I’m starting to wonder if I engineering might be a good match. </p>

<p>So as of now, I don’t have a definite major that I want to follow. Frankly, I don’t feel confident enough about any science (biology, chem, or physics) to take the SAT II test. The most recent science I’ve taken was Physics, and honestly, my teacher sucked. I got a good grade in the class, but I think it would take a lot of effort to score highly on the subject test. I do think I could do Math II, English (since I got an perfect CR on both the PSAT and SAT), and French, and then send the best 2 (or 3 if I do really well on all of them). Do you think that this is okay even if I end up going a more science related route? </p>

<p>Is UChicago going to be on level with Stanford? Or more of a low reach? </p>

<p>Once again, thanks for reading through this. </p>

<p>Also, I just noticed that the word “a.u.t.o.a.d.m.i.t.” was asterisked out above… that’s bizarre.</p>

12

<p>^ I know you mean “auto-admit” when you mentioned UT. I noticed that you did not take any AP science or Maths, so I think you are likely not looking at engineering or science. Just go with LSA undecided and see what you like in freshmen. UChicago is also very competitive although a little bit less than Stanford. However, it has the highest depression or suicide rate. I would rather pick Northwestern. ;)</p>

13

<p>Well, I am going to take AP Calc BC and AP Physics C next year (school didn’t really offer AP sciences and maths for non seniors), but I think I agree that I’m going to likely go the humanities route. </p>

<p>That’s interesting about Chicago. I’ve always gotten the impression that it is a super fun (and quirky) school. Why are students so depressed? Is it that more academically intense than Ivy League schools?</p>

14

<p>If you just like the city, go for Northwestern. My D told me about that and she is not applying to UChicago as it does not have the major she wants. I guess it is too competitive among students.</p>

15

<p>Well, I’ve never even been to Chicago, but I thought UChicago was supposed to be top notch, but a bit more relaxing than Ivy Leagues (but perhaps it’s the opposite). I’ll look into Northwestern, though. I’ve heard that it’s really nice but had never really given it much thought.</p>

16

<p>I have one question that hasn’t really been answered - the new school that I will be going to doesn’t rank, but they do post their approximate GPA distributions online (for example, 11% get over a 4.25). The GPA system there is different than at my old school, and you can only get point bonuses for AP classes, not Honors, mostly because they don’t offer many honors classes. However, at my old school, Honors classes were pretty much as hard as AP classes, so a lot of kids didn’t get A’s (and thus we got a GPA boost in those classes). I was in the top 3% at this old school - will colleges understand that I might not be in the top 10% the school I’m attending senior year (my GPA based on their guidelines will be 4.24 so it looks like I’ll be more like top 12 or 13%), but that I was actually safely in the top 10% at my school from 9th-11th grade? I don’t want going to an uber-competitive school for my senior year to kill my chances.</p>

17

<p>Thanks for answering- is Berkeley really that much of a reach for me, though? I live in California, and both my UC-GPA (4.26) and SAT (2280) are above the average for admitted students, so I would think I have a pretty good shot, right? I know nothing is for sure in admissions, but based on research and input I’ve got from others, I kind of thought I could count Berkeley as more of a match than a reach (not nearly as safe as most other publics, though).</p>

18

<p>I agree with the person above. Go with the bottom half of your list bc you will have a greater chance.</p>

19

<p>Yeah, don’t worry. I’m not at all counting on getting into any Ivy League schools but I was at least hoping that I would have a shot at UCB because at this point that’s my “realistic” dream school. (Stanford is my nonrealistic dream school)</p>

20

<p>Just wondering- what can I do in order to improve my EC’s at this point? I feel like I have been really involved (especially through French and Quiz Bowl), but I know top schools are looking for more than that nowadays. But I honestly don’t know what else I could have done, short of starting my own business or something along those lines. My school didn’t have any of the science Olympiads, and I was never successful with science fair. I was planning on doing Academic Decathlon senior year but now that I’ve moved that’s not going to happen. In retrospect (and for reference my senior year), what should I have done to improve my chances?</p>