Chance: am I competitive for ED/EA at Yale, Brown?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>If you'd like to chance me for U.Penn, that'd be nice. These schools aren't officially on my list, though.</p>

<p>This isn't exaactly a chance thread; I'm just looking for opinions on how wise it'd be for me to compete in the early round of applications. I know I prob shouldn't apply early if I stick out like a sore thumb among the best and brightest applicants that make up the ED/EA pool.</p>

<p>Also, I'm still trying to figure out what I'd maybe like to major in. Before I was set on the performing arts, perhaps a double major. Now I'm not so sure.</p>

<p>ACADEMICS
Unweighted GPA: 4.0 (out of 4)
Weighted GPA: 5.31 (out of ?)
Rank: Top 1% (out of over 350)</p>

<p>CLASSES FOR GRADES 9, 10, 11
Math/Spanish/English/Science/History: all honors, APs otherwise
Choir: all 4 years (3 in GT Select Choir)</p>

<p>TEST SCORES
SAT: 800 CR, 760 M, 720 W (highest scores out of 2 tries; M is from the first attempt)
AP: 5's in AP Chem, APUSH, AP World, AP English Lang, AP Calc BC
SAT II: 800 US History, 730 Chem</p>

<p>MAIN EXTRACURRICULARS (focus: drama & religion)
1. Drama Club: 4 years with participation in every production save 1; supporting + lead roles; huge time commitment (everyday in the auditorium for hours from Oct. through April); planning on being an officer this year </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Competitive Speech/Acting Team: 4 years; qualified for state championships (the highest level of competiton) each year, this year in 8 categories; co-captain (11 + 12 grade); 2011 state champ for Drama Monologue, among other state awards including 5th Most Valuable Player in the league</p></li>
<li><p>Youth Group: key leader for the area chapter of an international organization (5 yrs); served 6 youth retreats, put in charge of 1; singer in music ministry for local/statewide events</p></li>
<li><p>Altar Server (6 yrs) and Lector (1 yr) for my parish.</p></li>
<li><p>Community Theater: 3 shows (supporting/lead roles)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>MINOR CLUBS, but just as important to me!
Tri-M Music Honors Society, NHS, Fashion Club (VP)</p>

<p>VOLUNTEERING/CHARITY
I've volunteered at a local hospital for the past 2 summers, to see if perhaps a medical profession is for me; my parents are both in the field. This summer, in addition to my regular volunteering, I'm working on a special project given to me by the med. records department--transferring client info from an outsourced center of the hospital (with close to 200 clients.. it's been fun). </p>

<p>OTHER ACTIVITIES
* I've played piano for 11 years, the first 8 spent training classically. During those years, my teacher had me audition annually for the National Piano Playing Auditions and the Golden Key Music Festival. I've won awards in the latter, but the last one was in 6th/7th grade, so I'm not sure if I should include any of this.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>I also take voice training, but only a year strong at this point.</p></li>
<li><p>This summer, I'm tutoring + giving piano lessons. I plan to continue into fall.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>SENIOR YEAR STUFF
I'm planning on taking more SAT IIs (math II and the english comprehension-y one), 3 more APs, and calc III. I also plan to re-start an honors society for drama that died a few years ago.</p>

<p>All right..this'll be interesting. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Also, I’m Asian. I suppose the piano-playing makes me typical, but I’m much less focused on that than on acting/musical theatre. I don’t know (m)any other Asians in the area who are performing… though that only tells me I’m atypical in my region. eh. make what you will of it.</p>

<p>Forgot to add that for the past two years, I’ve starred in a student-directed show for the school’s annual one-act play festival (a different one each year).</p>

3

<p>You have a great chance good luck!</p>

4

<p>Thank you for the optimism. Good luck to you too!</p>

5

<p>Oh, and I’m a girl. haha. Also, I’m not sure if a 4.0 GPA already indicates this, but I’ve had straight As throughout high school.</p>

6

<p>You are definitely competitive, but when there’s thousands of other applicants just as strong/stronger than you, you need to have stellar essays and interviews, so work on those and hope for the best :)</p>

7

<p>Rather unusually given my generally negative chances, I actually think you have a fairly decent chance of admission to both Yale and Brown (though better for Brown). Why? Your stats are good, and extracurriculars are sufficiently unusual that, when paired with good recs/essays, you should have a decent shot. Regarding each school:</p>

<p>Yale uses their SCEA admissions primarily to fill institutional goals, which for them means science students, minorities, recruited athletes, and legacies/development cases. In your case, you have no such thing, so while your stats put you in the range for a SCEA admit I think you would probably be deferred.</p>

<p>Brown on the other hand is another story. ED is used by schools to increase yield, so as a result it is usually significantly easier to get in that way. Your stats and interests fall well into the profile of people admitted ED to Brown, so I think that if you were to apply there you have a very high chance of success, particularly given your ECs.</p>

<p>Oh, one last thing: within your application, if I were you, I would play up your acting and religious activities, and discount piano playing. To be successful you want to stand out from the “standard asian” profile, which you have with acting. Doing so would emphasize your unique qualities.</p>

8

<p>Thanks for the input, guys! </p>

<p>Astroblue, I was thinking the same thing about focusing on the essays–which makes me a whole lot more nervous to write them. I’m may emphasize my theater aspirations. Btw, I saw your board earlier, and I’d chance ya, but I’m afraid I’m in no place to give valuable input. :P</p>

<p>snipersas, thanks for the indepth info. have you seen a CC board or other resource containing profiles of recent ED Brown admits?</p>

9

<p>in addition to the chancing, does anyone have an opinion whether I should aim for a higher SAT score this fall? I took it twice within a 3 month period (prob not the smartest approach, whoops), and my highest score in one sitting was a 2230. With the superscore, it’s 2280. While I’d love a 2400, I don’t know if it’s worth the time and effort that I could otherwise devote to striving for more achievement in ECs and to writing good, unique essays.</p>

10

<p>Yes, the Brown ED list is available here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/1046714-official-brown-university-ed-results-class-2015-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/1046714-official-brown-university-ed-results-class-2015-a.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11

<p>Thanks so much for the Brown ED list.</p>

<p>to everyone else, don’t forget U.Penn! it’s easy to overlook, since I kind of threw it in at the very beginning of my first post.</p>

12

<p>if anyone also has other suggestions about these schools, that’d be great:
Northwestern, U. Mich, Boston College, Boston U., U. Penn</p>

13

<p>You’re in at BU. UMich and BC are matches. You are qualified for the rest, whether you will get in or not I can’t say due to the fierce competition. </p>

<p>Good Luck~</p>

<p>Sent from my iPhone 4 using CC app</p>

14

<p>Thank you, I was thinking along those lines.</p>

15

<p>bumpin’ away.</p>

16

<p>and again.</p>

17

<p>nothing is really standing out too much, which means you are gonna have to write STELLAR ESSAYS! but then, if you do that, i think that you’ll have a great shot EA/ED. (imo you should apply ED to penn or duke or brown, EA is a long shot at yale, but you’ve got a good shot at penn brown and duke, ESPECIALLY PENN (which i think is your best option bc it’s a top 5 school and it’s not TOO TOO hard to get into).</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1181496-chance-harvard-scea-unc-ea-state.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1181496-chance-harvard-scea-unc-ea-state.html&lt;/a&gt;
chance back!</p>

18

<p>I definitely think you should apply early…if I were to recommend one, I’d say Yale, just because I know so many actors/actresses who have experienced success in the early rounds there. Your scores are great and your EC’s are pretty nice as well. </p>

<p>Best of luck to you, and thanks for chancing me :)</p>

19

<p>Thanks everyone. Brownford, I’d love to go to Yale for undergrad and grad drama (mostly grad), but unfortunately it’s the more significant reach. I’d be more than delighted to go to Brown anyway. I only wish Brown had EA, not ED, so that I could compare financial aid. </p>

<p>AnonymousStudent, I suppose nothing ‘stands out’, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that there aren’t a zillion performers with my academic stats–at least, I haven’t seen anyone on the admission result boards I’ve frequented. I know this is a huge generalization, and snobby to boot; I’m just stating it based on what I’ve seen. I’m only seeing a small fraction of applicants, of course. :stuck_out_tongue: and I agree on the essays, I’ve already started brainstorming. I’m super nervous to start since I know they must, must, must be fantastic.</p>

20

<p>do you guys have any suggestions on what else I can do–other than work my butt off on the essays–to become more competitive? probably not much, since I only have a few short months. SAT I might be a place to start, but I figure I’m already in the ballpark and should focus more on my ECs.</p>

<p>I wish I had some huge achievement/exceptional success in a certain field, but even performing opportunities in my area are limited. I only realized this summer, when I first got on CC, that there are some inhumanly successful applicants out there and that there’s a lot more I should’ve tried to achieve during high school. ah well, at least I can still say I spent my time in high school on activities I truly enjoyed doing, never thinking about what colleges would like to see.</p>