Chance for Duke/ top publics? will chance back

[Seahawks506]

<p>BASIC INFO:</p>

<p>Location: Washington
School: Public, top 50 HS that sends several students to top-10 schools perenially
Gender: Male
Family Income:not enough to require much FA
Race: Chinese-American
Hooks: nothing, first to attend college in the US I guess..</p>

<p>Colleges:
Privates: Duke (ED), Northwestern, Chicago, Cornell, USC, NYU
Publics: U Washington, Michigan, UC Berkeley, UCLA, </p>

<p>Intended major: Business or Economics</p>

<p>STATS:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.86 UW, 4.33 weighted
Class Rank: top 16% of ~425 students. Extremely cutthroat school, I took a "most rigorous" schedule and even had a higher UW GPA than some top 10%.
SAT: 740 CR, 720 M, 800 W- 2260 </p>

<p>Subject Tests: 730 World History, 780 Math II
PSAT: 219, only commended :(</p>

<p>AP's:
Soph: AP World (5)
Junior: AP US History (4) AP Lang (5) AP Calculus (5) AP Psychology (5) AP Physics (3)</p>

<p>Senior year, I am taking AP Comp Gov, AP Gov, AP Micro, AP Macro, AP Enviro Sci, AP Calc BC, AP English Lit, AP Art History.</p>

<p>The Gov and Econ are shoved into 1 semester each (so 2 full-year classes of Gov/Compgov and Econ) and the counselor says my schedule is most rigorous. </p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS:</p>

<p>Clubs/Leadership:
Key Club: 9,10,11,12- highly active member and VP.
Chess Club: 11, 12- co-founder and President/Captain (awards listed below). Also helped start a program at a local elementary school as assistant chess coaches which I do.
Astronomy Club: 9,10,11,12- President (11,12). I'll be getting rec from advisor (AP Physics) and he knows my passion for Astronomy very well in addition to my leadership.
National Honor Society: 11, 12- nothing much, just your standard NHS member.
Senior Class Officer- I ran and won without making a speech as I was gone for DECA Nationals, and my counselor talked to me about how it reflects well on my reputation and standing with my peers (he'll put on rec too)</p>

<p>Sports:
Football- Freshman year, Most improved :)
Track- 9,11,12: JV 9,11; should be Varsity for senior year. I'm the most injury prone athlete on the planet </p>

<p>Sportswriting:
Sportswriting is a big part of my application. I found my passion for it from some forum friends and it took off from there my Sophomore year. I covered seattle sports for an up and coming website and am a featured writer for a sports website that gains immense traffic, and have been syndicated to many news websites (USA Today and CBSsports.com for example). I also did some guest pieces for our school newspaper last year, which I am in full time this year (although not editor)</p>

<p>Volunteering:
(~500 hrs)
-100 volunteering at local hospital
-100 volunteering at local library
-200 at a local homeless organization which I am very involved in, and will talk about in my essay</p>

<p>I've also played piano for 13 years and it means a lot to me, but I only really play for fun/church now instead of competitions. My piano teacher who taught me 11 years wrote an optional rec for me to Duke. </p>

<p>AWARDS:</p>

<p>Community Service Commendation award
DECA:
(9) AREA: 4th Place Sports & Entertainment Marketing
(11) AREA: 2nd Place Sports & Entertainment Marketing
(11) STATE: 4th Place Sports & Entertainment Marketing
(11) STATE: 5th Place International Business Plan (taking a restaurant chain to China)
-both state categories I made it to Internationals!
CHESS:
Our team placed 2nd in regionals, which was impressive since our school hadn't had a chess team in a decade
And in state, we placed 6th overall out of about 40 teams in the state.
Sportswriting:
My writing ability was in a sense validated when I won a Gold Key in the Scholastic Writing Competition in Region-at-Large in Journalism; it was a piece that was a tribute to a legendary sports broadcaster who passed away last year. </p>

<p>WORK EXPERIENCE:
-June-December 2010: Marketing Intern at one of the largest non-profits in Seattle, helping to design their campaigns and manage financial stuff. This is the organization from above.
-This year I got a job as a marketing intern at Microsoft, very competitive (8% get hired) 15 hrs/wk. </p>

<p>Recs are both very good, one could be a spectacular portrayal of me as a student and the other is very solid from my physics teacher/club advisor.
Essay has the potential to be very unique, talks about me going out on the streets of Seattle to reach out and give to the homeless accompanied by recovering addicts who are in the organization's drug recovery program and what it's taught me (and not your 'yay, i appreciate life now' stuff)</p>

<p>Thank you so much for chancing me! I would be happy to chance you back. :)</p>

[jturzy]

<p>I’d say you have a good chance for all of those schools! But then again, I’m just a senior as well and I’m no expert. The combination of your grades/scores/EC’s/etc make you a strong competitor. I wish you the best of luck :)</p>

<p>Chance me?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1229379-bucknell-chances.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1229379-bucknell-chances.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[OhioMom2]

<p>I think you have a GREAT chance…BUT, the only things that I have a slight concern about are your GPA and class rank. I think that these schools want top GPA’s and AT LEAST top 10% ranking regardless of what school you are coming from. The class rank is especially important since it is comparing you to others in your same school and 16% is low for these schools. And I don’t think that your parents not attending college “in the US” is of any help. With that being said, if I were the adcom I’d admit you! I do think you have a really high chance to get in, but if you don’t I think those would be the reasons. Also, your essay(s) and rec(s) will probably be critical in your situation. Good luck!</p>

[Seahawks506]

<p>the class rank really worries me sick. It’s an anomaly- my 3.86 gpa isn’t the best but it’s higher than many top 10% I know. And it’s not like I took easy classes; when I talked over my rank with my counselor he said he’d most likely put me in the “most rigorous” category for courseload. </p>

<p>I chalk it up to weighted electives vs. the non-weighted electives I took (career focused but not weighted business ones) and comparatively poor middle school/freshman weighted class performance that hurt a lot more than it should have. </p>

<p>I want to talk about it in an additional info because honestly, if I was in say accelerated spanish program I would’ve been top 10%, and yet I feel like it’s complaining.</p>

[OhioMom2]

<p>You might want to explain in a non-complaining, no excuses fashion if that is possible. If there is no way to do it without it sounding like complaing/excuses, then definitely don’t do it. If alot of the reason is due to the middle school classes that transferred up, that would be a legitimate reason. This is all unfortunate though because you seem like a great applicant who could definitely handle the courses at a top school. :/</p>

[Raichu]

<p>You definitely are considered competitive, my only question is why duke ED? Its not that good of a school for business/econ compared to uchicago and northwestern.</p>

<p>Sent from my SGH-T959V using CC App</p>

[Seahawks506]

<p>@Ohiomom2: thanks for the advice. My GC actually brought up the issue of the non-weighted electives related to business and suggested I talk about it. </p>

<p>I don’t think the graduate program is great at Duke but I’ve heard it’s strong undergraduate-wise. Great placement/recruiting especially for I banking and overall I like Duke the best. I don’t need some top-ranked program, just a good one where I feel like I can get the undergraduate experience I want and Duke sold me.</p>

[almamater]

<p>If you want a good undergrad experience why are you applying to nyu?</p>

[sambrulz]

<p>Very incredible statistics!
Ur ECs, SATs, awards, and gpa are all high… and you take AP which can be a bonus.
Honestly, you have a good shot at some of those colleges, but I recommend you have a few safety schools, because with the ivies, and duke its very hard to tell if you are in for sure or not… in fact its impossible :P</p>

<p>I think Michigan, U of Washington, UCLA and USC are more of matches for you
However, Duke, the ivies, and chicago may be low to high reaches, because you just never know
Also, im guessing ur applying to Stern (since ur doing business), so NYU will most likely be a low reach as well :)</p>

<p>Chance back?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1229009-chance-me-ill-chance-back.html#post13351893[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1229009-chance-me-ill-chance-back.html#post13351893&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[mathela]

<p>Very nice resume. Those internships are great and your leadership credentials are impressive. You have great test scores too but the only thing that worries me a bit is your class rank. However, the fact that you go to a competitive school and have a high UW GPA should at least partially make up for this. (I’m stressing about my class rank too )</p>

<p>Duke (ED)- 65%
Northwestern- 35%
Chicago- 30%
Cornell- 30%
USC- 85%
NYU- 90%
U Washington- 55%
Michigan- 80%
UC Berkeley- 25%
UCLA-25%</p>

<p>Chance me? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1227715-chances-usc-nyu-jhu-other-top-30-colleges.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1227715-chances-usc-nyu-jhu-other-top-30-colleges.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[Seahawks506]

<p>Thanks guys! Fwiw at Duke I will most likely get an interview and I am always good at any sort of interview/ semi-formal conversation. My “Why Duke” essay was a bit long but I feel that I really nailed it and it was really different from your run of the mill reasons like the cameron crazies and stuff. </p>

<p>@almamater- NYU is only really there because if I don’t end up at Duke/Chicago/Cornell/NU I might consider it if living in NYC appeals to me at that point. Of course, USC is also in a big city but NYU has not only the city but also a really big international focus.</p>

[kiribelle]

<p>You’ll be fine.</p>

[rd2012]

<p>Pretty good chance at Duke ED (50%). Cornell,ucla, chicago, uc berkeley (40%). I think you have a 60% chance and northwestern and you are in at the rest.</p>

[Seahawks506]

<p>Thanks, do you think northwestern is that much easier though?</p>

[Seahawks506]

<p>bump 10c</p>

[SoCAtoVA]

<p>I’m not familiar with all of the schools on your list, but from your credentials I’d say your a solid applicant and I think you’ve got a great shot. I would recommend however that you find at least one unique hook that you can focus on during your interview with Duke. Good luck :)</p>

[Seahawks506]

<p>Thanks! bump</p>

[Praying4Luck]

<p>Good chance but if you have to put your ranking, that 16% will hurt you.</p>

[Seahawks506]

<p>I agree, like I said earlier it’s somewhat undeserved but I don’t know how to say it. I took very hard core classes, year up in math (this actually hurt me because AP Calc is so hard at our school) and a 3.86 isn’t bad. My GPA without freshman year is about a 3.9, for those schools that don’t count it.</p>

[Seahawks506]

<p>Bump 10cH</p>