Chance for Vassar/Columbia/Tufts/etc?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Asian female attending an international school in China. A TCK from Southeast Asia (prefer not to say). Chance me for:</p>

<p>Columbia
Vassar
Tufts
Sarah Lawrence College
Williams
Boston College
And I need safeties. Suggesting some would be great (<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/new-york-colleges/1367160-looking-safety-school.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/new-york-colleges/1367160-looking-safety-school.html&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p>

<p>Intended Major: English Literature, minor in Poli Sci (?)</p>

<p>GPA (unweighted): 3.76
Class Rank: N/A</p>

<p>Courses:
9- English 9 (A), World History 9 (A), Geometry (A), Art I: Introduction (A), Chinese Heritage Level 5 (B+), Physical Education 9 (B+), Lab Science (A-)
10- English 10 (A), APUSH (A), Alg. II & Trigonometry (A-), Art I: Photography and Digital Art (A), Chinese Heritage Level 6 (B+), Physical Education 10 (A-), Lab Science (A-)
11- IB HL English Lit A1 (A), IB HL History (A-), IB HL Math (A-), IB SL Art (A-), IB SL Spanish Ab Initio (A), IB SL Chemistry (B+), Theory of Knowledge (A)</p>

<p>Test Scores:
APUSH - 5
SAT - 2180 (M: 720 CR: 750 W: 710)</p>

<p>ECs:
Model United Nations (8-12 [I go to a K-12 school], HS Varsity team 9-12)
Student Council (9-11, Vice President)
National Honour Society (10-12) [Organizes this huge schoolwide charity every year, as well as some other activities]
Student Ambassador team <a href="8-12">Helps with welcoming new students, parents, and farewells for leaving students</a>
Writing Centre (10-12, president-to-be Senior Year)
JV Basketball (9-10)
Varsity Basketball (11-12)</p>

<p>Awards:
Academic Merit in English 9 (Given to the top few students by the teachers at my school)
Academic Merit in English 10 (Ditto above)
Coaches Choice Award JV Basketball (2011)</p>

<p>Some Random Crap I've Done:
Submitted several articles to the school magazine
Columbia Summer Program for High School Students (2010, Creative Writing)
Georgetown Summer Programs Fundamentals in English Writing (2011)</p>

<p>I know I have really high shots, few awards and nothing like a 4.0 GPA, but I'm hoping you guys could chance me and maybe help me make goals that are more realistic. Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>bumpitybumo.</p>

3

<p>Columbia will definitely be tough to get into. Your GPA isn’t great for Columbia, but you probably won’t have any problems with it anywhere else. I’d retake the SAT and consider taking the ACT as well; your Writing score isn’t great considering that you want to be an English major. Your ECs aren’t bad, and you’ve got your leadership down, but you don’t seem to have done a lot of independent work, i.e. getting something significant published or starting any organization or club. Overall, I’d say your chances are good for everywhere except Columbia and possibly Tufts.</p>

<p>I get the feeling you don’t want reaches right now, but if you’re up to one, have you considered Brown? It’s in a city, which you seem to like, and has a great English program, though it’s quite selective. Swarthmore might be a more realistic slight-reach.</p>

<p>I can’t pick safeties for you. To me, it seems like a personal task that shouldn’t be done with others around, like going to the washroom or writing a will. You do have an article there; why not use it?</p>

<p>Unfortunately, there isn’t anything you can do to change your race, and the card you’ve been dealt isn’t a good one for college admissions. I don’t think it’s fair, but it’s the way it is. In the end, though, you don’t have to write down any race if you don’t want to.</p>

<p>You can’t really get any more awards now, or take any more AP tests, so don’t worry about that. They don’t mean as much as people think they do, though.</p>

4

<p>I would work on those test scores, get up the SAT score or consider ACT. And I’m sure most of those schools require SAT IIs so take the Math IIC and either USH or English.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for your feedback, guys!
Columbia has always been a reach and a sort of ideal school for me (despite its vastness). I’m applying ED to Vassar first. How are my chances there?
I’m retaking the SAT come this fall, but I live overseas and there’s no ACT test centre here. But I did take the SAT II and forgot to list it here. Chinese (with hearing) was 790 [this is for a language credit as I couldn’t fit in HL Chinese into my schedule. It’s mandatory to take it, even though it’s my weakest subject.], and English lit was 760. Yeah, I guess I’m sort of an Asian stereotype, though a bit more humanities than Math/Sci. Would that affect me admissions-wise?</p>

<p>Also did some volunteering (Sunday School TA, helped at a local kindergarten, couple H4H trips, some youth group work). Teacher recs are expected to be good, nothing bad, but definitely not exceptional in every category. My essays are pretty decent from what I’ve been told. Although, you’re right, I don’t have anything like self-pursuits and independent work. :/</p>

6

<p>Bump and a ten-character rule.</p>

7

<p>i think your application is pretty strong!! don’t worry, you’ll get into a good school</p>