Chance Holsitically!

Chance Me / Match Me!
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I’m new to the college confidential “chance me” craze. I’m skeptical because from what I’ve observed, many users tend to focus on the tangibles rather than the infamous intangibles everyone knows are the real key factors in admissions. I realize my hypocrisy by posting one of my own, but I do so by asking that you chance holistically by attempting to delve into who you think I am, as an admissions counselor would, as you read this. I understand that it is incomplete without my essay, which I largely consider to be my trump card due to my slightly below average “tangibles,” but as a rising senior, I appreciate any insight.

I’m applying to 15 colleges as I am fairly certain they will waive application costs.

  1. Stanford
  2. Yale
  3. Harvard
  4. UChicago
  5. UPenn
  6. Princeton
  7. Cornell
  8. Duke
  9. Columbia
  10. Vanderbilt
  11. Rice
  12. USC
  13. University of Notre Dame
  14. Georgetown
  15. UT ( I will be applying to Plan II and Liberal Arts Honors)

Gender: Male
Ethnicity: African ( immigrated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo at age 5- no, the cliche immigrant essay is not what I will be writing about)
State: TX
GPA: 105.5 weighted
95 unweighted (should equate to 4.0 according to collegeboard)
Rank: 4/551 ( public school of 2700 students, not very prestigious although my class is fairly accomplished)
PSAT: 197
SAT: 1st time- 1890 (620 CR, 600 M, 670 W w/10 essay) not a fair assessment of my skills as I had a headache from the pressure
2nd time- 2020 (650 CR, 640 M, 730 W w/ 11 essay) again, not my best, but I understand excuses won’t get me an education
3rd time- 2180 (740 CR, 680 M, 760 W w/12 essay)
SAT II: US History - 780 ( I took others, but this is the only one I’ll be sending as even Stanford allows score choice on these. I disliked the others as only above average scores would do nothing to distinguish myself. )
ACT: 1st time- 28 composite ( 30 E, 26 M, 32 R, 24 S, E+W 31 w/ 11 essay) couldn’t find time to study, my apologies to whomever is reading
2nd time- 33 composite ( 36 E, 30 M, 35 R, 29 S, E+W 36 w/ 12 essay)

Course Load: (AP score in parentheses)
9th Grade-
Pre-AP World Geography: A+/A+
Pre-AP Geometry: A-/A+
Pre-AP English I: A-/ A+
Pre-AP Biology: A-/ A+
Pre-AP Spanish II: A+/A+
Introduction to Engineering Design: A+/A+
Football: A+/A+ (lol)

10th Grade-
AP World History: A+/A+ (4)
Pre-AP Algebra II: A+/A+
Pre-AP English II: A+/A+
Pre-AP Chemistry: A+/A+
Pre-AP Spanish III: A+/A
Art I: A+/A+
Speech: A+/ Psychology: A+

11th Grade-
APUSH: A+/A+ (projected 5)
AP Chemistry: A-/ A- (projected 2)
AP Physics I: B+/B+ (projected 3)
AP English III: A+/A+ (projected 5)
AP Spanish IV: A/A- (projected 3-4)
Pre-AP Precalculus: A+/A+
Principles of Engineering: AUDIT

PS: Will AP scores be taken against me? I lied to myself when I took the AP sciences, I wanted to fit the mold that competitive schools look for in applicants as well as maintain a high GPA.

Projected 12th Grade-
AP Govt/ AP Economics
AP European History
AP Calculus AB
AP Statistics
AP English IV
AP Psychology / Office Assistant (semester audit)
Creative Writing AUDIT

I will have taken 13 AP courses upon graduation, and I expect a 4+ on at least 10 of them. It’s technically 14 if you factor in AP Human Geography that I took freshman year for which I group studied for with the aid of an instructor, but I choose not to report it as I got a 3.

Extracurriculars:
TAME(Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering)- consists of math and science competitions 9th-12th
•Regionals 9th-11th
-9th: 2nd place in Biology
-10th: 5th place in Chemistry, 6th place in Algebra II
-11th: 5th place in AP Chemistry
(Advanced to state every year except junior year- sophomores were chosen instead so they would not feel left out)
HOSA- 10th grade only (exploring options- will probably not report)
UIL( University Interscholastic League)
• Ready Writing: 10th-12th

  • District: 7th place in 10th grade; 2nd place in 11th (advanced to regionals)
    •Social Studies: 10th-12th
    • Math - 10th only
    •Science - 10th only
    Math Club- 10th-12th
    -11th grade: Treasurer
    -12th grade: VP
    Science Club 10th-12th( active member)
    Link Crew (12th) -school group that helps ease freshman into high school life
    -section leader
    High on Life- 10th only
    NHS- 11th-12th
    Haltom Students for a Democratic Society - co president
    Book Club- 10th-12th
    Philosophy Club 11th-12th
    -co president
    Academic Quiz League 10th-12th
    • Captain
    BTP(Biology Tutoring Program) - cofounder and active participant
    Senior Class VP
    STUCO- 10th grade secretary
    Rho Kappa- founder and president 2015-2016

Summer Activities- Planned to do Stanford Online Academy until I got a job, but I miscalculated as both would’ve been doable, in hindsight.
Works at Chipotle 15-25 hours a week
I don’t have any major awards to my name. The academic awards listed above are all I have as my school is lacking in opportunities. To compensate, I plan on entering numerous writing competitions in hopes of winning 2-3. Winning a few of the ones I have in mind will allow my work to get published, a feat I heard is heavily lauded in admission circles. Will definitely be a Texas Scholar, albeit after admissions. Probable AP Scholar. Participated in Duke TIP. Probable National Achievement Scholar.

Income Bracket: Below 20K, around 15k-18k. Don’t worry about cost, ivy league is generous with its money to students like me. And my sister has assured me that UT should also grant me a full ride should my dreams not work out.

Prospective major: Dual major in philosophy and history. Hoping to study law.

Volunteering: Over 400 hours ( a large majority comes from ushering at my church although a small portion was from volunteering at vacation Bible school).

Will try my best to get into QuestBridge

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For the SAT IIs, I was going to retake the two scores that I did not like - literature and math 1- but send US History to Stanford for EA.

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I can’t chance you holistically without essays, recs, interviews etc. I can’t really tell what kind of person you are just by reading your post. Getting to know somebody is mainly through their past experiences, and not through a forum post in which they are discussing their stats and EC’s.
If you can get into Questbridge (When’s the deadline, I thought it passed), your chances will increase by a good margin.

UT Austin I think is a guarantee, so I’m assuming that’s your only safety/match ish school.

I think you should have more matches and safeties unless you’re perfectly fine with UT Austin.

Chancing will be difficult as the essays are your ‘trump’ card. Keep in mind how much effort it is going to require to perfect all those essays.
If essays are really that important, 14 schools’ worth of supplemental essays which will be a real pain to finish. Applying to so many schools might hurt you as you may not have enough time to perfect EVERY single supplemental essay.

Finally for AP scores, I will be wishing you luck when those come out. Hopefully you didn’t get any 2’s and hopefully not too many 3’s. Getting a 2/3 on AP exams while getting an A in the class will diminish your academic accomplishments as colleges will think your courses were ‘easy’ and did not prepare you for the rigor of the AP exam. People say that they factor in very little but I think that getting a 2 will not bode that well for you in college admissions.
But, your score predictions are only speculation so hopefully you get no 2’s and mostly 4’s and 5’s!

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I only wanted to try the experiment because I once read a post where someone with near perfect credentials expressed disdain over their rejection with apparent vanity in regards to their stats compared to others. I figured it was worth a try. And the Questbridge Prep Scholar has passed, but I wanted to become a finalist for multiple scholarships (the deadline is September 27). Yeah, I’m perfectly content with UT Austin. I’m not worried. UChicago’s already sent me emails for their supplement and to set up my account. I only wanted the first month of summer to myself. I will start writing my common app (already written, just need to edit) and the supplements schools have already released). I fell asleep during the AP Chem exam, I would imagine it’s probably spot on…I know it would hurt me, but I’d imagine they accept some students that have failed a few. And I only expect 2 scores below a 4.

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They discontinued National Achievement btw

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Wow, I am flabbergasted by your intensive drive to take AP courses! I myself tried to take as many as possible and I applaud you for that! You can definitely get into UT Austin (like 98% sure), and you have a solid chance at many of your reaches. I am not aware of how Questbridge can help admission chances (as I have not applied). Holistically, you seem like a strong candidate, but you cannot do score choice on AP exams. You will send EVERY score from EVERY test you have taken - but i don’t think that happens until after you are admitted. Best of luck, and I am confident you will get into the place you deserve to go to and will feel at home in.

Chance me?: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1779000-princeton-class-of-2020-ea-chances-p1.html You don’t have to though, I see your hesitancy to even create a chances thread and I respect that.

Keep us posted on how you fair during the college admissions process though!

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It’s clear that you’ve worked very hard throughout your high school career, and I commend you for that! I’d say you have a good shot at all of those schools as long as your essay really is your trump card, as your SAT score is a bit low. Some of those AP test scores may work against you as well, but your GPA and strength of curriculum should hopefully make up for that. I think your biggest reaches are Stanford, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, but those are reaches for practically everybody. The rest I’d say are low reaches, but I’m confident you could get in to USC, Notre Dame, Georgetown, and UT. On a side note, I’m kind of jealous that your school let you take multiple science/math courses at the same time! Anyway, best wishes for the application process, I’m sure your hard work will be worth the payoff!

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@Princetonian2020 The AP classes offered are all amazing, so I do not regret my decision. The only one I would definitely not take again is AP Chemistry, perhaps I should’ve done AP Environmental instead. I only wanted to do QuestBridge to couple the scholarship money received with money from various schools and national scholarships. I’m already accepted to UT, but I do not know about my chances for their honors programs. I am fairly confident, but I shall have to wait and see. Are you sure they don’t see your scores? I would love for that to be true. AP Chemistry is a huge blemish on my academic record.

@JPhilly99 Thank you for your bolstering comments. I really hope you’re right! I know that some schools have limits to the rigors of their students’ schedules, and I should consider myself lucky that I didn’t have those constraints. I’m sorry you had to go through that! It would suck if my school had tried to do the same. Stanford is my number one choice, if I wrote an essay completely unlike that of which they received, would I have a chance at Stanford EA? Or should I let my dream die and either listen to my dad and try to shoot for Harvard EA or go for Yale instead? I have heard the success stories of Kwasi Enin and Harold Ekeh and I hope that I can follow in their footsteps as I fit the mold despite my lower test scores. However, Ekeh had two extracurriculars, fairly banal at that, and having read both if their essays, I am hopeful that my essay would do more to capture the attention of admissions. And thank you for your chances at those schools, it makes me happy that I already have a few higher matches should the Ivy League not work out.

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I am only aware that on the college board website they say that if you send a score report to a college, they send every score from every test - like i said before. One thing to keep in mind is that for admission purposes they look at your grades in the actual courses. I totally understand one AP course tainting your record, as it ((kinda??)) happened to me as well. I got a B in AP Calculus AB, but an A in Calculus BC. As long as you show improvement from whatever grade you got in the class, then I think you’re fine!

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Thank you for your help!

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@PrideofCongo2020 Great scores and science ECs! I’d say you’re a high match for most of those scores – maybe try to get your scores up to a 34/2250 to secure your chances (obviously nothing is guaranteed) but you’re def. a competitive applicant.

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Thank you @EIC2400. The science was unintentional…I’m a humanities guy at heart, lol. I don’t think I’m that smart, besides, isn’t take the SAT more than 3 times looked down upon?

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You are a strong applicant for any college. However, I would like to tell you that your college list is poorly constructed. Your list only has one that could considered a safety and all the other ones are extremely selective. I would add some more safeties and matches. I think you could get into at least 3 or 4 on your list, but you’re not putting yourself in a safe situation right now.

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I don’t want to say you have “good” chances because nobody really has “good” chances. However, I’d say your chances are definitely more favorable than the majority of applicants, which is good (: . The projected AP scores are unflattering, but you haven’t gotten them all yet, so there may still be hope. To challenge yourself is valued more in my opinion than not taking the class or exam whatsoever.
I’m a QB kid who was matched with Columbia (but I also applied to UChicago and UT L.A. Honors). Specifically for the Honors program(s), were you invited to attend the Honors Colloquium this summer? It doesn’t necessarily hurt your chances if you weren’t, however, if you were then that will definitely help you get to know the admissions process for each honors program as well as expectations and more. I think I could help you out, considering I applied both to QB and UT; feel free to message me if you have any questions!

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@virsha24 That’s only because UT is the only safety I have any interest in attending. My sister attends and I’ve been there before, it’s definitely a first choice had I not been so ambitious. As a public school, UT is required to admit the those who apply in the top 7% of their respective classes. Worst case scenario, the honors programs reject me, I find it unlikely as I’ve checked the admissions profiles, and I’m forced to simply enroll in the college itself.

@evanian15 Thank you, and congratulations on your achievement. I don’t want to be binded and I doubt my dad would approve of my plan to simply ignore other schools just for one, especially if it’s not Harvard. Yes…I was humbled, but I thought nothing of it. Should I have taken them up on their offer!.. I get so many of those, I usually just read them and forget about them. After seeing your post, I will ask my sister how best to proceed as she currently attends. I would be happy to hear from you as well.

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HYPS and Columbia are all reaches. You never know who gets in but you are definitely competitive.
UPenn Cornell Brown Duke Vandy Rice Georgetown are all low reaches or even high matches
USC is a match
UT is a safety
Good Luck!

Please Chance me back! http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1769031-what-are-my-chances-at-these-schools-p2.html
You will need to read through the comments cause I got a 31 on ACT and I added some colleges (BostonU, UTAustin, Northeastern)

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