chance humanities kid for UChicago/Brown/LACs?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a rising senior at a top urban independent school (we send about 25% of the senior class to Ivy Leagues every year). I want to major in Classics; my other interests include philosophy, music theory/history, and English. I'm a white middle class female.</p>

<p>GPA: 95
Rank: we don't rank, but avg GPA is about a 91
SAT I: 2270 (cr/m/w is 780/690/800); retaking in October and expecting 2300+
Latin SAT II: 750
PSAT: 224
APs: haven't gotten any results yet, but predicting a 5 in Latin and a 4/5 in English Lang.</p>

<p>All classes are at least honors-level, and we offer very few APs (for example, we don't have APUSH or any AP English courses).</p>

<p>Freshman/Sophomore Grades: Mostly A's, some A-'s, straight A+'s in Latin, straight B+'s in math until this year...</p>

<p>Junior Grades
AP Latin: A+
US History: A
Precalculus: A
Physics: A
English: A-
Theater Production: A+
Chorus: A</p>

<p>Senior Classes
Latin V
Philosophy
James Joyce's Ulysses
Organic Chemistry
AP Music Theory
AB Calc (possibly BC)</p>

<p>ECs
-Assistant Stage Manager for professional production company (4 wks/yr, 25 hrs/wk)
-Stage Manager (2 yrs, at least 15 hrs/wk) for 5 high school productions
-props crew for multiple high school productions (4 yrs)
-piano for 10+ years; selective chamber music camp for 3
-Mock Trial (3 yrs, 6 hrs/wk), team has done quite well
-President of RAPSD (play-reading club)
-founding member of Tea Club</p>

<p>Awards Etc
-one National Scholastic Writing Award
-multiple Regional Scholastic Writing Awards
-top NLE award this year (gold medal 4 yrs in a row)</p>

<p>I think my essays will be good -- writing is generally my strong suit. Recs will also probably be strong. I'm getting one from an English teacher, one from a Latin teacher, and a supplemental from my theater teacher.</p>

<p>Schools:
UChicago
Brown
Wesleyan
Swarthmore
Oberlin (double legacy)
Tufts
Vassar
Bryn Mawr
Skidmore
Barnard
SUNY Purchase</p>

<p>Chances, please? I'll chance back!</p>

2

<p>Oh – I’m planning to apply EA to UChicago. Good idea? Bad idea? Acceptable idea?</p>

3

<p>I think applying EA to UChicago can’t hurt in any way. Awesome grades and scores, you look like a really strong candidate overall.</p>

<p>UChicago - low reach
Brown - reach
Wesleyan - low match
Swarthmore - low reach
Oberlin (double legacy) - high match (basically in)
Tufts - match
Vassar - low match
Bryn Mawr - low match
Skidmore - high match
Barnard - match
SUNY Purchase - safety</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1356903-chance-me-lacs-few-universities-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1356903-chance-me-lacs-few-universities-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>thanks! I’m really hoping Oberlin takes legacy into account (which people say it does) because that would be great for me…
will chance you back</p>

5

<p>bumpbumpbump?</p>

6

<p>I think your app looks really good overall. If you get your SAT to 2300 like you expected, then your app is near perfect. Also, your extracurricular’s reflect strong concentration in English (theater, mock trial, etc) which is always good. Overall, in at everything almost, but Brown, UChic and Swarthmore will be a challenge for you (and any applicant, no matter how qualified). Good luck, and I’m sure you’ll succeed!</p>

7

<p>Thanks for chancing me! :)</p>

<p>Your entire application is so well balanced that it’s hard to start anywhere, whether it be praising you or giving you advice. So, I guess I’ll start here:</p>

<ol>
<li>holy cow, an entire class on ulysses and one on orgo? in HIGH SCHOOL? i’m glad you’re taking advantage of it, but dang…I would LOVE to take those!</li>
<li>“retaking in October and expecting 2300+” uhh…i mean, go for it, but retaking anything over a 2250 isn’t completely necessary. if you felt like you had a bad test day, go for it! otherwise, you could use the money to pay for another college app fee :stuck_out_tongue: just a small thing though.</li>
<li>Tea club? Whatttt?</li>
</ol>

<p>Your numbers are fantastic. On paper, you fit in well with the “Ivy experience” - good grades, good SATs, good numbers. Unfortunately, that holds true for a good portion of other kids applying. </p>

<p>Let’s move to ECs. Yours are pretty focused on your major - never hurts. But more than that, while they are focused to what you enjoy, they are also varied in that you’re not just doing one thing. I would assume you enjoy everything you do ;)</p>

<p>However, make sure that on those essays, you’re really getting your personal voice across, whether it is about your extracurriculars or your life in general. I recently visited brown, and an admission officer told me that a kid who wrote a phenomenal essay on - get this - math team practice - got in because the essay really showed the adcom what he was really passionate about, and how he still had fun with being nerdy. </p>

<p>You’ve set yourself up really, really well. </p>

<p>SUNY - safety.
Oberlin - your double legacy almost guarantees you acceptance, but just in case, low match.</p>

<p>Wesleyan, Tufts, Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, Skidmore = varying degrees of match. I don’t know too much about LAC adcoms, so I can’t be too sure about these.</p>

<p>UChicago = match to reach, depending on your essay (how about that where’s waldo question…)
Swarthmore = low-ish reach, probably
Brown = low to mid range reach.</p>

8

<p>first, @person above me, I love the Where’s Waldo question. so much fun to play with haha.
continuing, I’m one to look at the worst case scenario. And by that I mean I’m going to be harsher than most, but my ratings will be worse than what you can actually expect. I believe that others will be closer to accurate than I am, but you never know.
Your scores look good, but numbers aren’t everything. I agree that it’s not necessary for you to retake the SAT if you’re above 2250 tbh, I think you’d be wasting money. But looking strictly at this stuff, you’ve only taken 2 APs. I’m not sure how it compares to others in your school, but you’ll be compared more with others from your region than with the country as a whole. I think your ECs are very good especialyl considering your major. your school also seems to offer a nice selection of courses, wish I could say the same haha. Anyway:</p>

<p>UChicago - low/mid reach
Brown - mid/high reach
Wesleyan - high match
Swarthmore - high match
Oberlin - match
Tufts - high match
Vassar - is this another girl’s school? I only knew about Wesleyan from a friend of mine. can’t say anything for vassar
Bryn Mawr - never looked at it
Skidmore - match/safety
Barnard - match/safety
SUNY Purchase - safety</p>

<p>chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1358671-chance-me-cs-schools-top-schools-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1358671-chance-me-cs-schools-top-schools-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

9

<p>My school only lets us start taking APs in junior year, at which point we can take 2 max as our 2 electives (I only took 1 because I wanted to get physics over with). As seniors, I suppose we could take however many we wanted (we get 6 classes max), but people tend not to take many – I think the most AP classes anyone’s ever graduated with is 5 or 6 total. We only offer language/science/math APs (no Euro/English/World History/etc). So I’m hoping it won’t be too much of a problem :/</p>

<p>Do grades look ok? That’s something I’m worried about – my avg this year is a 96 but in previous years I’ve gotten more A-'s and some B+'s in math…</p>

<p>I’m just retaking for math. I’ve asked a few admissions people who said that if I had gotten a 700, not to worry, but a 690 is statistically not so great (b/c of how they report common data set stuff) and if I think I can do better (which I do, without too much hassle) I might as well?</p>

<p>Thanks, everyone!</p>

10

<p>bumpbumpbump?</p>

11

<p>Match for everything not Brown or UChicago. Those two are reachers. SgtDonut hit the nail on its head.</p>

12

<p>thanks! bump? what might my chances at Columbia be?</p>

13

<p>bumpbumpbump?</p>

14

<p>one more bump (for now) – I’d really like to know about Columbia</p>

15

<p>You might want to look at Dartmouth as well</p>

16

<p>So I will comment regarding Bryn Mawr because nobody addressed it…</p>

<p>On paper you are far above their average acceptance, to the point where it could be viewed as a safety. Just remember they have a holistic admissions process so make sure you essay and recommendations are just as great.</p>

<p>Also I was just wondering, are you more interested in large schools or small liberal art schools (you have a fairly even distribution between the two)?</p>

17

<p>In my opinion, I think people are being too easy on you. You have a good score, not spectacular for some these schools, fine grades, and no stand-out EC’s you have stage production experience, but not anything amazing. Piano will help you, but you have to be extremely good to get any bump, and mock trial is very common. </p>

<p>UChicago - reach! This school is not a match or low reach, especially since the acceptance rate will probably be near 10% for next year.
Brown high reach, a below 10% acceptane rate, looking for a specific type of applicant
Wesleyan - low reach (maybe high match if essay is good) less than 20% acceptance rate, you have the scores and Wesleyan likes artsy students
Swarthmore - high reach, near 10% acceptance rate (trust me, I had same grades, higher test score, good EC’s and was rejected)
Oberlin (double legacy) - probably a high match w/o legacy, with it I don’t know
Tufts - low reach, near 20% acceptance rate, many competitive NE applicants apply here
Vassar - see Wesleyan</p>

18

<p>I’m trying to stay relatively small – I think ~6000 (Brown/UChicago) is the biggest school I would want to attend. And thanks for addressing Bryn Mawr! Not many kids from my school apply, so I have no Naviance data and had no idea what my chances would be…</p>

<p>PAGrok, do you have any suggestions for improving ECs, or improving my chances in any way? I don’t really think piano will help me since I’m not planning to submit an arts supplement, but colleges will see that I’m pursuing music over the summer instead of simply doing nothing, which is somewhat beneficial…</p>

<p>And for the record, I do think I’ll have 2320+ (superscore) once I retake.</p>

19

<p>Your EC’s are good, and show commitment, but they don’t really stand out as super special, and that is why you must express your passion for theatre and tell the schools why you love it and make out your EC experiences as special. I had a really unknown EC (a creativity competition called Odyssey of the Mind) that was a huge commitment and that taught me so much, but not a soul would know how much I had learned if they didn’t know the program. So, I chose to write about how the program change me and my fundamental perceptions of life. You do have a good shot at Wesleyan, Oberlin, Tufts and Vassar. I am always pessimistic and those schools are probably matches actually. For me, I viewed most schools with a below 30% admission rate a reach, cause I assumed I had a good chance at being rejected but a still significant chance of being admitted. I guess that definition really means a match, not reach, but I wanted any school that had a significant chance at rejecting me to be a reach. Anyways, write good essays and leave it up to the admissions readers and luck, and you could get into any of these schools.</p>