Chance it up.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Williams College
1

<p>I've been reading through these forums for months now, smiling, laughing, even giggling every once in a while. All the while thinking "wow, it must majorly suck having to apply to colleges." Well, my time has come, and, yes, it does suck. </p>

<p>Sorry to post a "chances" directly into the Williams forum, but I really wanna get the skinny directly from people at the college, and people who have just recently got in. So, I ask you to, for my sake, bare with this thread pollution. </p>

<p>Here it is:
Standardized tests:
SATi: 2280
SATii's
Bio: 760
Mathii: 740
US: 640
I plan on taking the Lit satii in the fall, so that I don't have to submit that US score.</p>

<p>In New York, everyone is required to take these silly tests called Regents. I've scored a perfect score on almost all of them, and 95+'s on the rest. </p>

<p>Grades:
I go to a very competitive (rich) public High School on Long Island.
u/w: 3.1 w: 3.2</p>

<p>APs (taken four so far, taking four more next year)
English Language: 5
Biology: 5
European history: 4
US history: 3</p>

<p>Like most other people, I have quite a few extra curriculars, but I'll spare you having to read them by posting just a few of my personal favorites.
Drama: I've been in a total of 4 plays (1 was a musical) in my High School career, a lead in all of them.
STAC: Student Television Arts Company. A program started about 30 years ago that is unique to my school. It's an audition-only multidisciplinary arts class that has taken up a great amount of my time and passion. Got in for Writing.
Was on the ping-pong team for two years. Never managed to win anything, but I had a helluva great time.
Code. I have a few websites, all coded by me in CSS. I've "dabbled" (if even that) a little in C.</p>

<p>Volunteering. (~500 hours total)
This is where I've devoted an incredible amount of my passion the last year. This is what I feel should be one of the most important things when applying to colleges and jobs, if for no other reason than to make this crazy mixed up country a little less crazy and mixed up.
Missionaries of Charity, Kolkotta, India (summer '07): 1 month
Habitat for Humanity, New Orleans (summer '06): 3 weeks
Interned at the regional Peace Corps recruiting office: 2 weeks</p>

<p>If all goes according to plan, my essay will be the brightest part on my mucky, dusty little resume (me hopes to be an english major!)</p>

<p>Oh, and I can yoyo really well, and I can solve a Rubik's cube in 37 seconds (current best time).</p>

<p>Also, I'm male and Indian (sadly, not the Native American kind).</p>

<p>Hm. That ended up being a little longer than I was hoping it would be. Sorry 'bout that.</p>

<p>Thanks and be as brutal as you would.</p>

2

<p>firstly, you don't need three SAT 2s. You only need two.</p>

<p>Secondly, you didn't state where your 3.1 puts you in relation to the other students in your school. If it is outside of top 10%, that severely hobbles your chances outside of the ED round.</p>

<p>The volunteering looks sincere, if shortened. that's a tremendous amount of CS you've put in, and make sure to highlight that fact in your application. Your essay will be crucial, admissions uses it to guage exactly what kind of person you are. Overall, don't take the admissions process lightly - for most admitted students, williams was their first choice, a fact that reflects in the amount of time and energy these students spend developing their apps. I personally spent about 100 hours over the course of three months prepping my ED app.</p>

<p>Good Luck</p>

<p>p.s. native americans are not indians. some may take offense at that statement</p>

3

<p>Yeah, I'd say GPA is your weak point and service your strong point. Try to bring up the GPA (if you apply RD, they'll consider grades from senior fall semester), and definitely emphasize the service. </p>

<p>rl.hill - 100 hours? Wow, that's impressive. I might've put in ten hours writing the essay and another five recording a CD, and I had thought I was putting a lot of work into my apps...</p>

4

<p>I applied Early Decision, so I just put all my energy into Williams. I might've overdone it, but from the response I got from admissions, my app was really good. That's impressive, what was the CD about?</p>

5

<p>Ahhh, yeah, I just learned I only need two for a lot of the schools I'm applying to. Helluvan encouragement. Thanks a lot you guys. </p>

<p>The thing about Early Decision is that I feel like I would be wasting it on a school like Williams, because my chances are so low. I've been considering EDing to Vassar- a great school that's not AS far outside of my on-paper-potential. </p>

<p>And, yes: my grades are miserable. I just never really devoted much energy to school in an academic sense. I'm fine at taking tests and things, but I just tended to get a little lazy once in a while. </p>

<p>Also, I know Native Americans are not Indian. It's hard to a 17 year old, much more so for an Indian 17 year old, and not know that fact. I was just making a joke that being a Native American is a huge plus on a college application. </p>

<p>Once again, thanks you guys. Any other advice would be hugely appreciated.</p>

6

<p>Your grades seem low, unless they represent a very high ranking within your class. Are your grades rising? Can you improve them? You might think about an advantage of regular decision: it lets you get your first semester grades into consideration. If you can pull off having rising grades, a gap year before applying to college would let you get both first and second semester senior grades considered; if they were rising strongly, that might be really helpful. More importantly, now that you have found your passion, having more time to devote yourself to your studies before applying would give you a chance to let your interest in service light up and recharge your academic interests and involvement.</p>

<p>Your service is commendable but, as you probably know, there are plenty of other applicants who have more service, who became involved in service far earlier, who have grown over time through their service and now hold national-level leadership roles, and for whom service is an integral part of their lives and ties in closely with their academic and career interests and skills. Those students are likely to be the ones who will be given special consideration because of their service (i.e., the kind of special consideration that really helps override less than stellar grades). And many of those applicants also have very, very strong academic records...</p>

<p>If you aren't especially engaged academically, Williams may not be a good fit for you. In your shoes, I'd think hard about that before trying to use a non-academic factor to shoehorn myself into a highly academic environment. Have you researched colleges and universities that emphasize service but may put less emphasis than Williams does on academics?</p>