Chance me and advice?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi! I am currently a junior so based on what I have right now, what are my chances? Any advice to try and get together a better application by next year?

State: Iowa
Gender and Race: Female, White
HS: small catholic school (specifically supposed to not be a prep school)
Gpa: 4.0 unweighted (grades never falling below 93%)
No class rank but counselor guesses I am in the top 10 of a class of 380
Was one of the top 10 applicants entering the school freshman year

Classes:
AP: Euro, US, Environmental, APLAC. Senior year: Micro, Macro, Gov, Chem, Lit, Calc. Self Studying Human Geography
-honors in every option where I couldn’t take AP
-school only allows AP Euro for sophomore (why I don’t have more already)

  • schedule restrained with a religion class mandatory every semester
  • have never took an elective- just bulk up on extra core classes (example- took 4 semesters of English classes my sophomore year for the fun of it)

Activities:
NHS
Speech and Debate- policy and prose (national qualifier runner-up in policy, quarterfinalist in state in policy, semi-finalist in state in prose, numerous better finishes on local level)
STEM careers program
Synchronized Swimming (2015 Junior Olympic Qualifier, help coach younger swimmers)
Irish Dance (8 years but stopped after Freshman year with injury)
Fencing (5 years but stopped around high school with injury)
Students for Life (pro-life advocacy group, won a pro-life essay contest once upon a time)
Peer tutor (in French, religion, math)
Religious Involvement- altar server, Eucharistic minister, children’s liturgy leader, lots of volunteering at other things. I spend a large amount of my time at my church volunteering
Iowa State Fair Competitor- (won best chocolate cake in 2014 youth division, best cookies in 2015 youth division, 4th best coleus plant in 2015 adult division… I know, cliché for Iowa)

Upcoming activities:
World Food Prize Iowa Youth Institute (will find out later if I go on to global institute)
Iowa Girls State
I will be running/leading/managing vacation bible school at my church this year
And I will be taking a class this summer at UChicago; they gave me a merit scholarship for being a “top applicant”

Work:
Babysitting during school year and nannying in the summer; normally 10-30 hours a month (can be much more though)
Total service hours: around 300 in 3 years (from mostly religious related activities)

ACT Scores from sophomore year:
comp: 33, English: 33, Science: 33, reading: 36, math: 30, writing: 9
PSAT Scores:
comp: 1480, Reading/writing: 730, math: 750

Possible major: Public policy or chemistry
Possible colleges: UChicago (top choice), Wash-St. Louis, Columbia, Brown, Georgetown, Boston College, Boston University

Thank you very much!

2

Few quick last things:

  1. When I say self-study human geography, I meant that junior year, not senior year
  2. My counselor says I have taken one of the most challenging course loads. Even if it does not seem like a lot, it is what I can do given my school
  3. I haven’t been involved in more academic ECs because there are simply nothing else. The academic decathlon club at school conflicts with debate, the high school program at my local hospital is “coloring pictures for patients and similar activities” (so no opprounity for legit volunteering or research), I’ve been told by people that certain opportunities to get involved (especially in policy and politics) are only open to college students and above, and the only politics activity I have found fo high schoolers is being a page at the legislature but that means you are not allowed to attend classes except on Fridays (so I couldn’t take APs senior year).
    I know it’s probably a low chance for some of those schools but I really feel I’ve done what I can to the best of my opprounities.
3

Make sure to select safeties! BC and BU should be matches, but they are very different so you need to research which is a better fit and why. Your profile is competitive for the more selective schools but the ultimate outcomes will depend on your essays and recommendations. Some schools like WUStL consider demonstrated interest so you need to visit and/or interview. Avoid a laundry list of ECs; highlight the most meaningful one. That sounds like the synchronized swimming if you are still active with that. Hopefully your guidance counselor will put your record in context, because your explanation is too heavy on excuses. Realize too that your conservative values may be at odds with the majority of the student body at a few of these schools.

4

Maybe focus on trying to get more leadership activities. Start a club, group, or organization about something your passionate about.—Correlate you activities with the field you wish to pursue later on in college. If you want to go into public policy or chemistry in college I’d say to try to join/create activities that have to do with that stuff. Start a MUN club, international club chemistry club, science bowl team, etc…

And be mindful that Uchicago’s application has a very abstract/unusual essay which I would say is a really important factor.

Also try to maybe bump up your standardized test scores a little. A 33 is definitely not bad, but its not going to put you in the 75th percentile for top tier colleges–which is where you want to be to give yourself more of a chance.

5

Thank you very much!
Oregon2016- I did include some of those excuses to give context because I know I have no where near the application many on the “chance me” forum have. This is context it sounds (from when I went to information sessions) that the regional admission counselors have. It was to give context to the people on college confidential.
But I will definitely take those suggestions into consideration. Thank you very much!

6

Hi there! I’m an EA admit to UChicago and will be attending in the fall. Your profile looks really good and you seem strong in many areas. I recommend if you want (though your test scores are good enough now) that you try retaking the ACT if you haven’t already just to see if you can get it up a little higher, and maybe trying out the SAT and aiming for a 1500+. If you don’t like it, a 33 is fine and will not count you out I promise. As far as UChicago goes, essays are where you can distinguish yourself, and ultimately it is where you have to distinguish yourself. They will make or break your decision. I recommend putting enormous effort into those essays. If you want later on in a few months, feel free to message me with drafts of your essays and I’ll take a look if you want. Good luck with everything, and feel free to message me with any questions you have about Chicago!

7

@jarrett211 First, congrats on your acceptance! That is very exciting.
But I definitely do agree on my test scores. I actually will be taking the ACT again in two-ish weeks, the SAT in May, and the SAT subject tests in June. Hopefully, I will be able to boost the scores on the ACT then. And as to the essays, thank you very much for offering! I will be likely taking you up on that.
Best of luck at Chicago!