Chance Me and I'll Chance You

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey everyone, thanks for taking the time to read my "chance request." I know they can be boring and repetitive at times, so I really appreciate any comments, etc. I posted this a few weeks ago, but with my new SAT's, etc I wanted to repost it for new input. I've already applied to all of my picks but two (BC and Richmond).</p>

<p>My schools are:
1.) Wake Forest (ED, legacy of my dad)
2.) Boston College (money is kind of an issue, but it is my "dream school")
3.) USC
4.) U. Richmond
5.) SMU (EA)
6.) U. Miami Fl. (EA)
7.) Texas Christian (go horned frogs XD, EA)
8.) U. Washington Seattle (OOS)
9.) Ohio State Columbus (IS)
10.) Loyola U. Chicago</p>

<p>I've visited WF, SMU, BC, Richmond, and TCU. I interviewed with SMU in Oct. </p>

<p>SCHOOL: I go to a private, Catholic college preparatory school in Columbus, Ohio. As redundant as it sounds, our school is within the top 5% of the country according to some book that colleges use to find info about HS's. Our regular level classes are equivalent to Honors at most other parochial schools, our Honors=AP, and our AP= real college classes. This system both deflates our GPA significantly (in contrast to many other schools). About half of our class goes on to Ohio State, 1/4 to highly ranked schools such as ND and WU St. Louis, and the rest to schools here in Ohio. </p>

<p>COURSEWORK: I have taken - - -
FR, SO English, AP English Lit, AP English Lang.
Intro. to Phys/Chem, Biology, HS Chem, HS Physics, AP Bio
Alg. I/II(trig), HS Geom, PreCalc. AB
Latin I/II, Spanish I/II, French I/II
Religion I/II/III/IV(comparative religion)
American Hist., World Hist., Economics, Government
Health, Computer Programming/Graphic Art</p>

<p>Almost all of my grades are in the high B to high B+ range, with a few A's in the foreign language and English classes and C+'s in Chem and Alg II.</p>

<p>My overall unweighted accum up to junior year is a 3.60. I don't know what it is unweighted, probably not SIGNIFICANTLY lower</p>

<p>SAT's: CR- 680 M-650 W- 740 = 1330/2070
AP English Lang. - 5</p>

<p>EC - I won't go into minute detail considering most app.'s include only 5 or so blanks, but I included:
Appalachia Ecology/Mining Service Project
J.O.I.N. (Inner City Needs) worker (summer "job")
National Honor Society
School Tutor (3 years, foreign language)
Varsity Tennis (4 years, MVP, Varsity Captain, First Team all League)</p>

<p>The essay I used for all of my apps described my reaction to a time when I helped give the heimlich maneuver to my grandfather who had Alzheimers (we could have let him choke to death, etc) I thought it was memorable, unique, and very indicative of what I will bring to _____ University. It wasn't about the occasion as much as my perception of it, and its long term effects on my character. The best thing about it is that it could never be recreated in the same way I wrote it. I tried to make it unique, but powerful at the same time.
The essay doesn't fit into the topics of every school listed above, but I modified the it to do so without changing the tone.</p>

<p>Thanks SOOOO much for your feedback, I'll try to write on some of you guy's chance threads. </p>

<p>TJM</p>

2

<p>1.) Wake Forest - reach
2.) Boston College - reach
3.) USC - reach (assuming Southern California, not South Carolina)
4.) U. Richmond - slight reach
5.) SMU (EA) - match
6.) U. Miami Fl. - match/slight reach
7.) Texas Christian - match
8.) U. Washington Seattle - match
9.) Ohio State Columbus - safety
10.) Loyola U. Chicago - match</p>

<p>btw I do have a chance thread :-)</p>

3

<p>My grandparents had Alzheimer's, so your essay topic was fairly cool. It can't hurt you, and definitely seems like it'll help, as long as you make sure it toes into who you are and what you can bring.</p>

<p>Are you recruited for tennis? I play on my own outside of school, but I've only won regional tournaments, and I'm really not very good besides a one handed backhand. But MVP and all-league are honestly pretty impressive. It might be worth contacting coaches or setting up an appointment.</p>

<p>The only thing wrong is your GPA. SATs are in range and not bad at all, and ECs (including Alzheimer's and tennis) are pretty good. But some of the C's and the courseload (I might be wrong, you do have some APs, but I don't see honors) might not help.</p>

<p>On a side note, I'm not interested in applying, but I've seen SMU, and it looks really, really nice.</p>

<p>Wake Forest - high match
Boston College - reach (just the GPA)
USC - low reach
U. Richmond - high match
SMU - low match
U. Miami Fl. - match
Texas Christian - match
U. Washington Seattle - match
Ohio State Columbus - low match/safety.
Loyola U. Chicago - low match</p>

<p>I think my chances thread kind of got buried, I wouldn't bother looking for it. Overall though, if you can play off the essay (unique and memorable certainly sounds good), chances might be a little higher than what I've said.</p>

4

<p>I'll look for them, a promise is a promise, right? :)
I'm not being recruited or anything, but tennis has been a big part of my HS career. I play competitively, but not nationally or anything (probably a good thing XD)
The essay really focuses on selflessness and courage, and how I overcame applied/learned my values as a young child (and learned to incorporate it from that point) Like I said, it's supposed to make an impression on my application that couldn't be conveyed by my scores. Wake's motto is "pro humanitate," so I tried to play on that a bit.
Grades, courses etc. are the biggest drawback to my app, like you said. It really depends on whether or not the colleges know about or learn about my school. It's called "college prep" for a reason, but you can never be sure they really consider it. If it helps, my AP Bio is the same freshman course at Miami of Ohio, and my AP English the same as a soph. class at Kenyon (a small LAC here in Ohio), and Honors Physics the same at Ohio Dominican. You can move every class up one to determine what it really is; EX. - Pre Calc - -> AP Calc at another school, etc. Our school is designed to make you feel bad about yourself right from the start so that it doesn't hityou in college XD</p>

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<p>In that case, the difficulty definitely changes things. If you're GPA is slightly low, but your rank (if offered) is still up high, you'll be alright.. And the essay sounds better than I expected, and I'm positive I didn't think poorly of you.</p>

<p>I'll save you the trouble of looking for it, I wouldn't want to waste time. <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=408305&highlight=chances+appreciated%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=408305&highlight=chances+appreciated&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Thanks, I'll write you one now :)</p>

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<p>1) Wake Forest - high match
2) Boston College - reach
3) USC - high match
4) U. Richmond - medium-high (:P) match
5) SMU (EA) - low-match
6) U. Miami @ Fl. - match
7) Texas Christian - match
8) U. Wash. Seattle - match
9) Ohio State Columbus - safety
10) Loyola U. Chicago - low match</p>

<p>Good choices all though. I have a chances thread too! Chance me :D</p>

8

<p>1.) Wake Forest - slight reach, legacy will probably help
2.) Boston College - reach, GPA is probably
3.) USC - high reach, again GPA
4.) U. Richmond - match/slight reach
5.) SMU (EA) - match
6.) U. Miami Fl. - match
7.) Texas Christian - safetty
8.) U. Washington Seattle - match
9.) Ohio State Columbus - safety
10.) Loyola U. Chicago - match</p>

<p>i think your savemygrandpa essay would be interetsing and an unique read. and though your gpa is on the lowish side, it does show you're willing to challenge yourself etc etc esp since your school is pretty competitive</p>

<p>good luck :D and chance me too!</p>

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<p>This sounds stupid, so bear with me. What exactly is a "low match," "high match", etc mean? I know reach et al, but does the "low" refer to "low likelihood" or "low risk?"</p>

<p>Sorry if it's obvious ;)</p>

10

<p>Well, here is how I understand the terms (and how I use them), ordered from highly unlikely to highly likely:</p>

<p>Reach
Low reach
High match
Match
Low match
High safety
Safety</p>

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<p>low match means its close to being a safety, high match means its close to being a reach, etc.</p>

12

<p>Thanks, kind of confusing for a newbie to the chance threads :)</p>

13

<p>Anybody else?</p>