chance me chance me say that you'll chance me

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>wow, 4 years on CC and i've never ever done a chances thread.
this is monumental.</p>

<p>future senior/english or biochem major.
female.
african-american.
maryland born and bred.
3.8ish weighted.
3.7ish unweighted.
top 10%, just barely but no one needs to know this.
SAT: 800 CR/770 M/770 W, 2340 Overall
SAT II's: 740 Lit, 780 Bio-M
AP's: Bio-5, Lang-5, Chem-4, World-4, Took Phys B but didn't take exam
EC's: Future ed-in-chief of school paper, various writing awards, volunteer at children's hospital, lifeguard, model un, founder of shakespeare club, summer internship at NIH.
Senior year: Half-day internship at NIH, AP Calc, AP Lit, Organic Biochem, and Newspaper.
Recs: 1 amazing one from my english teacher whom i loved, 1 good one from my chem teacher.
Essays: I'm a writer, so hopefully my essays will rock.</p>

<p>Super Reaches: Brown and Williams (one of these will be my ED)
Reaches: Wesleyan, Northwestern
Matches: Kenyon, Oberlin, Scripps
Safeties: Northeastern, Maryland, Case Western</p>

<p>Hooks: None really, i'm black, my dad went to brown for med school but i don't think that counts.
Anti-Hooks: Upper middle-class status, no sports, didn't really do too much with languages, a C on my junior year transcript. depression ruined my grades/life this year, but i'm taking meds now so i'm better?</p>

<p>basically i appear average on paper but i come to life in the real world. i need colleges to see this. maybe i should send a video? :)</p>

<p>what do you think? and be honest...i'll take everything said here cum grano saltis.</p>

2

<p>Reed is another match, and if you're interested in advanced grad school, Reed is first or second (depending on years measured) in the country in future biology PhD percentage, and second in future chem PhD percentage. See REED</a> COLLEGE PHD PRODUCTIVITY. All this means is that Reed is a pretty good school.</p>

<p>Also consider Carleton, Grinnell, Swarthmore, UChicago.</p>

3

<p>The only thing holding you back is your GPA (which isn't even that bad)...you'll def. get into your ED school.</p>

4

<p>Great scores, you have a great shot</p>

5

<p>I agree w/cosine45, your GPA is good but may hold you back. you have a great SAT and I think you can get into your ED school no problem. anyone here like to chance me:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/532689-help-me-please-chances-chances-more-chances.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/532689-help-me-please-chances-chances-more-chances.html&lt;/a> </p>

<p>i will chance you back (just give me the link to your thread!)</p>

6

<p>I don't think i have the intellectual drive of a Reed student...but i did consider it once upon a time.
I considered U chicago until I found out about the core...my entire hs experience has been filled with excess core courses, and I want college to be the exact opposite.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the feedback guys, although i'd love more!</p>

7

<p>By no means do you appear average on paper. That said, interview with whatever schools you can (doesn't necessarily have to be on-campus), b/c if you 'come to life in the real world,' that'll add strength to an already strong resume. Your GPA (which is good by any measure) seems like it's probably stronger than it looks given that you're top 10%.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Good shot at merit aid for Scripps. I'm told selection is very numbers-heavy, but I think your GPA is high enough to keep you in the running. Be sure to apply by Nov. 1 deadline.</p></li>
<li><p>Your list looks very reasonable and well thought out, but personally, I don't think you'd be crazy if you wanted to add a couple more reaches/super reaches. Doing so would be neither necessarily nor unreasonable. Pomona comes to mind as a reach you might like, though if you've already explored Claremont, perhaps you've kept Pomona off your list for a reason.</p></li>
<li><p>You say 'one of these will be my ED.' You don't have to have an ED (sometimes it seems that people forget that). If you're positive about one of those schools, then go for it, but don't do it for a boost.</p></li>
<li><p>The thing that catches my eye is AP's. I only had 3 myself, b/c I came from a school where not too many were offered, and taking many more just didn't happen (and at a certain point, wasn't allowed). Do you come from a school that doesn't offer many, a competitive school that limits the number you take, or is your courseload relatively 'light' (emphasis on 'relatively')? If your school offers lots of other AP's, I'd expect a 3.8/2340 student to have taken more advantage of them, but course rigor is very contextual. Whether or not this will raise eyebrows will depend on stuff we can't see here.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Best of luck. I imagine you'll do well :)</p>

8

<p>well, about the AP's: we can't take any frosh year, up to 2 soph year (gov or bio, i took bio), and unlimited junior and senior years (we offer about 3/4 of all availiable AP course). I took 4 junior year, so about half my schedule. The other half of my schedule included newspaper (i'm editor, so I had to take the class), drama 3 (a passion), pre-calc, and half a year of gym (grad req.). I thought that was a decent schedule. My next year's schedule includes 2 AP's, so i'll finish hs with a total of 7 AP courses. I thought that was pretty decent...</p>

<p>And about more reaches/pomona, i felt weird having more reaches than matches, I kind of wanted to add pomona, but decided against it because I was afraid of being too top-heavy. I may do so later, though...and I'm also thinking of adding WUSTL perhaps.</p>

<p>And the ED thing...well, it's just that I LOVE brown and I LOVE williams. I can't decide right now...but I'd def. be very very very happy if I were lucky/brilliant enough to get into either one of those AMAZING schools. I'm probably going to work on convincing my parents to let me do an overnight at both...even though I've already visted both (brown twice) and williams is impossible to get to :)</p>

<p>Thanks for the great feedback, student615! it's very much appreciated.</p>

<p>I realized I left out a couple of important ec's: NHS...okay, so typical, lol, and theater. I do a lot of theatre. I can't believe I forgot that...How exactly do you list acting experiences on college apps anyway?</p>

9

<p>Ah! Sorry, I misread your original post. When you said "Senior year: ...AP Calc, AP Lit..." I managed to skip right over "Senior year" and read that you were including those two AP's among your EC's, so I figured they were the only two you'd taken. Completely disregard my AP comment :)</p>

<p>I'm glad to hear that you 'LOVE' Brown and Williams and would 'def. be very very very happy to attend either'! That makes your ED plans much clearer :) I'm not too familiar with either Brown or Williams, but I have to believe you stand a good chance at either. I'm a big proponent of multiple visits if you're possibly able...really made a difference for me with the school I chose (Scripps). Also, spending a night before choosing ED, esp. when picking between multiple schools, could be very valuable.</p>

<p>How you list acting experience depends on what exactly you've done, and on what role it'll play in your application; i.e. a drama major applying to a top theatre program will list involvement differently than someone who's done it for fun and may or may not continue it as an EC. I'd probably list it broadly ("Theatre"), and then describe a few of the specifics in space provided, parentheses, whatever, rather than list lots of different theatre-related activities separately. If something really stood out or differed, I'd give it its own slot. Depending on what you've done, it might also go into different sections of the app...EC's, employment, volunteer work, awards. It'll probably be clear to you when you see applications. Come back here to ask if not ;)</p>

10

<p>As additions to Scripps and Pomona, you could consider Claremont McKenna and Pitzer. Other west coast possibilities are Whitman, Lewis&Clark and Puget Sound. None would be additional reaches.</p>

11

<p>Thanks again, Student615! And I'll def. send you a pm about scripps, a school i definetely have interest in but also admittedly don't know enough about...</p>

<p>from what i've heard about CMC, it's def. not for me, although I have (and may still) consider pitzer. I've heard of all three of the other schools, although, being an east coaster, i don't know much about any of them. </p>

<p>and although i love all of these suggestions, how many colleges is too many? i know people on here regularly apply to 12-15 (or more!) but at my school, even 5 is a lot. I'm stretching it by apply to 10, but should I consider more? there are a lot of schools I knocked off my list simply because I didn't want to have too many. but hopefully an ed acceptance will eliminate this pesky problem!</p>

12

<p>Great SAT scores, can clearly tell that you are great at writing! Your ECs are below average from your profile, but if you get good recs, write a great essay, i dare say you will get into either brown/williams or even both!</p>

13

<p>hey that's cool..i live in MD and i work at nih.
but yeah great stats! your chances look very good to me.</p>

14

<p>^^haha, cool! I'm starting next monday in NIMH...so nervous/excited. </p>

<p>Yeah, I always knew that my EC's are not that great, but I suck at sports and all the clubs meet at the same time...kind of limits you. I'm trying to start some new things this year though, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to have anything like RSI or TASP or ISEF to add...:)</p>

15

<p>I agree that you should consider Pomona and perhaps Pitzer. I would also recommend applying to at least ten schools - with your stats you will get into most of them - then see what financial aid you are offered. How about Stanford?</p>

16

<p>I think you can def get into your reaches, and you have a great shot at Williams and a pretty good shot at Brown! Good luck!</p>

17

<p>eesh...Stanford? That's crazy hard to get into these days...plus I won't be able to visit. I mayyy add pomona, but after that, I think I've got enough cali schools. I love the east coast! Thanks for the suggestion though.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any match or reach suggestions that fit my needs (any size, semi or completely open curriculum, relaxed student body...a sort of brown-ish or wesleyan-ish feel?)</p>

18

<p>Well, Vassar would be, in my mind, an obvious addition, around the same selectivity as Wesleyan and very much in the Brown/Wes vein. </p>

<p>Other possibilities on the East coast: Haverford, Tufts, Bowdoin</p>

<p>In the Midwest: Carleton, Grinnell, Macalester</p>

19

<p>Tufts? Really? hmmm...
I'll do a bit of research on the others too...
okay, this is really just a bump.
please chance me!!!</p>

20

<p>double bump?
come on guys! i know you want to!
and brown vs. williams?</p>