Chance me (finally have SAT scores!)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a junior, and am kind of curious as to where I stand. </p>

<p>UW GPA:somewhere around 3.86- I do have a few b's (freshman year especially), but they were all very high (88-89) and in difficult honors/AP courses. Do you think they will realize how close I was to A's on all of those and cut me some slack? I have some very high As (97+ in physics, Chem, AP World, AP art history, all 4 levels of French that I have taken, and all electives) and I hope they will take that into consideration... I'm ranked in the top 3 percent of my extremely competitive school, but I am going to move to a school that doesn't rank and is likely even more competitive, so this will change...</p>

<p>PSAT: 236
(80 on CR and W, 76 on math)
SAT: 800 CR, 740 W and Math. I might retake it because I was hoping for a 2300+ since my grades are a bit hit and miss. </p>

<p>Extracurriculars: 200 hours of volunteer work (NHS), playing in marching band 2 years, competing and winning awards in French competitions, Quiz Bowl since 6th grade (captain of team 6th-8th grade and 11th grade), playing piano for a volunteer band at my church for the past year+ (this requires at least 3-4 hours weekly including waking up very early on Sunday mornings for practice and truly has been a big commitment, in my opinion). I also have been a part of French club consistently since the 7th grade. </p>

<p>I feel like nothing is really stellar on my app. I'm asking for chances to know if there is anything that I can change (retaking the SAT, for example) in order to better my application in the next year. </p>

<p>Schools I like are:
Stanford
USC
UCLA
Berkeley
Cornell
NYU
Dartmouth
Princeton </p>

<p>I probably won't end up applying to all of these, but is like to get an idea of how feasible these are (especially Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Stanford...) </p>

<p>Thanks for any help!</p>

2

<p>SAT is 2280 total, sorry. 740 on both writing and math plus the 800 in CR. I do think that I could probably bump this up but I don’t really feel like it… </p>

<p>Basically I’m just wondering if I would be wasting my time applying to HYPS.</p>

3

<p>Sorry, I would just edit my first post but I’m on the CC app and don’t know how to edit. </p>

<p>I’ve gotten 5s on AP World, AP Human Geo, and AP Euro. I’m taking 4 more exams this year and probably 4-5 next year but I guess colleges won’t care about the senior AP Exams as much. I’m aiming for 5 on all of them, but of course I can’t guarantee that. </p>

<p>Also, I’ll probably take two SAT 2s this summer. Definitely one of the math, and I’m not sure about the other yet (probably not a science one, but I haven’t decided other than that.)</p>

4

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I think with your stats and ec’s, you definitely have a chance in getting into the schools you mentioned above. I agree that nothing truly “stands out”, but colleges care a great deal about the type of person you are and how well you fit into their academic and social setting. You seem to have great diversity in your activities and seem to be very hardworking. I would say that HYSP are a bit of a reach, but the whole process is obviously complex, and a good essay and well-presented application could make the difference. I am a bit concerned with those B’s. Can you maybe tell us a bit more. In other words, how many classes have you taken/are taking, and in how many of those classes do you have B’s?</p>

5

<p>Classes and grades by semester (I included my predicted grades here and in my GPA calculation above):</p>

<p>9th:
Honors Geometry (88 both semesters)
Honors English (part of our “gifted” program so very difficult) (90 first, 89 second)
AP Human Geography (92 first, 89 second)
Honors Biology (91 first, 90 second)
Band (98 both semesters)
Speech/Technology (97 on both)
Honors French II (98 both) </p>

<p>So as you can see, I had a less than stellar freshman year (especially the second semester)… I think I was just getting into the swing of high school and lost some motivation. Frankly, the B’s I got were my fault. They were definitely hard classes, but I wasn’t trying as hard as I should have been. </p>

<p>10th:
Honors English II (93 first, 95 second)
Algebra II Honors (94 first, 94 second)
AP World History (95 first, 98 second)
AP European History (94 first, 95 second)
Honors French III (97 both)
Honors Chemistry (97 both)
Band (98 first, 99 second) </p>

<p>So obviously a much better year for me… </p>

<p>11th:
AP English Lang (91 first, expecting low 90 for second)
AP US History (92 first, expecting low/mid 90 second)
AP Art History (100 first, expecting 97+ second)
AP French (99 first, expecting 97 + second)
Honors Physics (96 first, expecting 97 + second)
Honors Precalculus (89 first, expecting low 90 second)
PE/Health (98 first, expecting 97+ for second) </p>

<p>I had to predict for second semester, but I’m pretty confident that I will get all A’s even if I somehow don’t get as high as my predictions. About the B in Precalculus- I have a truly horrible teacher. Many people failed out of the classes and those who passed mostly had C’s and B’s. Only a few people managed to get an A, and most of them were receiving outside tutoring or had already learned the math over the summer. </p>

<p>Thank you for helping me out! I agree that HYPS are probably a bit out of reach, but they are pretty expensive anyway, so I won’t fret too much if I don’t get in. There is always grad school, anyway!</p>

6

<p>Oh I was misled by what you meant when you said you have a “few b’s”. I’m pretty sure colleges only look at final averages, so it seems like you only have one b, which occurred in a freshman class. I think your transcript is actually pretty strong, and also, colleges like Stanford don’t even look at freshmen grades.</p>

7

<p>Wait, colleges only look at the averages of both semesters…? That definitely changes things… For some reason I’ve always thought that they look at each semester, which would lower my GPA quite a bit…</p>

8

<p>Is GPA calculated by final (end of year) grades? My current school calculates it by semester for ranking purposes, but I never thought about how colleges would want it.</p>

9

<p>Stanford: Reach
Berkeley: Match
UCLA: Match
USC: Match
NYU: Low match
Cornell: Reach
Princeton: Reach
Dartmouth: Reach</p>

10

<p>No need to be modest about your academic performances, it is actually extremely acceptable. Not everyone who is admitted to Stanford has a 4.0 un-weighted GPA, that would mean the average GPA is a 4.0. Very unlikely. Your extracurriculars are what I think you need to focus on. Firstly, you don’t have a lot, and secondly, majority of your extracurriculars are associated with the same thing, for instance-music. Try to do something that expresses your passion and is not as bandwagonny. If you get what I mean, cause I can tell those 200 volunteer hours, although an obligation decreed by NHS, are just obvious attempts at accumulating some sort of attention from colleges. It looks obvious you’re really just living to try to impress them. From what I’ve heard about the Ivy Leagues, you’d want to change something in your community, like have an impact. Be a world changer. You ain’t gonna be that by volunteering at key club like I am LOL but yeah you understand. Be a pioneer.</p>

11

<p>Yeah, I knew ECs were very weak… I’ve done EC’s that I find fun over the years (music and quiz bowl). I initially joined NHS because my parents made me, but I have actually gone above and beyond the requirements. For example, one year we only needed 35 hours, but I got over 100 - so hopefully I show a <em>bit</em> more commitment than other people. I wish a few solid activities that one loves and some volunteer work was all that colleges needed in the EC department. I don’t know how to “change the world”… </p>

<p>As long as I get into UCLA and/or Berkely and/or USC I will be happy. I will live in California starting this summer, so tuition will be more affordable at those schools than any Ivy ever will be (National Merit Finalists get half off at USC). My family is in the middle class bubble where we make too much to qualify for Financial Aid, but still don’t have massive amounts of money to shell out for college… However, I do think it would be really amazing to go to an Ivy or similar school. I toured Stanford last summer and it seemed amazing. I know my parents WOULD pay for me to go to Stanford, Harvard, etc, but I would feel guilty for years… At the same time, they are the ones encouraging me by taking me to visit these schools and frequently asking if my stats are good enough for Ivys!</p>