chance me for a chance back?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi guys!
So I'm a soph. that's interested in UPENN, Columbia, Georgetown, Duke, John Hopkins, Brown and Cornell. My parents are pushing me to consider Harvard/ Princeton but I don't think I have the stats/ecs to get in. I'm possibly looking into a career in the health profession in the future, with a minor in perhaps journalism. I'm not too sure yet. If you guys could chance me I will definitely chance you back! Thanks so much for your time and effort!</p>

<p>ANY ADVICE WOULD BE WONDERFUL!!!</p>

<p>GPA: 3.86 (from freshman year, its low I know.) at the end of this year i'm hoping to bring it up to a 4.0
SAT: 2100 (from PSAT still have to work on CR, but I'm at SAT prep and I'll be taking the actual SAT in Oct.)
Took two SATII this year: Math II and Bio
*possibly taking 2-3 more next year
2 APs, almost sure I got a 4 or 5 on both</p>

<p>EC:
Yearbook Committee, 10th-12th, editor for 11th and 12th grade
Peer tutoring club, 10th-12th, president for 11th and 12th grade
Crew, 9th grade. injured, chances if I do crew in college I will have to be a coxswain
FBLA
Model UN
Distinguished Honor Roll (whatever that means)
Modeling
publish articles online under a pen name, mostly satirical and creative writing
Junior Achievement
National Society of High School Scholars
High Honors award from John Hopkins CTY search
orchestra (since 4th grade)
chorus
volunteered at a library for two summers</p>

<p>Future potential:
possibly joining XC for jr. sr year
2200-2400 SAT
VP of Model UN
National Merit Scholarship
AP Scholar
National Honors Society
~8 AP classes (9 if you count the one I self-studied for)
bringing up the GPA (ugh freshman year ruined me)</p>

2

<p>Kind of hard to say because you’re still a sophomore and haven’t gotten any junior year grades yet, but I think you’re really on track to get into the schools you’re aiming for. I don’t think you should worry about your GPA as much as you are; obviously don’t go out of your way to fail all your classes, but don’t think that’s what defines your application. Your GPA is solid, and you have a plethora of other stuff keeping your application competitive. </p>

<p>At this point, the biggest thing to focus on is keeping grades up and trying to score well on the SAT. You have the ECs and the awards to get you into these schools (although I do think you could definitely use a little more leadership), so the most crucial part of your app at this point would be your grades/test scores. And essays. Don’t forget the essays.</p>

<p>So, if I had to chance you based off what you have here, I’d go with the following, out of 10:</p>

<p>Penn - 7, maybe 8
Columbia - 6, maybe 7 (Columbia has such a low acceptance rate and their acceptance pattern is super random)
Georgetown - 8
Duke - 8
Johns Hopkins - 6 (Because their pre-med program is so competitive)
Brown - 6, maybe 7 (Again, this school is notorious for low acceptance rates and high application volume)
Cornell - 8</p>

<p>Of course take my ratings with a grain of salt. I have not gotten into college yet, and I’m 100% not a college admissions expert, I’m just basing this off of what I’ve seen/read/experienced!</p>

<p>Hope I helped!</p>

<p>(I’m going to write up my chance me, I hope you can help me out with chancing me)</p>

3

<p>I’m a junior, applying to way too many colleges (I’ll list them all at the end). My situation is kind of weird. I started high school at a really well-known, uber-competitive private international school in London, but moved at the end of my sophomore year to a public school in Northern Virginia (which is still a good school compared to most in the US). My first school was notorious for giving out low grades to top students, so my GPA seems pretty low compared to most of the kids at my new school (but I’m still like top 10%), but in the context of my old school, it’s a pretty great GPA. Also. My old school did not weight ANY honors/AP classes, nor was I allowed to take any AP classes as a sophomore. Sadly, my new school offered multiple AP classes to its sophomores, and weights almost all honors and AP classes. They would not allow me to weight any of my previous honors classes, and after a lot of bureaucracy, I was told to just deal with the fact that my GPA looks lower than everyone else’s. With that situation in mind, here are my stats:</p>

<p>Projected GPA at time of applications: Unweighted 3.75, Weighted 4.1
SAT: 2280, R 800, W 740, M 740
SAT II: US History 780, French 800, World History 760
AP Exams: English Language (5), Environmental Science (5), French Language (5), US History (5)</p>

<p>Extra-Curriculars:
Model United Nations (11th-12th, Committee Chair at my school’s conference Dec. 2013, USG of Personnel and Finance 12th grade, USG for General Assembly at my school’s conference Dec. 2014, multiple best delegate awards including one at a college conference)
Gay-Straight Alliance (9th-12th, Co-President 10th grade, Founder/President 11th grade, President 12th grade, created a scholarship program for LGBTQ students at my new school)
School-Based Theatre (9th-10th, involved in 5 productions, forced to stop after moving to a school without a theatre program)
Boy Scouts of America (6th-10th, Eagle Scout, Patrol Leader on two occasions, one of the first openly gay Eagle Scouts in the world)
Academic Team (11th-12th, competed in regional championship 11th grade, probably going to compete in state championship 12th grade)
National Honor Society (12th - I moved at the end of 10th grade and was unable to join, even though I received a letter to join)
French National Honor Society (11th-12th, President 12th grade)
Concert Band (6th-12th, Alto and Tenor Saxophone)
Varsity Lacrosse (11th-12th, Team Manager)
School’s Magnate Program (11th-12th, Senior Class Representative on magnate student committee)
Satirical News Network (10th, Co-Head Presenter, Co-Head Writer)</p>

<p>Awards/Misc:
National Merit Scholar Semifinalist (99.9% I’m going to be at least a semi-finalist)
AP Scholar (probably)
Honor Roll every year</p>

<p>Summer/Volunteer Programs:
2 Week Community Partnership to South Africa (1 week working with the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation Youth Center in Cape Town, 1 week working with the Ubuntu Education Fund in Port Elizabeth)
High School Diplomats Program at Princeton University (Cultural Exchange program with students from Japan, selected from a pool of nationwide applicants, will attend in July 2014)
Thespian Festival at University of Nebraska - Lincoln (Attended two summers in a row)</p>

<p>Junior Schedule:
AP English Language
AP French Language
AP Environmental Science
AP US History
Pre-Calculus
Economics
Advanced Symphonic Band (Highest Level)</p>

<p>Senior Schedule:
AP English Literature
AP Physics C: Mechanics (Double Block; lab and lecture)
AP Calculus BC
AP Comparative Government
AP Human Geography (required class for my magnate program, but usually taken in sophomore year… my one easy class senior year)
Advanced Symphonic Band (Highest Level)</p>

<p>Basically I already know that my GPA is my really weak link, but hopefully schools can take that for what it’s worth and really read my essays and take into account my other stuff!</p>

<p>Schools I’m applying to: Columbia, Brown, Penn, University of Virginia, Carnegie Mellon, College of William and Mary, Georgetown, University of Southern California, New York University, Reed College, Boston University (backup), American University (mega-backup), Harvard (just to see what happens)</p>

<p>Hoping to do International Relations/Business/Languages</p>

<p>Thanks for the chance!!!</p>

4

<p>Hey @london2va‌!! After reading your brag sheet, I can’t help but think that my ecs are nowhere as nice as yours. Lol. Based on my first impression, colleges will really be able to see that you are really interested in foreign relations. Things like Model UN and being bilingual or know a second language well enough is super helpful, and it’s really great that you started a scholarship fund for LBGTs and that could definitely be a topic to write your college essay on. Lacrosse </p>

<p>On a scale of 1 to 10 heres how I would rank your chances</p>

<p>Columbia- 7.5 or 8 (my friends sister did a dual program there where she spends two years in a country and two years </p>

<p>Brown- 6.5 just cause they tend to favor athletic recruits and legacies over regular applicants</p>

<p>Penn- 8 unless you apply to Wharton. They’re foreign relations program isn’t the best imo</p>

<p>UVA- 9 </p>

<p>CM- 7 this school seems a bit random considering what you want to major in but I think this might be a stretch because usually they like to see beyond calc.</p>

<p>College of wm- 9 not as competitive as the others</p>

<p>Georgetown- 6 they are very picky about their foreign relations/language programs and they are super competitive</p>

<p>USC-8 I dont know too much about usc tbh</p>

<p>NYU and Boston- 9 unless you go for economics at nyu</p>

<p>Reed and American- 7 foreign relations and language are very competitive here</p>

<p>Harvard imo is really a chance shot. I heard they look for very specific students and no matter how good your stats are, if you arent that type they’ll reject you. Like, I knew a kid who got rejected from all the ivys except harvard…</p>

<p>but good luck and I hope this helped! </p>

5

<p>@strawberry76 thanks so much!! I Hope my recs for you gave a different perspective (although you probably already knew everything I told you). </p>