Chance me for HYPSM

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>EDIT: Chance me for Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Brown</p>

<p>I am a student with great aptitude for the liberal arts courses but with great difficulty in math and science (apparently, I have mild dyscalculia, or so I have been told. It must be pretty mild, though, as at least I have passed all my math + science courses so far, though i failed my SAT math [still, i did better than some people...]).</p>

<p>My grades: (Semester1/Semester2)</p>

<p>9th
English Honors: A/A
World History AP: A-/A
Pre-Algebra: B-/C
General Science: B/B
AP Studio Art: A/A
Latin 2 Honors: A/A-
Spanish Language AP exam: 5
Spanish Literature AP exam: 5
AP studio art: 5
[I'm a native Spanish speaker]</p>

<p>10th
English 2 Honors: A+/A+
European History AP: A+/A
Algebra 1: C-/D+
Chemistry: C/B-
Latin 3 Honors: A+/A-
Music Theory AP: A-/B+
APMT exam: 4
PLAN Test results: 24, don't remember individual score breakdowns but I got perfect in English + Reading both</p>

<p>11th
English Language AP: A/(currently A+)
USHAP: A+/(currently A)
Latin AP: A-/(currently A-)
Biology: A-/(currently A)
Geometry: B+/(currently B-; i like geometry more than other math)
AP US Gov: A/AP Comp Gov: currently B+ (these are both semester classes)</p>

<p>PSAT: 193: 80CR, 80W, 33M
SAT: 1890: 800 CR, 800W, 290 math [.__. oh god. that's bad even for me, I made tons of dumb mistakes]
Edit: I will be retaking this after extensive studying+taking a prep class [Excel hopefully, if I can earn enough money, I've heard good things about it] and buying a TI-89 Titanium calculator to replace my outdated one.</p>

<p>ECs: I run cross country, Varsity since freshman year, I'm good at it and love it
Track frosh year, but quit after that
Varsity Soccer all three years
JV Lacrosse sophomore and this year hopefully varsity
Speech and debate since freshman year, went to state freshman year, nats last year
I play violin, have done so for 14 years [I don't know why I did relatively poorly on the APMT exam, but I don't think it truly reflects my skill; I am a talented violinist]
I'm a native american guy with a very low income family, which I'm told is a boost for college apps :)
Do i have any chance for HYPSM, or does the fact that I'm horrible at math automatically disqualify me? I am a URM [the best kind, apparently] and I think my EC's are fairly strong.
I participated in the AMC 12 math contest as a freshman, just because I thought it'd be ironic, and got a 0. I'm not a very good guesser, am I?</p>

<p>Classes for next year:
Algebra 2
AP English lit
AP Art History
AP Human Geography / AP Psychology (semester classes)
Geology
French Language AP (I have had past experience with French, so my school is letting me jump right into the AP class)
Philosophy Honors (semester) / P.E. (semester)</p>

<p>Edit: I've also been a member of CSF [california scholarship federation] every semester except last, because of my D+ in algebra. I am reapplying this semester, if that D+ does not qualify me forever [I will have to find out]. I also work a part time job.</p>

<p>Also, I go to a fairly rigorous private school, so my grades are perhaps lower than what they would be at a public school. Maybe that stupid D+, which still haunts me, and some of the C's would not be there.</p>

2

<p>No chance. And why the HELL are you applying to MIT hahaha.</p>

<p>Edit: ■■■■■ thread is obvious.
It was the MIT that gave you away.</p>

3

<p>

</p>

<p>Possibly, though I expect the MIT thing may have just been a careless use of the acronym.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>My eyes bulged when I read that. :)</p>

<p>I do not know how colleges will react to your case. Your only hope is to have someone vouch for your disability.</p>

4

<p>Sorry! I am not applying to MIT, of course. I just carelessly used the HYPSM acronym, as silverturtle pointed out.</p>

<p>Obviously, I don’t think I have much of a chance at any of HYPS, I mainly posted this to figure out if I should even apply to them. I’d love to go to any one… (Add Brown to that list)</p>

<p>My GPA, or so the website tells me, is 3.5 unweighted; that’s not that bad, is it?</p>

5

<p>Wow you are HORRIBLE at math and yeah you have no shot at HYPS.</p>

<p>Can you do 1+1=?</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>1+1 = 2. I’m not actually mentally ■■■■■■■■, I just [allegedly] have dyscalculia as I stated before. My Math IQ alone may qualify for mild retardation, I honestly don’t know.
Don’t my strong EC’s and my minority status, as well as my decent GPA, boost my application? I will retake the SAT as well; I didn’t study or take a prep class last time. Don’t the 800’s indicate that I am good at writing, though?</p>

7

<p>Your EC’s are alright, but may be average or less than average at HYPS, and your GPA is way below HYPS standards. Being minority status helps, but not that much.</p>

8

<p>I’m sorry I was being a dick… but still your GPA is too low and lets say you were admitted you would struggle mightily in math classes which would screw your GPA…</p>

9

<p>For some reason it won’t let me edit my original post anymore.
Anyway [how could I forget this] I have also done over 250 hours of community service so far and plan to do more [my school only requires about 50, so this is well above that]. I also participated in a few writing competitions, mostly fairly small affairs; I won about $750 in one of them.</p>

<p>I know that I am WAY below the average applicant [my friend, whom I consider a genius, got waitlisted + rejected or rejected outright at every single one of the schools, with a 2400 SAT and 4.0 unweighted GPA], but I want to know if I should even bother applying at all. It’s my dream to go to one of those schools. Or, should I go to a 2 year community college and then apply? One of my cousins did that and got into Stanford. I really don’t want to spend that much extra time and money on my schooling, though. Thus, I have a dilemma… :.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>It’s all right, I get that a lot from kids in my AP classes who are in like AP Calc BC and can’t believe how bad I am at math even though I beat them on English/History tests or essays. I am aware that I’m going to get screwed by math in college, but don’t I only have to take one year of that since I am obviously not going to major in anything remotely math/science/economics/computer/whatever related?</p>

10

<p>I hate not being able to edit posts after 20 minutes.</p>

<p>Anyway, on my SAT math, I also kind of ignored the penalty for wrong answers. I attempted almost all of the questions, hence lowering my score even more. I think I have the potential for a 400+ if I study a lot, take Excel, get a math tutor in general [i’ve had them in the past, but too expensive to keep on a regular basis], get a Ti 89 titanium, leave more answers blank if I’m not fairly sure of them, check my work more diligently, and of course, am blessed with luck. Plus, it’ll be next October, so I should be smarter by then. Most of you would probably kill yourselves over getting a 400, but that’d be a 2000 for me. If i can break 2000 or get even higher, that would be amazing. [I had to use a calculator to figure that out… I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me :/]</p>

11

<p>290 on Math?
That’s pretty sad.
I read all the other stuff, which looks great, besides your math grades of course, but I would say- that automatically disqualifies you from consideration. Even if you get the 400+… you have less than a .001% chance (read: no). Raise it past 510, now you have the slimmest glimmer of hope. Is dyscalculia treatable? Was it not noticed at an early age? I’m sure, with a quality tutor, you could fix that. I mean, special needs children can learn too. I’m not calling you special needs, but clearly your math skills are far below average; I’m sure there must be some way to fix this since you obviously have an above average intellect in other areas.</p>

<p>Edit: I didn’t mean to be insensitive, just brutally honest since you asked whether you had a shot. I’m certainly not calling you ■■■■■■■■, just saying that as of now you don’t really have a chance [in my opinion] at any of those schools.</p>

12

<p>You are obviously a very special person who may require a special college environment. The typical “HYPMS” aspirations in the cc land may not fit you particularly well.</p>

13

<p>Saying that a person with dyscalculia is ■■■■■■■■ for being bad at math is lying saying that a person from Haiti is ■■■■■■■■ for being unable to speak Chinese. He was born the way he was born, and none of you have absolutely any rights to undermine him for that. The rudeness of some people here is absolutely appalling.</p>

<p>As for the OP, yes, you should apply. Write an essay about the difficulties with your dyscalculia. How you plan to overcome them, etc. You seem to be extremely strong at the language area, so you should devote your time in writing a killer essay. That’s what’s going to truly set you apart. And you’re part of an extremely underrepresented minority, that should help you out a lot. Good luck!</p>

14

<p>I think that the dyscalculia might present a challenge to you, but honestly I think that some schools will be willing to look past your disability and recognize that you are gifted in other areas. I’d try to find a major that you can strive for that involves minimal math, and try to show an upward trend for math grades on your transcript. I think that it would be important for your dyscalculia to be noted in by your college counselor in their rec forms, and that you could write a truly killer essay on living with that disability.
I have a learning disorder myself (albeit much less intrusive–it just means I take longer on tests) and so I know how discouraging it can be when something you can’t control causes black marks on a transcript or application. (my black mark is a huge hole where any language classes should be after the 8th grade.) But I digress.
I agree with Calvin TBOD.
And I think that you can offer a new level of diversity to these schools, and so with the right spin you just might have a chance to knock them off their feet.</p>

<p>Still, I think it’s worth looking into other schools and giving different places a chance, because you might just find one that you fall in love with.</p>

<p>Good luck :)</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1082924-chances-george-washington-university-others.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1082924-chances-george-washington-university-others.html&lt;/a&gt; can you let me know my chances too?</p>

15

<p>Read about this experimental treatment for dycalculia earlier last year; you have hope to do maths easier! [BBC</a> News - Electric current to the brain ‘boosts maths ability’](<a href=“http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11692799]BBC”>Electric current to the brain 'boosts maths ability' - BBC News)</p>

16

<p>Thanks guys for all your suggestions.</p>

<p>@bobtheboy: It was noticed as a child but I went to a crappy public school so I wasn’t significantly worse than all my peers. I was probably the worst in my class, which is saying something, but not by a ton. Yes, tutoring helped me in the past, which is part of the reason I was able to get into private high school at all, but I can’t afford it anymore on a long-term basis; I will try to get one again, however. [If you’re wondering how I’m in private high school, I am on 100% financial aid…]</p>

<p>@Haddon1267: I understand what you’re saying, but I truly believe I will benefit from those schools, besides the math classes. I know they all have good English programs and an amazing intellectual atmosphere. I’ve had friends that went to brown and princeton and loved them, also english majors. my cousin, a history major, went to stanford [I guess that sort of gives me legacy]</p>

<p>@CalvinTBOD: thanks for your kind words, I appreciate them. Yes, I will definitely try to incorporate my (albeit mild) dyscalculia into the essay [if it is indeed confirmed; somehow, i don’t really doubt it will be]. I’m pretty confident that I can write a great college essay, having written amazing ones for high school apps (of course, those are far easier).</p>

<p>@Jolly1993: Thanks for your advice as well. Unfortunately, I don’t know that much about college at this time so my chancing probably won’t be that helpful, but I’ll do it nonetheless.</p>

<p>@originalthought: That is really something. The benefits persisted for six months… how interesting. I’ll have to look into that, though I doubt I will actually be able to get the procedure done… but it certainly sounds promising :D</p>

<p>Also, it seems that I forgot to post my history AP scores; both euro and world were 5’s :)</p>

17

<p>

</p>

<p>Wow… I wish I could get this done… it would probably help for AMC coming up…</p>

18

<p>

</p>

<p>Not exactly, but…</p>

19

<p>^I know my analogy was a bit of a stretch, ■■■■■. I was secretly hoping that no one would point it out. :P</p>

20

<p>Wow, I’ve never heard of ANYONE in your case, mathfail. A 290 is… unheard of. That’s like 10th percentile? But your CR and W are 99th+. Well done.</p>