Chance me/Help me make my college list D:! Will chance back.

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Hi friends, I am a senior at a public NorCal school
My list of colleges:
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UCSD
UCR
UCI
Columbia University
Johns Hopkins University
NYU
University of Chicago (EA)
UMich Ann Harbor
USC
Virginia Commonwealth University
University of Redlands
University of Utah
University of Florida</p>

<p>Male - Biophysics/Applied Math/Comp. Sci/Big Problems. I just chose things that interested me and tried to diversify my list of choices when I get back acceptances/deferrals.
Ethnicity: Human</p>

<p>3.44 UW GPA (9-12)
4.000 W GPA (9-12)
3.5 UW GPA (10-12)
4.3 W GPA (10-12)
UC GPA: 3.83
Rank: 24/400 students (Top 6%ish)</p>

<p>Test Scores:
34 ACT (33 English, 35 Math, 34 Reading, 32 Science) Essay: 10
2270 super-scored SAT (740 CR, 770 Math, 760 Writing)
2210 single-sitting SAT (740 CR, 750 Math, 720 Writing)</p>

<p>AP's: AP Calculus AB (5), AP Calculus BC (5), AP Physics B (4), AP Environmental Science (4), AP Biology (3), AP European History (3), AP United States History (3), AP English Language and Composition (5), AP Spanish (2), AP Statistics (3). Total AP's Taken: 10 Taking AP Psychology, AP Literature, and AP Chemistry as a senior.</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests: Math 2: 800, US History: 710</p>

<p>As you guys can see, I have pretty decent test scores, and strong academic rigor, but an abysmal UW GPA. I took the most challenging set of courses that were offered at my school because I believe in doing school for the sake of learning rather than for the sake of college admissions, yet here I am regretting not taking fewer AP's and having a higher UW GPA. So now I am faced with a quandary that consists of me applying to more top schools and playing the game of risk, or playing a more reserved approach by adding more "safety" schools.</p>

<p>Subjective Strengths: Eloquent writer? Multi-faceted in learning. If I had a bit more ego, I'd be a self pronounced polymath. Overall I just enjoy amassing knowledge and wisdom.
Subjective Weaknesses: I'm lazy/defiant. I refuse to do homework if I believe it serves no purpose to my holistic education course (writing pain-staking paragraphs on various phylum when I already learned the majority through watching videos).</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
JV Swim (9,10)
Varsity Tennis (9-11)
JV Soccer (9) - couldn't continue, too much time commitment.
Atheist Club (9-12)
Key Club VP (10), Key Club President (11)
Interned at a pediatric office (100 hours)
Worked at a hospital as a secretary (400 hours)
550 community service hours
I skipped a grade in junior high if that means anything?</p>

<p>Honors (when received):
AP Scholar with honor/distinction (can't remember)
PSAT Commendable thing
School Honor Roll (9-12)</p>

<p>Income: A number between 1 and 1 million.</p>

<p>I'd appreciate advice/chances. I'll graciously chance back as well. Have a gr8 day.</p>

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<p>halp</p>

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<p>BUMP BOYS</p>

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<p>Not sure which of these colleges look at freshman year and not, but your unweighted GPA might be a tad low, which you addressed. I would agree with what you did though; I think course rigor is very, very important in the eyes of a college. You seem like a smart kid, but the lazy/defiant thing might scare some of the colleges away, which could be the case with the discrepancy in your test scores and GPA. However, this is what I would say:
(My opinion is not even close to the end-all, sorry if I’m completely wrong)</p>

<p>UC Berkeley-reject
UCLA- Accept
UCSD-accept
UCR-accept
UCI-accept
Columbia University-reject
Johns Hopkins University-reject
NYU-accept
University of Chicago (EA)-reject
UMich Ann Harbor-accept
USC-accept</p>

<p>I don’t know enough about these 3 schools to assess them, sorry!
Virginia Commonwealth University
University of Redlands
University of Utah</p>

<p>University of Florida-accept</p>

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<p>thx so much for replying @leannatorres‌ I’m really hopeful on UChicago, but only my test scores seem on par with that school haha. :)</p>

<p>I had the perception that public schools really dislike lazy/defiant kids, but privates may see that quirky?</p>

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<p>Really low unweighted GPA for highly selective schools. You would have to write really quirky and eloquent essays to get in to those schools, and even then it may not be enough. I’m getting more of a sense of lazy, than defiant from your hw situation and cynical tone. I’d also just like to point out that writing a paragraph on the various phylum could have probably helped on your AP bio exam. So basically, I see bad grades, with low AP test scores to match. Not exactly great. The good things I see are your job and community service. But not continuing some activities because they were too time consuming isn’t a great excuse when you don’t have many activities. You will be rejected from the majority of selective schools on your list.</p>

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<p>Human is not an ethnicity. The income range is too large. And, what the hell is an atheist club? (pun intended)</p>

<p>Apply to UCSB. If you are extremely lucky, it may be the best UC that accepts you. All UCs value GPA more than test scores. However, unlike the other UCs, UCSB is a bit more lenient towards students with a 2200+ SAT score.</p>

<p>My stats:
3.66 unweighted
4.29 fully weighted
4.00 capped UC
2300 SAT</p>

<p>My results:
Rejected by UCB, UCLA, UCSD, Cal Poly SLO
Waitlisted by UCD, UCI</p>

<p>My stats are better than yours, so your results will probably look worse than mine.</p>

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<p>I think you can get into all of the UCs except Berkeley. You should get into UF but idk about Michigan. Chicago, Johns Hopkins, NYU, and Columbia are all reaches. Try to pick up some more extracurriculars if at all possible. I know its kinda late but…</p>

<p>Chance me back!
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1696851-where-do-i-have-a-shot.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1696851-where-do-i-have-a-shot.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>UCLA/UCB: Reach (low UC GPA)
USC/UCSD: Low Reach
UCI: High Match
UCR: Safety</p>

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<p>@Mangiafuoco‌ thank you for your reply. I don’t approve of using ethnicity as a classification of human beings as we are transcendent beings that are above being classified like animals. We have the ability to contemplate our existence and the universe around us, so assigning a classification to such an intricate, multi-dimensional being is contradictory by nature. Also you missed the joke with the range of income LOL. Atheist club is a place where secular students can have discussion/discourse without the fear of religious/social reprimanding.</p>

<p>Anyways, I really appreciate that you took the time and effort to comment on this thread, but I don’t think comparing two individuals from which one individual has better stats is appropriate to correlating results. Don’t you?</p>

<p>@Gumbymom‌ Thanks for the reply!</p>

<p>@Alec43‌ Thank you so much for the reply!</p>

<p>@Oberyn‌ Thx for the reply!</p>

<p>I made my list using some parchment simulator and made sure that none of the schools albeit Columbia and JHU were below 40%. What percentage would be classified as a reach?</p>

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<p>@idiosyncraticboi‌
If we do not compare individuals, how are we to chance you? It makes sense to compare my stats with your stats because our stats are similar. Both of us have a low GPA (but yours is lower), and both of us have an above average SAT score (but mine is higher).</p>

<p>Parchment’s predictions are useless. In the past its scatterplots were useful, but recently, Parchment removed the scatterplot settings, so now, the scatterplots have also become useless.</p>

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<p>@Mangiafuoco‌ Thanks for the insight on Parchment. Apparently every individual at my school has been using that for predictions LOL</p>

<p>It’s good to compare sample sizes to individual people, ya feel? It’s not necessarily useful to compare one on one results as we can’t factor in subjective qualities.</p>

<p>Anyways, I appreciate that you took the time to give me guidance on these matters.</p>

<p>Quick question: Why do you still browse chance threads even though you’ve been accepted to a school or two?</p>

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<p>@idiosyncraticboi‌
I am not only comparing your chances to my results. In the past, I used Parchment’s scatterplots all the time for chancing. Scatterplots are useful because they allow you to find where your stats would lie on the graph, and you can see the results of the dots around you. Because I saved pictures of some of those old scatterplots, I can compare your stats with the stats of others who already know their results. You can find those pictures here. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-general/1694231-top-universities-of-california-in-2014-2015-us-news.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-general/1694231-top-universities-of-california-in-2014-2015-us-news.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I never created a chance thread. I only made an account after I learned of my results. Before I made an account, I only looked at the SAT forums of College Confidential. I believe that only those who have completely gone through the college application process are qualified to chance others because those people not only know their own results, but also are somewhat familiar with their classmates’ results.</p>

<p>So, why do I browse chance threads? To be honest, the only reason I browse chance threads is that I am still butthurt over my results. Although Parchment’s old scatterplots suggest that my results make sense, I am still disappointed with my results. Yeah, this is unhealthy, and I know that I should quit, but College Confidential is like a drug to me.</p>

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<p>@Mangiafuoco‌ That’s actually really interesting insight. You seem like an extremely strong candidate for the majority of the colleges that you applied to and I fully believe you were simply unfortunate enough to be on the wrong-side of AdCom members that day. That or your essays gave the wrong vibe/were abysmal. You would’ve likely thrived and succeeded at higher level universities given the intellectual potential displayed by your test scores. </p>

<p>Anyways, there’s always Grad School/Med School/Law School or shabazz you’re interested in. I personally don’t want to worry about career paths and I’m pursuing knowledge for the sake of learning. </p>

<p>Furthermore, it upsets me that colleges are so focused on GPA as a number rather than the actual context of the grades in relation to courses taken. Had I taken maybe 2 AP’s my sophomore and junior year, I would’ve gotten straight A’s. I have straight A’s with 3 AP classes and school is incredibly dull. I don’t feel intellectually fulfilled unless I am challenged immensely, so I hope that colleges will be able to recognize that I have the unrelenting thirst for knowledge, but I just don’t like to spend my time in a futile manner.</p>

<p>What I mean by this is that I was interested in Calculus. The idea of Euler’s various principles of mathematics piqued my curiosity, so I decided I’d spend my time actually reading the book and doing homework. The same applied with AP English Lang. I enjoyed the superfluous nature of the English language as well as the various nuances found in almost everything we do.</p>

<p>I have reason to believe that I am a bright kid. I took the SAT without studying and super-scored in 2 sittings a 2270. And the ACT, I played a League of Legends tournament the day before, won 100$, then took the test with 5 hours of sleep and got a 34.</p>

<p>For you, I can recommend replacing CC with something that is fulfilling to you. Take up guitar, programming, watch making, shoe-polishing, tutoring, whatever tickles your pickle typa’ thing. College, ultimately, doesn’t determine your worth as a human being. It is your magnanimity and altruism that truly let your transcend into an existence of greatness. So live, laugh, love, and don’t be self-deprecating towards yourself when the decision of acceptance and deferral wasn’t yours. You have the choice to benefit the lives of the beings around you. Be excellent. That is all.</p>

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<p>I agree with most of the other posters on here. You have good extracurriculars and test scores but the UW GPA is just a little bit too low for the more prestigious picks on your list. I’d say you’d get into all the UCs on your list (plus UMich and UF) except UCB. JHU, UChicago and Columbia are all reaches–but they’re crapshoots for everyone. I’d say pick one of the three that you like best and don’t waste your time on the other applications. </p>

<p>Also, I think what needs the most work is the way you’re presenting yourself. Your first-world anarchist attitude comes off as more abrasive and condescending rather than eloquent and “defiant”. Yes, you’re a bright kid, but a lot of these colleges are getting applicants who have not only scored high on tests and took rigorous classes, but also did their homework even if they didn’t think it was an important part of their “holistic education”. Maybe dial it down a little.</p>

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<p>@nuhsgrad‌ Thanks for taking the time to post :slight_smile: mucho apreciado</p>

<p>The problem with my choice of JHU, UChicago, and Columbia is that I like all of them… a lot ;_; JHU’s massive research grants to students seems like a dream come true for me. UChicago’s quirky, intelligent, and weird body of polymaths seems intellectually fulfilling, and Columbia’s Core Curriculum is just so diverse and fascinating that I feel it would let me become a greater human being.</p>

<p>I don’t consider myself a first-world anarchist? Maybe an existentialist? Anyways, how should I tone down my abrasive/condescending tone? I’m receptive of criticism. :)</p>

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<p>My advice? Be humble and don’t use a hundred words when you only need ten. Simple questions like ethnicity and economic background can be explained sufficiently in a few words rather than stirring up a debate and there are plenty of forums (pun not intended) where arguments against the current school system can be made. A college application is not one of them. Trying to say that one of the reasons you didn’t do homework is because you refute its importance is not something that should be put on a college application - it will most likely not be seen as a quirk, but rather a liability, especially when that ideology directly contradicts the typical college experience. 10 advanced placement courses was an ambitious and most likely arduous endeavor, so it would be shame if you got rejected from colleges which you were qualified for (or even in some cases overqualified for) because of an off-putting approach to a writing supplement. </p>

<p>Also, obviously I can’t dictate which colleges you apply to, but it seems like you’ve chosen each of the three schools for reasons other than just prestige and name-dropping abilities - which is good. Apply to all of them if they all appeal to you and you have the time/money/etc! As a Marylander I would make a strong argument for JHU based mostly on state pride, but it’s ultimately your choice. Good luck!</p>

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<p>@nuhsgrad‌ I never wrote about not doing homework in my college essays. I wrote about nanotech/automation/technoutopianism in a few, physical/metaphysical existence in UChicago one. Anyways, would you mind reading/criticizing any essays I send to you assuming you’ve already entered college? (Don’t want to deal with plagiarizing issues).</p>

<p>I prefer, as of right now, UChicago > JHU > Columbia just because of chances of acceptance. All of their various programs interest me greatly.</p>

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<p>I think that colleges will understand if you have a low UW GPA and a crazy rigor. On top of that, your ECs are amazing which will help to counter your lower GPA.</p>

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<p>BAMP BOYZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ</p>