Chance Me??? Ivies?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey everyone, I'm a junior looking to apply to several outstanding schools (Harvard, Yale, MIT, Duke, Cornell, Brown, JHU) if you don't mind, would you chance me? I will chance back. Realized I spelled Ivy wrong. Sorry</p>

<p>Basics:
Gender: male
Race: white (I have about an eight of Native American too)
School: Highly competitive public school in SE Wisconsin
Intended major: Biology</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT: yet to take (anticipating somewhere in the 2300)
ACT: 31 (yeah, I know, a bit low. I'm taking it again and know I can do much better)
SAT II: Yet to take any, but anticipating close to 800s in Bio M, Math, and U.S. History
GPA: 3.98 unweighted/4.7 weighted
Rank: 5/378, possibly better</p>

<p>AP scores: Bio 5, APUSH 5, Lit 5 (again, anticipating)</p>

<p>Transcript:</p>

<p>Freshman
Biology/molecular biology
gym
health
Honors geometry (took honors algebra back in 8th grade for credit)
Honors English 9
Band
Spanish II</p>

<p>summer of frosh year, I took gym to get credits out of the way</p>

<p>Sophomore:
Honors algebra II
Honors chemistry
gym
international business/mktg. (only available class because of gym requirement)
Band
Honors English 10
Spanish III
Modern World History (basically world history from Ottomans to now)</p>

<p>Junior:
Honors physics
AP biology
APUSH
AP Lit
Honors Precalc
Band
Spanish IV</p>

<p>Senior (obviously not there yet):
AP chem
AP Stat
AP Calc AB
AP Lang
AP Gov
Spanish V
Principles of mktg/sports marketing (again, only thing that fit schedule that seemed remotely interesting)</p>

<p>Extracuriculars- note that though senior year has not happened, when I state a (12) it is implied that I will be a part of the extracurricular:
Saxophone player-7 years tenor & bari, state qualifier for Solo Ensemble in 3 separate events and will go again this year
jazz band (9,10,11)- lead tenor in jazz
marching band (9,10,11)- section leader of all saxophones, did optional homecoming show every year
pep band (9,10,11)- again, section leader
concert band (9,10, 111)- technically a class but requires MANY hours outside of classroom. We design our own concerts & do a lot of community outreach events. I've served as a volunteer, photographer coordinator and assistant, writer (for sketches involving music), actor (again, for sketches), set & tech assistant, and of course a musician</p>

<p>Drama
Spring play (10)- I played Tom Snout in our production of Midsummers
Summer musical (10)- musician (I played saxophone for pit orchestra in our production of All Shook Up. Some of the hardest music I've ever played)</p>

<p>Sports
Soccer team (9)- utility player, coach used me everywhere and anywhere I was needed
lacrosse team (10,11,12)- discovered the game last year, fell in love. Defensive player
Baseball (9,10)- just rec league, not very good, but I love playing</p>

<p>KMO (11,12)- knowledge masters open, a huge 3 hour long team test take twice a year with topics in every area (If I'm not mistaken, we were 2nd in state this year)</p>

<p>NHS (11,12)- President, I am very hands on with the outreach we do and try to attend every service project I can, HIGHLY INVOLVED</p>

<p>Working on Intel ISEF</p>

<p>Medical explorers (10,12)- group dedicated to exploring the medical field, job shadowed a radiation oncologist for the day, awesome</p>

<p>Spanish Honors Society (11,12)</p>

<p>Religious youth group (9,10,11,12)- very involved in my church and youth group</p>

<p>SMART team (12)- starting next year I will be part of a protein modeling team at MSOE</p>

<p>BEAMR (11,12)- (founding member) research project with the Medical College of WI (highly respected in proteomics and genetics) in which we studied the salivary proteome. Probably one of the coolest things I've ever done.</p>

<p>DECA (10,11,12)-business club at school. We fund raise and do all sorts of events, but my biggest experience is being a finalist in DECA competition (highly competitive) at both district and state levels and then going to the International Career Development Conference last year. I did not place, but it is very difficult just to attend, especially in the event I was in. AMAZING experience.</p>

<p>Plans for 12th grade:
Plan on starting Science Olympiad team @ school,
volunteer @ Children's Hospital
Join Interact (another service group)
Spanish club
Possible intership at Medical College of WI
Help organize youth mission trip</p>

<p>Work experience:
Babysitter (starting back in 8th grade)- I am extremely passionate about children, and (I want to be a pediatrician specializing in infectious disease/immunology someday)
Farm hand back in middle school
Probable job at local grocery store (Pick n' Save) this year</p>

<p>Service
I assistant coach my brother's baseball team
I do VBS at my school and spend countless hours with the associated responsibilities of it
I'm going to help out with Summer School (for the little kids) at my local school
Mission trip to the Dominican Republic. It was incredible.
Lots of random service stuff (either through church or through NHS participation)
It all totals up to a ridiculous amount of hours (not sure specifically, I've got to record it, but well past 300 hrs)</p>

<p>I assume that my letters of recommendation will be great (I've got an extra coming from the head of proteomics research who I worked with on the BEAMR project) and I am an above average writer (so I assume the essays will be no sweat)</p>

<p>Sorry, forgot some stuff:
My school is in the top 3% of all public schools in the nation, and my income bracket is 80,000-100,000</p>

<p>Awards
Honor roll (9,10,11,12)
Brewers award of some sort showing that I was in the top 10% of the school
Midwest talent search (back in middle school, kids with exceptional abilities were invited to take ACT)
AP scholar (assumed)
National Merit Semifinalist (again, assumed)
Sorry for the long rant. Best wishes all!</p>

2

<p>GPA, rank and ECs are looking solid, so all you need to do is focus on raising that ACT/SAT score. You’re application lacks any definitive hook, so I’d rule Harvard, Yale and MIT out, but I’d say you have a great shot at the rest.</p>

3

<p>everything is really solid minus act/sat… buy the big study guide books and read those daily. you have the intelligence to score 34+/2250+ you just have to put in the study time. good luck!</p>

4

<p>I think if you bring the ACT score up or do well on the SAT, you should have a very good chance at these schools. Your science connections with the UW system (which is very well respected; I’m from SE Wisconsin too!) are a plus, especially in conjunction with some of the other medical-related activities with which you have been involved.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the info. Quick question. When you say hooks, do you mean like being a URM or something of that nature? If so, what else constitutes as a hook?</p>

6

<p>^A “hook” is a characterstic an applicant possesses that significantly boosts his or her chances of being admitted into top colleges.</p>

<p>Hooks include being a URM (under-represented minority) which includes African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans. Other hooks include being a parental legacy (one of your parents attended the school you’re applying to), a first generation college student (neither parent got a college degree), or a recruited athlete.</p>

<p>Some other things may be considered somewhat of a “lesser” hook, like being from an state that is underrepresented among top schools (for example, I’m from Louisiana), so that helps because there are far, far fewer applicants applying to top schools from those respective states.</p>

<p>Hope this has helped you clear up “hooks” and their meaning! :)</p>

<p>(By the way, you have a good shot at all schools listed, it would be great if you could raise your ACT score though, or get a 2250+ on the SAT).</p>

7

<p>Thank you very much. BTW, if you guys have any suggestions for where I should apply, or if you’d like me to chance you, please post here. :D</p>

8

<p>Assuming you’re pretty interested in medicine, I would recommend looking at Rochester</p>

9

<p>You have such a great in-state safety at UW Madison. I know a number of outstanding kids who pay out of state tuition to go there. Once you look at the cost of medical school, you have to admit that paying an extra $100000-200000 for undergrad seems frivolous.</p>

10

<p>Native American interested in medicine…any interest in Dartmouth? Because you’re basically in.</p>

11

<p>If your 1/8 native american, check that box as it is legal (I believe)! I can pratically guarentee you that you will be admitted into Stanford and prbly at least 1 other HYP.</p>

12

<p>Here’s the thing about the N.A. thing. I don’t live on a rez, I live in a suburban town, and It’d be very hard to prove. Not only that, but my mother (who I get the N.A. from) has an incredibly big problem with “taking” money from the people on the rez that she claims it is intended for.</p>

13

<p>you have some very strong ECs related to your intended major, so I’d say you’re looking pretty good for JHU and Duke. Harvard, Brown, and Cornell have been unpredictable with the applicants from my high school lately, and Yale and MIT tend to be picky (though if I were them I’d accept you XD), so I’m not sure about those schools. But definitely put most of your energy into your apps for JHU and Duke, both of which I’m almost sure you can get into.</p>

14

<p>Some really bad advice here.</p>

<p>First, no one without a genuine hook has a “very good” chace at any school accepting under 10%. When you figure in that about half of every class does have a hook, we’re talking about a true acceptance rate of under 4% at these schools and most applicants are qualified. </p>

<p>So in fact, without a hook or an incredibly unusual EC, chances are very bad.</p>

<p>Next, you must be registered with a tribe to be considered Native American. Colleges are looking for students raised in that culture to bring diversity to campus. They are not trying to hand a loophole to everyone who can dig deep and find some remote connection.</p>

15

<p>Besides your scores(hopefully SAT’s better), you’re good. You’ll probably get in to like Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, and Penn.</p>

16

<p>that is why I asked about the N.A. thing. I wasn’t planning on using it unless it was completely legitimate to do so, and as such, I feel completely dirty for even thinking about it.</p>

17

<p>Your application looks pretty good. I just have one piece of advice: don’t take the SAT and retake the ACT. Choose one. In my opinion, it is better to focus on one test than to split your focus between two tests. Also, make sure your schools require SAT II’s (I believe most of the Ivies require 2-3 SAT II’s)</p>

18

<p>BUMP. Yes, sorry for that.</p>

19

<p>Hello! Good job on your SAT and your GPA + your ECs
I think the only thing you need to work on is your ACT and then you’re golden! =]</p>

20

<p>It’ll be easier to predict your chances once you get some more standardized tests under your belt… but what I will say is that your ECs are good because they have focus. All of the different stuff you’ve done with music speaks to your authenticity; you don’t seem like one of those robot kids who spreads themselves very thin by joining 35949484 different clubs. Keep me posted on your science stuff. I’ll PM you my research stuff. Good luck!</p>