Chance Me: Ivy Leagues, UCs, Publics --will chance back :)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

“In life you need inspiration or desperation”
Basically me ATM, so SUGGESTIONS AND ADVICE ARE APPRECIATED SO MUCH

Indian-American, current junior, female, only child, TX suburb with decently competitive HS,
income bracket: high – not expecting any financial scholarships

Major: Business – concentration in Finance

Colleges:
Berkeley
Cornell
USC
Penn
University of Texas + Business Honors
Chicago
Georgia Tech
NYU
SMU

Safety: McCombs Business in UT (auto-admission)

Academics:

Rank: 9/504 (Top 1.8%)
SAT: 1490/1600 ****Should I retake? This was my second attempt.
SAT II: 750 World History
Will take M2, US History, and maybe Chemistry(?)

UW GPA: 4.0
W GPA: My school uses a 6.0 scale: 5.456, but I believe on 5.0 scale, it is a 4.35.

AP Exams: 5 on Human Geography (9th grade), 5 on World History (10th grade)
Current course load:
AP Chemistry
AP Calc BC
AP US History
AP Spanish 4
AP English Lang
Debate 3
PAP Art 1 (lol)

Senior Course load:

  • AP Stats
  • AP Microeconomics
  • Debate 4
  • AP Spanish 5
  • AP Literature
  • AP Physics I
  • AP Government
  • Might do Calc 3 at local community college

Relevant/Focused Extracurriculars and Leadership:

  • I have owned my own teenage apparel business since 2013-- revenue increasing 10% each year
  • Competitive Figure Skater at the National Level for 12 years (15+ hours every week)
    [this is my life]
  • Dallas Figure Skating Club Junior Board --run all DFSC high school members as a functioning board of directors and volunteer through this club for competitions)
    President 2016-2017
    Vice-President 2015-2016
    Treasurer 2014-2015
  • Spanish Club (established first Spanish Club at school and grew club about 30% this year) --volunteering, develops interest in others about Spanish culture
    President 2015-2017
  • Spanish National Honor Society (first SNHS at school, was voted by peers) --volunteering, discuss culture
    President 2016-2017
    [can you tell I like spanish]
  • Junior Pro Coach at Figure Skating Rink (3 hours per week) --teach figure skating to classes
  • Established TILE Dallas in 2016 --Nonprofit organization-- Talks on Innovation, Leadership, and Entrepreneurship. We have Dallas CEOs to come in and give something along the lines of a TedTalk but business oriented.
  • DECA 2016-2017
  • During the summer, I volunteer at a Leadership Camp – Assistant Counselor 2016
  • Mu Alpha Theta Member (Math National Honor Society) -2016-2017
    Qualified to be on school’s UIL team
  • Varsity Debate Member 2014-2018
  • NHS Member -2016-2017
  • Volunteer at local nursing home; I play piano and serve out food during recreation hours
  • Math Instructor/Tutor 2015-2016

Awards:

  • DECA International Career Development Conference Qualifier (First year in DECA–did the Start-Up Business Plan)
    State and District Champion
  • US Figure Skating Double Gold Medalist – same technical level as olympians
  • Southwestern Regionals Top Qualifier --figure skating competition
  • National Spanish Exam Bronze Medal
  • Principal’s Awards – All A’s 2014-2016
  • School’s award of Perseverance through a class I struggled with --teacher recommended me
  • National Speech and Debate Qualifier 2015

Letter of Recs:
Need suggestions on this. My APUSH teacher will write something beautiful. Should I ask Debate/Past English teacher, Spanish teacher, or current English teacher? Additionally, will a recommendation letter from a Figure Skating Olympian/World Champion (my boss + coach for several years) be helpful?

Common app essay:
suggestions are awesome. I have a couple of ideas of my own :slight_smile:

ANY HELP (life advice, sat tips, anything) IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! THANK YOU!!!

2

My only advice right now is maybe try the ACT! The SAT might not be worth trying again at this point (after two shots) but generally 3 times is considered the recommended max so if you really want to then I’d go for it.

3

For rec letters, find teachers with whom you have some sort of relationship with

4

@ptolemycleopatra Yeah, I was thinking about that. Not sure how strong my science is though
@beepybeetle I have really good relationships with those teachers but would business schools value a math teacher rec over an english teacher?
Thank you both!!

5

Berkeley - Low reach
Cornell - Low reach/reach
USC - High match
Penn - Reach/High reach
University of Texas + Business Honors - auto-admit, as you said
Chicago - Reach/High reach
Georgia Tech - High match
NYU - High match/low reach
SMU - you’re probably in

Lots of entrepreneurship and some non-profit work, which i think will appeal to a lot of these colleges. I know Wharton takes test scores pretty seriously, so if you don’t retake the SAT1 make sure your SAT2 math score is very good (750+). Chicago in particular will depend on essay quality.

6

The science section of the ACT requires little to no knowledge of actual science; it’s all about test taking strategy. I would also recommend researching the ACT.

7

Your extracurriculars look awesome. I would say in at NYU and Berkeley. Penn and Cornell, among other ivies, are a reach for everyone. But you seem to be on the right track! I agree with the other comments. Try the ACT at least once!

8

@asianfang Thank you! Other than an improving test score, do you recommend anything else?
@RoundGenius will do! I’ll take a practice test this weekend to test my initial aptitude
@nicknick567 thank you! And yes, I will try the ACT to improve my score:)

9

You come off as a very driven, talented individual. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Start essays early and make them great. You have a shot at every school on your list. I wish you best of luck!

10

bump

11

A lot of your application will come down to how well you are able to translate your pursuits into a compelling narrative. This is mostly in regards to your business and your figure skating. Each of these has merit in their own right, but you need to package them in a way that sufficiently tells your story. Your other extracurriculars are fairly standard, so it will likely come down to these. I would say to trust your gut on teacher recommendations… pick based on who you feel most comfortable with, not what you hear about who writes good ones or the like. [ Unrelated, but my APUSH teacher’s a favorite too. :slight_smile: ] An additional recommendation from your coach may be useful, as long as you have a good relationship. It will be more about what she can say about you than her own credentials. I agree that you may want to try the ACT, though your SAT is really only a liability for HYP and the like.

Overall, I’ll say:
Berkeley - Accept/Waitlist
Cornell - Accept/Waitlist
USC - Accept (maaaaybe waitlist)
Penn - Waitlist
University of Texas + Business Honors - Accept
Chicago - Waitlist/Reject
Georgia Tech - Waitlist (you don’t seem too focused on engineering honestly)
NYU - Accept
SMU - Accept

Best of luck! :slight_smile: Chance me back? http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1966406-chance-me-upenn-ed-yale-brown-princeton-etc-will-chance-back-p1.html

12

Berkeley - Accept
Cornell - Accept
USC - Accept
Penn - Accept/Waitlist
University of Texas + Business Honors - Accept
Chicago - Waitlist
Georgia Tech - Reject
NYU - Accept
SMU - Accept

Depends on how you have presented your experiences running a business and taking leadership roles. I assume that if you applied to Wharton, these two things will be of prime importance. You have good recommendations which are definitely going to help you. Your score might be the only thing that spoils your game, but I am being a bit optimistic on that front because you’ve done very well! I have never been able to decide if you should take the test again in your situation, so weigh all pros and cons before sitting for one again. I know someone who took it 3 times, didn’t improve on the third attempt and still got into his dream school, so maybe you can try once again. But I don’t know… :stuck_out_tongue:

So, best of luck for everything! :slight_smile:

Also, chance me back?
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1970884-predict-my-results-will-chance-back.html#latest

13

@hehaotim @writergirl0316 thank you both! I will soon. I will probably take the SAT during August again to see if my score improves.

14

Does anyone have any recommendations for other schools I should consider?