Chance me, please. Not sure where I fit...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Asian Female looking for some feedback. Not sure where my numbers/ECs/etc. put me...</p>

<p>Small, very competitive high school. Typically places students at top colleges.</p>

<p>Class Rank - Top 20%. (One B and you're out of the top 10%)</p>

<p>SAT
Critical Reading - 770
Math - 710
Writing - 770 (12/12 on the essay)</p>

<p>SAT II
Chemistry - 750
Math I - 670</p>

<p>ACT - 31</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities
Newspaper - News editor (11th), Co-Managing editor (12th)
Literary Magazine - Editor (12th), Staff and Contributor (9th, 10th, 11th)
Tae Kwon Do (high blue belt)
National Honor Society (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th) (does this even matter?)
State Science Fair (12th) (Got 4th place in 8th grade and Won States in 5th grade - should I even mention those? They were great wins but irrelevant to high school. But the were great wins! Sad...)
Latin Forum (9th, 10th, 11th)
Journalism Conference (11th and 12th)</p>

<p>Community Service - 100 hours
- Library - Conducted children's summer reading program
- Thrift Store - Organized merchandise, cashier
- Church - Ran booths at carnivals for church fund raisers</p>

<p>Talents and Awards
- National Merit Scholarship Qualifier (Anticipated Finalist based on last year's scores)
- Journalism awards (several 1st place awards for team and individual layout and writing)
- National Latin Exam - Cum Laude
- Latin awards - Several 1st and 2nd place awards at Latin Forums
- Writing - Won countywide Short Story competition
- Art - Won 1st place nationally in DAR stamp design contest</p>

<p>Other
- Duke TIP Program (I figure a lot of people have this)
- Attended the Duke Young Writers Camp</p>

<p>AP Coursework
- US History (3 on AP exam)
- Chemistry and Lab (4 on AP exam)
- English Composition (5 on AP exam)
- Psychology (12th)
- English Literature (12th)
(Our school doesn't offer a lot of AP courses.)</p>

<p>Essay - Writing in my strength. It's shaping up nicely.</p>

<p>References - I expect very strong references from my chemistry and journalism teachers.</p>

<p>I want to get a degree in chemistry (I think).</p>

<p>ECs - I couldn't care less about spreading myself across every activity in the school, but I have great depth in Journalism and Lit Mag that I can put on the application.</p>

<p>Schools I'm considering...</p>

<p>Duke
Carnegie-Mellon
Case Western
WUSTL
Columbia
MIT
Harvard (may as well try)
Vanderbilt
Rice</p>

<p>Chances?</p>

<p>Also, any other suggestions for someone from the Southeast who doesn't want to travel west (yeah, Rice and WUSTL are further afield, but I'm testing the waters). (Cornell? Georgetown? ...)</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Your SAT scores are within range of the SAT scores of accepted applicants at: Duke, Carnegie Mellon University (well within their accepted range), Rice University, and even at Harvard.
This essentially means that you are within the SAT range of accepted applicants to these schools, it by no means you’ll be accepted to them. I believe you have a great shot at places like Rice, Vanderbilt, Carnegie-Mellon. The others like Duke/Harvard is up in the air, but you definitely have a good chance at them. I’d suggest you look at some other schools in the south and see what you think of: UNC, Davidson, Elon, Emory, Wake Forest to name a few. You should be able to get in most of those, but keep in mind there are always ‘flukes’. Apparently I had a friend that applied to Harvard with a 1600 SAT score and was rejected, but on a good side he was accepted to a great university.
**<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/756915-what-my-chances-cornell-umich-penn-st-rice-madison-nyu-will-chance-back.html[/url][/B]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/756915-what-my-chances-cornell-umich-penn-st-rice-madison-nyu-will-chance-back.html**&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Darn. I forgot to include my GPA.</p>

<p>It’s 3.90/4.0 unweighted.</p>

<p>4.4/4.0 weighted.</p>

<p>And my rank is top 15%.</p>

4

<p>Could not agree more with homflysmith…</p>

<p>— one other thought — “great depth in Journalism” /// “I want to get a degree in chemistry” - interesting, you may want to consider how your talents can best be used. </p>

<p>RE:
Newspaper - Co-Managing editor, Literary Magazine - Editor, - English Composition (5 on AP exam)
VS.
State Science Fair (12th) (Got 4th place in 8th grade and Won States in 5th grade) - Chemistry and Lab (4 on AP exam)</p>

5

<p>Unless your school is highly competitive by top school standards (average SAT about 2100, 25% plus to ivies), not being in the top 10% will make the top schools on your list highly unlikely. Your two math scores are also very low for ivies and would make MIT virtually impossible.</p>

<p>I would replace the ivies and MIT with more realistic reaches.</p>

6

<p>How about Johns Hopkins and University of Chicago?</p>

7

<p>Regarding chemistry vs. journalism/writing, I’ve always been told that I have a gift for writing.</p>

<p>But I really enjoy chemistry.</p>

<p>Plus, I’m concerned about the state of journalism. A lot of newspapers have/are going under.</p>

8

<p>bump? (10 characters? Yeah!)</p>

9

<p>I agree, our stats are very similar, though your SAT scores are a LOT better. I think being a national merit scholar finalist is a a huge plus on your applications. With your sat scores and your obvious interest in writing, I think you have a good chance in getting into any of your top colleges. Given that, however, a lot of your colleges are ivies/tough schools and I think it would be in your best interest to have some safety schools, like a state school.</p>

10

<p>Living_life, I think when you retake the SATs, we’ll end up with similar SAT numbers.</p>

<p>Thanks so much for the input!</p>

<p>(And I didn’t include my “safety” schools. I figure that I’m ok on those.)</p>

11

<p>i think you have chance for Rice and Van., but why dont you apply to Emory? It’s top 20 school and I know many many many many people who went there (b/c I’m from GA), and they had similar stats as you do.</p>

12

<p>My parents keep bringing up Emory as well. I need to do some more searching. (I’m not really into the whole “greek” thing and it seems like Emory has a high emphasis on frats/sororities.)</p>

13

<p>From what I’ve read online,</p>

<p>Chicago- great academics, not so great social life
Emory- good for medicine, aids program is great
Johns Hopkins- super super super difficult classes & less of a social life, but it “feels rewarding” after you graduate</p>

<p>You have some safeties right?</p>

14

<p>Yep, I’ve got 3 state schools that I’m absolutely certain I can get into.</p>

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

15

<p>I think your scores are all quite solid, and your ECs are really stellar.</p>

<p>Ha ha, I feel so left out not knowing Latin since it seems a lot of people here on CC have a few years of Latin down.</p>

<p>I think it is very nice that you are “rounded” in that your writing skills seem to be very developed, but I guess especially for MIT, a few more science/chemistry related activities could help your application.</p>

<p>Also being a girl always helps at schools like MIT =)</p>

16

<p>I think you have a shot at all of these. Obviously Harvard, MIT and Columbia are your lottery tickets, I’d say 50% at Duke, 75% at the rest.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/758832-chances-i-begin-my-apps.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/758832-chances-i-begin-my-apps.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

17

<p>Might look at Holy Cross-located near Boston. Holy Cross has strong chemistry and Latin/Classics program.</p>

18

<p>Thanks. One last bump and then I might “chance” a few specific schools (and look at what majoring in Journalism/Creative Writing might do for me as far as getting into some places).</p>

<p>Thanks so much!</p>

19

<p>Zomg. Same act/similar class rank/some similar ecs (yours are better).
Hope you post an actual results thread in May!</p>