<p>Hi guys! I'm currently a senior, applying to:</p>
<p>Berkeley
UCLA
UNC Chapel Hill
University of Texas-Austin
UChicago
Carleton college
NYU college of arts and sciences (ED)
Rice </p>
<p>GPA- unweighted: 3.72, weighted: 4.43
class rank: 84/937, top 9%
SAT- 2330, cr: 730, math: 800, writing: 800
SAT II- took Lit and Math II last week, US History 720
course load: all honors or AP when possible
AP: US History 4, Psychology 5, Human Geo 4, Lang and Comp 5</p>
<p>current schedule:
AP French IV
AP Environmental Science
Orchestra
AP Lit
AP Gov
AP Calc AB</p>
<p>EXtracurriculars:
-orchestra 4 years
-rank no. 35 in my region at UIL competition (violin)
-participated in Texas Federation of Music Clubs (TFMC) piano competition for 8 consecutive years, became All-State winner in junior year and won scholarship from TFMC
-National Winner in the National Piano Auditions
-National Fraternity of Student Musicians
-Student Division of American College of Musicians
-Piano Hobbyists of the World
-Vice President of SLAP (Astronomy Pack)
-Secretary of Environmental Club
-French National Honor Society
-Internship at Rice University with environmental science lab group, carbon nanotube experiments and bacterial plate counting (getting rec letter from the professor)
-200+ volunteer hours, did regular volunteer work at the local retirement home and receptionist at Huaxia Chinese School on weekends (unpaid)</p>
<p>and national merit semifinalist</p>
<p>Rec letters: APUSH teacher and Pre-calc teacher. I'm a bit worried about these, as I'm a shy person and don't really know my teachers very well. (did well in these classes though)
I also have recs from my violin teacher and a professor from Rice.</p>
<p>Berkeley: Match (maybe high match)
UCLA: Match (maybe high match)
UNC Chapel Hill: Reach (I assume Texas is your home state so it’s about as hard to get into from OOS as Rice would be for anyone)
UTA: Low match (maybe safety)
UChicago: Reach
Carleton: High match
NYU CAS EA: Safety (but only because of EA)
Rice: Reach</p>
<p>There are two “reach-for-anyone” schools on your list: UChicago and Rice.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input! :]
Do you think early action would increase my chances at all at uchicago? I’ve heard from some people that early action actually decreases chances…</p>
<p>Last year the percent admit EA was about the same as RD and they roll over some of the EA into RD so no disadvantage to applying there EA. Are you a good enough musician to play in college orchestra? SAT great. Curriculum average for a top student. Rank may be a problem for top schools. ECs really good, including depth in music.</p>
<p>Chicago ranges from low reach (33 to 50%), with a lot depending on the essays </p>
<p>UNC OOS = low reach; OOS UNC as hard as (if not harder than) Duke to get into because they take just 10% OOS</p>
<p>Rice = low match (50 - 66%)l recommendation from Rice professor should help a lot as they will likely call to chat about you</p>
<p>Thanks so much, muckdogs07!
Yeah, my rank kind of sucks especially in comparison to my SAT. Makes me look like a slacker :[ I have a bit of upward trend though, as I made tons of Bs in freshman year and only starting studying in soph year… but the problem is that upward trend isn’t perceivable through my official transcript, since its not formatted in a way that differentiates ninth from tenth, tenth from eleventh, etc. ><</p>
<p>Also, can somebody explain what exactly is low match and high match and low reach and high reach? sorry for stupid question…</p>
<p>Low match is a match that’s closer to a safety. A high match is a match that’s closer to a reach. Same thing for high/low reaches.</p>
<p>Berkeley: Match
UCLA: Match
UNC Chapel Hill: High-Match (hard if out-of-state)
University of Texas-Austin: Match
UChicago: Reach
Carleton college: Reach
NYU college of arts and sciences (ED): Safety
Rice: High Match</p>