Chance me, please!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
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<p>Okay, so, I always told myself that I would never, ever post a chances thread. And yet, here I am. I feel like it's a right of passage, haha.</p>

<p>white female, oos</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9 uw
School does not rank, maybe top %10? Highly competitive</p>

<p>Intended area of study: communications</p>

<p>PSAT - national merit commended
SAT Reasoning
Critical Reading: 740
Math: 680
Writing: 760 (10 essay)
Total of 2180 or a 1420</p>

<p>SAT II Subject Tests
Math 1: 620
Biology E: 670
U.S. History: awaiting scores (testing date was set back)</p>

<p>Course load
9th grade
Honors English
Honors Global</p>

<p>10th Grade
Honors English
Honors Chemistry
Precalc Honors
AP European History (5)</p>

<p>11th grade
Journalism
APUSH
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus
AP English</p>

<p>12th grade
Journalism
Web design
Statistics
AP English 12
AP Biology
AP Government
AP Economics
AP French</p>

<p>Will have 10 APs out of 13 offered by graduation. All honors available.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
horseback riding - 11 years competing on a-rated show circuit and on a national level
work experience at the barn, giving lessons
photography club pres.
Mock Trial team captain - regional semifinalists this year
National Junior Honor Society in 9th grade
National Honor Society (likely pres.) in 12th grade
school newpaper columnist
local newspaper columnist
100+ volunteering hours: Rescue Mission, tutoring children, Shrine Circus, local church events & other events,
humane society, therapeutic riding program (work with disabled children)
New York State Licensed Wild Life Rehabilitator - take in injured small animals and resuscitate them</p>

<p>Honors
SYGMA Award - 9th grade, math recognition
Presidential Award - 9th grade
AP Euro award - 10th grade</p>

<p>Oh, and I almost forgot! I have relatives (through marriage :X) who have graduated from UNC and/or made large donations. One man has a seat in the Dean Dome. :D Tell me they count for something! They're related, no? </p>

<p>My recommendations will be very good, I've already asked my teachers, and I know that they both adore me and give excellent recommendations! My essays should also be good, and unique. I am extremely passionate about UNC. I am applying Early Action and will have visited three times (for official tours, no less!) by the time I apply. I realize that my SAT II scores are embarrassing, and my extracurriculars are only decent. But what do you guys think? I would very, very much appreciate the input.</p>

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<p>hmm for starters, its rite of passage haha</p>

<p>your SAT scores seem to be pretty good, personally, mine was 30 points lower and i got in, but idk if that was luck or what. you seem to be taking a lot of tough classes, do you have any of your grades for them? it'd be nice if you posted that cause w/o it, we cant tell how well you actually did in them. if you got mostly A's with say 1-2 B's all 4 years, I'd say your in pretty good shape, if its more like 1-2 B's per year, thats still alright...but almost borderline. and for extracirriculars, keep trying to join a couple more clubs (2-3) and i'd definitely try out for a sport team that you'd like thats pretty vigorous (i.e. swimming, CC, track, NOT golf (not dissing on golf but its just not the toughest of sports)) and idk how much attention they put on SAT IIs, i think that just matters for when your signing up for classes and you are using these test scores to see what class you can jump.</p>

<p>either way, write really flattering essays, and try to get a teacher or someone to revise it for you (grammar mistakes, etc), try to glorify, if you will, the things that you write, lol i know i did, im not sure how well it worked, but i got in w/ a pretty sweet ass scholarship :).</p>

<p>and the relatives thing def helps out a bit, you'll have to fill in something for relatives who were alum's, except idk how much it helps out. good luck!</p>

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<p>I wouldn't recommend joining more clubs are athletics during your senior year. Not only is it more time to commit but it wouldn't be viewed as much of a commitment at all in the admissions office. In fact, it'd be viewed (in my opinion) as tacking on extra hours for brownie points. Competing at a national equestrian level is a big deal. Don't underestimate it.</p>

<p>Instead of trying to add more extracurriculars, focus on illuminating the ones you have, especially since the ones you have are strong.</p>

<p>I really don't think that the SAT II matters in admissions with UNC. A high score certainly won't hurt but it's nothing too much to worry about. The SAT matters more, and even that isn't a deal breaker.</p>

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<p>I rarely comment on "chances" threads, because who knows, really-- but your ec's read very well (to my mind), and are interesting--especially the horseback riding and working with disabled children/therapeutic riding program. As a local newspaper columnist (in addition to the school newspaper), I would suggest sending in a few of your best columns from the local newspaper. I agree with cloying. I don't think you need to join any clubs. I don't understand the suggestion to join a "vigorous" sports team, either--unless you really want to do so. Am I missing something in that suggestion? The horse-back riding sounds vigorous enough to me. ;) Again, I agree with cloying's statement, "Competing at a national equestrian level is a big deal. Don't underestimate it."<br>
You're obviously a good writer, too, so take your time with those essays.</p>

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<p>i actually strongly disagree with a lot of swim4china's points (nothing personal lol, im friends w/him on facebook, hes pretty cool)</p>

<p>just to let you know, avantgarden, you dont need all A's in AP courses to have a chance at UNC. i had a couple C's in AP math courses and even B's in a few honors courses. UNC does NOT go through and count your A's and B's and make admissions decisions based off of that. of course, im not saying that having a lot of C's wont hurt you, but if you get one or two like i did in tough courses, its not a huge deal. (and by the way, im out of state too). the fact that you took almost all of your school's available AP classes shows that you are a hardworker, and that offsets a couple bad grades. (this may not even apply to your situation since i dont even know your grades haha, but just in case you were wondering.)</p>

<p>and also, i dotn think joining a couple extra clubs in senior year really matters, since UNC will see that you only joined for one year. its quality, not quantity that counts. its best to focus on a few ECs that truly matter to you.
they look a lot at ECs and essays, and you seem to have those covered fine. </p>

<p>i had similar test scores but lower GPA, and was also commended for PSAT (stupid CR screwed me over). we even took similar classes lol. i think you have a great chance. as for SAT II's, cloying is right, they're not huge in the admissions decision. they do recommend sending in your scores if you've taken a few, just so they can see which subjects you're good in, but low scores apparently dont hurt you since out of the five SAT II's that i took, i did excellent in one of them, pretty well in two of them, and flat out failed the other two.</p>

<p>good luck!</p>

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<p>I agree with cloying and jack, and I think you have a great shot. Just nail the essays. Good luck!</p>

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<p>lol thanks guys haha. idk that was just from my perspective...varsity swim captain, all conference, swam for 6 years on a club...that was like the biggest thing going for me. but hey, it cant hurt if you did join a couple more clubs and did well in classes</p>

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<p>Okay, thanks everyone for the input! I feel silly having posted this thread now, but I'm glad I did, because what you all have told me is very valuable. </p>

<p>swimchina, I can understand where you are coming from because sports were a big deal for you, but, as I put it - horseback riding is my sport. :] That's how I justified quitting soccer in the 8th grade. At the time, it was a big deal not to play a school sport, haha. As for clubs, though, I would rather focus on the things that are meaningful to me, if that makes sense, and I hope it doesn't make me look under accomplished. But if it helps, I was a member of yearbook club in 9th grade.</p>

<p>And to everyone else, thank you! I'm relieved that SAT IIs shouldn't hurt me too badly, and the suggestion to include some articles with my application is one that I hadn't thought of! I absolutely will. Thanks for that, jack. </p>

<p>Oh, and I'm sorry - I didn't think to break down my grades by class. Unfortunately I don't have my transcript right now and I don't know my grades offhand. But I do know that I have good grades in all of my AP classes and, well, all my classes in general. </p>

<p>Shoot, I have to go to an appointment now, but thanks again everyone!</p>

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<p>I am a female OOS also
thinking of aplying early...SAT V=770,M=750, W700
ACT comp 34...35,35,33,34
varsity soccer 4 years, captain sr year, jv lacrosse 3 yrs, varsity 1..work since age 14 tutoring elementary age, NHS, some other ec's
chances?</p>

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<p>avantgarden I think you have a good chance! You are still OSS which is never a given. But you have decent SAT scores, good course load, and I'll add my bias in but that horseback riding is good! I feel ya! I showed on the A circuit all throughout high school and I never did a high school sponsored sport, horseback riding is a lifestyle when you do it to that level...if you do get in and end up here, I hope to see you on the Equestrian team next year!</p>

<p>;)</p>