Chance me please

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Background Information
~ From: NJ
~ Race/Ethnicity: Hispanic (born outside the US)</p>

<p>Current School
---- Rank: 1 out of 295
---- Cumulative Unweighted GPA: 4.0
---- Type: rarely sends grads to ivy leagues, competitive schools
---- Graduating in June 2010</p>

<p>Classes Taken & to be Taken
(My school offers very few APs, and i have taken the most challenging schedule possible at my school.)</p>

<p>Standardized Test Scores (I plan to retake SAT/ACT)
~ SAT Scores (2060/2400)
---- Math: 690
---- Reading: 680
---- Writing: 690
~ SAT II Scores
---- Bio: 790
---- Physics: 740
---- Math 2: 750
~ ACT: 32 composite</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities
~ Science Club (president)
~ Health Care Careers Club (vice-president)
~ National Honor Society (vice-president)
~ New Jersey Governor's School in the Sciences
~ Future Business Leaders of America
-- Won first place in regional FBLA competions two years in a row (10th and 11th)
~ Volunteering at a local hospital (summer) and at a local school for disabled children (during school year)
~ Tutor since 10th grade once a week
~ ERASE club (member/ a club concerned with culture awareness, etc.)
~ Rotary Interact Club (member)</p>

<p>Recommendations
~ AP English Teacher (should be excellent)
~ AP Calc teacher (should be pretty good)</p>

<p>Schools to Chance (This is not my final list yet but are some colleges I'm looking into)
~ University of Pennsylvania
~ Cornell
~ MIT
~ Rutgers
~ Boston U.
~ Lehigh U.
~ Johns Hopkins University
~ Brown University
~ Vanderbilt University
~ Washington University in St. Louis
~ University of Maryland
~ Colgate University</p>

<p>Notes
~ I plan to major in biology and attend medical school in the future. </p>

<p>Thank you for taking the time to read this!! If you can think of any other colleges that could be a good match for me I would appreciate it if you could post them. It would greatly help me in making my college list.</p>

2

<p>This isn’t my final list.</p>

3

<p>Good shot at all. I’d retake the SAT for a 2100 plus just to be sure.</p>

4

<p>Your ECs are impressive. I don’t think you have a good shot unless you SIGNIFICANTLY up your SAT – keep in mind the accpeted applicants to those schools score from approx 700-800 in each section! thats a MINIMUM score 2100…or if you use the ACT instead you should be okay…</p>

5

<p>Thanks! And yeah, my SAT score is somewhat low but I’m retaking it this October. The ACT score is more recent (June) than SAT (March) so I’m hoping my SAT score will increase</p>

6

<p>I think you’ve got an excellent shot if you bump up that SAT to a 2200, or submit your ACT, as they said above.</p>

7

<p>I just wanted to give you a heads-up about the admissions process at WashU in St. Louis.
My stats when I applied:</p>

<p>Rank: 1 out of 437.
Cum. UW GPA: 4.0; Weighted: 4.75
Public HS, graduated this past May.
Courses: Took most challenging schedule at school; total of 9 Pre-AP classes and 10 APs (max possible); My junior and senior year I took 7 courses, with no lunch period; Junior year, I had 3 Pre-APs, 3 APs, and one required course (health); Senior year, I had 7 AP classes (never been done before). </p>

<p>Standardized Testing:
SAT: 2080 composite.
ACT: 32 composite.
National Merit Finalist</p>

<p>EC Activities:
Key Club: Member all 4 years, Secretary Senior year, 100-150 hours of community service per year.
Student Senate: Panel of students chosen by HS Principal based on essays.
Book Club: Founder
Varsity Science Olympiad Team: 2nd place Experimental Design, 1st Place Health Science, 1st Place Disease Detectives
National Junior Classical League: Vice President of NJCL for the entire Southern Illinois Region.
Latin Club: Historian, 1st Place Photography and 1st Place Drawing at 2007 Southern Illinois Latin Convention; 1st Place Watercolor, 2nd Place Drawing, 1st Place 4th Year Derivatives, and 1st Place Certamen (Scholar Bowl) Team at 2008 Southern Illinois Latin Convention
Math Team: Placed in top 3 at several IML competitions.
Varsity JETS Team: 1st Pace in Division; WYSE: 3rd Place in Division (team), 2nd Place English (individual, advanced to regional competition)
Senior Olympiad: Select participant
National Honor Society: Community service requirement in addition to Key Club
Other clubs I was a part of: Astronomy Club, Yearbook Committee, Pep Club, Symphonic Band (1st chair alto sax), and Marching Band.
I am also President of my church’s Youth Group.</p>

<p>I am also majoring in biology and planning on attending medical school.
I did not apply Early Admission to WashU, because I was worried about tuition costs.
So, instead, I applied regular decision and was wait-listed.
Other students who applied regular decision:
The Salutatorian at my HS. Also wait-listed.
The student ranked 3rd in my HS. Wait-listed.
The student ranked 5th at my HS. Again, wait-listed.
A friend who attended a HS in a neighboring city. Valedictorian at her school. Wait-listed.
See a pattern?</p>

<p>However, two students at my HS applied Early Admission. Both had lower test scores (29 and 30 ACT composites). Both had lower class ranks (8th and 13th, respectively). This means that they had lower GPAs. They did not have nearly as many ECs as those of us who applied Regular Decision. However, they were both accepted.</p>

<p>I have not met anybody who was accepted Regular Decision to WashU. I’m not saying that it’s impossible. Just highly improbable. The University essentially fills their entire freshman class with Early Admission applicants. As far as getting in off the wait-list, I cannot relate my personal experience, because I turned down my spot on the list. However, in the FAQs the University sends you about their waiting-list, they do state that they reserve those spots for uncommon majors. Biology, sadly enough, is, in many schools, the most popular major after business.</p>

<p>That being said, I strongly suggest applying Early Admission if you are serious about attending WashU. However, if you are really hoping for another University on your list, you should check and see if they offer Early Admission/Decision, because I believe this is a fairly common practice.</p>

<p>You are, by all means, an incredibly competative and qualified applicant, but there are some things in this world that are simply out of our control and college admissions, to an extent, are part of that category.
I wish you all the best! :)</p>

8

<p>The OP is a URM, a 2100 would make him a strong candidate anywhere.</p>

9

<p>Thank you. And I am considering early decision, especially after what you said. I didn’t know there was that great of a difference.</p>

10

<p>Looking back over your stuff, I think it’ll help that you’re a URM, but it might hurt more that you’re an international (assuming you’re applying for FA).</p>

11

<p>Being an under-represented minority with your test scores and EC’s, you should apply ED to UPenn. Your chances are way better than 50-50 and I bet you get in!</p>

12

<p>OP, what’s your safety? Maryland?</p>