Chance me please

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
1

<p>I'm a junior right now so this is for the Class of 2015.</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 (my school doesn't weigh grades)
Class Rank: 1/450</p>

<p>ACT: 34 (36 math, 35 science)</p>

<p>Junior Year Classes:
American Literature
Wind Symphony Band
Gym
AP Calculus AB
American History
Spanish 4
Honors Chemistry
Architecture
AP Calculus BC(self-study)
AP Chemistry(self-study)</p>

<p>Projected Senior Year Classes
AP Calculus BC(will drop if I get a 4 or 5 on AP test)
AP Government
Honors Spanish 5
Honors Physics
Wind Symphony Band
Gym
Speech
Peer Tutoring
English and World Lit
AP Physics C(both self-study)
AP Psychology(self-study)
AP Economics(both self-study)
Possibly AP European History(self-study)</p>

<p>I'd be doing most of the self-study work during my block off from dropping AP Calc BC.</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:
16 hours a week as a server at the Holmstad (retirement home)
Reffed about 200 soccer games so far with local league and travel leagues
Soccer - sophomore team for both grades 9 and 10 (varsity for last 3 games and playoffs grade 10)
Played piano for 10 years
Played percussion since 4th grade (Top Band all through high school)
Marching band (snare on drumline) all years - should be captain next year
Math Team
Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering Competition - 2nd in math at regionals, 3rd in math at sectionals
Western Sun Conference Math Contest - 3 perfect scores, 1st place fresh/soph 8 person team, 2nd place overall Coordinate Geometry
Kaneland Invite - 2 years, 1st place grade 11
Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics - 1st place in freshman/sophomore 8 person team(perfect score), individual Geometry, freshman/sophomore 2 person team, and team Geometry, 3rd place in junior/senior 2 person team and individual algebra II
Qualified for State in: fresh/soph 8 person, geometry, fresh/soph 2 person, and algebra II
Illinois Drafting Educators Association Competition - 2nd place Introductory CAD - qualified for state
Tri-M
Will be in NHS by the end of the year</p>

<p>Top Choices:
Villanova
Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
Georgia Tech
Bucknell</p>

<p>Looking at Engineering, maybe Chemical, but not so certain on that.</p>

<p>My school doesn't offer many AP classes, which is why I am self-studying a lot of them. I have the ACT again with the school in april so the score might go up a little. Anything you guys think I should do to help out my application and how do you think I chance up with those schools next year?</p>

2

<p>Anyone? please</p>

3

<p>I think you’ve got a solid application. Just start working on the essays for all the universities and make sure your essays are good as well.</p>

4

<p>I think you are doing great. My son’s high school had fewer APs than most and he did well on those exams. He didn’t self study for extras and he was admitted. Not to discourage you…I think it is great that you are self studying for more. But I would work for excellence on few than OK on many. Also, I don’t think you should skip Calc in high school. The reason? Calc is very hard in college and to go through it daily is good preparation. Although a 4 or 5 may get you out of one semseter of Calc, many majors will require that you do a couple more semesters. So…depending on the institution that can be good or bad…the skipping ahead. You can always do both semesters of basic Calc in college even if you have a high score.<br>
In schools with high numbers of applicants, the numbers of fully qualified kids can be mind boggling. Find your story…everyone has one no matter how modest and be the best version of yourself. That is my favorite saying this week…better to be a first quality version of yourself rather than a second quality attempt at being someone else (you know from one of those mega high schools where kids can take 11 APs)</p>

<p>Looks like you are very engineering oriented. You are looking at some great schools for engineering. (my Dad is a Ramblin Wreck and I know a great Bucknell engineer too)
Vanderbilt is a great all round college education with a lot of breadth and balance in a great setting…hope you stay interested in Vandy!</p>

<p>Being employed with your scores is a great think to write about.</p>

5

<p>Wow, thanks Faline2. I understand that Calc is hard in college, but I feel like I completely understand the material we have done so far. From what I’ve looked at, I’ll still have to do Multi-variable calc and diff eq at least and I might decide to minor in math. I took AB with the school so I was taught all those concepts and BC was easy to self-study because it was just applying more of AB concepts. I figure physics C next year will keep my calc knowledge up so I don’t know. If I feel not ready for it, I can always retake the first 2 in college. And I will definitely try to think of a good essay topic!</p>

6

<p>Actually BC is quite different from AB. I thought series were difficult but I took both AB and BC in one year (our school offers that to students who want to take it college style, AB first semester, and BC second semester).</p>

7

<p>Our BC only adds like 3 more chapters in so I talked to the teacher and he lent me a textbook and told me what they were going to go over. I thought series were pretty easy and the rest was just applying concepts and vectors which weren’t hard to figure out. I’ve taken practice tests and have been scoring 5s easily on them…</p>

8

<p>You have the numbers, so start reading up on essays, keeping a journal for essay nuggets and ideas and making a list of the questions on the supplements. Work on your knowledge of each college, and read their papers and study their websites. All the schools on your list are wonderful places that make a big impact. </p>

<p>Understanding your final list of colleges is important as you write those final essays and as you meet with your references to explain your choices and thoughts about each place. These things help make a final application sing as much as extra APs. Focus on the APs that make your engineering goals look viable…take it easy and do well on a few.</p>

9

<p>Will sending in my AP scores help with the application or no? I ended up with 5’s on both calc bc and chemistry.</p>

10

<p>The Common App has a place where you simply write in your AP scores, and many cover sheets provided as summaries by GCs in high schools also summarize test scores. You don’t have to pay to have yours sent to the colleges until you choose your college and at that juncture you must prove your standing for class placement but we sent all of our sons’ scores officially during the application process…the 5s, 4s and the 3 to all his colleges. </p>

<p>Veracity in my opinion is the most important element in any application…–and I don’t mean to imply that anyone lies routinely…I mean that your application must shine with truthfulness and a sense of common sense, proportion and energy. Being able to place yourself in the mind of your reader as a person who represents a certain niche in America…a nation bursting with small and interesting stories…is key. You don’t have to be a star to tell a story worth reading in an essay.</p>

<p>I think the fact that you work regularly for pay in a senior center is a huge plus…but mainly I think your math talent and your self starter attitude are your greatest assets. </p>

<p>I think anyone will be impressed with your BC five which involved self study and talent combined.</p>

<p>Please PM me if you want to chat further about your essays. </p>

<p>I encourage you to apply to both MIT, GA Tech and to the best engineering school in your great home state of Illinois. A strong math mind is appreciated in any college but we are in a deep recession and you must first think hard about your financial fit and viability in Out of State colleges. The FAFSA combined with the CSS Profile will come up with a figure (which varies from institution to institution) of what your family must pay. Put your math talent to fiddling with these horrible documents online and sit down with your parents and make sure you can afford your share of the cost of schools like Vanderbilt and Notre Dame. </p>

<p>Is this figure congruent with the price of the best engineering schools in Illinois, a state not short on fine public colleges? If you are lucky enough to be in the category of persons whose FAFSA figure is affordable in private and OOS colleges…then go for it! Apply to privates.</p>

<p>You have to consider your tactic and goals. Do you want to go to a school with a superb engineering reputation like my Dad’s alma mater Georgia Tech? Or do you want to be that guy in a school with a stronger liberal arts standing and a lesser rating in engineering because you want to go with the strength of the overall college experience and you want a more traditional approach? If so, you should also apply to places like (son number one) Duke and Vanderbilt (son number 2) with engineering programs that are great but not what they are known for…Duke has a #2 ranked biomedical program…Hopkins is #1. Rice has a fabulous engineering program and a great community overall that delivers a unique full college experience. Rice also gives 30% of its applicants merit money and keeps its costs significantly lower than its peers in the first place. My son was not a merit winner at Rice so didn’t go there but greatly respects it. He was also admitted to Swarthmore which is an absolutely unique and wonderful institution with an amazing engineering track, but we had to decline because of the recession and what we as a family had to pay for Swat. Just wanting to point out in America, there are many ways to becoming an engineer and to getting your undergrad education in all sorts of settings and styles.</p>

<p>So, get serious and realistic about your ability to pay, then seek out the need and merit dollars as you make up your final list. My son is a merit winner at Vanderbilt to our absolute shock…it is best to be shocked. It is best to have a sensible plan in place at all times and my son would have been very happy at Wm and Mary or UVA…paying full pay for privates was pulled off the table after the grim fall of 2009.</p>

11

<p>to the OP: not sure if they still do, but Vandy’s supplement had a space for AP scores when my daughter applied for Fall 2008; one of the only schools that did at the time…no idea if they still do…</p>

12

<p>Alright, thanks. I will definitely have to sit down and think about this.</p>

13

<p>When you cast your net, I sincerely hope you will also write the merit essays for the Chancellor’s and the Cornelius Vandy and the Ingram scholarships at Vanderbilt. My son is not a minority student and yet he is a Chancellor’s Scholar, an entirely unexpected outcome that gives him great joy and something of a sense of affirmation and purpose at Vandy. He is deeply involved in his life at Vanderbilt after one year and enjoying the breadth of the student body, the breadth of his education and the diversity of people from all over that are members of his class, many of whom I might add are people who equally deserved merit dollars.<br>
In a major recession, you must do the math and then also take some risks and chances on reach colleges and reach merit offers.
If you simply do not know and cannot know if you belong at a Vanderbilt or at a school like Georgia Tech now, then so be it. It can be hard to count yourself in or out of a type of school when you are only 17 and open minded. Our Vandy son initially wanted to attend a great liberal arts college and he did win a merit offer at one of them, but to his surprise, the day he visited Vandy, very late in the process, he felt his emotional and social fit alter to feeling that perhaps he needed the larger scope of Vanderbilt and Nashville in order to grow at “his own chosen speed.” All of this is very personal and depends on your April first offers. You may surprise yourself in April, so you don’t have to know now is my point…but build your list to give you the options you feel might be right for your learning needs and social needs.</p>