Chance me, por favor?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>So, chances at the following for fall 2010 admission-</p>

<p>Yale
Harvard
Cornell (double college application to arts and sciences/agriculture)
Stanford
University of Chicago
Colorado College
plus several state safeties that i'm already accepted to</p>

<p>Expected Major: Environmental Science/Ecology</p>

<p>State: Midwest (i'm not giving my actual state. you could find me too easily that way :) )
Ethnicity: white, but 'prefer not to respond' on applications. it shouldn't matter. also, i was born in Hong Kong, for whatever thats worth on an application.
Sex: female
School: best public high school in the state, and very well known amongst colleges. consistantly wins major national awards for academic rigor and is BY FAR the most competitive school in the area at the top. current senior class of 367 has 6 perfect ACTs and 15 NM semifinalists</p>

<p>ACADEMICS
unweighted gpa: 4.00
weighted gpa:~4.6
rank:1/367 (around 20 share this rank)</p>

<p>pre-freshman year:
honors english 1=A. (i actually had to skip out of middle school english because i was so far ahead. first person in history of district that did this, which has opened up the opportunity to others)</p>

<p>freshman year:
A:Freshman Band
A:Physical Ed
A:Honors Biology
A:Honors Geometry
A:Latin 1.0
A:Honors English 2
A:Area Studies Asia
A:Computer Applications/Health (compacted through enrichment class)</p>

<p>sophomore year:
A:Concert Band
A:Honors Algebra II
A:Sophomore Chemistry (must be reccomended; typically chemistry is junior year)
A:AP European History
A:AP English Language
A:Latin 2
A:Spanish 2 (i skipped spanish 1, if that helps...)</p>

<p>junior year:
A:Symphonic Band (higher level)
A:Honors Pre-Calculus/Trig
A:Physics
A:AP United States History
A:AP English Literature
A:Latin 3
A:Spanish 3</p>

<p>senior year. since semester isn't over, only definite grades posted:
A:Symphonic Band
?:AP Calculus AB (probably a B)
A:Field Biology
?:AP Statistics (probably A)
A:Science Research (application must be selected for this class. independent science research project; mine is reducing phosphates and nitrates in runoff with waste products)
?:AP Latin Vergil (will be A)
?:Honors Spanish 4 (probably B)
X:AP United States Government and Policy (next semester)
A:Advanced Computer Applications</p>

<p>STANDARDIZED TESTS/EXAMS:</p>

<p><em>i don't take the SAT/ACT a thousand times. it goes against my ideology of tests, because when people take them 25 times, they aren't testing much anymore. i make note of that in application as well. keep that in mind with these somewhat low scores</em></p>

<p>SAT:2200 (from one sitting. awaiting december results which should be higher)
cr:740/m:680/w:770 essay 10</p>

<p>PSAT: 222 (National Merit Semifinalist)
cr:77/m:65/w:80</p>

<p>SAT II: Math 1 (750), Math 2 (680), Literature (760), US History (740), Spanish (590)<--i had no business taking that, and knew so going in</p>

<p>ACT: 31 (one sitting. will not be taken again)</p>

<p>AP: scholar with honor
English Literature:5
English Language:5
European History:4
United States History:4
Calculus AB: projected 4
Statistics: projected 5
Latin Vergil: projected 5
Government: no idea, haven't started class yet</p>

<p>AWARDS</p>

<p>-National Merit Semifinalist<--should be finalist by the time the decision rolls around
-NCTE Achievement Awards in Writing Porfolio Winner
-2 Summa Cum Laude (gold medal) on National Latin Exam, 1 Maxima Cum Laude (silver)
-National Junior Classical League Latin Honor Society
-Won major statewide ecology competition
-First place in Vocabulary and Roman History in State Latin Convention
-Department Honors/Student of Year in Honors English II (freshman year, won out over all the sophomores), Spanish II (sophomore year), Spanish III (junior year)</p>

<p>VOLUNTEER WORK</p>

<p>-helped with archeological dig to fig holes to look for historical sites, trying to find an artifact free area to build a bison handling facility to bring bison back to their native habitat in national prairie preserve (junior-senior summer)
-Volunteered on herpetological surveys conducted by state Herpetological Society. Helped society record numbers and types of reptiles, amphibians in a county in state. (sophomore, junior, senior year)
-Volunteered at Therapeutic Riding helping mentally and/or physically disabled kids ride, which helps to simulate walking (senior year). one of my favorite volunteering experiences
-selected as school Mentor, which are upperclassmen who help freshmen adjust to high school . Mentors help the freshmen get participated in school activities, help them with setting goals and being successful in school, and getting them connected with the school and its traditions.</p>

<p>WORK EXPERIENCE
unfortunately, none. i have no time-horseback riding takes 20+ hours every week. hopefully this doesn't turn out as too much a blemish</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULAR:</p>

<p>-english/hunt seat horseback riding. ridden for 10+ years, and shown competitively, with several championship ribbons. however, i have not had the chance to show at the top levels because i can't throw down $2000+ every weekend and skip three days of school a week
-band/marching band/private flute work. i play flute and piccolo and am in the highest school band, which is one of the best bands in the state
-creative writing club, freshman, junior and senior year. i'm current president; last year (and this year) organized a school-wide writing contest that was a huge success
-environmental club. soph-senior years. participated in/won several competitions. also, i rediscovered a newt species in my state and researched it throughout soph. year
-scholars' bowl/trivia team. junior and senior year, captain. excellent record this season</p>

<p>LEADERSHIP
-writing club president
-principal chair of first semester concert band this year and sophomore year (our band splits weird 1st semester, so this isn't the high-level band but just half of everyone in band)
-scholars' bowl captain
-head of many environmental competitions
-school Mentor </p>

<p>RECCOMENDATIONS
-should be good. but since i'm not writing them i don't want to pass judgement :)</p>

<p>ESSAYS
-common app essay is amazing. about how i can't pick something to write about and ties lots of major passions into it
-school essays good</p>

<p>OTHER STUFF I'M FORGETTING
-i don't know. i'm pretty sure i'm not forgetting anything, but i guess thats how things get forgotten. just let me know.</p>

<p>thank you for chancing me. i appreciate it. i would offer to chance you back, but since i'm high school, not an admissions counselor, and don't know what makes people get magically admitted, i'm pretty sure it would be useless. but thanks anyways</p>

2

<p>Aren’t you better off being identified as white than having them assume that you’re asian?
And as for your stance on tests, I don’t know if it’s necessarily a good thing to impart your philosophy on testing on your app (I sat only once for SAT I, too, so don’t take it as being defensive)–it might sound presumptive, a high school senior who is, herself, a multiple test taker, telling an admissions officer how she should be doing her job (that is, evaluating test scores). Moreover, I’m sure that those who take the test 3+ times are doing themselves a disfavor anyway. In that regards, your two tests will not prove anything that they already don’t think about. Lastly, some schools explicitly refuse to superscore, while others do, which does reflect the fact that these schools, individually, have contemplated the role and effect of multiple testing, and have made a conscious choice to go one way or another, depending on what values they’re looking from their students (or whether they do indeed determine that the USNews data will be the be-all, end-all of their admissions process).</p>

<p>And it’s not like your 2200 is a “low” score by any means–it’s still well within range of all the top universities. Especially given the fact that you are at the top of your school which is well known by colleges and sends tons of kids to them. I think you’d have more to lose than you’d stand to gain.</p>

<p>Given your class rank and not subpar scores, other than at HYS, I would presume that you’re a lock–but I’m also a senior who’s probably even more clueless than you.</p>

<p>I hope you didn’t take any of this in a negative way. I think you’re a strong candidate and that you simply don’t need to qualify your candidacy in any way.</p>

<p>BTW, what was your essay about? When I read about your archaeological dig, I thought that could be such an awesome way to tie in to your essay.</p>

<p>Also, kind of a dropoff after Chicago… would you rather go to your state safety than the other schools in that range? (Northwestern, JHU, etc?)</p>

<p>Hope youll find the time to drop me a comment!</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/827156-please-suggest-school-clueless-kid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/827156-please-suggest-school-clueless-kid.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I agree. </p>

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<p>I disagree (sorta).
I’m a Chicago alum with a kid at Colorado College, which I think is an excellent, interesting choice for someone interested in Environmental Science / Ecology. Yes, it is less selective than Chicago and much less so than HYPS … so it’s well positioned in this line-up between the state safeties and the others. Yale, Harvard and Stanford are always a crap shoot; Chicago can be fickle with money (if that’s a factor); I would not consider Cornell a lock. Colorado College is a likely admit and a good bet for decent finaid (some merit money if not need-based). If it comes down to state safeties, Cornell OR Chicago, and CC, you have a nice, distinct set of choices (though it wouldn’t hurt to add one or two additional “likely” schools, such as Whitman College, which is a nice complement to CC, or Connecticut College, which has a fine botany program and a nice waterfront location.)</p>

<p>If the EFC is very high, Colorado College may be the least expensive private school option after any merit discount is factored. In some respects it would be a more interesting place to study envi/eco than any of the others, due to the location and the flexibility you get to do field work with the block plan. It is probably the best situated of any selective college in America with respect to its accessibility to diverse ecological zones. Though Cornell has the famous Orinthology Lab and many other resources, I’m sure, for envi/eco.</p>

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<p>PLEASE, if you do nothing else, don’t “make note” of your philosophy in applications. Really, no adcom cares about the testing philosophies of 18 year olds. It will only come across as pretentious.</p>

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<p>yeah, i reconsidered the SAT thing on common app last night after i posted this and took it off. it wasn’t structured to sound pretentious or telling admissions officers what to do, more like ‘don’t ax me on low test scores please’, but it just sounded a little too whiny :)</p>

<p>and i’m probably not going to apply to more schools. i know it could help, but i simply can’t handle any more essays with my schedule. my school’s also really weird about how early they need to have forms, so its a little too late to add things. </p>

<p>thank you all so much!</p>

6

<p>meijer-i won’t come off as asian. i’ve got a super white name, with super white parents who went to white kid catholic colleges, and address the fact that i’m not asian in one of essays. but thanks. and my essay was about my love of writing, horses, latin, and ecology and how i can’t pick the single subject from those. the archeology thing comes up a little</p>