Chance me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvey Mudd College
1

<p>Currently a junior so I have time to improve if you have suggestions.</p>

<p>Good:
Female
Live in Ohio
Rural public school </p>

<p>3.984 UW GPA
Top 3% of class
33 ACT (will retake)
210 PSAT as a sophomore. Anxiously waiting for junior year results.
Seven AP classes, which is three more than the school actually offers
Tested out of calculus
Tested out of physics</p>

<p>Book Club (11)
Science Club (11)
Science fair participant (10)
School musical ensemble (10)
Scholastic Bowl alternate (11)
Volunteering at Safety Town (10)
Founded library book club (10, 11)
Volunteering at library (9, 10, 11)
Working at McDonald's (11)
Piano (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
50-hour chemical engineering mentorship (11)</p>

<p>Recommendations and essays will hopefully be good. I talk in class all the time, so they'll either say "highly insightful" or "highly annoying." I don't necessarily consider myself a good writer, but I'm honest and authentic and won't include a bunch of BS about broadening my intellectual horizons and such. </p>

<p>Bad:
White (I absorb vitamin D really well, though)
Will require intense financial aid, which will probably prevent me from applying early decision
Neither of my parents went to college, but some great-grandmother did five thousand years ago so I'm not first-generation.</p>

<p>Only two years of foreign language.
No honors classes freshman year
Physics was graded pass/fail. I don't know if this would count as fulfilling the physics requirement for admission.</p>

<p>No leadership positions
No awards
Rejected from NHS
Played piano since third grade and still suck
Haven't shown dedication to many things (well, many productive things)</p>

<p>Ugly:
The photo being sent with my application courtesy of the College Board:
Photo</a> Requirements</p>

<p>Thank you!!!</p>

2

<p>Looks like you have a good chance. What field are you interested in studying?</p>

3

<p>Most likely math.</p>

4

<p>

The first part of this made me and my husband LOL. You sound exactly like my son, who is a happy sophomore at Mudd, majoring in Math/CS.</p>

<p>

You’ve shown dedication to piano, academics, your chemistry internship, and probably other stuff you consider non-productive. Based on the rest of your profile, I’d bet some of those non-productive things are quite productive, and probably essay-worthy. </p>

<p>I suggest you keep to your plans to write to the best of your ability but not put in the BS. Have an adult you know and trust review your essays, but DON’T let that adult edit all the joy and enthusiasm out of them. Adults tend to write business reports, and don’t know how to write fun stuff.</p>

<p>You’re certainly as qualified as anyone. Good luck!</p>

5

<p>Update: junior year PSAT score is 227.</p>

6

<p>I would be worried about the testing out of calculus and physics thing. So you took these classes at one point? It may be worthwhile to take physics again, and physics and calculus will definitely show up again in your first two years at Mudd, so these are subjects that you need to have a good grasp on.</p>