Chance me

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Year: Junior</p>

<p>I go to a prestigious, competitive private school in New England—one of the oldest in the country.</p>

<p>GPA: My school doesn't give GPA. I think the rationale is that grades here are tougher than the vast majority of schools, and giving a GPA would actually hamper most students' chances of getting into good schools. I calculated my GPA for first term this year, though, and it's 3.6 UW 3.8 W.
SATs: Not yet taken, but I tend to do really well on standardized tests. I'm hoping for 2370ish.
SAT IIs: So far I've only taken Chemistry (last year), on which I think I got a 730 (yick, disappointing score). Taking Physics and Math 2 this year.
APs: Taking French Language, English Lit, and US History this year.
More info on grades: eck. I'm pretty sure I've gotten one B-, a few Bs, and bunch of B+s, a bunch of A-s, and some As. I have a general upward trend in my grades though, and I'm finally sealing off French (my consistently worst class) this year, with an A- for the first half of this term. I'm hoping to round all of this off nicely with As everywhere first term senior year, but the best laid plans of mice and men...
Courses: This year I'm taking AP French Lang, AP US History, Double-Accelerated Math, English (no English classes at my school are audited and given the "AP" moniker), and Accelerated Physics. Next year I'm taking AP Calc BC, a politics class and then economics second term for History, AP Physics C, English, and then dropping French in favor of another physics class. This is the most difficult course loud I could have possibly taken as this school.</p>

<p>ECs:
Freshman year: Newspaper, Fencing (not varsity)
Sophomore year: Fencing (varsity), student-created satirical newspaper (henceworth: SCSN)
Junior year: Debate, Fencing (varsity), SCSN, "fun club" whose definition is kind of unclear... raised a bunch of money for charity, sold cotton candy, and ran some cool tournaments for students.
Senior year: Debate (I might have a shot at being captain, because I would certainly win out on merits, but others who have been around longer will probabaly get it), Fencing (varsity, captain), SCSN (I'll have some sort of editor-ish title), "fun club" head—I'm hoping to raise enough money to buy a pool table or something else flashy that people will like for the school.</p>

<p>I'm also hoping to start some sort of club of my own, although I haven't thought of what that's going to be yet.</p>

<p>Summers:
After freshman year: traveled to France and Netherlands, but nothing else of note, really.
After sophomore year: counselor at a camp... worked for a pittance, although I wasn't technically volunteering.
After junior year: I'm volunteering for a presidential campaign!</p>

<p>Interests: political science, economics, philosophy, astronomy.</p>

<p>Also, my dad went to Yale for grad school and is now the associate dead of one of the grad schools, if that's helpful at all (do grad school legacies count?).</p>

<p>So, I've laid my soul bare here. Where do you guys think I can go? I'd really like to go to Amherst, Harvard, or Yale, but those seem virtually impossible after sifting through this site and seeing my competition for a bit. Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it.</p>

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<p>Why would you even bother doing this? If you're really as smart as you apparently are you would know you can and likely will get into a Yale, Harvard, or what not. You're among the cream of the crop.</p>

3

<p>Well, thanks for the compliment :).</p>

<p>The reason I posted this is that I've been reading over this forum for a couple days. I've always thought my resume sounded pretty impressive (excluding my grades which are kind of so-so do to what I consider a "collapse" during freshman and sophomore year... but I don't like excuses), but reading this place has me worried out of my mind! Everyone else seems like they're the head of 18 nationally recognized clubs, has a 4.0 GPA, and logs 300 hours of community service a week. I want to know if people who have experience with this kind of stuff think my expectations are reasonable, and what I can do to try and get into the best place possible if they are not.</p>

<p>I promise I'm not just looking for an ego boost if it looks like that! Although, I guess if it does look like that, my stats seem at least vaguely impressive, which should be a good thing. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read over that (I realize it's long) and reply!</p>

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<p>Um a lot of ppl here are the best of the best already, so don't get scared by all the other ppl. But with all honesty, I feel that you actually aren't yet a cream of the crop. Your grades, as you said yourself, is not so impressive. So I won't really say anything about that. But your ECs too lack depth as far as I'm aware. It's good that your on varsity, and your a captain. That's all good but theres tens of thousands of varisty ppl throughout the nation. You need major wins like state or national wins or something to set you apart. I'd work hard and become one of the best at one of your ECs. Depth is more important than quantity. Currently I think you do have a chance at all those colleges, but at the same time they are all a bit of a reach.</p>

5

<p>Okay, that's more along the lines of what I was originally thinking. The problem with winning anything substantial with the fencing team is that nobody else is really very good or puts much effort in, at least for the guys team. There's only so much I can do to make people who aren't motivated good.</p>

<p>I am going to tournament pretty frequently now. I'm hoping to get ranked by the USFA soon (which isn't a huge accomplishment fencing-wise, but it still sounds good).</p>

<p>As for making one my ECs more in depth... could you elaborate a bit on how I could do that? Thanks! :)</p>

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<p>Also if someone could let me know if my Yale "connections" are helpful, that'd be great!</p>

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<p>Anybody else? I appreciate the people who have already replied, I'd just like to get a couple more comments as well :).</p>

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<p>Anybody? I'd really appreciate another few replies. Thanks!</p>

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<p>Bumping. Wow stuff gets off the front page fast here.</p>

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<p>Okay, here are my midterm grades. These don't get reported to colleges:</p>

<p>A, A-, A-, B, B. Both the B's are disappointing, and I think I can raise them both to B+'s by the end of the year. If I calculate this as a GPA, that's 3.68 UW and 3.88 W. How does this change/affect my chances?</p>

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<p>Well....ur school might be well known by colleges, and know the grading procedures. they also look at ur grading policies, so they might know that ur school grade harder than all other high schools. so they might let u off with some of the Bs, though they prefer u to have A's.</p>

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<p>Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Thanks for the reply.</p>

<p>Anyone else?</p>

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<p>i think your debating and intention to work on the campaign will be your strongest points. try to get something really meaningful out of the experience, and reflect on it on one of your essays and talk about how only (blank school) can give you the tools to pursue the dreams. you won't get into H on raw marks with the 3.7 etc, you need to show that you are passionate. i think you can do it, and have a pretty good chance. fyi don't get discouraged by CC, don't you notice how over 1/3 of the people appling to HYP end up accepted when the real admit figures are >10%. you are among the elite (crazy?) here</p>

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<p>Hey dlesk, thanks for the reply! (And thanks for the reassurance about CC!)</p>

<p>I've also decided on what the club I am starting is going to be: a McCain fundraising organization. Not only does that fit perfectly with the narrative I am trying to convey in my application, but it's also something that I'd like to do regardless of college. I've talked to a bunch of people, and quite a few seem interested. Looks like I can get something serious going!</p>

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<p>Daily bump.</p>

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<p>Also, I think your dad will be able to give you a more honest answer about the impact of his "connections" at Yale than any of us can.</p>

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<p>Well, I didn't really mean it like that. I meant, do you guys think his having been a graduate student helps me legacy-wise? He didn't know the answer when I asked him.</p>

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<p>Bump bump bump.</p>

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<p>Bumpitty bump bump.</p>

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<p>Bump. Anybody?</p>