Chance? (Rising Senior)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
1

<p>~ Other schools I'm applying to are UVA, William and Mary, George Mason University, Emory (possibly?) and Duke</p>

<p>GPA: UW-4.0, W-4.348
SATs: Re-Taking in October...
SAT IIs: Signed up for Bio-M/Math Level I in Nov.
ACT: 29 (Re-Taking in September...)
Sex: Female/African American
State: Virginia</p>

<p>8th:
Algebra I (A)
Spanish I (A)</p>

<p>9th:
IBMYP English 9 (A)
IBMYP Biology (A)
IBMYP Geometry (A)
IBMYP World History (A)
IBMYP Spanish II (A)
IBMYP P.E. (A)
Chorus (A)</p>

<p>10th:
IBMYP Chemistry (A)
IBMYP English 10 (A)
IBMYP Spanish III (A)
IBMYP AlgII/Trig (A)
IBMYP P.E. (A)
AP Government (A)
Chorus (A)</p>

<p>11th grade:
IB History I – HL (A)
IB English I – HL (A)
IB Biology I – HL (A)
IB Math Methods I –HL (A)
IB Spanish IV – SL (A)
IB Environmental Systems (A)
Digital Input Tech (A)</p>

<p>12th grade:
IB History II – HL
IB English II – HL
IB Biology II – HL
IB Math Methods II – SL
IB Spanish V – SL
IB Theory of Knowledge
Physics</p>

<hr>

<p>Extra Curricular:
- National Honor Society (11-12 Grade)
- Spanish Honor Society (10-12 Grade)
- Mu Alpha Theta (10-12 Grade)
- Science Honor Society (11-12 Grade)
- Key Club (9-12 Grade)
- Ecology Club (9-12 Grade)
- Tennis (10-12 Grade)
- Chorus (9-10 Grade)
* IB Diploma Candidate *</p>

<p>Leadership:
- Spanish Honor Society President (for Senior Year)
- Senior Class Treasurer
- Junior Class Treasurer
- Key Club Secretary
- Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Ambassador
- Sophomore Class Representative
- Freshmen Class Representative</p>

<p>Awards:
- Outstanding IB Biology I Student (Student of the Year Award)
- 2010 Alexander Hamilton Citizen Achievement Award Merit Winner
- Academic Letter
- International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program Certificate
- Outstanding IBMYP Spanish III Student (Student of the Year Award)
- Outstanding AP Government Student (Student of the Year Award)
- All County Chorus
- Principal’s Top 10 Student Award
- Perfect Attendance Award
- Outstanding Performance in IBMYP Geometry
- County Award for Exemplary Achievement in the Arts
- 3rd Place in School Science Fair, Category: Biochemistry
- Principal's Honor Roll (All 3 Years so far)</p>

<p>Community Leadership Positions and Activities:
- Co-Founder: Local Elementary School P.E.P. Program (teaching/babysitting Latin American students, communicating with parents, etc.) (10-12 Grade)
- Volunteer, Hospital Junior Volunteer Program (10-12 Grade)
- Team Captain (11th Grade), Recreational Basketball (7-12 Grade)
- Member, College Early Identification Program (for First Gen. College Kids) (7-12 Grade)
- Volunteer, American Red Cross Youth Corps (10-12 Grade)
- Church Nursery Volunteer, Church (9-12 Grade)
- Member, Church Youth Group (9-12 Grade)
- Tutor, Middle School Spanish Club (9-12 Grade)</p>

<p>Programs/Research/Volunteer:
- 2010 Virginia Girl's State
- Internship in Biochemistry at Local University (8 weeks, 40 hours a week, program modeled after NIH)
- 200+ Community Service Hours for IB Program
- Pre-IB Personal Project (Exploration of Careers in Medicine: Including shadowing different medical professions, learning terms, hospital experience, etc.)
- 2010 CDC Disease Detective Camp (Will Attend)</p>

2

<p>Guessing you’re a bad test taker? Everything else looks good, and all colleges recognize that not everyone does well on standardized testing. I’d retake the ACT and/or SATs twice more, and see if you can get some improvements.</p>

3

<p>^Ditto.</p>

<p>Also, what part of Virginia do you live in? Probably won’t be a factor at WashU, but definitely will be for UVa - if you’re anywhere but nova, you’re pretty much in. If nova, then tests will be a hurting factor.</p>

4

<p>^ Well “lucky” for me I’m in NOVA…:/. Why is that a bad thing though?</p>

5

<p>I don’t mean to be offensive, but let’s be honest here…you’re black. You’re in. Your ACT is low but OK considering your 4.0 (congrats on that, nice work) and extracurriculars.</p>

<p>EDIT: I did HOBY too and hated it, what did you think?</p>

6

<p>I’m going to retake the ACT don’t worry…anyways, I liked HOBY. To be honest, it was a little rough the first day doing annoying cheers because I was REALLY tired! But I thought it was fun…I actually wished it was longer. ;)</p>

7

<p>oh the joys of IB…anyways, you’re looking good, but you GPA (weighted) is kinda low, which is surpsing considering how many honors/AP/IB courses you’ve taken. Also, if you can boost your ACT to a 32+, you’ll have a really good chance. Just remember also to apply early, submit appls before Dec. 1 (for RD, not ED). </p>

<p>your awards and leaderships will carry far, there’s no doubt about that.</p>

8

<p>nova is not necessarily a “bad” thing. but UVa wants regional diversity and nova produces hundreds of the some of the best candidates in the state. if you had these stats and were say from, blacksburg, you would be a definite in. with nova, it’s more hard to say because your peers within a very small radius will have similar if not better ECs and higher stats. then again, you are african-american whereas some of these top-achievers are asian and white. all in all, you are definitely a competitive applicant but show through your essays something unique and true to yourself to set you apart from the many in your area with similar stats.</p>

9

<p>DarkKnight666, only IB classes are weighted not IBMYP…I don’t think a 4.348 is low…:/</p>

10

<p>but aren’t those honors courses? Shouldn’t they be weighted more too?</p>

<p>In my school, honors, AP, and IB are ALL weighted the SAME (yeah it sucks I know…:P)</p>

<p>but either way, yes a 4.4 is rather low for a weighted GPA. But your school has to notify your colleges of how their grading policy works so your seemingly low GPA won’t count against you.</p>

11

<p>No, for some reason they don’t weight Pre-IB courses…they don’t weight Pre-AP courses as well.</p>

12

<p>There are pre-AP courses too? oO First time I’ve heard of them.</p>

<p>Your GPA looks excellent, but you definitely need to improve on your standardized scores. When your SAT and ACTs come out, take the best one and send only that. If I were you, I would only concentrate on one of them since WashU only requires one.</p>

13

<p>You look like a very solid candidate whether you are a URM or not. To up your chances, be sure to apply for scholarships - it shows interest which is really important at Wash U. Plus the Ervin scholarship was initially for African American applicants and is still mostly awarded to African Americans. You would have a great shot at that scholarship, and it covers half or full tuition plus a $2,500 stipend.</p>