<p>Chance me?
About me: I'm an African American female, senior living in South Carolina. I'm the 6th child out of seven in my family. My mom is a single parent, my dad is not a citizen of the US anymore; he lives in his native Jamaica.
ECs</p>
<p>+Band- since fifth grade. At first Trumpet (5th through 8th grade) now Euphonium/Baritone (9th-12th grade). I'm in Marching band (July-October), Wind Ensemble, and jazz band. I'm the captain of the brass section aka Brass Captain.</p>
<p>+Student Council- Since 10th grade. I was Junior class president. I lost the election for Student Body President this year.</p>
<p>+Yearbook- since 10th grade. I'm the editor in chief. My school's yearbook is featured in Josten's Lookbook which is a collection of outstanding yearbooks and yearbook designs. Editor for my junior and senior year.</p>
<p>+Academic Bowl/Quiz Bowl- since 9th grade. Going to be captain of the varsity team this year. 9-12</p>
<p>+Interact- (Community Service) My first year doing this, not many hours. 11-12. I've volunteered at the Charleston Miracle League which is a baseball club for kids who are mentally challenged. </p>
<p>I have had a job for two years, I recently lost my job because the business closed down permanently.
I also write for my city paper here in Charleston, The Post and Courier. I'm paid for this.</p>
<p>As for grades...
GPA is a 3.6. I'm ranked 49 out of 321
I'm not submitting any SAT/ACT scores.
I took the SAT II US History and my score was 640.
I have taken 6 APs about 10 honors courses.
I also did alumna interviews for both colleges, I feel they went very well. The Smith interview lasted about 2 hours and Holyoke's lasted about 90 minutes.</p>
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<li>I would love to continue as a musician whether it is through a concert band, marching band, or a small ensemble.</li>
</ul>
<p>Urgh, chance threads are pretty hard unless someone is waay over qualified or waaay under qualified, so I’m afraid I can’t give you any for sure advice. </p>
<p>I would say you’re definitely in the running. At 3.6 you’re not a lock, but you’re not out of it either. I notice that puts you in the top 15% of your class, and where you fall relative to the rest of your class generally makes a bigger difference than exact numbers of your GPA. You have a lot of leadership positions, which is obviously a plus. As is the writing you do for your city paper, not many high school students get paid to write for local papers. The shortage of community service hours shouldn’t be a problem, considering your EC’s and the fact that you had a job. It’s good that you’re making the effort now, especially if the volunteer work you’re doing really interests you. </p>
<p>I’m shocked that your interviews lasted so long. Especially the Smith one…2 hours! Interviews at Smith usually don’t last more than 30-45 min! Hopefully you were able to share a lot of good info with the alum who can add that to your file. Interviews (at least at Smith), since they are optional, are not heavily weighted usually as part of the process, but any additional info you can provide to fill out who you are and what you’re interested in and why you want to go to School X is considered and can give you an extra boost. </p>
<p>One thing to consider though, is that neither Smith nor Mt. Holyoke have marching bands. And Smith’s jazz ensemble is not especially strong, in fact I would consider it by far the weakest of all the musical programs on campus. Smith has a really really great orchestra though and some strong student wind ensemble groups if you’re into classical music, but if you’re looking for a school with a strong jazz program or even a “band” program (where you do music other than strictly classical composers) you’ll want to keep researching.</p>
<p>S&P, I’m not really interested in participating in a college marching band since they don’t compete but I want to participate in the wind ensemble.</p>
<p>About neither Smith nor Mount Holyoke having marching bands… during my Smith interview the AdCom mentioned two Smithies who participated in UMass’ marching band. She said that you couldn’t do it your first year, but nonetheless I was absolutely ecstatic. =)</p>
<p>I currently play Piccolo in marching band, though I wouldn’t mind switching back to Flute. Outside of MB I play Bari Sax in Wind Ensemble, and I started out in 4th grade on Clarinet.</p>
<p>You sound like you have a pretty good chance! One of the great things about Smith/MoHo is that they look at your overall performance as a student but also very much who you are as a person! </p>
<p>Smithies in UMass Marching Band - I heard about that too and am interested in playing in their marching band (Piccolo/Flute player here, too!)</p>
<p>I’m excited that there are potential Smithies interested in UMass’ MB. I honestly thought I was the only one, as Smith doesn’t seem to promote it. =)</p>
<p>Wait what?? You can’t be in the UMASS band your first year at Smith/Moho?? WHY? One of the reasons I like Smith and MHC so much is the opportunity to be in a women’s college AND awesome marching band. :(</p>