Chances 2006

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello...I would appreciate any feedback as to where I stand with the following schools (not that I'll be applying to all of them) and how I am doing in general. Thanks you for your comments!</p>

<p>Schools:</p>

<p>Georgetown
NYU
UVA
UChicago
Reed
Middlebury
Williams
Tufts
Columbia
Vanderbilt
Boston College
Davidson</p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>Bkgd: Senior - Catholic All Boys School Outside New Orleans</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 uw/4.53 w
Rank: 1st/145ish
SAT I: M:780 CR:730 W:800
ACT: (as a sophomore) 33
APs: Lit:5 CalcAB:5 USHist:5</p>

<p>I will be taking 6-7 more AP tests this year, and I have taken the most difficult courseload available at my school...I have taken four years of French, then I ran out of French classes to take so now I'm in Spanish III.</p>

<p>EC's:</p>

<p>Big Brother Program – Years III, IV – Head Big Brother
Student Hosts (Student Public Relations/ Service Org.) – All Years – Captain
Varsity Quiz Bowl – All Years - Captain
National Honor Society – Years II, III, IV – President
Mu Alpha Theta – Years II, III, IV – President / Regional Governor
Drama - All Years – Cast, Lighting Director, Backstage Crew
Young Lawyers – Year III - Attorney
Newspaper – Year III – Staff/Editor</p>

<p>Piano - Seven Cum. Years - National Guild Superior
Weird Talent - I am an excellent cook, though I have nothing but my own food to prove it...</p>

<p>Internship - Campaign/Constituent Work in my Rep.'s office
Summer Camp Counselor - Freshman and Sophomore Years...
100+ Service Hours per Year...
French Immersion Program at the University of Liege on Scholarship (2006)</p>

<p>Quite a few awards (not to be conceited) for Writing, Math, Science Fairs, State Academic Competitions, etc, but I won't bore anyone with that mess...</p>

<p>Again, thanks for the feedback!</p>

2

<p>I am most familiar with Reed (where our daughter attends); from what you've posted, I think your chances are very good there, but Reed values fit, and your essays would weigh heavily. With your background, you should begin choosing which schools you like best, based on your interests. Schools like Columbia are a reach for most everyone, but I think your chances would be good at most of them.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the advice...so I should develop a specific interest at Reed, and my essays will weigh heavily?</p>

4

<p>I actually meant it the other way around: Find out all you can about various schools to see which interest you; start with their web sites, and read all you can stand or have time for. Essays weigh heavily at many schools; some publish their Common Data Set (meant to enable an apples-to-apples comparison of various data points) which includes the most important admissions factors; e.g., Reed's is at <a href="http://web.reed.edu/ir/cds/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.reed.edu/ir/cds/index.html&lt;/a> (click on "First-time, First-year (Freshman) Admission" to see relative importance of admissions factors, section C7).</p>

<p>Each school has its own personality and strengths; the trick is finding the ones which best match you. Publications which may help are Barron's, the Fiske Guide to Colleges, Peterson's, Colleges that Change Lives, Newsweek's College Guide, and the College Board's College Handbook.</p>

5

<p>Okay, thanks for the clarification!</p>