Chances 2011

Colleges and Universities A-Z Colby College
1

<p>I just wanted to know what some current Colby undergrads thought my chances were on getting in:</p>

<p>General info:
White male. Middle Class from New Jersey.</p>

<p>Extremely Competetive Public Magnet High School. Actually just named a "Public Elite" by Newsweek (only like 20 schools got that award).</p>

<p>Freshman year:
GPA 3.779
Honors Biology
Honors Intro Chem
Honors Alg II & Trig
Honors Amer. History
Honors Amer. Lit I
Honors Spanish II
Geometry
Medical Science Seminar
Nutrition</p>

<p>Sophomor Year (no AP's offered):
GPA 3.801
Honors Chemistry
Honors Intro Physics
Honors Adv. Analysis I (Pre-Calc)
Honors World History I
Honors Amer. Lit II
Honors Spanish III
Molecular Biology I & II
Organic Chem I</p>

<p>Junior Year:
Should finish with another 3.8_ GPA
Honors Anatomy and Physiology
Honors Inter. Physics
Honors World Literature I
Honors Spanish IV
Honors Latin I
Honors Adv. Analysis II (Pre-Calc II)
IB History
Zoology</p>

<p>Senior Year:
Courses I will be taking:
AP Bio
AP Calculus AB
AP Chem
IB History (2 Year course)
IB Enviromental Living Systems
Honors World Lit II
Honors Spanish V
Honors Latin II
Molecular Biology IV & V
Bioethics</p>

<p>Overall GPA ~3.8
Class Rank: School does NOT rank.</p>

<p>Test Scores:
SAT V: 670
SAT M: 760
SAT W: 660
I am retaking them. My PSAT Writing was a 760, and I should be able to get at least a 760 in writing on the SAT.</p>

<p>SAT II:
Am taking SAT IIC Math
SAT II Bio/M</p>

<p>EC's:
Model United Nations 9-12 (possible Sec-Gen of next year's conference (will find out soon))
Debate Team 10-JV, 11 & 12 Varsity (possible Captain (will find out soon)
National History Day 10, 11, 12
Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) 11, 12
400 Hours of Volunteer work at Local Boy's and Girl's Club
National Honors Society 11-12
Volleyball 9 & 10 JV, 11 & 12 Varsity (Captain Next Year)
2 Medical Summer Programs
Senior Year Internship (most likely at Plastic Surgeon's office)</p>

<p>Awards and Recognition:
Various Model UN Awards at Conferences (e.g. MIT, GWU)
5th Place JV Debate Team in County
National Merit Commended Student (possible Semi-Finalist)
Local Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year
Possible NJ Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year
2nd place Senior Group Documentary at NJ History Day
Top 14 in Nation Senior Group Documentary at National History Day
3rd Place Biomedical Debate at NJ HOSA competition
Dean's List every trimester in school</p>

<p>I just want to know if I have a decent chance of getting in?
Also, what do you think I need to improve upon?</p>

2

<p>you have good chance. but if you want to make the acceptance for sure, you'd need at least 2100 on the SATs</p>

3

<p>i'd say you'll get in</p>

4

<p>you've got a great chance =)</p>

5

<p>Can your family afford for you to apply ED because that might help. My son applied RD and was waitlisted with slightly better stats, great ECs (including Eagle Scout, sports, music). He showed a lot of interest - visited, interviewed, and they were one of the schools he indicated for National Merit. We live in New England so a lot of kids from our town apply to Colby. Good luck to you and I hope you are successful.</p>

6

<p>palermo,
I don't get that about applying ED. How can it be more expensive? Does it have something to do with financial aid, or is it just it costs more to apply ED?</p>

<p>I think you have a good shot at getting in. I can't really say more, sorry.</p>

7

<p>Word on the street is that if you apply ED, you are less likely to get a decent fin aid package. But tI don't hasve any evidence of such.</p>

<p>I got in RD last year and my stats were:
SATI: 1420 (740V, 680 M)
ACT: 30</p>

<p>World Hist: 3
Us Hist: scored a 4
Bio: 4 (not taken at the time</p>

<p>Stellar interview and essays</p>

<p>SATII:
Writing 650
Chem 680
US His 660
Bio 640</p>

<p>Challenging Course load, taking two courses offered from Communnity college (College Economics: 94 avg so far; and College Government- 100)</p>

<p>Ranked: 27/468 at a public school
Weighted GPA: 94.39 = 3.94?</p>

<p>Perfect Score on Math BII (it's a New York thing) regents exam
Scored a 97/100 on English Language Arts NYS Exam</p>

<p>EC:
Scholastic:
New York State Merit Scholarship (awarded to top three exam scorers in my class)</p>

<p>· National Honor Society
· National Junior Honor Society
· Vice- President of Junior Class
· High Honor Role (Junior year)
· Honor Roll (Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior years)
· Professional Horizons Program- a mentorship program at Rome Memorial Hospital; formerly The Regional Program for Excellence (Senior year)
· Scholar Athlete (Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior years)
· Student Association (Junior and Senior years)</p>

<p>Sports:
· Woods Valley Ski Team (Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior years)
· Qualified for, and participated in, varsity Skiing in 8th grade (earned varsity letter)
· Varsity Track (Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior years and plan to participate during Senior year)
· Varsity Cross-Country (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years)
· Co-Captain of Varsity Cross-Country (Junior and Senior year)
· Participated in Sectionals for Cross-Country (Sophomore and Junior years)
· First alternate for Varsity Cross-Country Sectionals (Senior year)
· Varsity Swimming (Sophomore and Senior years)
· Most Improved Swimmer- Varsity Swimming (Sophomore year)
· Participated in Sectionals for Varsity Swimming (Sophomore year)</p>

<p>Community Service:
· 30-Hour Famine Participant (Freshman and Junior years)
· Raised money for the Heart Run and Walk (Junior year)
· Raised money for and participated in the Relay for Life (Junior year)
· Card games with senior citizens at The Bethany House nursing home (Senior year)
· Raised funds for the Ronald McDonald House charity (Senior year)
· Raised money for the Crop Walk (Senior Year)
· Volunteered at school blood drive- Oct. 8, 2004 (Senior year)
· Christmas caroling to invalids, hospitals, and nursing homes with church (Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior years)
· Helped with National Honor Society Induction (Senior year)
· Anonymously, and sometimes openly, shovel people’s sidewalks in the winter</p>

<p>Musical:
· Independent singing group: “The Primes” (Junior year)
· RFA Select Choir- one out of only four basses in my school that were selected (Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years)
· RFA Musical (Sophomore and Junior years)
· Perfect score at NYSSMA with the RFA Select Choir (Sophomore and Junior years)
· A score of 97/100 on Level 6 (most difficult) Bass II NYSSMA singing solo (Junior year)
· Selected as an alternate for Mixed Chorus All-State (Senior year)
· Area All-State Choir (Senior year)
· Selected as a Bass in local Area All-State (Senior year)</p>

<p>Religious:
· Steubenville Christian Youth Conference, Steubenville, Ohio (summers of ’03 and ‘04)
· Involved in “Life Teen” Christian youth group (Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years)
· Involved with American Baptist Youth group (Freshman year)
· Member of Team Possible- a Christian youth leadership group (Senior year)
· Confirmation Team- a group that helps with Confirmation classes (Senior year)
· Helped with Confirmation retreat at Saint Matthew’s in Syracuse (Junior and Senior years)</p>

<p>Clubs:
· BSI Club- student communications (Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years)
· Key Club (Senior year)</p>

8

<p>Just as a quick update and for a little more input, I just got my new SAT scores. Any more comments on chances with these scores?</p>

<p>V: 740
M: 760
W: 730
Total: 2230</p>

9

<p>Congratulations - those are great scores. Out of curiosity, did you take a prep course or do additional studying. My daughter had almost identical scores to your original scores her first time and will be retaking in October and any hints would be helpful.</p>

10

<p>Well I took a prep course before I took them in April when I got my lower scores. In June I didn't do much else to prepare, I just took 2 additional practice tests (I was in the surgical waiting area for like 6 hours waiting for my mom to get out of surgery the day before the test, so I had plenty of time to spare). Additionally, seeing that I already had a 760 in math, I think that I focused more on the Verbal and Writing Section during the test. And I definetely did better on the essay, I just liked the topic more. Hope this helps.</p>