Chances...Amherst, UChicago, etc

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>South Asian Female from Arizona. <em>I just want to be realistic about what's going to be happening three weeks down the road</em></p>

<p>Chances at: UChicago, Vassar, Duke, UPenn, Amherst, WashU, Swarthmore</p>

<p>STATS:
GPA: 3.98 UW
Rank: 43/625 (cringeworthy, but still in the top 7%...more on this later)
ACT: 32</p>

<p>I took a pretty rigorous courseload, but not the most rigorous possible, mainly because I took journalism (an unweighted grade at my school) for four years. That's my passion - it's pretty much what I've dedicated my entire high school life to. I've taken mostly honors and AP courses and the hardest English, history, and science courses available at my school. </p>

<p><em>RANK</em>* It's not good at all, but had I wanted to be in the top three percent, I would have had to give up journalism completely. I didn't, and I have no regrets there. Journalism is the only reason I'm not in the top 3-4% of my class. This is explained in detail in my counselor's letter. My philosophy was to really do what I loved in high school (Aka: take AP Human Geography instead of AP Calculus because I want to major in that area)</p>

<p>EC's</p>

<p>Journalism:
Co-Editor-in-Chief for our newspaper (a nationally-recognized high school newspaper w/ national awards)</p>

<p>Opinions Editor (junior year)</p>

<p>Staff Writer (Freshman and soph years)</p>

<p>Executive Editor of The Oxford Visitor, the big summer magazine at Oxford University (summer program where I majored in journalism)</p>

<p>Other stuff:
*NHS - 2 years
*Vice President of French Club - 3 years
*Secretary of Film Club - 2 years
*Youth in Government member - 3 years
..These Extra Curriculars were more for fun...I loved all of them, but they only took up a few hours a week...by junior year, I picked only a few activities so I could remain committed to them. Most of my time was spent editing the newspaper in the journalism room :-) Journalism takes up so much time,(15-18 hours a week) that I had to give up most of the superfluous EC's. </p>

<p>Community Service: I have volunteered for hours every week for 3 years at All Star Kids tutoring, an organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of illiteracy and poverty by teaching unprivileged students how to read. </p>

<p>Music: Alto sax, 8 years...play a lot of jazz. </p>

<p>Awards/Recognition/Honors:</p>

<p>*National Merit Finalist</p>

<p>*Tempe Top Teen- Recognized by my administrators and my city for exemplary academics, committment to EC's, and a "social conscience." In this case, I was nominated for my work in high school journalism. </p>

<p>Journalism Education Association (JEA) 2005 National Write-Off Competition, Editorial/Opinion Writing – Superior (highest honor)</p>

<p>Journalism Education Association (JEA) 2006 National Write-Off Competition, Newswriting – Excellent </p>

<p>JEA 2006 National Best of Show Competition, 5th place for the Sunrise newspaper,for which I serve as editor. </p>

<p>Published a piece in the Arizona Republic on experiences traveling in India (2003)</p>

<p>Arizona Interscholastic Press Association (AIPA) Fall 2006 Newspaper Contest, Column Writing – Superior (highest honor)</p>

<p>AIPA Fall 2006 Newspaper Contest, Team In-Depth Reporting – Excellent </p>

<p>Los Angeles Heritage Festival, jazz band competition – Gold medal </p>

<p>Academic Letter/Principal’s Award (2003-2005)</p>

<p>Honors Geometry Student of the Month (2003) ;-)</p>

<p>Teacher and Counselor recs: Glowing…I was really touched. They also mentioned significant health problems I had to overcome. </p>

<p>My school sent two kids EA to Harvard this year…last year some acceptances to Penn, Duke, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, Yale, and Princeton</p>

<p>Chances????</p>

2

<p>Other than Vassar, you're aiming too high. Your rank just won't do it at most of those schools especially coupled with not the most rigorous course load.</p>

3

<p>Really? I heard that top 10% was what really mattered, and I'm in the top 7%. And my UPenn interviewer said she really liked that I did what I loved...but I needed the feedback, and thanks for being honest :)</p>

4

<p>I actually disagree with suze. I think that if u really show that u r passionate 'bout something (journalism is ur case) then, the rank isn't as important. But then again, only my interpretation. I think that you have a good chance @ Vassar, Amherst, WashU, Swarthmore. Duke, UChicago, and UPenn, I would say are stretches, but then again they are stretches for anyone that applies really. Anyways, good luck!</p>

5

<p>First, if you look at the top school's stats, if your high school is not super competitive (think exeter, tj) it's about being val or sal.</p>

<p>As for the intervies, great if you were interviewed by the dean of ad, if it was an alum it's meaningless.</p>

6

<p>Wait, your GPA is near perfect, your ACT is high and your rank is respectable. Plus you have a very wide variety of ECs. I'd say you have a very good shot at all of them. I got into UChicago with far lower stats.</p>

7

<p>According to Princeton Review, U Chicago does not have a journalism program. They might not see you as a good fit.</p>

8

<p>u kids need to get ur faces out of the common data sets and into the real world. i have no idea why every1 is denigrating his stats, it is EXPLAINED he would have been in the top 3% had he not been in love with journalism, and if he was top 3% all of u would say, uhh slight reaches decent chances, without realizing its what u show passion for that gets u into a top school, sure valedictorians with 1500s have great chances without doing much, but kids like him have niches in schools bc the real earners in the real world are specialists, not generalists who took 20 ap classes, i got into unc out of state from va nonetheless being 39 out of 457 with a 2260 but a 3.59 unweighted gpa=likely letter from a semicompetitive school and im ORM with passions and explanations just like his. thats just as competitive as many as these. good luck nad im sure ul get plenty of acceptances</p>

9

<p>bump :-)
Thanks for all the feedback, all of you. It is deeply appreciated. And GreennBlue, I don't want to major in journalism at all. From what I've noticed, the best journalists major in something more broad, like political science, international relations, and public policy. That's why I'm applying to these schools..they all have great programs for what I want to do - public policy or polisci.</p>

10

<p>Common data sets tell THE facts. If top schools buy the story of everyone who would have been in the top 3% except......They only have so much time to read an app. If you go to an average high school and you're not at the top of the class, your ACT is averager for the school (the hooked bring down the average, the unhooked have high scores), and no amazing EC, they stop reading.</p>

<p>Note that most people who say you have a good shot damn the common data set, also will not get in according to the CDSs.</p>

11

<p>obvious disagreement. and ur right to say most people who dont fall in the common data sets doubt them, but then in consequence most people who fall in the common data sets use them as the reason they should get in and a reason for why they should have when they didnt. there's two sides to a coin, and it follows then that the student did not get in because of his/her EC's/essays/etc, im not trying to give false hope, but ur chances r biased every bit as much as mine bc grades and scores are only half the process, and most of getting into college is if a school likes what they see in an application and a given counselor likes what they see at a given time. i say ur in at atleast 2 of those schools at the least and probably 3. to suze, we'll just have to agree to disagree and see what happens when she gets her results, and please realize probabilities derived by sat scores and rank dont take into account the other 30-50% of the process bc they're qualitative.</p>

12

<p>bumpety bump</p>

13

<p>I don't see why she shouldn't get into these schools even though her rank is low she still has a 3.98 uw gpa i mean you can't do much better than that</p>

14

<p>"Other than Vassar, you're aiming too high. Your rank just won't do it at most of those schools especially coupled with not the most rigorous course load."</p>

<p>i thought this was a really stupid comment</p>

<p>i think u have a great chance at all but duke and upenn, which u could still get accepted to.</p>

<p>so the only actual reaches are duke and upenn, but there not way out of reach</p>

<p>why dont u try northwestern, since they have great journalism</p>

15

<p>Suze as usual is correct. Asian candidatr, mediocre ACT and no special ECs, all but Vassar are a reach.</p>

16

<p>I actually don't think my EC's are "not special" at all, bobby100. I've been pretty committed to them. What would you consider a "special" EC? There are people who have gotten into UofC and Swat who HAVEN'T found a cure for cancer. I always knew that Duke and Penn were super, super reach. And my ACT wasn't great, but it was in the 99th percentile...so that's a little more than mediocre, I think.
But I like Vassar, so...maybe it won't be so bad :)</p>

17

<p>I meant mediocre and average for applicants of top schools. Which they are.</p>

18

<p>i would say upenn, swarthmore, amherst, and duke are reaches for almost all applicants (they all have acceptance rates below 20%)...not to discourage you. i think you have a great shot at all of your schools. you have pretty impressive stats (your rank isn't really as bad as people are making it out to be) and your love for journalism should stand out.</p>