Chances at a couple Universities

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey all, thanks for your consideration. Could you chance me at Yale, Princeton, Amherst, Cornell, Dartmouth, University of Chicago, UC Berkeley, and UCLA?</p>

<p>Caucasian Male from Southern California</p>

<p>Test Scores:
34 ACT Composite(R:36,S:36,M:32,E:32,W:8). SATII(Biology:750, US History:730)
AP's:Literature(5), US History(4), US Government(4), Comparative Government(3), Biology(4), German(3)
IB's: Pending. Taking six this year.</p>

<p>Public High School
G.P.A 3.5 Unweighted. 4.5 Weighted
Rank 35/745 in class
Full I.B. Diploma Candidate</p>

<p>Junior Year Courses:
Pre Calculus, AP US Gov, AP Comp Gov, AP Bio, AP US History, AP Literature, German 4 AP</p>

<p>Senior Year Courses:
IB Bio, IB Math SL, IB German SL, IB English, IB History of Americas, Ceramics (Fill an art requirement), Economics (School Requirement), Health (School Requirement), Honors International Relations.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
1)500 Hours at Local Little League. I became a member of the board of directors last year, coordinating field maintenance, and the respective workers, for the entire league.
2)35 Hours a week filming football games and practices. I worked forty weeks a year here. I worked monday through friday (game day), staying at school till 7. On Fridays, I stayed at school till 2 A.M. I woke up on Saturday to continue working for the team. I did this for two years. Before that, I played for two years.
3)Four Years of MUN. Multiple awards won at different conferences. Elected to Upper Secretariat as Director General of Technology.
4)Created the Airsoft Club at my school. Elected to Vice President.
5)Four years in German Club. Elected to Vice President.
6)Created the Society for Appreciation of Literature. Elected to Vice President.
7)Member of Young Democrats Club for three years.
8)Poetry published in school literary magazine. Member of English Club, three years.
9)Played Rugby for three years. Team Captain
10)Presbyterian Youth Group for three years. Youth leader.
11)Green Belt in Jiu Jitsu</p>

<p>Work History:
1)4 Years working as Shipping and Handling Process Manager for Engineering firm.
2)2 Years working as freelance technology consultant.</p>

<p>Awards:
AP Scholar with Honors
Excellence in German Language
Three Best Delegate Awards
Three Research Awards
Honor Roll all four years.</p>

<p>Essay:Personal Statement is about baseball and how, behind the trivial veneer, it produces lessons of courage and perseverance. One story about my fear of the ball, and how I got over it. The other is about how I wasn't a good enough baseball player to continue playing. Thus, I tried a new way to participate through field maintenance(one of my EC's). It proved to be a successful venture. People who read the essay felt it was witty and representative of myself.</p>

<p>Recommendations:
AP Literature Teacher and AP German Teacher. My lit teacher is essentially a friend, and said she would write a very strong letter. My German teacher said I was one of the best students she has ever had, so I would assume her letter is fairly strong.
I also have an additional letter of recommendation from my football coach. In it he states how much I worked, my passion, and how I am the best film manager he has ever had. He has called several of the schools on this list in an attempt to help get me in through athletics. I included the letter of rec with all of these applications.</p>

<p>Thanks again</p>

2

<p>Great stats, but your GPA is definitely low for a lot of these schools.</p>

<p>Yale - high reach
Princeton - high reach
Amherst - reach
Cornell - reach
Dartmouth - reach
University of Chicago - reach
UC Berkeley - low reach
UCLA - match</p>

<p>Chance Me Please: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1063724-chance-me-please-ill-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1063724-chance-me-please-ill-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Thank you. I know my G.P.A. is considerably low, but does my G.P.A. or my rank hold greater weight? I just barely hit top 5% with my rank right now. My school is rather competitive in terms of public schools in the region. I would say it is one of the top public schools in the Orange County area.</p>

4

<p>well if you’re in top 5% then it’ll show colleges that your school is tough, but I would recommend trying to pull up your GPA this year just to be safe.</p>

5

<p>Good list of schools might want to look at a school like Holy Cross(don’t have to be religious) very good liberal arts school with athletic programs. HC has nice campus 1 hour from Boston and has strong alumni network. Holy Cross is easier to get into than Dartmouth but plays them in most sports as a member of the Patriot League.</p>

6

<p>^I chuckled when you said “Holy Cross (don’t have to be religious)”</p>

<p>UCLA and UCB are both high matches. Everything else is pretty much a reach but your ACT and rank definitely do help. However, as stated your GPA is a bit low… Great ECs too. Chance me?? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1057649-wheel-chance-what-goes-around-comes-around.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1057649-wheel-chance-what-goes-around-comes-around.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>I’m hoping these are just your reaches and you’ve applied mote widely. At the private schools rank is king, the UCs appear to look at UC GPA without that context unfortunately.</p>

<p>I think you have a strong shot at the UCs as long as your UC GPA is above 4.2.</p>

<p>Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth will be very tough. Amherst will also be tough but more possible. For Cornell it matters what school you applied to, some are much tougher than others. Chicago? Who knows!</p>

8

<p>Update: Could you also chance me at Carleton College?
G.P.A. update: I have done really well my senior year first semester. I don’t know if this factors heavily into admissions now, but I now have an unweighted G.P.A. of 3.85 and a weighted G.P.A. of 4.8. In totality, it has moved me to a rank of 19/735 in my class.</p>

<p>I am currently taking 9 classes and six are I.B. level.</p>

9

<p>Bump. I will chance back.</p>

10

<p>Bump to the top.</p>

11

<p>You have high test scores and several good ECs plus your work experience is unique. You’ve been working for 4 years, so you must have been working since 8th or 9th grade right? That’s pretty rare, at least where I come from. Your ECs are pretty diverse too. </p>

<p>Yale - high reach
Princeton - high reach
Amherst - low reach
Cornell - reach
Dartmouth - reach
University of Chicago - reach
UC Berkeley - reach
UCLA - low reach
Carleton- low reach</p>

<p>Chance Back: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1081630-chance-unusual-student-top-colleges.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1081630-chance-unusual-student-top-colleges.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Thanks!</p>

12

<p>Thank you much. I just chanced you back.</p>

13

<p>Bump. To the top.</p>

14

<p>Your only issue is the gpa which is low have a safety chance me back. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1082453-chance-me-universitys.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1082453-chance-me-universitys.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

15

<p>As others have mentioned, your GPA (mentioned in the OP) is the weak point in your application and your APs don’t do much to help you (i.e. suggest grade deflation). However, you have an above average SoS, good enough scores, and your ECs are relatively unique and seem to convey the “passion” that we so often hear about.</p>

<p>(Side note: how did your UW GPA jump from 3.5 to 3.85 after half of your senior year? That doesn’t seem mathematically possible.)</p>

<p>Yale - universal high reach
Princeton - universal high reach
Amherst - mid/high reach
Cornell - mid reach
Dartmouth - mid/high reach
University of Chicago - mid/high reach
UC Berkeley - low reach
UCLA - match
Carleton- low reach</p>

<p>I’d guess you’d get into 1+ UC and 1+ of the others.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1081372-chances-top-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1081372-chances-top-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

16

<p>Thank you. Any other thoughts? P.S. The reason my G.P.A shot to a 3.8 is because I recalculated my initial. In the new calculation, I left out my freshman year because I have been told that those terms are not considered by universities. Since those were my worst grades, my G.P.A. shot to a 3.8 unweighted and a 4.7 weighted.</p>

17

<p>Leave out the Airsoft club.
May make some schools nervous.</p>

18

<p>I only included it at schools which I had deemed friendly to the hobby. Amherst’s rugby team actually plays airsoft in their spare time. It fits perfectly there.</p>

19

<p>Bump. To the top.</p>

20

<p>Bump up. Again.</p>