Chances at eccentric list of schools (Lots in Cal)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Out of State
White Male, Senior
Suburban Public School</p>

<p>UC GPA: 4.23
UW GPA: 3.93
W GPA: 4.11</p>

<p>Class Rank 18/509 (weighted), Top 4%</p>

<p>I have no interest in the IB Diploma, itself, but I took 4 full-year IB classes last year and am now taking 5. We have no AP or Honors courses.</p>

<p>SAT I: 760 CR 760 M 640 W 2160 Composite (only took once)
ACT: 34</p>

<p>I'm not sure which to submit. Help?</p>

<p>SAT IIs will be Chemistry, Math II, and US History. Assume I will do well, kay?</p>

<p>Academic Honors:</p>

<p>National Merit Semi-Finalist (shoo-in finalist)
Outstanding Junior Math Student </p>

<p>E.C.s (look at the time commitment here...no typos...)</p>

<p>Marching Band (9-12) - 20hrs/week, 12/weeks/yr</p>

<p>Drum and Bugle Corps (11-12), 80 hrs/week, 8 weeks/year</p>

<p>Winter Percussion (10-12), 20 hrs/week, 16 weeks/year</p>

<p>Ultimate Frisbee Team (10-12), 4 hrs/week, 36 weeks/year</p>

<p>Electric Band (10-12), 5 hrs/week, 10 weeks/year</p>

<p>Destination Imagination Improv Team (4-12), State Champions 2005, 2006, 2007
Private Music Lessons (Clarinet, Saxophone) (10-12)
Jazz Band (11-12)
Wind Ensemble (10-12)</p>

<p>Leadership Roles:</p>

<p>Head Drum Major for Marching Band (11-12)
Head Drum Major for Div II/III Finalist Drum and Bugle Corps (11-12)
Co-Founder, Captain for Ultimate Frisbee Team</p>

<p>I will probably enter a Business school or study Economics. I have absolutely no idea what I want in a career and am not devoted to any one major. I do plan to join a marching band if the school has one, and find myself pulled to USC for this reason...</p>

<p>Chances at:</p>

<p>UCB
USC
Stanford
Reed College
Notre Dame
MIT-Sloan
Princeton
Yale
UPenn-Wharton (Hahaha be honest with me)
I have some other safeties...dun worry 'bout 'em.</p>

<p>I really don't feel like filling out all those applications if I don't have a chance in hell, so... be honest, ey.</p>

2

<p>Don't bother with Stanford, unless it's one of your absolute top choices. Your chances of being accepted there are very slim, and unless you have a burning desire to go there, don't bother with it.</p>

<p>Same goes for Princeton. Their emphasis on academics alone is very strong, and that is not the best part of your application.</p>

<p>Submit that ACT, and not the SAT.</p>

3

<p>How can you possibly spend 80 hrs/week on one EC?</p>

4

<p>13 hour rehearsal days 7 days a week. We get a day off every other week or so.</p>

5

<p>Bump. Pleeease, people.</p>

6

<p>sinistercharity, I don't think there's anything wrong with his academic record. I'd say the "best" part of his application would be his dedication to band, but that doesn't mean his academics are weak.</p>

<p>I'd say, with killer essays, you've got good chances at all, but the level of competition at these schools make your chances hard to predict. On a whim, I'd say you'd be rejected at MIT simply due to lack of science/math ECs (they don't admit by majors) and you're a white male. You're in at USC, Reed and Notre Dame are probably a match/safe match. The rest, who knows.</p>

<p>Good luck :)</p>

7

<p>UCB (OOS)--50-50--really tough call (you are match at UCLA and UCSD)
USC--Match
Stanford--Slight Reach (chances are better here than for most people who apply, but the test scores look a little too weak for acceptance)
Reed College (Oregon)--Safe Match
Notre Dame (Indiana)--Match
MIT-Sloan--Reach
Princeton--Reach
Yale--Slight Reach (chances better here than at Princeton/MIT because of the focus on music))
UPenn-Wharton--well, I think you are Slight Reach if the SAT IIs are good</p>

8

<p>Stanford "strongly recommends" the SAT II's, but I have to take the December testing date, which is allowed, but obviously problematic. Will I be able to see scores online before they go out and stop potentially low scores from being sent?</p>

<p>I mean, I've always been a good tester and I'm confident I can do well, but I have to do a lot of study on my own to prepare for the tests and I want to consider the possibility I might do awful.</p>

9

<p>I never said that the OP's academics are weak. I simply stated that they are not up to par for Princeton, and that his passion music is a much bigger part of his application.</p>

10

<p>Thanks for the input!</p>

<p>Questions are left unanswered...bump!</p>

11

<p>Bumpity bump.</p>

12

<p>
[quote]
UC GPA: 4.23
UW GPA: 3.93
W GPA: 4.11

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I don't get how the W GPA is lower than the UC GPA. Perhaps it has something to do with a-g courses -- I dunno.</p>

13

<p>It's because I eliminate PE and Health for my UC GPA, which brings it up.</p>

14

<p>You're not supposed to use non-academic classes for any calculation of your GPA.</p>

15

<p>A GPA with non-academic classes is going out on my transcript whether I want it or not. School policy.</p>

16

<p>Yes, and the GPA that your transcript has largely doesn't matter. The school (with few exceptions) recalculates your GPA based on their standards -- and general standards dictate that you do not include non-academic classes.</p>

17

<p>I still don't understand how you can spend 13 hours a day 7 days a week on 1 EC during the school year. How do you have time for school and sleep?</p>

18

<p>i was looking at that too lol. </p>

<p>are you telling me that you practice from 3pm after school till 4 in the morning 7 days a week....????</p>

<p>do you mean 3 hours a day and 20hrs/week?</p>

19

<p>It's combination school year and summer, early November to mid-August. Describing the exact nature of the time commitment in the tiny boxes in college applications is impossible. I took the total number of days of commitment (7 weekends during the school year and 6 weeks of summer) and the total number of hours of rehearsal/pre-show/warmup/performance/post-show and made it nice and clean. The actual time listed of ~640 hours is very conservative.</p>

20

<p>Aren't you being a bit harsh? A 34 ACT is about the average for top schools, and Top 4% is good (or really good, depending on whether school weights rankings)</p>