Chances at Ivies, etc...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>First off, the schools I'm looking at, as of now are, in order of preference:
1. Columbia
2. Williams
3. Amherst
4. Emory
Although I didn't get a chance to visit a few other Ivies that interest me, specifically Penn.</p>

<p>White male
SAT: 2240 (730 verbal, 720 math, 790 writing)
I'm waiting on my SATII scores. I hate to speculate, but these are my "projected scores." I'm being as conservative as possible. MathII (750-800), Chem (700+), Lit (700+)
I'm retaking the SAT in June and taking the ACT for the first time in June.</p>

<p>Freshman year: GPA - 3.8 w, 3.3 uw
English Honors
French Honors
Geometry Honors
Bio Honors
World Civilizatoins Honors
Required Wheel (Ethics/Basic Communication/Art)</p>

<p>Sophomore year: GPA - 4 w, 3.5 uw
French Honors
English Honors
PreCalculus Honors
US History Honors
Forensics (debate class)
Chemistry Honors</p>

<p>Junior year: GPA - 4.6 w, 3.6 uw
AP Chemistry
AP English Lang
AP Calculus AB
AP Microeconomics
French Honors</p>

<p>Senior year courses:
AP Physics C
AP Calculus BC
AP Macroeconomics
AP French Lang
AP English Lit</p>

<p>My cumulative GPA will be a little over 4.1, and my unweighted will probably be about a 3.6.</p>

<p>ECs...
Varsity soccer team (captain senior year) (9, 10, 11, 12)
Debate team (9, 10)
Varsity volleyball team (11, 12)
My most appealing EC is the fact that I'm on the Hollywood Board of Parks and Recreation (Hollywood, Florida); basically, I help decide how to maintain the parks and facilities of the city, develop city recreational policy, determine how funds are to be spent, and develop new recreational programs. I'm one of twelve members of the board, the rest of whom are adults. </p>

<p>I have a very good rapport with my teachers, especially the three I'm choosing to write my recs. One is a nationally recognized Mathematician who is the Editor in Chief of an international Calculus magazine, the head of my school's math department, and one of the nicest and most amazing men I have ever met; one is my English teacher whose background I don't know much about; one is my Chemistry teacher who worked for many years as a Chemical engineering researcherl all three are well-known for the excellent recs that they write. For instance, every student that my Calc teacher has recommended for MIT has been accepted, ten years running. So there's that.</p>

<p>Also, writing has been consistently one of my strongest academic areas. I feel that I'll be able to write as good an essay as anybody else.</p>

<p>I'm actively trying to get recruited to play soccer for Columbia (and a number of other schools), and I know that if a coach wants me, I'll be able to get in much easier, but I wanted to see what you guys thought about my chances if I don't get recruited.</p>

<p>I sincerely appreciate any responses, I know that reading all of this can be tiresome and most people wouldn't care enough to give their opinion.</p>

2

<p>everything looks really good except the unweigted GPA...that is the part of the application that brings you down...have a really good first semester of senior year and maybe.</p>

3

<p>def a good chance at williams.. especially if you get the coach to recruit you! williams loves loves loves good athletes</p>

<p>also very good chance at emory</p>

<p>i'm not well acquainted with the other schools</p>

4

<p>UInless your school is really tough and the 3.6 puts you into the top 5%, Cloumbia would seem really unlikely and AW big reaches. Your SATs are just average for those schools. Recruitment is your best option.</p>

5

<p>Well, I go to Pine Crest Prep in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. It's a notoriously good academic institution with a very good reputation and relationship with virtually every college...when they accept a "Pine Crest kid," they know exactly what type of student they're admitting...we send about five kids to every Ivy every year...I think we're sending 8 to Penn from the class of 2006...five to Harvard...and about 30 to UF every year...I'm not top 5%, but I'm top 20, maybe top 10, but my school doesn't rank, so that won't be on my transcript.</p>

6

<p>yea my school doesn't rank either</p>

7

<p>And just a little morsel of information that doesn't really apply to anything being discussed, but the kid who flew to Iraq without informing anyone (including his parents) goes to my school. I actually had a project to do with him for English over that break and he sent me a couple of e-mails from Iraq saying how he wouldn't be able to do it yet and how "circumstances in his current environment were unpredictable."</p>

<p>We got a 98 on the project. :p</p>

8

<p>If a college knows your school, they know where you rank. Read A is for Admissions.</p>

9

<p>They'll know where I "rank" in that they'll know the kinds of GPAs and students they've encountered from my school in the past. They will not have an actual number ranking. There is a difference.</p>

10

<p>bump</p>

<pre><code> ...still two weeks til i get those SATII scores :(
</code></pre>

11

<p>ummmmmmmmmmmm.....bump?</p>

12

<p>dont forget a safety/safe match school or two....</p>

13

<p>Emory was my safety, but after I got back my SAT scores my college counselor said that now UChicago was looking more like a safety. If all else fails, I can just go to UF honors college for free on Bright Future's scholarship.</p>

14

<p>For me?</p>

<p>Cumulative unweighted GPA 3.9
SAT 2050 (I'm retaking it, and it should shoot up around 100 points)
3 SAT IIs (all above 700)
Self Taught AP gov't and politics (probably a 4, maybe a 5, and if I really killed it, a 3, but I doubt that)
In every honors class available to me
No AP classes offered until my senior year (AP Spanish and Calc) and I'll probably teach myself Micro, Macro, and World History.</p>

<p>Extra Currics (my high point)
-2005-2006 State Speech Oratory Champion
-State High School Composer of the Year (awarded by our state's music educator's association)
-2005-2006 All State Concert Band Member
-2006-2007 All State Jazz Band Member (only two spots for tenor saxophone)
-Cleveland Orchestra Young Composer's program (one of 14 chosen out of a nation wide group)
-(avid member of choir/band program)
-(captain of JV soccer team sophomore year)
-varsity soccer (junior/senior year)</p>

<p>So - what are my chances to get into the Ivies, etc? Thanks.</p>

15

<p>First of all, you can always just make your own thread. You don't have to post your stats on mine.</p>

<p>I don't mind, though.</p>

<p>Secondly, you look decent. However, that SAT score is pretty low for Ivies. You didn't mention what your composite was (math/verbal), but mine is a 1450 and I'm retaking it to get a more impressive score. Unless you got a 14something+ and just did poorly on writing, you'll need a pretty big boost to become a truly competitive candidate. Now that is without considering your ECs, which are quite solid. The question is, do you want to be in the Band/Choir in college? If so, you have to contact the appropriate persons at the schools you're looking at to see how they are to evaluate your talent in order to see if they want to lend support to your application. If the band wants you you'd instantly become much more competitive (it would be your "hook"). However, you should still probably look to improve that SAT score by at least 100 points, if not more. Just prep as comprehensively as possible.</p>

16

<p>Sure. Does the composition thing work as a hook? I mean, my sax playing is good, but it is nothing in contrast to my composition skills. </p>

<p>Additionally, in terms of my SAT scores, I agree with what you said (I'm not particularily happy with them either). However, I have a friend who got into Harvard w/ fewer ecs (All state 2 yrs, and Minnesota Youth Symphony) who had lower SAT scores. </p>

<p>You talked about me contacting the appropriate persons at the schools I'm considering. Should I contact the directors of each program, or an individual teacher? Moreover, how would I craft the question in terms of asking them to 'lend support' to my application. </p>

<p>Finally - I feel like my ECs are really strong, but of course, my view is skewed by the fact that I want my ECs to look good. If I did no work in contacting administrators at colleges in fields in which I have excelled (which of course I won't do, but anyway), how would competitive would I be just with what I have presented?</p>

17

<ol>
<li><p>When you say "no APs offered til senior year" do you mean none were offered to YOU, or none are offered by your school?</p></li>
<li><p>I really have no clue as to whether or not a school would add extra consideration for a composer. I've never heard of a high school composer, so you certainly have some uniqueness going, and now that I think about it I'm sure there would be some sort of advanced composing department that could lend support to your App if you let them know about your skill. </p></li>
<li><p>For the areas you are strong in, I would assume all you have to do is contact the director of the music department, or whatever equivalent department a school has. You can do so by e-mail, but it might be more advantageous to call by phone. You want to ask questions such as "Are there oppurtunities for me to join your program," "How would you evaluate my talent," and "Would you be able to lend support to my application." Really, that's all there is to it. It's straightforward. The administrators at these competitive schools know what a student wants, and know that in order to get the best students for their programs they may need to use "admissions capital" in order to ensure that they get their desired applicants in. However, this is completely dependent on whether or not you are wantede by the department/organization at the school. Be sure to inquire about the existence of a composing program. In fact, if you have a college counselor, I'd be very surprised if he/she couldn't answer your question about composing in college.</p></li>
<li><p>I really like your ECs. You show a lot of dedication to a general area (performing arts) and also display diversity in the different types of performing groups you take part in (orchestras, choirs, speech). Throw in several years of athletics and you paint the portrait of a very involved and dedicated individual. Of course, your ECs get the best chance to shine in your essays, so take advantage.</p></li>
</ol>

18

<p>The school doesn't offer them. For example, I'm in the top spanish class: 'Advanced Spanish' (sarcastic oohs and aahs would be appropriate here). Basically, its a nice review class of everything we've done in spanish (which is everything). So our school is holding us back from taking the AP course b/c they don't want us to have nothing to do our senior year. We're a small school, and consequently don't have much variety in terms of other languages (although I think we're getting Chinese after we graduate). Our school definitely does NOT want us to get done with AP spanish and then go onto take French I. </p>

<p>Since there were no other AP classes offered, I decided to teach them to myself. For example, we 'have' an economics course, but it's not tailored to the AP curriculum, nor is it emphasized enough (in terms of class time available) to be an AP class.</p>

<p>Thank you so much for your mini-tutorial about strong areas of study and admissions. The size of our school means we have few talented musicians, which means we have few questions about music programs, and results in our college counselor not knowing too much about music. </p>

<p>Thanks for your help!</p>

19

<p>No problem.</p>

<p>Just make sure you mention the course offering situation at your school on your app (there should be a "student comments" section or equivalent). It really is very important.</p>

20

<p>Okay, so I definitely can't just assume that colleges will have checked out my school's situation? Also, how would I include the results of my self studied AP test? I've talked to my school's admin about throwing it on my transcript, because I really didn't get a 'grade' for doing it.</p>