Chances at RD - PLEASE

Colleges and Universities A-Z Williams College
1

<p>White, Jewish male from western massachusetts
small, but competitive, public high school</p>

<p>SAT: 2140, m690, v690, w760
SAT II's: Bio M 700, Math 2c 720, USH 690
Rank: 2/65
GPA: 4.37 out of 4.5
AP US: 5, didn't even take the course
Legacy: Dad went here as well as first cousin. Uncle teaches here.</p>

<p>Transcript lowest grade is an A-, only twice
First quarter senior year:
Honors physics A+
Honors Biochemistry A+
AP Studio Art A
AP French A
AP Calc A
Humanities A
Internship A+
Concert Band A</p>

<p>Most rigorous course load possible</p>

<p>Hooks: i am from western, yes western, not eastern mass
class president four the past 5 years in a row
got the Brown Book Award
Submitted art supplement</p>

<p>recs should be really good and essay was definitely out of the norm, yet very well-written</p>

<p>crap load of other EC's as follows:
Varsity Tennis Team (2003 - Present) 8 hours per week
Varsity Golf Team (2005 - Present) 10 hours per week
Varsity Crew Team (2003 - 2005)
Student Council Member (2002 - Present)
Member of High School Quiz Team (2003 - Present) 2 hours per week
Member of As School Match Wits Television Show Team (2005 - Present)
High School French Club (2003 - Present) 1 hour per week
High School Concert Band Percussionist (2003 - Present)
High School Marching Band Percussionist (2003 - Present)
High School Jazz Ensemble Percussionist (2002 - 2005)
High School Mock Trial Program (2005 - Present) 2 hours per week
Junior Class Prom Committee - 2006
Yearbook Committee (2006 - Present) 1 hour per week
High School Peer Education (2004 - Present)
National Honor Society Peer Tutoring (2005 - Present) .5 hours per week
High School Art Club (2003 - Present)</p>

<p>bunch of awards and honors too:
Just selected with 1 other student to represent the school at Deval Patrick's inaugural ceremony in Boston. I will have the opportunity to meet the governor-elect and have open discussion with him.
Recipient of The Brown University Book Award (given to the individual in the junior class “Who Best Combines Academic Excellence with Clarity in Written and Spoken Expression”)
Recipient of The 2006 Art Award (given to four members of the junior class who show “Outstanding Skill in Visual Arts”)
Recipient of The Foreign Language Achievement Award (given to a select few members of the junior class who show “Strong Interest in the Study of Culture and Language and Achieved the Highest Level of Proficiency in French”)
Recipient of the Kodak Young Leaders Award (given to four members of the junior class “in recognition of outstanding academic achievement and leadership”)
Recipient of the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship
Nominated for the Stanley Z. Koplik Certificate
Received distinction of Lauréat National on the Concours National De Français
Twice-received distinction of Lauréat Du Chapitre on the Concours National De Français
Three-time Participant in the Annual Berkshire County High School Art Show, exhibiting artwork at the Norman Rockwell Museum
Recipient of The English Book Award (given to two members of the freshman class)
Two-Year Member of the The National Honor Society (“Membership is based on Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Character”)
Recipient and delegate of the 10th Annual Massachusetts Student-Athlete Citizenship Awards Ceremony (April 11th, 2006)
Asked by music and art teachers to design poster for The Lenox High School Fine Arts Night (May 2006)
Yearbook Cover Design selected for The Class of 2007 Yearbook (October 2006)</p>

2

<p>Your grades are excellent. Test scores so-so, but would not keep you from being admitted. ECs are OK. Overall, I'd say probably a reach, but the legacy and faculty connection gives you a decent shot.</p>

<p>Helpful advice: Ditch the prom committee stuff and see if you can distill and organize your EC list to highlight a few easily to digest bullet points. You've got a lot of clutter than makes it really difficult to peg what your "thing" is. Less is more when it comes to presenting a focused EC list that colleges can sink their teeth into. Some adcom will have to summarize your app in three bullet points on an index card when presenting it to committee. Try to make it easy for them.</p>

<p>I'm just taking a wild stab (that all I can do for a perfect stranger):</p>

<p>Try organizing your ECs into three main things:</p>

<p>Sports (put the details into parentheses, not separate line items).</p>

<p>Music (see above)</p>

<p>Politics and leadership (see if you can make some kind of connection between class president and your interest in politics and Deval Patrick).</p>

3

<p>I strongly disagree with the hyper involved dad. The fact that you are #2 in your class far outweighs everything else. Furthermore, you're at or over 700 (the dad is really splitting hairs). Furthermore, you are legacy, have a connection to the staff and have excellent ECs (I personally have a list similar to yours and you are one of the few, : ) The one thing I do agree on is the fact that you should make a list. I did a resume and put the most important things toward the top and spaced them out. It really helped. Good luck, I'd say its a good bet</p>

4

<p>Great grades and EC's. The legacy connection will help - but most legacies go the ED route. And being from western Mass will help. I think the SAT's are low for Williams, particularly in the RD round, but a really good essay could make the difference. Good advice from ID above on how to reorganize your EC list.</p>

5

<p>
[quote]
I strongly disagree with the hyper involved dad.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Where exactly do you disagree? The grades are excellent, but it's a tough field. The app would be an academic 2 or 3 at in the Williams pool -- right around the average enrolled student somewhere around a 2.5. Average academics for Williams is pretty darn good ... unless you are trying to get accepted against a stack of several thousand average or better academic applications.</p>

<p>This puts polisciguy in the same boat as most applicants: good solid app, not "walk on water" enough academically to guarantee admission, needing something to stand out from the pack and get the "accept" letter instead of the "polite waitlist" letter. That's the reality of elite college admissions.</p>

<p>I believe that the combo of legacy, uncle professor, and Western Mass is enough to give polisciguy a legitimate chance of admission. I don't want to say "dude, you're in" because I don't think that's accurate. The academic rank is not that high. Academic 1 legacy? Yeah, that would be "dude, you're in". As listed, the ECs are certainly extensive and commendable, but there isn't that one thing that stands out and grabs the admissions office and makes them say, "wow, look what this kid does!". It doesn't help that he lists sports as the major item of emphasis on his EC list (the first spot). Unless he's good enough to be recruited at Williams (which I assume is not the case from the lack of mention of the coaches), then the athletics won't stand out from the pack. Nearly 30% of Williams freshmen are RECRUITED athletes for nationally competitive programs, as in really, really good!</p>

<p>Overall, if he were my kid, I'd probably be thinking "polite waitlist" without the legacy and a decent shot (maybe 50-50) with the legacy. The uncle professor might improve those odds even more than the dad legacy.</p>

<p>If his app is good, his chances improve further. I have given him some general advice on how to improve the presentation of his app to total strangers.</p>

<p>My advice mirrors the kind of reality-based advice I gave my daughter when she was trying to figure out her odds at Williams and similar schools.</p>

<p>What part do you disagree with?</p>

6

<p>Put this on your January "To Do" list and then forget about it for right now: assuming you want to continue with your sports in college, contact the coaches if you haven't already.</p>

<p>On your activities list: grouping related things together can be powerful, with each item giving a boost to the other related ones. It may not work for you, but try to come up with at most three or four words that describe yourself (leadership, arts, athlete <-- maybe) and see if you can use them for organizational purposes. Then prioritize and edit within the groups (you may need subgroupings). If you do a paper application, you can fill in the activities grid in broad strokes and send in a supplemental activities list or resume that ties into but expands upon it. That will let you use format, grouping, and other devices to increase both the power and detail of what you are presenting.</p>

<p>There's nothing wrong with submitting a list like yours. It's just that you can probably have a stronger impact by fine-tuning your presentation. With your abilities in the arts, maybe it will help to view this as something of an art project (think advertising text).</p>

<p>Good luck. Williams is well worth the effort you are putting into your application.</p>

7

<p>I agree with the ID except that I have no idea whether having an uncle on the faculty helps a lot (having a parent would help, without question). It's very hard to get into Williams and, while we on the outside may see patterns, I, for one, could not pick which would be the successful applications out of a slew of very impressive ones.</p>

<p>Focus on helping yourself. Try to present yourself in a way that will make you stand out (essays can really help; don't forget that the short essay is as much of an opportunity to tell them about yourself as the longer one is). Have a firm, distinct personna throughout your application if you can (someone is maybe "juggler/math guy" and someone else is maybe "botanist/painter" - who are you?), but, of course, don't edit yourself down too much to fit into a narrow mold if you don't. Maybe you are "well-rounded guy."</p>

<p>It is easy for me to say all these things, but I know how hard they are to put into practice as I've just watched a wave of applicants struggle with their applications. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

8

<p>I like your hook of being from W. Mass. I don't know about Williams specifically, but many of the top schools in the country will give applicants from the "neighborhood" a leg up on others from further away. You should talk to your GC, who should have good insight on past history with applicants from your school and how you compare.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

9

<p>polysciguy, You have some very good points -- rank, grades, legacy, geography. I'd say your scores will be neutral -- neither plus nor minus. The art supplement is also a positive. </p>

<p>If you've already sent off your application, then relax and enjoy your senior year. You'll most likely have some nice acceptances in April.</p>

<p>If you're looking for advice, then I'd second the folks who advise you to FOCUS your resume. It gives me a headache to fight my way through the flotsam and jetsam. Pay heed to what I-Dad says about making it easy for the adcom to find YOU in this telephone book of accomplishments.</p>

<p>Choose some main "themes" and organize your achievements accordingly. Sports, Arts, Politics are a powerful trifecta. Williams likes multifaceted high energy kids. You should consider putting together three separate packages emphasizing and enhancing each of these interests. It would be especially helpful to show how your passions overlap and intersect.</p>

<p>Good luck and let us know how you do.</p>

10

<p>Don't sweat it polysci guy. You'll be accepted</p>