Chances at the Ivies and a few others for the truly "Well Rounded" Student

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm currently a junior and still new to CC, so I'd really appreciate some advice from all of the seasoned posters. I have tried to find my "focus" or my "hook", but I dont really seem to have one, not on paper at least. </p>

<p>Chance me for Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Cornell, Duke, Rice, UF(safety), and Stanford please!</p>

<p>Profile
gender: male
race: Caucasian
background: middle class white male, 2nd generation college, nothing too special</p>

<p>Grades and Test Scores</p>

<p>Weighted GPA (9-11): 4.56
Unweighted GPA (9-11): 4.0</p>

<p>Rank: 2/643</p>

<p>SAT: 790 M, 780 CR, 710 W, so thats 1570/1600 and 2280/2400</p>

<p>AP test scores: World History-5, Human Geography-5</p>

<p>Junior Year Classes:
IB Chem SL
IB Bio SL
IB Calculus SL
IB Spanish SL
IB Physics SL
IB History of Americas SL
AP English Lit</p>

<ul>
<li>I will be taking the IB Physics and Spanish tests, as well as the AP English lit, US history, Spanish Lang, AB Calculus, and Physics B tests</li>
</ul>

<p>Senior Year Classes:
IB Chem HL
IB Bio HL
IB Calculus HL
IB Economics SL
IB History HL
IB English HL
IB TOK</p>

<p>I'll probably be taking a AP Bio, Chem, and Econ senior year as well as all the standard IB tests</p>

<p>Extra Curricular Activities:</p>

<p>Math/Science
(9,10-Treasurer, 11-President) - Mu Alpha Theta Math honor society
(9, 10, 11-Co-president) - Florida Junior Academy of Sciences
I tutor in Math and Science for these clubs, as well as compete in regional and state level math and science fair competitions</p>

<p>Government/Politics
(9-President,10-Representative, 11- Rep.,) - Student Government Assoc - I work on various community service projects each year including blood drives, teacher breakfasts, the relay for life, dance planning and set-up, and others.
(9,10,11-Vice President) - Young Democrats Club - I have volunteered at the local democratic annual gathering, as well as for local politician's campaigns. I also plan to volunteer for the 2008 presidential campaigns
(10, 11) - Member of City Youth Advisory Board</p>

<p>Theater
(9, 10) - Drama Club (even though I am not in the club this year, I am still active in performing, I have been involved in 6 school productions since freshman year)
(10, 11) - International thespian society</p>

<p>Other Clubs
(11) - National Honor Society
(11) - Spanish Honor Society</p>

<p>Athletics
(10, 11) Varsity Swimming (district championships qualifier both years)</p>

<p>Honors and Awards
Math- various regional awards for mu alpha theta since freshman year, as well as placing top 10 in the state in two categories in freshman year
1st place Mathematics division at regional sci fair (2007)-alternate for ISEF
1st place Biochemistry division at regional sci fair (2008)- will be attending ISEF
2007 Most Valuable Member of Student Government</p>

<p>Summers
Before junior year, a seven week science research program at UF
I hopefully will attend another similar research program this coming summer</p>

<p>Sorry about a long post, but If you made it through that, I would love to get some advice and feedback about my chances at those schools!! Thank you so much!</p>

2

<p>bump....Any chances would be much appreciated</p>

3

<p>Nothing wrong with your app. Good luck! :)</p>

4

<p>wow, i can't speak from experience. but by looking at all hte other chance threads that are applying to ivy leagues, i say you have a pretty good chance. =] your stats are pretty amazing.</p>

5

<p>Something weird about your IBs...
1. If you plan to be a IB diploma canditate u have to take no more than 6 IBs with 2 least SL and 3 least HL.
2. IBs are 2 years program unlike APs, you cannot take SL in junior and HL of same subject in senior.</p>

<p>I think you are somehow misinformed about IB program... for example, IB TOK is not a specific subject, but a mandatory suplement to diploma canditate, is not graded in 7 scale(but can gain bonus point).also there is no IB calculus just IB mathematics. So, in those 6 IB you have chosen, you need to select to do 4 HL of them and 2 SL or 3 HL and 3 SL complete those during 2 years, also TOK and extented essays can give you credits so you can get a maximum of 45 points.</p>

<p>In order to look best I suggest to take IB matematics HL, but however it is extremely hard to get a 7, but obviously a 7 of it means a lot more than a 5 in AP calc BC. Physics HL is easier, and no much difference than SL but it can gain credit, so take it also. Chemistry HL is hard and usually don't bring college credit, so it will be fine taking it in SL. Take only one language in HL, because the exams of all language are essentially the same: 1 comparative cometary and 1 essay written in that language. Now you have 3 HL already, you can left it here or take a 4th HL of either econ of hist. </p>

<p>Also, if you school offer, you can take Further Mathematics and counts as a 7th subj of your diploma, which make you look a lot better, but it's also very difficult.</p>

6

<p>Good chances to the Ivies.</p>

7

<p>^ i agree.....</p>

8

<p>You have a decent shot, gl</p>

9

<p>to qihqi, I know most of what you were saying, sorry about misnomers of IB calculus and whatnot. I'm going to be taking two SL tests at the end of this year, physics and Spanish, and then the next year I will be taking HL math, chem, bio, and probably history. Senior year SLs will be econ and english. I only called english HL because we all take the same class, we just opt to take the SL or HL exam depending on our individual courses. </p>

<p>Anyway, thanks for the optimism from everyone, but I am pretty concerned with a few issues about my whole resume. First, I feel that I may come off as if I'm spread too thin, since I'm in a lot of different clubs but I'm not the crazy national standout in any specific topic. On top of that, I have no discernible hook e.g. legacy, minority, first generation college, very low income, or anything like that. I'm still looking for ways to make myself stand out on the application, but I seem to just come across as the smart, involved, but unfortunately dime a dozen applicant to schools such as the Ivy league. </p>

<p>Any ideas to help me stand out? Or more chances? Thanks!</p>

10

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/432748-final-official-early-decisions-thread.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/432748-final-official-early-decisions-thread.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Check out this thread for an idea of the kind of applicants who got into Yale this year. There are similar threads for all the schools on your list. </p>

<p>If you look through the Yale thread, you'll notice that most students who were admitted are well-rounded in the way you describe yourself. Like you, they have impressive credentials in a variety of areas, including science, arts, athletics. I wouldn't say that you have spread yourself too thin; far from it, actually. Your well-roundedness is a great thing, particularly when you can claim ISEF Finalist status + membership in Thespians + student government. Combined with your awesome test scores, your accomplishments in all these different areas will probably yield many positive responses from colleges next year (provided you write sweet essays).</p>

11

<p>0 chances whatsoever. you suck.</p>