Chances at Vanderbilt or Washington University in St. Louis

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Chances with 2 Cs on high school transcript...easy point for answer?</p>

<p>So freshmen year I got...
AP World A/B+
Honors Algebra II A/A-
Honors Biology A/A
Honors English A/A
Choir A/A
Yearbook-Journalism A/A
French II A/A
AP Exam results: AP World- 5/5</p>

<p>However, this sophomore year, I overwhelmed myself with too many classes, and for the first semester, I got...
AP Euro B
AP Chem C+
AP Stats B
Honors Pre-Calc C+
Honors English 10 A-
French II B+
Newspaper Staff A</p>

<p>Next semester, I am dropping AP Stats and taking Ceramics instead. I am also lowering my Honors Pre-calc to regular pre-calc. I know I will be able to get straight As with this schedule because of the lighter course load.</p>

<p>My junior year schedule will be
Calc Survey (full-weight 5.0)
IB English (full-weight 5.0)
Human Anatomy and Physiology (full-weight 5.0)
Physics
Newspaper Staff (full-weight 5.0)
French IV (Full-weight 5.0)
U.S. History</p>

<p>I would then take Stats as a repeated class senior year for my math class. My original grade from first semester would be gone on my transcript, but it would still show that I had repeated the class.</p>

<p>I've already taken Gym (A), health class (A), and am taking AP Macroeconomics this summer</p>

<p>Senior year I plan on taking AP Gov., AP Biology, AP French, AP Stats, Newspaper Staff (Full-weight 5.0), IB English, a semester of a business, and I have an extra two semester I have not decided upon yet.</p>

<p>I'm just worried about the grades that I got this semester with my two Cs. How will colleges look at my grades this semester and my lighter course load? What will they think when they see how I altered my sophomore schedule from first to second semester? What will they think of my dropped, lowered, repeated classes?</p>

<p>I really wanted to go to Washington University in St. Louis or Vanderbilt, but both are ranked in the top twenty nationally, 14 and 17, respectively, and I am now beginning to question my chances. We recently took a PSAT, and I got a 200/240. I will be able to bring this up next year for national merit scholar because I took it this year with no preparation to see a raw score. </p>

<p>So...what do you think? What will Wash U think? What will Vanderbilt think? What will colleges in general think? What are my chances of getting into a school like Wash U or Vanderbilt? What are my chances of getting a scholarship to a school like one of these?</p>

2

<p>Aw that sucks! I’ve always underwhelmed myself haha so I have no idea how that feels. You should have plenty of time to bounce back. What’s your GPA right now?</p>

<p>PS- PSAT means nothing. I got at best a 178 (never cared for studying) and got a 2150 on the SAT, as well as a 1470 two score. If you got a 200/240 this time you should do even better with some practice on the actual SAT (I’d say probably over a 2200).</p>

3

<p>my gpa last year was 4.1 or so, but that was weighted…my final unweighted gpa at the end of junior year should be around a 3.8 or higher if I get straight As all of junior year…that seems attainable with my schedule. How would the colleges I mentioned feel about my grades and my lightened load, though?</p>

4

<p>That’s good! You’re definitely competitive for those two schools if you can put yourself in the upper 3.8s and have a good SAT score (about that 2200 that I said or better). Keep your grades up and do some fun ECs. For example: I worked as a teacher (loved it). Those always help.</p>

5

<p>With those schools I’d try maybe Wake Forest, Duke, UVa, UNC Chapel Hill, Emory, Boston College, Washington and Lee (really only Virginia kids know it haha, but its nice), Richmond, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Rice, and many more.</p>

<p>And PS getting scholarships to any of these schools is next to impossible.</p>

6

<p>Make sure your essays are very good!</p>

7

<p>Sorry, I’m just confused. What do you mean by “with those schools try…”</p>

8

<p>Those are schools that stand close to both WashU and Vandy academically. There are others (like Chicago, Northwestern, Penn, and etc.).</p>