Chances at:

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I just wanted to know what some current undergrads thought my chances were on getting into:</p>

<p>Yale
Dartmouth
Emory
Georgetown
Bates
Colby
Pomona
Claremont McKenna</p>

<p>I already posted in individual college forums, but I thought I might get more input here.</p>

<p>General info:
White male. Middle Class from New Jersey.</p>

<p>Extremely Competetive Public Magnet High School. Actually just named a "Public Elite" by Newsweek (only like 20 schools got that award).</p>

<p>Freshman year:
GPA 3.779
Honors Biology A-
Honors Intro Chem A
Honors Alg II & Trig A
Honors Amer. History A-
Honors Amer. Lit I B
Honors Spanish II A
Geometry A
Medical Science Seminar A-
Nutrition A</p>

<p>Sophomor Year (no AP's offered):
GPA 3.801
Honors Chemistry A-
Honors Intro Physics A
Honors Adv. Analysis I (Pre-Calc) A
Honors World History I A
Honors Amer. Lit II B+
Honors Spanish III A-
Molecular Biology I & II B+ & A-
Organic Chem I A-</p>

<p>Junior Year (predicted grades):
Should finish with another 3.8_ GPA
Honors Anatomy and Physiology A
Honors Inter. Physics B+
Honors World Literature I A
Honors Spanish IV A
Honors Latin I A
Honors Adv. Analysis II (Pre-Calc II) B+
IB History A/A-
Zoology B</p>

<p>Senior Year:
Courses I will be taking:
AP Bio
AP Calculus AB
AP Chem
IB History (2 Year course)
IB Enviromental Living Systems
Honors World Lit II
Honors Spanish V
Honors Latin II
Molecular Biology IV & V
Bioethics</p>

<p>Overall GPA ~3.8
Class Rank: School does NOT rank.</p>

<p>Test Scores:
SAT V: 670
SAT M: 760
SAT W: 660
I am retaking them. My PSAT Writing was a 760, and I should be able to get at least a 760 in writing on the SAT.</p>

<p>SAT II:
Am taking SAT IIC Math
SAT II Bio/M</p>

<p>EC's:
Model United Nations 9-12 (possible Sec-Gen of next year's conference (will find out soon))
Debate Team 10-JV, 11 & 12 Varsity (possible Captain (will find out soon)
National History Day 10, 11, 12
Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) 11, 12
400 Hours of Volunteer work at Local Boy's and Girl's Club
National Honors Society 11-12
Volleyball 9 & 10 JV, 11 & 12 Varsity (Captain Next Year)
2 Medical Summer Programs
Senior Year Internship (most likely at Plastic Surgeon's office)</p>

<p>Awards and Recognition:
Various Model UN Awards at Conferences (e.g. MIT, GWU)
5th Place JV Debate Team in County
National Merit Commended Student (possible Semi-Finalist)
Local Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year
Possible NJ Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year
2nd place Senior Group Documentary at NJ History Day
Top 14 in Nation Senior Group Documentary at National History Day
3rd Place Biomedical Debate at NJ HOSA competition
Dean's List every trimester in school</p>

<p>I just want to know if I have a decent chance of getting in?
Also, what do you think I need to improve upon?</p>

2

<p>I see two problems with you being a competitive at your Ivy league selections (Yale, Dartmouth). </p>

<p>I'll start with that which you can control. Your SAT composite score is a 1430, which is very good, and definitely in range, but not as good as it could, or really should, be. Your first priority should be getting your Verbal up to at least 700. Even beyond that, you should gun for 1500 to really strengthen your app. </p>

<p>Your second problem, and definitely the biggest concern, is your class schedule. While nobody will doubt your school's pedigree, I doubt that taking 3 AP classes in total will cut it for many of those top schools you listed. Schools want to see that you "challenged yourself and took advantage of the oppurtunities presented to you." One way you do that is by taking as many APs as you can get your hands on, and excelling in them. Schools take into consideration if your school doesn't offer many APs, but I know that isn't that case because that Newsweek article largely concerned ranking schools based on number of AP exams taken per year. I know from personal experience with Admissions representatives looking at my own schedule that number of APs taken is a great boon for any app at Emory. Pomona is another extremely competitive school that will penalize you for a "non-rigorous" course selection. I don't know much about your other selections, but I'm sure that your good grades will carry you into a good school, it will just probably not be an Ivy league or extremely competitive DIII school such as Pomona. </p>

<p>Your ECs are solid, though. Play up anything you did for four years (Model UN, Volleyball), your summer experiences (Medical programs), and employment (internship). Also, you could parlay those 400 hours at the Boy's and Girl's Club into a very elucidating and powerful college essay. </p>

<p>You're app won't be the strongest by a good margin, but if you boost those SATs a good bit and reveal your ECs through good essay writing, you just may have a shot at your reaches. However, they are just that, reaches (I'm talking about Yale, Dartmouth, Emory, Pomona; I'm not familiar with the other schools).</p>

3

<p>The only problem is that you cannot take that many AP's at my school. I am not trying to avoid the fact that I did not take that many. There are only 3 AP's offered junior year (AP Chem, Eco., and Music Theory). I am surely not going to take Music Theory or Economics because they have nothing to do with what I want to pursue. Furthermore, AP Chem could not fit into my schedule without dropping IB History (so it was either or) and I picked IB history knowing it was a 2 year course and AP chem was not so I could take AP Chem senior year. Also, my senior year schedule is already too full. My guidance counselor will surely inform me in a few weeks that every class cannot fit. You cannot take AP Bio and AP Psych in my school: you need to choose 1. And I have other senior year requirements that really limit me to those 3 AP's, 1 IB, and maybe one other IB. (Also, my school does not offer AP humanities at all).</p>

<p>Which brings me to a side question: If I can take more AP's by dropping my languages, would you recommend it (We don't have AP spanish or latin). Is it better to take 4 years of spanish or 3 yrs of spanish with an AP? Also, I started Latin junior year: so is it ok to drop it after one year to replace it with an AP. Doesn't that show lack of commitment?</p>

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

4

<p>Also, we were named a Public Elite by Newsweek not because of AP's, but because we had extremely high SAT scores. The top 1000 list was based on AP's. But we were excluded because of out SAT scores.</p>

5

<p>any more comments?</p>

6

<p>A change, then.</p>

<p>If you ARE taking the hardest schedule you could, MAKE SURE YOU MENTION IT IN THE "STUDENT COMMENTS" OR EQUIVALENT SECTION. It will make a monumental difference. </p>

<p>In that case, boost those SATs and you're competitive just about anywhere. </p>

<p>As for the lagnuage question, it depends on where you want to go. If you're looking for a specialized school or a highly competitive university, it may be more advantageous to take the AP; however, if you want to go to a small liberal arts college, you may be better off taking the language. Many smaller liberal arts schools are looking for four years of a foreign language nowadays. However, since this is such a judgement call, I highly suggest consulting your college counselor.</p>

<p>Sorry about the assumption I made about the article. No offense meant :p</p>

7

<p>No problem. Thanks for the advice. The language thing is really a dilemna for me.</p>

8

<p>any other input from other people. Please. :-)</p>

9

<p>A top magnet will usually have good data on what it takes to get in where. You'll get a lot better info there than here.</p>

10

<p>Any other input?</p>

11

<p>Input???????</p>

12

<p>Yale....no</p>