chances chances chances :(

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>-korean female from competitive IB school in Virginia (Robinson Secondary School)
-looking into colleges but does not know chances
-just another average korean but with a goal to become a veterinarian in equine medicine (it's been my dream since i was a little kid)
-planning to major in biology, zoology, or animal science(where it's available)
-schools i'm looking into:
Cornell (i'm there right now doing their Summer College Vet Program)
Columbia
Berkeley
UCLA
UCSD
Stanford
Harvard
UPenn(? maybe)
U Michigan
UVA (as a safety, since i'm instate)
Virginia Tech (also as a safety)
William and Mary (probably also a safety)
WUStL
Georgetown
UC Davis (maybe as a safety)
applying to Harvard EA (i think)
STATS
9th grade
GPA : 3.8 (took honors in biology, english, history, and geometry; advanced orchestra; japanese)
10th grade
GPA: 4.0(took honors in chem, english, history, algebra II;advanced orhcestra; japanese)
summer 2005-switched schools from WEst Springfield High School to Robinson Secondary
11th grade
GPA: 4.14(took AP US History, IB Biology SL, IB Physics SL I, IB Math SL I, advanced orhcestra, latin[no japanese offered at NEW SCHOOL])
summer 2006-Cornell Summer College Vet Program (3 college credits, currently have A in class)
12th grade
taking AP Government, IB Math HL I(AP Calculus BC), IB Psychology SL, AP Literature, Animal Biology or Chemistry at George Mason University, advanced orchestra, latin
SAT I: 2070(650 R, 690 M, 730 W) hope to raise to 2250, retaking in october
SATII: 720 Biology M, 680 US History, taking Math IIC, World History, and retaking Biology M in November</p>

<p>extra curriculars
*horseback riding since 9 year old
*piano kindergarden-10th grade
*violin – 4th grade-present
*American Philharmonic Youth Orchestras 7th grade-present
*Junior District Orchestra assistant principal 9th grade
*Senior Regional Orchestra 11th grade
*National Honor Society
*Toshiba Exploravision 10th grade
*pit orchestra of the musical “Crazy For You” 10th grade
*pit orchestra of the musical “Beauty and the Beast” 11th grade
*principal 2nd violin at school's Symphonic Orchestra
*Cornell Veterinary Medicine Summer College summer 2006
*applying for job at PetsMart, also going to begin working at vet's office in November/December</p>

<p>volunteer experience
*Northern Virginia Therapeutic Riding Center, horse handler, 2003-2005
*Lost Dog Rescue Group and HART 90 Rescue Group, 2005-present
*Fairfax County Animal Shelter, dog handler, beginning school year 2006
*play with church choir on violin every sunday, church youth group leader, organized several fundraisers for church
*accepted into Department of Defence Science and Engineering Apprentice Program sponsored by George Washington University at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (unpaid, denied internship for Cornell Summer College Vet Program)</p>

<p>awards
*nominated for National Honor Roll, Who’s Who Among American High School Students
*letters of academic recognition from Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia House of Representatives
*all A honor roll all quarters beginning in 10th grade
*Outstanding Academic Achievement Award 11th grade</p>

<p>essays
*for common app at least, i'm planning to write it on several things: 1st topic-how the separation from my dad (who lives/works in Korea) while my mom stayed here as a single mom has helped me develop into who i am, 2nd topic-how the summers that i spent with my mom at home (not doing summer programs and such until now) has helped me learn essential living skills, 3rd topic-how horseback riding is a catharsis and an important activity to me, 4th topic-how my mom and dad inspire me
just some ideas not sure yet</p>

<p>*recommendations *
one from biology teacher who wrote me one for the cornell summer program and the internship at DOD
one from precalc teacher who wrote me one for the DOD internship
might be able to get extra recommendation from my professor at Cornell right now (i'm taking his ANimal Nutrition class). he's chairman of the Animal Science deparment at Cornell, so it would look nice. (plus i just got a 96 on his exam, so that looks good in his eyes i hope)</p>

<p>i don't know what kind of chances i stand at these schools or what other safeties i should add on to my list. these days, thinking a bout applying to college has got my mind bogged down. i would like some advice please!
can't wait until the end of senior year...
thanks again!</p>

<p>(this is a post that was posted some time ago, but without my update SAT scores or GPA)</p>

2

<p>sunnex3:</p>

<p>UCB/UCLA: Reach (out of state)
UCSD: Slight Reach (out of state)
UCD: Match (out of state)</p>

3

<p>actually my unweighted GPA for 9th grade is 3.8
unweighted for 10th is 4.0
unweighted for 11th is 4.0</p>

<p>sorry about the confusion</p>

4

<p>in that case, your GPA is in the range of all the schools. but your test scores are not. this is the case for both SAT I and SAT II. your ECs do not help. i would cross out harvard and stanford immediately and ED columbia or cornell. ED doubles your chances at those schools. but even then it's still a long shot.</p>

5

<p>Robert_McCloud is correct when it comes to Harvard and Stanford. You need the higher SAT scores for them. I'd even drop Columbia.</p>

<p>Virginia Tech is a safety, William and Mary and UC Davis certainly are not.</p>

<p>Still you are matches for most of these schools. I rank you as a slight reach for UCLA, but a match for UCSD and UCD.</p>

<p>I have you as a match for William and Mary, Georgetown, Virginia, and WUSL. I have you as a safe match for Michigan, though OOS.</p>

<p>I'd apply ED to Cornell (match to slight reach ED), and also apply to Penn (slight reach to reach).</p>

<p>You are obviously interested in veterinarian science--meaning the two best schools for you are Cornell and UC Davis. I'd go to one of them if accepted there.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

6

<p>"don't know what kind of chances i stand at these schools or what other safeties i should add on to my list. these days, thinking a bout applying to college has got my mind bogged down. i would like some advice please!
can't wait until the end of senior year...
thanks again!"</p>

<p>sunnex3 u got to relax!!!!!!!!!!! It's good that u are doing college research and trying to see where u can get into, but thats not what u should be thinking about all the time. I used to do that, and it totally broke down my thought process. What i am trying to say is this. RELAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! with ur ECs, GPA, and SAT, u are bound to get in one of those colleges. Remmember u can be sucessful no matter where you decide to go. Hope this helped.</p>

<p>PEACE</p>

7

<p>i know my EC"s are little weak.
but my volunteering has only been with animals...and i participate in the top youth orchestra in my area. we rehearse 4 hours a week, plus dress rehearsals, 4 concerts a year, etc. etc. etc. my mom is a single mom, with my dad living in korea, who has to take care of both me and my sister (who is 12) and she needs a lot of help getting around at home. she has many things to do, as my sister is very active in dance, music, etc. i am expecting my score on the SAT to rise to around 2200-2250 in the fall, when i retake in october, and for my SAT II's to be hopefully 750+. and this summer, i am attending (right now in fact) Cornell's Summer College Program for Veterinary Medicine and it's been a great experience for me.
i have been looking into getting an internship during the year at the National Zoo.
i know i'm not president of some club at school, or founded some club, or anything like that. and i know i sound like i'm making excuses. what kinds of things do you guys think that i should add to my EC's? i will be volunteering at the animal shelter 2 hours a week at least in senior year, and hopefully will have the internship with National Zoo. as you guys can tell, i'm hoping to become a veterinarian, so what kinds of things should i take advantage of?</p>

<p>thanks for all your helpful feedback. it's given me a reality check.</p>

8

<p>BUMP
other schools i'm interested in: Colby, Grinnell seeing as to that they seem to have pretty decent bio programs there. also adding U Chichago
any other schools anyone recommends?
hypothetically, if i raised my score on my SAT to a 2250, would that improve my chances?</p>

9

<p>Guess it would. Certainly wouldn't hurt your chances.</p>

10

<p>Hello! You are in the same class as I am. I was just a little perplexed to learn that the average score on our exam was a 72...I thought it was pretty easy! You are only the third person I've met with a score over 90. I don't know if I've met you yet or not...but I think I have. </p>

<p>Anyway, I think that for Cornell your SAT scores are a little below average at the moment, but plenty of people have gotten in with scores at that level. Retaking the test usually doesn't result in much of a rise in score, especially if you do not take prep, but it can help sometimes. </p>

<p>It seems as though you may want to really focus on your EC's and pick out the ones you like the best. The commonapp only has so much room on it, and oftentimes a devoted student with average scores is more appealing than a student with broad interests but limited involvement.</p>

<p>I am a little sleepy so I hope this makes sense. I hate having to have to wait till 11 to go to sleep and then roasting without AC.<br>
Good luck on the final!!!</p>

11

<p>well i'd definitely be retaking WITH prep.
and for my EC's it seems that my main things are music and animals(volunteering, Cornell, etc.).
thanks, good luck on the final too!
BUMP anyone else?</p>

12

<p>anyone else?
bumpppp</p>

13

<p>Grinnell is a very nice addition to your list, especially because their biology and chemistry departments are extremely strong. Again though, your SAT scores are below their average, right about their 35th percentile, actually. I would strongly recommend retaking your SATs. A better score won't guarantee you admittance to any of these places, but it will certainly better your chances. Good luck!</p>

14

<p>ummm...i think i have similar stats like you and wanna apply to similar schools too. But, i think im retaking tests also in OCT/NOV. If you could raise your score to 2250, and ur sat ii scores about 750-770 each, then i believe cornell or even upenn would be a match. have you thought about applying to rice (umm i live in houston and its not a bad place to live in). however, stanford will be a big reach...as in if you get waitlisted you are lucky (actually that's my 1st choice school)...but definitely cross out harvard and columbia (unless you have an AMAZING rec or essay). and plus i heard columbia is not worth it. but, w/ ur test scores now, cornell would be sort of a reach or maybe a match, cuz according to collegeboard their median sat is around 2290. also since ur so interested in veterinary medicine, i highly recommend writing your essay about that (not about the subject...but about you passion toward it). and also, since u've done research at cornell, that might help your chances. last thing, you know that ur research can be submitted to competitions like Siemens-Westinghouse or Intel STS. so give that a shot, although you have to write a paper.</p>

<p>hope this helped ;)</p>

<p>IM me if you have questions (AIM: Snixsnipe2004)</p>

15

<p><strong><em>correction</em></strong> cornell's median SAT is 2090, not 2290</p>

16

<p>i haven'tdone research here, i took their summercollege program in vetmedicine. i'mgetting 3 credits for an sci 212 animal nutrition.</p>

17

<p>UC Berkeley: Reach (oos)
UCLA: Reach (oos)
UCSD: Slight Reach (oos)</p>

<p>Any other lower UC's, you should be a match for. But with your stats i would not look at lower UC's, especially since you have university of virginia in state.</p>

18

<p>CALCRUZER-with my SAT scores now, do you think i'm a match for Michigan? i'm trying to decide whether to apply now w/ my SAT scores or wait until october wheni retake them to apply to Mich.
thanks for your opinions!
i'm definitely heavily considering cornell/davis if accepted.</p>

19

<p>Johns Hopkins and Emory are also possibilities...good science programs, my SAT scores are within their 50th percentiles...i don't particularly like the baltimore or atlanta area but i know these schools are REALLY well known for their biology and other science departments...
plus i attended Johns Hopkins' Summer program for talented youth or whatever in 5th grade haha. not that it matters -_-</p>