Chances for a junior??

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>What are my chances at Duke, Columbia, Cornell, NYU, BU, and George Washington Univ.?? (they are in order of reach/match/safety, presumably?)</p>

<p>GPA: 3.44 UW (11 AP's by the time I graduate, plus 6 honors)
SATII's: 800 Math level 2, 700 chemistry, 620 USH (retaking next year after i've actually taken the class (AP USH))
ACT: 32 (32E 32M 32R 34S, 10/12 essay)
Class Rank: Top ~20%</p>

<p>EC's:
Debate 11, 12 (was not involved 9 or 10 due to sports)
-Semi-Finalist at National Qualifying tournament (only my 2nd time competing)
- Quarter finalist at State debate competition (3rd time ever)
- will be captain/president next year, and hope to make nationals (with more experience, i should do better tahn this year)</p>

<p>Jazz Band 9,10,11,12
- Section Leader: Alto Saxophone
- Played total of 3 diff. instruments in the band
- "Best Jazz Soloist" Award at midwest band competition
- All-State Jazz Band on 2 instruments
- All-City Concert Band on 2 instruments</p>

<p>Sports: (I may not be a star, but I'm not going to absolve myself from sports just because I'm not a typical "jock")
Freshman Soccer (9)
Varsity Track (9)
-3rd place 1600M relay
Varsity Football (11)
-unofficial "nerdiest kid on the team"</p>

<p>Amnesty International (11,12)</p>

<p>Founded Young Republicans Club (11,12)
- President</p>

<p>So far I have no "real" community service, but I am going to look to get involved over the summer in some outreach programs with my church.</p>

<p>This summer I am doing neuroscience research with a professor/mentor at washington university-stl. I'll be sending the abstract w/ my applications, and the paper might be published in Political Psychology. It's a pretty sweet project, kinda hard to explain. It focuses on decision making mechanisms and attitude formation, with a focus on those decisions and attitudes about politics/race/etc. I'm hoping this will be my main "hook" or thing that sets me apart. I know a lot of kids have research.. but they are usually the kids applying to MIT, HPY, etc.</p>

<p>Hooks, if any, besides the research: White kid from midwest. lol. on a more serious note, my dad dropped out of 2 year trade school, my mom has a teaching certificate (so I'm sorta a first generation college student) I play 5 instruments (guitar, violin, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, and soprano saxophone). Obviously speak English, am semi-fluent in spanish, and taught myself basic russian (I'm going to take russian in college to fulfill any foreign lang. req's)</p>

<p>Thanks! and please refrain from basic things I already know, such as "your GPA will hurt you" or "its tough for anyone so i don't know your chances"
constructive criticism is what i'm looking for.. such as what aspects i should "highlight" in my application, essays, etc. thanks!</p>

2

<p>Great ECs and good ACT scores.</p>

<p>Duke is a major reach (if you want to apply for the heck of it, go ahead, but I would suggest not wasting your ED).</p>

<p>Columbia (see above).</p>

<p>Cornell (see above).</p>

<p>NYU = match.</p>

<p>BU = safety.</p>

<p>GW = match.</p>

<p>Some safety schools you may want to look at:</p>

<p>American University
Drexel University
Northeastern University</p>

3

<p>Not what I was hoping to hear :(. Probably right though, Thanks for your response!</p>

4

<p>What kind of school do you want? Large private?</p>

5

<p>Yeah def. private, ideally large.. I liked Columbia and Duke alot when i visited, and I liked Tufts too though, which isn't large. i liked the campus though</p>

6

<p>You could feasibly apply to Tufts early.</p>

<p>Also look at Brandeis (a very liberal school, but Jews tend to be open minded).</p>

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<p>I was thinking about Tufts, but I didn't put it in my post because we just visited it 3 days ago just randomly, we were in Boston visiting BU, and we had extra time.
My main concern with EA/ED is that my first semester grades will not be on there and would not have raised my cumulative GPA. right now it is 3.44, but after this current semester it is going to be between 3.5 and 3.6, and after 1st semester next year, between 3.6 and 3.7.. so I really want my 1st semester on there so it can boost my cumulative GPA and class rank.
Is Brandeis in NYC? If it is.. is it more like columbia, or NYU. because i strongly disliked NYU's campus.. but loved columbia's.</p>

8

<p>Brandeis is in Waltham, MA, a suburb of Boston. It is relatively small (3,500 undergraduates) and is overwhelmingly Jewish (56%). A good school that you could apply to as a slight reach.</p>

9

<p>unofficial "nerdiest kid on the team"</p>

<p>and thats gonna help u get into college because...</p>

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<p>I'm pretty sure that was just an aside.</p>

11

<p>heaven wood-thanks for the info on brandeis! ill check it out!</p>

<p>harvard- .... what to say... umm.. DUH? lol it was a joke (an aside, as heavenwood stated). Also, I believe in some ways, it will help. Not so much the "nerdiest kid on the team" thing, but think about this. a lot of smart kids resolve themselves to reading and studying. now i'm not particularly athletic, but i'm not a clutz. I've always wanted to play hs football, and i decided that i wasn't going to let the "stereotype" of me being a "smart kid" or more commonly a "nerd" get in the way of me trying something new, something i enjoy. i was determined to play, even though i might get made fun of by the other players for playing fb, when i'd never played fb before and knew very little, or even though my grades might be impacted by the extra time i was devoting to the 3 hour afterschool practices. i hope the colleges will see that i do what I want to do(play sports)- not what other highschoolers want or expect me to do (study or read or join math club)</p>

<p>as an ASIDE... maybe this would make a possibly good essay topic? (my experience with football/sports/new things)</p>

12

<p>you didn't like NYU's campus?? There isn't one...you don't go there for the campus, you go because its New York</p>

<p>and of course, Greenwich village, which is supposed to be awesome btw. I really like their bohemian culture and the coffee houses. Not to mention their bustling indie folk rock scene thing.</p>

<p>man, I wish NYU didn't count freshman year :[ [2.33-->3.4--->3.7] all unweighted. Puts me at a 3.2 UW 9-11. </p>

<p>=/</p>

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<p>I think we have strongly different opinions of what we like in a college, lol. i strongly disliked greenwich village.. i do not care for artsy stuff or a "bustling indie folk rock scene" lol</p>

14

<p>hahaha </p>

<p>too right.</p>

<p>yeah I'm more of the artsy type [even though I'll be doing Econ at their College of arts and science]</p>

<p>emotional satisfaction/ happiness over educational/ learning satisfaction? I think I'll take the emotional.</p>

<p>:]</p>

15

<p>and btw, does a 30ish ACT + 2.33 freshman +3.4 Sophmore+ 3.5 Junior + awesome EC's + decent essay get me into NYU?</p>

<p>weighted Junior is 4.2 ish.</p>

<p>:]</p>

<p>[btw I think you have a really good shot at NYU, BU, and George WU], though Brown Cornell and Duke are reaches. [Cornell being the easiest to get into]</p>

<p>good luck! especially for the next two semesters....wish me luck too ;]</p>

16

<p>hmm i think you have a good shot at NYU. how hard are your classes though? if you don't have any AP/IB's.. then ur screwed, but if you're taking difficult classes then it should balance ur GPA. also the average for NYU gpa is like3.6 so you are approx. there
good lcuk!</p>

17

<p>Might want to add some Patriot League schools-great mixture of academics and athletics like Colgate or Holy Cross. Colgate has a rural location while HC is 1 hour from Boston.</p>

18

<p>isn't colgate in rural new york? cornell is also in rural ny.. maybe that would be good set-up to transfer into cornell (Assuming i get rejects from my top choice schools)</p>

19

<p>Your GPA is a little low for Colgate.
Colgate is well known for little grade inflation - I wouldn't view it as a very good stepping stone to transfer.</p>

20

<p>interesting. thanks!</p>