chances for a random university aspirant

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>asian male
competitive high school in California</p>

<p>UW GPA ~3.76
UC GPA 4.10
Weighted 4.29</p>

<p>9th Grade:
Biology (A+/A)
English 9/English Honors (A/B)
Algebra 2 Honors (B/B+)
Modern World History (A/A+)
Mandarin 3 (A/A)
Journalism (A, only one sem, taken in summer)
Track and Cross Country (but not counting it)</p>

<p>10th Grade:
Precalc/Calc A H (C+/B) a pretty wierd discrepancy here i got 800 on iic on my first try and a 5 on the BC test.
AP Biology (A/A)
English Honors (B+/A)
Mandarin 4 (A/A)
Journalism Newspaper (A/A)
PE (also not counting it)</p>

<p>11th Grade:
Mandarin 5 H (B+, but i dropped this semester becuase the class is geared toward native speakers, which i am not)
AP Calc BC (B+/A)
AP English Language (A/A)
AP US History (A/A)
AP Physics B (A+/A)
Digital Photography/Graphic Design (A/A)
Computer Networking (A+)</p>

<p>EC's:
Attended Physics and Chemistry Classes at CSULA the summer before 8th grade under the PACE/ACE Program and got around a mid 3.8, i wanna say a 3.85
Track and Field in 9th grade, team placed 2nd place in league, and I was ranked #5 in the league for triple jump and #5 for long jump. had to quit next year because of scheduling restrictions (yes, my school sucks)
Yearbook in 10th Grade, Sports Staff, was made the Sports Editor but had to drop it due to scheduling conflicts again
Joined Quizbowl in 10th grade, made the A Team, Captained the school's B-Team (top 10 high scorer on several occassions), qualified for the High School National Tournament and was the 2nd highest scorer on the team. Team placed in the top 5th of the field at nationals. Captain this coming year.
Joined Ocean Science Bowl and Science Bowl Teams end of 10th grade. Contributed to the Ocean Bowl team that won 3rd place in the reigional that featured the 3rd ranked team in the nation.
Currently also the Captain of Science Bowl.
Volunteered for the Red Cross, about 150 hours
Vice-President of School's Juggling/Rubik's Cube Club
a member of a couple clubs i frequent
CSF Gold Seal (i dont see myself not getting this)
Internship with a Local Dentist
Probably get a job/internship in a company run my a family friend
Currently back at CSULA taking classes</p>

<p>SAT I: June=2250.i got unlucky in june with an incompetent proctor. 2300 shouldnt be too hard to reach
ACT: 33, rounded down from a 33.25, will retaking soon. got a composite killing 31s on English and Science due to unfamiliarity with the format of the test</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests:
biology = 750
math iic = 800
physics =780
us history = 800
taking chinese in nov, may be retaking bio and may take world history</p>

<p>i'm thinking about applying to the UC's (which are a given because i'm in state), jhu, upenn, uchicago, cmu, umich, duke,cornell, columbia. although i admit my gpa is hindering me for alot of these places, i'm thinking about applying early to uchicago or upenn. it would be great if someone can also chance me on those too.</p>

2

<p>You should be fine at the UCs. I'm assuming if yours is a typical CA public school, your rank is not very high with 4.1, maybe top 7%? That would be a problem at ivies.</p>

3

<p>even though it doesnt seem to be too big a factor in the admissions process, i have gotten all 5's on every AP i've taken:</p>

<p>AP Bio
AP Eng Lang
AP Physics B
AP Calc BC
AP USH</p>

4

<p>Also, Chicago and Penn are polar opposites. I see that you have some Chicagolike schools and Pennlike schools on your list, so I guess you see yourself at both schools for different reasons. You have a decent chance at both.</p>

5

<p>-bbuummpp-</p>

6

<p>just wondering, would the number and the scope of my Ec's be considered poor or mediocre, becuase it appears that lots of the people heere have a large amount of EC's</p>

7

<p>another thing, is my lack of interesting activities in summer (i.e. Internships, Research, etc.) hurting me? i am taking classes at a local state college, but i'm not quite sure if it is adequate. if such activities are looked upon highly by admissions officers then i would be forced to reconsider where i will apply to</p>

8

<p>EA at Chicago isn't binding, so why not apply there. You should be a good candidate, assuming you write a great essay.</p>

9

<p>I have friends who did nothing resume-building with their summers (sleep, swim, watch anime reruns) and had no problem getting into Dartmouth, Yale, and Stanford. Life shouldn't always be about resume building.</p>

10

<p>waitlist at penn because of gpa
in at the rest (not sure about columbia)</p>

11

<p>i'm a bit worried about how the 9 i got on my june sat would look to an admissons officer. i did get a 11 on the oct 06 sat, a 12 on act writing, and a 5 on ap eng lang. would that convince them that the 9 was a fluke?</p>

12

<p>Do not take Chinese SAT II. That is a bs subject test</p>

13

<p>Your test scores are fine, but if you feel the need to retake you should do so. The GPA is ok, not great, but hey, it's better than mine. You have good ECs, and you represent your school in them so that's nice. You know, you can apply EA to Chicago and ED to Penn. However, if accepted at Penn you must go. I would say EA with Chicago is a low reach while I think you'll get in ED at Penn (if you look at the previous chances threads on CC I think more than half got accepted ED). Columbia is a reach with Cornell and Duke being high matches-low reaches pending new test scores. JHU is a match-high match, CMU a match, and UMich a low match. You won't have much trouble at the UC's. Good luck. (P.S.-colleges don't care much about the essay section of the SAT, they care about the essay you write them on your app)</p>

<p>Please chance me at:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=361246%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=361246&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

14

<p>What is your class rank (approx. if unknown)?</p>

15

<p>Your chances at Columbia and UPenn really depend on which school you're applying to. If SEAS at Columbia, then your odds really go up. If NOT Wharton at Penn, then again your odds go up. But they're still not excellent. Your ECs leave a little to be desired and CA is a competitive state... </p>

<p>I don't think you really come off as a UChicago type of kid. Their uncommon application really weeds out the type of hyper intellectual, quirky kid that they want. And I don't know if you'll fit into that category.</p>

<p>JMU, CMU, Duke, and UMich all seem like tossups. Odds are you'll get in.</p>

16

<p>UCB--match
UCLA--match
UCSD--safe match
JHU--match
Upenn, Duke, Cornell, Columbia--you will get into 2 out of these 4 (probably Upenn and Cornell)<br>
Univ of Chicago--match, but they are quirky about who gets in
CMU--safe match to match
Michigan--match</p>

17

<p>in your experience, has (choose a topic of your choice) prompt on the common app been ummm... well received as compared to the other topics? also, it would be fantastic if someone can offer their opinion on essays on hardships-are they really as trite and cliched as the sport essays seem? would this, even presented creatively come across as something dour?</p>

18

<p>^Most people choose a topic of their choice and input their personal statement from other apps.</p>

<p>And essays on hardships really depend on what the hardship is. Did you survive a brain tumor? Did you help support your siblings by working? Did you rescue a friend from certain death? Etc.</p>

<p>If your challenge is overcoming bullying, peer pressure, a tough class, or self-confidence issues then don't even both. They will be trite and odds are they won't really give the reader any insight into you as a person.</p>

<p>Instead maybe write about something that makes you unique: where you grew up, your home situation, a hobby you love, a quirk, your philosophy on life.</p>

19

<p>because i dont really want to annoy people my making a whole new chances thread, here goes.</p>

<p>although it is clear that my ECs and some of the other components of my application will not change drastically, there were some changes
1) most likely restarting volunteer work at red cross
2) unpaid internship at a local aerospace company
3) interestingly, i was by far the top student in my astro class at csula, the professor, apparently one of the main guys who worked the cassini mission, will be writing a letter of rec for me. the same might apply to the professor of the history class i also took at csula.</p>

<p>i noticed that i have not exactly made a very clear list of colleges that i am interested in in the first post of the thread. although this list is really rough, i will most likely be applying to. i admit there is a dearth of safeties, but i think that i should be able to make it to at least one of the UC's i apply for sure. i'm in state btw.</p>

<p>I remember mentioning that I was planning to major in biology; however, I am seriously considering the humanities and econ</p>

<p>uci
ucla
ucsd
ucb
uchicago
jhu
upenn (not applying to wharton)
duke
cornell
wash u
u mich
caltech (because my parents are making me)</p>

<p>thanks!</p>

20

<p>CalTech? For humanities? Seriously?</p>