Chances for a terrified junior

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Alright, so the whole college admissions search is just starting for me, and I'm pretty panicked. I didn't do as well as I should have my freshman year, and I'm worried it will mess up my shot at a good school. You all seem like a very nice, well-informed bunch; any advice you have would be much appreciated!</p>

<p>White Female from Kansas</p>

<p>GPA: 3.7, shoul be at least 3.8 by the time I graduate
Weighted 4.01, should come up as well, but not sure how much</p>

<p>Grades (School does not do pluses and minuses)
Freshman:
Honors Biology: B/B
Algebra: B/B
Honors English: A/A
Modern World Honors: A/A
German II: A/A
Spanish I: A/A
PE: A/B</p>

<p>Sophomore:
Geometry: A/A
Chemistry: A/B
German III: A/A
Spanish II Honors: A/A
English II Honors: A/A
AP Euro: A/A (Five on the exam)
Health: A
PE: B</p>

<p>None of my grades have come back yet this year, but I expect to get straight As. The classes I am taking:
German IV Honors
Spanish IV Honors
AP US History
Psych/AP Psych
Physics
Honors Algebra II
AP English Language</p>

<p>Projected Senior Classes:
Pre-Calc Honors
AP Physics
AP English Literature
AP US Gov/Advanced US Government
AP Spanish V
AP Biology
Some sort of art class (it's a requirement)</p>

<p>Class rank: 90/374. Which I know is really low...I was 11/350 at my last school. Actually, low class rank is what freaked me out initially.</p>

<p>I'm hoping the fact that three of my Bs were in PE will help my case.</p>

<p>Test Scores:</p>

<p>ACT: 32, don't recall the exact breakdown...believe it was 35 reading, 34 writing, 28 math, 30 science</p>

<p>SAT:
2240 total
800 reading
730 writing
710 math</p>

<p>I expect to be able to bring these up, especially the writing. I can probably get an 800 on that.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars are disjointed because of changing schools; here they are:</p>

<p>Freshman: Spanish Club, German Club, Model UN
Sophomore: German Club, Environmental Club, Model UN, Newspaper
Junior: German Club (President), Environmental Club, Creative Writing Club, Young Democrats</p>

<p>If it helps at all, I am probably going to be spending next year studying abroad in Germany</p>

<p>I scored a 224 on the National Merit, so I expect I'll get some level of recognition for that.</p>

<p>I think my grades are okay, but I've been told my extracurriculars are appalling. Apparently I need to be on varsity sports and captain of a million things to even have a shot at any schools. The vast majority of students at my school go to state schools (K-State, KU) or community college. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I really want out of here.</p>

<p>Schools I'd Love to Go To (and apparently have no chance at):
-U. of Chicago
-NYU
-University of Virginia
-UC Berkeley or UCLA
-Georgetown
-Northwestern</p>

<p>School's I'd Like To Go To (and also apparently have no shot at):
-U. of Michigan Ann Arbor
-U. of Illinois (I grew up in Illinois and did my freshman and sophomore years of HS there)
-Other UC schools...Davis, Irvine, San Diego
-Boston College
-Wash. U in St. Louis</p>

<p>So, be blunt: do I have any smidgen of a chance at any of these places? If not, what kind of colleges should I be looking at? I'm fairly open to anything. I'd just like to know before I apply to a dozen places and get rejected at all of them.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your help!</p>

2

<p>yes, everyone always has a chance, and your school shouldn't dictate much of anything about where you are going to end up. Your grades are pretty good, although your freshman year does lower your GPA a little bit. Straight A's this year and next will help A LOT, and show improvement which is really important. Work hard on studying for SAT II's, and take them in your best subjects. Your SAT's are good, but raising your writing may help even more. </p>

<p>As for your EC's, it seems often people try to do too many and aren't focused. It seems like you have something big going with the German, right? Go with that, if that's what your passionate about. Show dimensionality, but also your focus and how much studying abroad has taught you. Excellent essay options, and a strong passion can come out of that experience, and the will be some of the most important things to leading you to the college of your dreams. =] </p>

<p>Best of luck. =]</p>

3

<p>Your courseload seems very heavy although your grades will be frowned upon. Your standardized test scores, however, look very good and your ECs are a bit weak but it's ok.</p>

<p>Schools I'd Love to Go To (and apparently have no chance at):
-U. of Chicago - high match (UChicago focuses a lot on their essay)
-NYU - high match
-University of Virginia - high match/match
-UC Berkeley or UCLA - low reach/high match (just depends...OOS is difficult for both)
-Georgetown - low reach
-Northwestern - high match</p>

<p>School's I'd Like To Go To (and also apparently have no shot at):
-U. of Michigan Ann Arbor - match
-U. of Illinois - match
-Other UC schools...Davis, Irvine, San Diego - match/high match
-Boston College - match
-Wash. U in St. Louis - high match</p>

4

<p>Thanks y'all. That's better than I hoped. A high match; what percentage would that be? About forty?</p>

<p>Anyboy else? Please?</p>

5

<p>Bump</p>

<p>Also, my class rank has changed since I first posted; it's now 53/374. Plus, I am for sure doing the exchange now; I'll be spending my senior year at school in Austria. That should help, right?</p>

<p>Anybody?</p>

6

<p>And one more bump</p>