Chances for admission

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey CC</p>

<p>I was hoping people can chance me for admissions to some universities that I plan to apply to. I'm a current senior from Massachusetts.
I am applying to Tufts (ED II), Boston University, Boston College, New York University, UConn, Syracuse, Dartmouth (Reeeeaaaacccchh), Northeastern, Villanova, and William and Mary. (All regular decision)</p>

<p>Prospective major: Biology. Will go pre-med track.</p>

<p>School: Private/Prep Catholic school
GPA: 3.7 UW, not sure of weighted. First quarter report card just came out 4.0 UW, 4.6 W.
SAT: 2140 (740CR, 660M, 740W 10essay) single sitting. I am retaking these next weekend and hope to break a 2200.
SAT II: 800 Lit 750 Bio M
ACT: waiting on October scores... doubt I'll submit </p>

<p>Course Rigor:
Freshman year: 3 honors courses, 3 accelerated
Sophomore year: AP Euro (3 on exam) and 3 honors courses. 2 accelerated.
Junior year: AP English Language (5), AP Psych ( Mono on the day of the exam and never bothered to retake) Pre-AP USH (course is two years at my school. will take exam this spring)
Senior year: AP Statistics, AP English Lit, AP Bio, AP Spanish Lit, AP USH, Social Action A (Basically, we are required to do community service. easy A+)
I suck at math, so that precluded me from taking high-level maths.
8 APs total. Also, mandatory religion courses each year that screwed up my GPA. I understand most colleges don't factor these when they recalculate GPA. BC and Villanova will include them, I'm assuming. As for the rest, I really hope they don't. </p>

<p>ECs:
500-600 volunteer hours (don't feel like listing all)
Volunteer at Lahey Medical Center this past summer and still volunteering (150~ hours thus far)
Vice President of Spanish Club
Chair and officer for Model UN
Writer for school paper (10-12)
Freshman retreat leader, sophomore retreat leader, Eagles Wings leader (3 day orientation for freshman in august)
National Honor Society
Open house tour guide (9-12)
National Rare Disease Day co-founder at my school, as well as White Ribbon Day co-founder
Shadowed two surgeries: Scapholunate ligament tear and Rotator cuff repair. Awesome experience, college essay pertained to my observations of surgery.
A few other things that I probably won't list.</p>

<p>Work: Slush shack employee (9th and 10th). Caddy and jewelery store employee 11th. Random I know</p>

<p>Awards: Drama award (9th and 10th), Volleyball award (captain of JV in 9th, varsity player 10th) (9th and 10th), National Spanish Exam Silver Medalist (10th), Presidential Medal of Service Bronze, I almost qualify for silver but idk if its worth the hassle to ask Lahey to now nominate me for a silver. </p>

<p>Essay: I really like it and so have the people that read it. I believe it'll be a strongpoint of my app. I plan to edit it a bit more.</p>

<p>Supplemental Essays: Have only done a few so far but I plan to focus heavily on these to bolster my chances of admission.</p>

<p>Recs:
AP English lang teacher: 9.5/10, first couple sentences are whimisical but after that it's excellent
AP Psych teacher: Haven't seen, but I expect it to be very good as well
Guidance counselor: We're close and and he's been incredibly helpful throughout all 4 years. I bet it'll be really good.
The head of Human relations at the hospital I volunteer at offered me to write me a recommendation, should I need it. Would this be advisable to submit alongside the rest of my app?</p>

<p>College list is almost final. If you guys have any other suggestions for schools that I should consider checking out please let me know, no LACs though. I'm open to any insight you choose to provide. If you've read up to here, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to do so. If I've left any information out that you need to see, I'll provide it below. Thanks again!</p>

2

<p>Apply to UMass Commonwealth Honors and find another safety.
Beside 2 safeties, you should to find 2-3 more matches.
Your list too top-heavy, with most of it reaches due to admission rate (anything that has admission rates of 30% or less is an automatic reach, and very few matches.
What is your parents’ budget? Have you run the Net Price Calculators for a few of these and discussed the results with them?</p>

3

<p>@MYOS1634</p>

<p>Thanks for your reply. I did not mention Penn State and Pitt, which I have already applied to, as safeties. I’ll look into UMass Commonwealth Honors. Do you think I have a decent chance at the honors college? As for budget, roughly 35-40k. They have run the Net Price Calculator at the universities where it is offered and thankfully all have yielded results within budget. </p>

4

<p>I think u have good chance for most of the schools except Boston Uni and Dartmouth. Your stats are excellent I’m my personal opinion but your chances are a bit lower for those 2. Chance me! </p>

5

<p>@LonelyBanana106‌ </p>

<p>Thanks! I know Dartmouth is a big reach, but I didn’t think BU is. From my school, the acceptance rate was 52% (2007-2014) for the 636 applicants. Also, the academic stats of kids who got in were on average a 3.55 unweighted and a 1910 SAT. I know BU is becoming more and more selective, but I guess I didn’t realize how much it has changed.</p>

6

<p>Yes your odds for Commonwealth Honors are excellent.
With Penn State and Pitt, you’re good then as far as safeties (are you applying to Shreyer? It’s heavily essay-based - test scores are NOT factored in, whereas at Pitt Honors test scores are crucial, ie., you may not be competitive. So if you like writing… hurry!)
BU is actually one of the closest to a match (with UConn and Villanova) that you have, not sure what LonelyBanana meant :slight_smile:
Good for the budget - your parents are very generous and that’ll help. :)</p>

<p>Tufts (ED II) = reach
Boston University = low/match
Boston College= reach
New York University: reach
UConn = low match to safety (depending on major and whether you’re applying to Honors)
Syracuse= match
Dartmouth = high reach
Northeastern= reach
Villanova= match
William and Mary = reach
Penn state = safety (shreyer: reach)
Pitt = safety (honors: reach)</p>

7

<p>@MYOS1634‌ </p>

<p>The detailed responses have helped a lot, thank you so much. I’m not applying to Shreyer or Pitt honors. I plan to apply to UConn as a bio major and not to the honors college. My school seems to be an anomaly for admissions to certain schools. BC and Northeastern acceptance rates are 41% and 56% rd from my school, while rd NYU admissions are a mere 21%. Pretty odd in my opinion. If I break the 2200 mark on the Nov. SAT, that’ll put me above the 75% mark for all but William and Mary, Tufts, and Dartmouth. How helpful do you think a score of 2200+ would be for my candidacy at all of the schools I’m applying to?</p>

8

<p>LonelyBanana could’ve been wrong on Boston Uni ): Sorry </p>

9

<p>Bump</p>

10

<p>You seem to have an impressive resume and similar stats as when I applied to schools. Extracurricularly, you certainly don’t seem to be lacking and it definitely enhances your application. Perhaps it has changed since I applied to schools, but I don’t recall there being a separate application for UConn honors. I certainly don’t recall filling one out, and I don’t think it would drastically change chances of admission. Like I said, you have a pretty strong record.</p>

<p>William and Mary (the school I am currently at) primarily takes into account CR + M scores, and uses the essays more to tell them about your writing ability. So if you are taking it again, I would say focus more on raising your math scores than necessarily breaking a 2200. Lastly, do you have any preferences in terms of schools? Boston University will be very different from UConn which will be very different than William and Mary or Villanova. It’s perfectly possible to be happy at all of them, but that’s something I was curious about.</p>

<p>Anyways, good luck with your college applications. If you have any questions about W&M, feel free to contact me via tagging or PM.</p>

11

<p>@shawnspencer
Thank you for the advice. I’m taking it again to bring up math to ~700 hopefully. I really don’t have a preference in the campus environment of the schools. I love the city campuses as well as the more traditional college campuses. I’ve visited all of the schools besides William and Mary unfortunately. I probably won’t visit unless I’m accepted. What schools did you choose W&M over? Also, with regards to the social life there, can you tell me about the campus life, frats, etc.? How are the professors, especially those in the sciences? Altogether, are you happy with W&M? </p>

12

<p>I chose W&M over other schools like Northeastern, Fordham, UConn, and the like. Mostly other schools up north as well. Like you, I applied to Tufts ED II but was deffered. However, W&M definitely fulfilled what I wanted in a school, and if a school like Tufts (one that values the creativity and uniqueness of its student body) appeals to you then I think you will have a similar experience here at W&M. </p>

<p>Overall, I am very satisfied with the social life on campus. One of the biggest draws for me was how genuinely friendly and inviting the students were. Compared to other schools of the same caliber, there is virtually no vibe of pretentiousness or hyper-competiveness that other schools might be known for. </p>

<p>Whether you choose to participate in greek life or not, I think it is easy to find your place on campus. Approximately 1/3 of the students do (the frat houses are pretty nice), but they in no way dominate the social scene. If you are looking for parties available every night, you may be better off at a larger school like Syracuse, but if you party on weekends or in moderation, you can easily find people into that stuff. Multiple club organizations have their own parties and mixers, and there is a group called “AMP” that focuses on planning fun events (think: zombie apocalypse, concerts, dodgeball torunaments) for students not interested in alcoholic activity.</p>

<p>The professors I have taken so far have all been very good. That’s not to say every professor is here is perfect, no school is, but they have definitely take pride in their teaching, not just their own research. Fun fact: out of the “300 best professors” listed by the Princeton Review, W&M has 8 of them, second to only Mount Holyoke. I have a class with one of them this year and he truly lives up to the expectations. Another professor that I have also has office hours in Aroma’s, the local coffee shop, which allows you to get to know them even in the larger intro classes.</p>

<p>Speaking of research, I think one of the greatest things about W&M its size and it’s ability to allow students to do research as early as freshman year. You will have to take initiative, but if you do, it can be rewarding. A few of my hallmates are involved in research from biology, to English, to political science this year. If that is something you are interested in, there is a particular program called PLUS-S specifically for incoming freshman interested in biology and the Sharpe Community Scholar program for community based research.</p>

<p>If you are accepted, come to admitted students day and look out for a program called “ESCAPE” which allows you to stay overnight with a host. As you may be able to tell, I am very happy with my choice in the school, and I’d encourage you to look into it. However, you seem to have a good list, perhaps add a safety or two, such as an instate school especially if cost is a factor. </p>

13

<p>@shawnspencer‌ After reading your post and looking further into W&M, it definitely has peaked my interest. It sounds like an awesome place and I really hope I have the chance to see it in person. </p>

14

<p>Any other opinions?</p>