<p>*I am an Asian Indian from one of the best high schools in oregon (won top AP school award this year) and am top 10 in a 500+ class.</p>
<p>*Freshman year:
Lit 9-A, A with honors both sem
Spanish 1-A,A
Social Studies-A,A
Health 1 (req)-A
PE (req)-A
Adv. Algebra 2-A, A
SAT Verbal prep-A
SAT math prep-A
10th Grade Science-A, A with honors both sem</p>
<p>*Sophomore Year (really messed up):
Lit 10-A, A with honors
AP Chem- B, A
Precalc-A, B
Social Studies-B (note: can I explain a grade anywhere because this grade was ridiculous), A
Physics 2-A,A
Spanish 2-A,A
Band-A,A (needed for an EC)
Health 2-A (req)
PE-A (req) </p>
<p>*I'm projecting to finish high school with around a 3.7 or 3.6 UW...maybe even 3.5 worst case senario in IB diploma (aka f-ing hard) classes.</p>
<p>*Varsity tennis 4 years
*Science Team 4 years
*World Quest Trivia 4 years
*Science Club VP
*Math Club VP
*Portland Youth Philharmonic 3 years
*National Youth Leadership Forum in Medicine Nominee
*National Honor Roll
*Mathfest Algebra 2 1st place fresh year
*OIMT Participant Fresh Year
*Mathfest Participant sophomore year
*Oregon Museum of Science and Industry Rising Star Program (will have 150+ hours done)
*Mathcounts Tutor (about 30+ volunteer hours)
*expecting around 2000-2100 on SAT, 29+ on ACT</p>
<p>Do I even have a shot given my poor GPA?</p>
<p>You are an amazing student, but sorry, I think ENGAGE scholars are only literally perfect student who would otherwise be going to Harvard or MMIT had they not been accepted to the ENgage program anyway (they only accept 10 students a year, and Vandy IS a top school)
Apply anyway for it, I am, and I am not as strong of an applicant as you are. I really do not think anyone can give you realistic chances for such a competitive program.</p>
<p>I respectfully disagree.</p>
<p>The ENGAGE program is a fairly new development at Vandy. Im sure it will eventually be at the level you're thinking about, but right now the program is held up mainly by the hype of the admin department. Alot of the kids there don't know what engage is and didnt bother applying, or they didn't see the point in doing it.</p>
<p>It's not a scholarship-it offers no money, just the promise of grad school accpetance if you keep up you're grades. Now, at 18, its hard for lots of kids to say, yes i want to spend 8+ years at the same (albeit great) school. </p>
<p>When i was visiting for a scholarship weekend (for engage and money scholarships), one of my host student's friends dropped by to tell us that he got into engage. When i started asking him questions about the program, he actually seemed pretty puzzled about the purpose of the whole program. It just seemed like he got into to it for the feeling of security it gave.</p>
<p>What I think is this: if you're amazing enough to qualify for ENGAGE as a high schooler, you don't need this security blanket of a grad school reseveration 4 years in advance- as long as you keep up the hard work, you can get in to many other schools just as successfully at the end of your undergrad.</p>
<p>Perhaps once the program has been fleshed out a bit more, my opinion will change and it will be a worthy time investment. </p>
<p>california, here's my advice. apply fo rthe program if you have very solid, defined life goals. What major, what school, what grad school, what career, how it all fits together. That's what they're looking for.</p>