Chances from Those who Know the College Process the Best

Parents Social Lounge
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<p>Chances (Please Relieve my anxiety)
Location:NYC
School: Bronx Science (Public Elite)
GPA:92
Ethnicity: Asian (Indian) Male
First Gen (mom went to 2 year college in india, dad no high school)
Low income: Dad was abusive as well.
Sophmore Year classes: Honors Chem,Honors Trig, Research
Junior Year:Honors English, Honors Physics, Research,
Senuor Year: A.P Calc AB, A.P Micro, A.P Chem, A.P Comp, A.P Psych, Linear algebra/differential equations, research, macroeconomics at local college</p>

<p>Did poorly one term due to aunt's cancer (will hoepfully be explained in rec)</p>

<p>ACT-35
Bio M-710
Bio M-800
U.S History-800
Math 2c-800
Clep Biology-80/80
Clep Spanish-76/80</p>

<p>Pre-Med Society (9,10,11,12)
Key Club (11,12) Projects Commitee head
Chess/Go club (10,12)
American Cancer Society club (12)</p>

<p>Summer job-one at hospital
other at community center</p>

<p>S-Prep at columbia medical school (medical program)</p>

<p>200 hours volunteering hospital</p>

<p>4 year dental internship</p>

<p>Job at Princeton Review Next year</p>

<p>Research at local college
will hopefully be published</p>

<p>Chances for the following Schools-</p>

<p>Princeton University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dartmouth College
Stanford University
Brown University
Columbia University
University of Virginia
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Honors Program
CUNY Honors College- Hunter or City College
SUNY Binghamton
Duke University
Vanderbilt University</p>

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<p>You've got to post this in the chances post kiddo.</p>

<p>Bronx Science has a tougher set of scattergrams than the rest of the country. Go study your school's scattergrams in detail. If you see a ton of rejected 4.0 GPAs in say, MIT's scattergram for BS, then you need to adjust your list accordingly. In all likelihood, your GC has an excellent idea of your chances.</p>

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<p>You probably want more safeties.</p>

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<p>I already posted this in the chances thread but I wanted an adult opinion since most of the adcoms are composed of adults and I can get a similar judgment of personality and such. </p>

<p>Can I ask my guidance counselor such things such as chances?</p>

<p>Also which safeties would you recommend?</p>

<p>RPI and such right.</p>

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<p>Yes, your GC at Bronx Science should sit down with you and compare your stats to the scattergrams (charts of acceptances and rejections) for each school. Steady yourself for a shock though--elite schools have very very tough scattergrams. </p>

<p>Make an appointment as soon as possible.</p>

<p>You rthread will be moved when the mods catch up to it. No chances posts in the parent's forum.</p>

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<p>I can't send this as a message to you because your messages are full. But--</p>

<p>I saw that you'd posted your chances thread again under the parents forum.</p>

<p>What's going to be most useful to you is talking to your college counselor. Make an appointment now (if they take summer appointments) or for the beginning of the year. Better yet, write them an email.</p>

<p>They have the most experience and know what colleges like to see from kids at your school. He/She will be able to more concretely and definitively gauge your 'chances'.</p>

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<p>Never mind.</p>

<p>Can someone just look at the scattergrams from my school? If no one wants to I understand. It would take some time.</p>

<p><a href="https://connection.naviance.com/fc/signin.php?hsid=bxscience%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://connection.naviance.com/fc/signin.php?hsid=bxscience&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>password for guest entrance is guest1</p>

<p>We used to have teachers serve as college mentors in lieu of counselors. This year they changed the system and we have counselors of which most and including mine are new so I don't know how helpful they would be.</p>

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<p>You will get into some of your colleges. You may want to add one absolute safety just in case you have extraordinary bad luck (remember Andison's experience). There is a bulge in the applicant population, so the most exclusive schools are turning down applicants who would have been almost guaranteed 15 years ago.</p>

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<p>Who is Andison? Could you elaborate on his expierence?</p>

<p>I know I will get into some but I really want to get into the first 6 ones on my list.</p>

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<p>He was an excellent student from Boston who didn't get into any schools. Nada.</p>

<p>Eventually, MIT offered him a chance to attend classes part-time, and he finally enrolled at MIT where he is deliriously happy.</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=192395%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=192395&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Whether or not you really want to get into those top schools is irrelevant. If you aren't one the best students in your class or you don't have the grades to make the cut according to Bronx Science scattergrams for those schools--you will have to find a suitable match or safety. </p>

<p>Also, you should be meeting with your GC about making the best presentation of your ECs. 'Research' is not a thrilling description. You need to demonstrate 'passion' for your subject.</p>

<p>In the case of equal scores and grades, those schools take the kid with the most intriguing ECs.</p>

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<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=192395&highlight=andison%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=192395&highlight=andison&lt;/a>
The thread above is a one-year follow-up. Basically Andison is a very gifted student. All of the parents would have predicted that he would get into a very selective school. He had a good list of schools but no safety school that he "loved". Call it bad luck, the Princeton dip or whatever he didn't get in to any of his schools. He did a gap year and then got into a super selective school. It was an object lesson for all of us. Pick a selective (as opposed to very selective or super selective school) that you would like to attend. If you don't get into the more selective schools there will be plenty of attentive faculty and equally smart classmates at your safety. And maybe even a little merit money.</p>

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<p>Would you say my essays are intiguing?</p>

<p>Bronx Science admissions are tricky. 3 people with low 91's have got in yet I see so many rejected 95, and 97's. Some of the smartest people from our school have no personality or ec's so IDK. My EC's are probably amazing compared to the rest of the nerds with higher GPA's. Essays can make a difference.</p>

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<p><a href="https://connection.naviance.com/fc/colleges/viewscattergram.php?cid=2672%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://connection.naviance.com/fc/colleges/viewscattergram.php?cid=2672&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>thats one of the scattergrams.</p>

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<p>Ok. You need to do this yourself. You can look at the scattergrams. And, take Princeton for instance, infer that they take kids with SATs as low as 1250 (CR+M) and as high as 1600 (duh).</p>

<p>But that there are ONLY 14 acceptances out of 88 applications from perfectly well qualified applicants from your school. Meaning that acceptance for ANYONE is difficult to achieve.</p>

<p>I think that you have gleaned as much insight as you're going to get on these boards. Unless posters were to meet you in person, interview you, read your letters of rec and your essay, there's really not much else any individual on these boards could tell you about your chances.</p>

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<p>Collegehopeful: I would guess that you would get into U Mich, though I do not know about its honors program. Bear in mind that U Mich has rolling admissions and the chances are higher for early applicants. You should also be able to get into SUNY Binghamton and CUNY (again, I do not know about the Honors program there). UNC-CH is hard to predict because the admit rate for OOS is very low, from what I've read; ditto UVA.
For the other colleges, you do have a chance at all, but much depends on the overall strength of your application. You will need to make a good case about your ECs, you will need great recs and a great essay. As another poster suggested, you need to elaborate on the research you've done, how it shows your "passion" (another way of saying how much you love a particular area or activity). Try to line up teachers to write recs asap. Also, get the person under whom you've been doing the research to write a supplemental rec.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>Yea but the professor doesn't really know me too well. They are too busy. Also my research mentor gives us work and expects us to do it without much help. I usually work with undergrads and grad students.</p>

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<p>Thanks for everyone's help. I will go and work on my college essays right now since they are pretty significant. Does anyone have a sample resume that I can look at it because I am really confused on the format and style to show my extra circular activities.</p>

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<p>Most applicaitons have a formatted section for ECs--but kiddo you shoot yourself in the foot when you describe yours. Why would MIT or Princeton fall in love with a kid who can't get the professor's attention? You need someone at the adcom table to fall for you and picture you as a terrific Princeton student.</p>

<p>Make that professor recommendation happen. You can post requests for editing your essays when they are writeen. Hoepfully you did the research out of mad-keen interest--which you can describe in loving detail in your essay.</p>

<p>Couldn't get onto that naviance link but I can tell you that your GC will know exactly why that kid with a 1250 SAT got into Princeton. Could be legacy, could be athlete--but it defintely not the run-of-the-mill BS student. IMO. That is an anamoly and unless there are a handful of those--you can't count on using the 1250 as a guideline for your acceptance.</p>

<p>14 got in last year? Is that right? </p>

<p>Are you one of the top 14 students in your class? If so, you have a 50/50 shot at Princeton. If not, you need to revise your list. It's very hard to beat odds at a place like BS. Adcom don't like to take anamolies from elite schools--as a rule. It upsets the balance of the relationship between the schools. Really though, you must sit down with the scattergrams and your GC and your record.</p>

<p>Bring a notepad and take notes so that you can review what was said.</p>

<p>A surprising number of clever people ignore the patterns of the scattergrams and the interpretation of the GC. Don't make that mistake.</p>

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<p>Hey collegehopeful. Your mailbox is still full, so I couldn't pm you this. My S is half Indian/half Caucasian and has just graduated from a NYC public magnet. His GPA was about the same as yours but ACT 33, SAT 1450/2220. He was a NMF. He applied to some of the same schools as you, so his experiences might be helpful.</p>

<p>University of Virginia--chose not to apply due to very competitive OOS AND very expensive school</p>

<p>University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill--rejected (also tough to get into OOS, but you should DEFINITELY apply as it's an excellent school for health sciences AND it's reasonably priced OOS. Apply early.)</p>

<p>University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Honors Program--deferred, then rejected...and he was legacy. Michigan is also VERY expensive OOS.</p>

<p>CUNY Honors College- Hunter or City College--accepted, Hunter. You will definitely get in here, and the program is excellent. Also...it's free.</p>

<p>SUNY Binghamton--accepted. A safety for you.</p>

<p>other schools we have experience with are Penn State (Schreyer Honors is excellent) and Wisconsin. You should get into those easily. S was waitlisted and then rejected at Cornell (we learned after the fact that Biology is the hardest major to get into at CALS) and will be going to William & Mary.</p>

<p>Lastly, have you considered Sophie Davis? It's an excellent program for people who are sure they want medicine and are interested in serving the community after graduation. Several kids from S's school were admitted this year.</p>

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<p>No its been 14 people in the past 5 years never in one year. Usually the ones who get in are not the one with the highest GPA because then the accepted average would be a 97.5 when it is a 94.5.</p>