Chances to ease impending senior year application anxiety. Please? I'll chance back.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hopefully this will be my last chance thread, because my parents really want me to compile a list of 8 colleges (including 2-3 safeties) to apply to. I am a rising senior and I could really use some advice! My family wants me to apply to more prestigious schools than I had been considering, so I'd really appreciate any ideas as to which ones I honestly have a shot at. They think I should be applying to places like harvard, princeton, or caltech even though I have hardly any chance of admission at all. (I guess this comes with being a first generation college student)</p>

<p>Without further ado, here's my current list (excluding my automatic admission to my state schools):</p>

<p>Northwestern University
University of California, Berkeley
Cornell University
University of Notre Dame
Davidson College
Middlebury College
Brown University</p>

<p>and....Stanford (I can dream, right?)</p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>Basic stuff/possible diversity
- White Senior Male in Austin, Texas
- First Generation College Student.
- English is my second language</p>

<p>GPA and Rank
- Weighted GPA: 106.84 (weird 100 point scale..)
- Unweighted GPA: 4.0
- Class Rank: 1/517 at a pretty competitive Public High School. </p>

<p>AP's and Honors Coursework/Grades
- AP World History-A/A - 5 on exam
- AP Chemistry- A+/A+
- AP English 3- A/A
- AP U.S History- A+/A+
- AP Spanish Language- A+/A+
- AP Computer Science- A/A
- all other classes are Honors Classes (bio, trig, physics, etc...) with A+</p>

<p>ACT Scores
Composite- 35
English- 35 (33 with 10 essay)
Math- 34
Reading- 36
Science- 36</p>

<p>SAT Scores*
CR- 740
Math- 750
Writing- 740 (10 Essay)
2230 composite</p>

<p>*These are superscored. I have taken it twice. I probably won't send these.</p>

<p>PSAT- 225, should hopefully be NMSF in Texas. </p>

<p>Subject Tests
World History 770
Chem-800
Math 2-720 :(</p>

<p>EC Activities</p>

<p>Elected Class Office Positions<br>
- Sophomore Class President
- Junior Class VP
- Student Body President Senior Year</p>

<p>Academic Competitions
State-wide Science Competition(UIL)
-3 years participation
-Team Captain for two years
-Qualified for regionals this year.
State-wide Social Studies Competition(UIL)
-2 years Team Captain
- First Place Team at District level, qualified for regionals</p>

<p>Social Events Comittee
- Head for one year (10th Grade)
- Planned a school dance from the bottom up.
- Planned Homecoming events</p>

<p>Community Service Committee
- Head Junior Year
- Sponsored outings to a retirement home
- Organized a school-wide coat drive
- Organized other outings to marathons and other community stuff</p>

<p>Principal's Council
- Member 3 years. (Elected)
- We sit with the principal once a month and discuss campus issues.</p>

<p>National Honor Society
- Member 3 years
- Officer 1 year
- Elected as Liason to Student Council/Public Relations Chair
- Overseeing a TBD committee as a committee co-head.</p>

<p>Will be sitting on school board next year.</p>

<p>Summer Activities</p>

<p>10th grade
- Employed as a cashier at Chick Fil-A (3 months)
- Was tutor at a summer program for elementary schools (3 months)</p>

<p>11th grade
- UT Honors Colloquium
- Camp counselor at a residential camp for children with special needs (4 weeks)</p>

<p>Thanks so much for your time, I'll chance back by the way.</p>

2

<p>OH MY GOODNESS! If I were as smart as you, I wouldn’t post on here and say “Chance me”. Frankly, I’m scared to post anything of mine lol. You’re overly qualified for any of those schools you listed. When you mentioned Stanford, don’t dream, you could possibly…no, you can get into Stanford. I’m amazed. Your parents are right, you should apply to Harvard and Princeton. Your fine, don’t worry about a thing. :slight_smile: I’m not going to post any of my academic information because of: </p>

<p>1) It’ll look like a piece of crap compared to yours, and
2) I’m not smart, I know what colleges are available to me lol.</p>

3

<p>To be entirely honest, I’m extremely confident that you’ll be happy come application time. You’ve positioned yourself well. I’d be shocked if you didn’t get into NU (should be your #1 by the way haha).</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Thanks a bunch FantasyVesperia and CentralFC, I really appreciate what you guys said. </p>

<p>@FantasyVesperia- I’m sure your stats would not look like crap compared to mine. I bet you’re passionate about a ton of interesting things and that’s what I hear adcoms really want to see. And I promise you I’m not as smart as you’re making me sound! Lol I just try really hard in school. My parents come from really disadvantaged backgrounds and they’ve been my main motivational force. </p>

<p>@Central- I sure hope I’m happy come next April. And are you an NU student? I absolutely loved it there, and I’d be really happy if I got accepted. We visited while it was snowing and I still came away with a great impression. </p>

<p>Any other input/advice is appreciated!</p>

5

<p>I was accepted into the class of 2016 at Weinberg. I was thrilled. It’s such an impressive class of students from an athletic, social, academic, and intellectual standpoint. It was the only school I applied to (ED) and I would do the same thing over. Now, I also visited several other top schools (Vanderbilt, UC, Macalester, Boston College, Harvard, and Cornell) and not one of them left the impression that NU did. The faculty, the admissions committee, the students, and the campus itself are extraordinary. It’s obviously a subjective stance considering my plans this fall, but I would feel the same way had I been rejected.</p>

6

<p>Congrats on your acceptance! That’s really awesome. NU’s definitely really high up on my list. It’s like the perfect combination of amazing academics, idyllic lakeside location, and Big 10 school spirit. I’ve visited some of the schools that you’ve listed and I totally know what you’re talking about. It just seems like a laid-back, awesome place to go to school.</p>

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<p>bump10char</p>

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<p>bump. I really appreciate any feedback anyone may give me.</p>