Chances @ UPitt, UPenn, Brown, Claremont Mckenna, Oxy, Rice, Dartmouth, USC, Pitzer, Pomona, Chapman

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a rising junior who is just curious about college chances. I don't brag about anything really. My GPA is a huge worry of mine but I'm constantly challenging myself the most I can but it can be overwhelming. I have a good story since I moved from a sub par high school to one of the most competitive high schools in illinois. Curriculum has changed from freshman to sophomore year so watch for that. PLEASE NOTE: I DO NOT do extracurriculars for college. I do it because I'm genuinely interested. I care about the causes I'm supporting. Kids at my new school are only interested about college apps but I'm bigger than that. I care about the people who have died through neurological diseases. I don't care which college I go to. I just want to make an impact. Right now, I'm just weighing options and what's realistic.</p>

<p>GPA UW: 3.64 W: 4.16
ACT: not taken yet but on practice I've received consistent 29-31 range. I'm still trying to bring that up before the real one.
Courses:
Freshman: Honors Algebra 2 B/B+ Honors English A-/A- Honors Biology A/B+, AP human Geography A/A, Spanish 2 A/A
Sophomore: Accel English B/B, Accel Chemistry A/B+, AP European History B-/A-, Accel Spanish 3-4 B+/A-, Honors Geometry A/B+
Junior courseload: AP English Lang, AP Physics 1, AP Calc BC, APUSH, AP Spanish, Accel Anatomy and Physiology
Senior: AP English Lit, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Psychology, AP macro/gov, Calculus 3/Linear Algebra
AP scores: human geo(4) euro (4)
Extracurriculars:
-Clubs/organizations
NHS (11,12) (maybe a board position)
Future Doctors of America(maybe a board position) (10,11,12)
HOSA (VP of communications) (11,12)
Debate team (9,10,11,12) (maybe a board)
Math team (9,10)
Freshman Mentor Program (11,12) maybe board)
Brain Bee(President and Founder)
FBLA(11,12)
Psych Club (11,12) (maybe board)
Peer Tutors (10,11,12) maybe board)</p>

<p>Leadership in general:
Give a Thon classroom leader
Project dance team captain
Spring fling team captain</p>

<p>Athletics:
Soccer(9,10,11,12) </p>

<p>Out of School:
Hosted an event with Alzheimer's association
Research at UChicago(getting published as 4th author)
Research at Rush University(getting published as 3rd author)
Volunteer at local medical center (200+ hours)
Extraneous U-Give hours (50+ hours)
NSLC at UC-Berkeley
Presenter of Science at the Museum of Science and Industry
Shadowed a neurosurgeon for 100+ hours in the OR watching live surgeries that I research at the same Hosptial.</p>

<p>Goals before senior year:
One more research internship with publication
Try to give a TED talk (unrealistic)
Paid Internship at the museum of science and industry
Try to host more event for Alzheimer's
Do a brain awareness campaign</p>

2

<p>You are a competitive applicant. Now go ace those essays.</p>

3

<p>Make sure you get that ACT up! Your leadership positions in school clubs are not overly impressive, but it’s obvious that the majority of your EC time is outside the classroom. You have great EC’s especially if you are going into something sciency, so great job. Props to you for doing all these activities cuz of genuine concern and passion, not everyone is like that. Plz chance back</p>

4

<p>Don’t assume you know what others motives are for doing something: “Kids at my new school are only interested about college apps but I’m bigger than that.” People probably assume the same thing about you. </p>

<p>You also need to bring your UW GPA up. You’re only a sophomore and many people’s GPAs take a dip during junior year. Are you attending the new highschool this year or did you start attending this high school for you junior and senior years. I personally don’t get how switching highschools makes a good story but that’s just me. </p>

<p>Keep in mind that even though your school may care about your W GPA. Colleges care more about the UW GPA and the course rigor. </p>

<p>UC’s only count your 10-11th GPA and Honors Courses that are not taken at a california school are scored on a 4.0 scale. AP Classes are scored on a 5.0 scale.
<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/docs/USCFreshmanProfile2013.pdf”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/docs/USCFreshmanProfile2013.pdf&lt;/a&gt; ~ mean GPA UW 3.82 </p>

<p>UPenn~ students had an UW GPA of 3.8 or higher. ACT 25th-75th percentile: 31-34</p>

<p>For the rest of the colleges on your list type into the google: _______ (school name) class profile.
Make sure the class profile is for the school’s undergraduates. </p>

<p>Also get some more safeties and matches on your list because of alot of the schools you picked are reaches for most. </p>

<p>Your EC are very good btw. Make sure you write compelling essays and get excellent letters of recommendations. College admissions are not all about GPA and test scores but it wouldn’t hurt to increase both of them. </p>

5

<p>@tola2015‌ I didn’t intend to demean people at my school but you always here the sentence I’m doing “this” for a college app. The reason it makes a good story to me is because I had a tough time transitioning into a brand new school but instead of being shy like most high school students were, I took almost every opportunity I could at my school to excel in what I care about but my GPA fell, not because of ECs but because of the strong grade deflation at my high school. I may have an upward trend since my teachers are great next year but who knows as of now. I also have a good story because at my old school, my rank was 2/756 and now my rank is top 20% at my new school. My low gpa can be explained through transitioning into the most competitive public school in illinois. Colleges would know since it’s on US news. I was in constant stress sophomore year. I work extremely hard out of school to study for tests and quizzes but the courses are notoriously difficult due to the number of students taking them. Also, my test scores are average for the CCer since I have ADD and I’m a slow processor of information. I’m always the last one to finish.</p>

6

<p>*hear</p>

7

<p>What you lack in straight As your ECs more than make up for. You are a really competitive candidate for any of the aforementioned schools.</p>

8

<p>@eharr34‌ Thanks! Im still working extremely hard to bring my gpa up but its hard since my course rigor is extreme.</p>

9

<p>course load is average-ivy league</p>

10

<p>Your ECs seem to be strong. Pull up your GPA and post a good ACT/SAT score and you should be a competitive applicant even at your reaches.</p>

11

<p>Can someone literally chance me for these schools though so I know if I have enough safeties or not?</p>

12

<p>We cannot “literally” chance you as we are not admissions counselors. Just apply and see what happens. Most of the people who chance one another are high schools students. We haven’t even been accepted to colleges ourselves yet which is why I don’t feel comfortable chancing people per se and just give links of data sets and scholarships (if asked). There are many variables that go into college admissions so regardless of what we say on college confidential some variable (possibly ECs or essays, who knows?) could lead to you getting accepted. So rather than ask us for assurance on a guessing game start writing your college essays or something else that will benefit you in your admissions process. Good luck in your college search :)!</p>

13

<p>Thank you so much. I appreciate the advice. @tola2015‌ </p>

14

<p>Can someone bump this?</p>

15

<p>I’m confused by your math track. You took Algebra 2 as a freshman, and Honors Geometry as a sophomore. You say you are a rising junior so presumably you are starting AP Calc BC according to your list. But at my D’s school, you would need to take Trig/PreCalc Honors after Algebra 2 and Geometry and couldn’t jump right into AP Calc BC.</p>

<p>In general, you need to focus on getting your GPA up and score as high as possible on the ACT. As @tola2015 suggested, look at the profiles of freshman classes at the schools on your list to see if you are competitive. It’s meaningless for us to chance you when you don’t even have real test scores. But don’t be lulled into a false sense of security by @eharr34 into thinking you can compensate for a non-competitive GPA with EC’s.</p>

<p>For example, for USC, I suggest you look at their recent Freshman Profile because the mean GPA for the admitted class was 3.82 and mean ACT was 30-34. This is the group you are aiming for. <a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/docs/USCFreshmanProfile2013.pdf”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/docs/USCFreshmanProfile2013.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Also look at Madbean’s thread on USC Chances: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1558825-what-are-my-chances-for-usc-final-answer-p1.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1558825-what-are-my-chances-for-usc-final-answer-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>@Corinthian‌ USC is a party school though. There has to be at least a few kids who must have a lower gpa.</p>

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<p><a href=“Community College to Great University - #9 by Lacoste - Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums”>Community College to Great University - #9 by Lacoste - Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums;
CHANCE ME & I’LL CHANCE YOU BACK!</p>

18

<p>Main goal for you: break 30 on ACT and try to break 3.7 on GPA or else you will have a real hard time getting in Rice, Dartmouth, USC, Pitzer, Pomona, CMU, Brown, and UPenn. I’d say you’ll get in for sure at Chapman and UPitt but you seriously need some safeties dude…</p>

19

<p>@PSC2IVY‌ chapman and upitt are my only safeties. I know I can get into chapman with scholarship. I know I can get into upitt for sure. Oxy is my match probably. Then the rest are reaches. I wanna try to strive but I have those 2 foundational schools that I really like and would love to go to.</p>

20

<p>@Corinthian I just wanted to comment on the math track situation. My math track is a bit different, Freshman: Geometry/Trig, Sophomore: Algebra 2, and over the summer I plan to take Pre-Calc at a local university or community college. Then, I will take BC Calc Junior year. This may be what the other person did.</p>