chances...?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I've always been the kind of student who thought it would be a little bit of a reach to get to a school like Vanderbilt or UNC. However, my dad thinks that I'm academically talented enough to get into an Ivy. He's a professor at a third-tier university, so while I trust and value his opinion, I want to know if this is a bit of a stretch. </p>

<p>Credentials:</p>

<p>Sophomore, top ten percent in class</p>

<p>GPA: 3.8 unweighted, roughly 4.2 weighted. </p>

<p>Classes: All honors, AP Government</p>

<p>Special Programs--In seventh grade, I took the SAT and got a high enough score on it to get into an academically talented youth program. For the past three years, I've been enrolled in English through this program. As a sophomore, I am already done with all of my college credits, am currently enrolled in english AP three through this program, and will be dual-enrolled next year at the local state college. </p>

<p>Next year I will begin the IB Diploma program. Though I have completed all of my english credits, I have to take IB english 3 and 4 to get diploma credit. This means that I will graduate with extra high school english credit AND college credit from when I get to dual-enroll my junior and senior year. Next year, I will be enrolled in PDM (pre-discrete math), IB english, IB World History, IB French four, IB Physics, Chem 2 first semester and Bio 2 second semester, and Latin two. </p>

<p>Extracurricular activities: Varsity swim-team member, Played cello for eight years (private lessons) Forensics, youth group, guitar, my after-school academically talented program (the one that gave me all of the english credits), and I will most likely be a member of the National Honors Society next year. I'm currently searching for a job for the summer. </p>

<p>So, my question--is this enough, or is my dad just blowing smoke? If it's not enough, is it close?</p>

2

<p>oh, i forgot–
I haven’t taken an ACT test yet, but my SATs in seventh grade were pretty high and my actplan this year was promising.</p>

3

<p>oh, and if you could tell me where you think i could go, that would be great.
i just really need some help, please!</p>

4

<p>It’s really hard to say until you take some more standardized tests. The GPA is probably OK, depending on what the specific grades were that were less than As. Your courseload is impressive, your ECs not especially impressive. You can certainly look at Ivies and other highly selective schools if you get very good scores, but you will need a sensible list with reaches, matches, and safeties. If you live in North Carolina, I doubt that UNC will be a reach for you.</p>

5

<p>thanks for the honest feedback!
In what ways can I buff up my extracurriculars?
Is it what I’m doing, or is it not enough?
next year, I will be dual-enrolled in an english class at my college, will be involved in forensics (it’s pretty big here–we’re eight time state champions), and on swim-team. Is debate or youth in government a good idea? I guess what I’m asking is if it’s the actual nature of my extracurriculars or if it is how much i’m doing. </p>

<p>I’m just not sure what they’re looking for.
Thanks so much!</p>

6

<p>There’s nothing wrong with your ECs–but it appears to me that’s what’s impressive to selective schools is your own achievement and leadership in your ECs, rather than participation in a lot of them. So, for example, it’s great to be on a winning debate team, but even better if you are the captain or an individual prize winner. I think achievements outside of school are generally more impressive than those in school. All that being said, you should do the ECs that you really care about, and do them the best that you can, whether they are in school or out of school. If you love debate, do that–don’t look for something more impressive. Your best chance of achieving something impressive is to do something that you really like.</p>

7

<p>I think that you’ve got a good chance at UNC actually, and you should look at some nicer universities-like the Ivies, etc. I don’t know what Ivies you’re looking at, but best of luck to you! :)</p>

<p>Could you chance me back, please?</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/699897-am-i-track-ivies-duke-wake-vanderbilt-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/699897-am-i-track-ivies-duke-wake-vanderbilt-4.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;