Chences, please? [Junior looking to narrow down college list]

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey guys,
I've been compiling my list of colleges and I want to pare it down a little. So please chance me at these schools:
-Princeton
-Harvard
-Yale
-Columbia
-Cornell
-UChicago
-WUSTL
-UPenn
-MIT (more for my parents than for me >.<)
-Northwestern
-Hopkins
-NYU
-SUNY Stonybrook
Whew. Long list!</p>

<p>Here are the vital stats:
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Asian
Rank: 1 or 2 out of 130 (school doesn't rank)
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: 4.00 UW (school doesn't weight)
School: small public in NY, competitive (sent 8/9 out of 150 to Ivies this year)</p>

<p>Sat I: Superscore: 2370 (Cr 800, M 790, W 780) - One Sitting 2290
ACT: -
Sat IIs:
-Bio M (760, taken as a freshman)
-Chem (pending, taken in May)
-Math IIC
-French (will take these 2 in June)</p>

<p>AP Exams:
-AP Euro (5)
-Took 3 this year: AP Chem, AP Psychology, AP USH (expecting mostly 5's)</p>

<p>Seniour courseload:
-AP Literature
-AP Govt/Econ
-AP French
-Advanced French Conversation
-AP Physics
-AP Calc BC</p>

<p>ECs/Awards/etc:
-Multicultural Club 4 years (running for VP)
-Varsity Fencing 4 yrs (captain)
-Varsity Track 4 yrs
-Mathletes 3 yrs (might be running for something)
-French Club (ditto)
-NHS
-Volunteer at weekend workshop for kids (~60 hrs)
-Volunteer at hospital (~60 hrs)
-Peer tutor in various subjects
-Published in school's award-winning literary magazine and contributor to award-winning newspaper</p>

<p>-Science Research (did work at a professional lab - won some regional awards, planning to enter Siemens/Intel next year)
-Math Research (medals at regional math fairs)
-Language Awards:
-Top 4 Rank in National French Contest every year since 8th grade (Natl Gold Medalist 2008)
-Gold Medal w/ Perfect Score: National Latin Exam
-Various Departmental Awards</p>

<p>Recs:
I've already asked two of my teachers - one will be from my French teacher (whom I've will have had for 5 yrs) and the other will be from my AP Chem teacher. I'm also going to ask my Pre-Calc/Calc teacher/Mathletes adviser to write me one.</p>

<p>Whew! That was long. Thanks for reading the whole thing lol. Please give me your honest opinions, as well as some suggestions on how to make my app better. I'm worried about my ECs. Also, do I have too many reach schools?
Also, if any schools that I would like and am not currently considering spring to mind, please let me know! Thank you!!</p>

2

<p>lmao, just noticed the typo in the title. :smiley: so stupid of me.
please ignore ;)</p>

3

<p>I’ll give you as much as I can.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>You are an over-represented minority, from an over-represented area. You will have ALOT of competition.</p></li>
<li><p>You have quite the list of reach schools, but I’m sure you’ll make it into a fair of them. However, HYP and pretty much every private-school will be matches/reaches for you, and you will have competition. You’ll make it into NYU and Stonybrook though.</p></li>
<li><p>As for your test scores, how did you manage a 760 as a freshmen? Nonetheless these scores look great.</p></li>
<li><p>Your senior year looks good, but what about your previous years? What were your courses?</p></li>
<li><p>Knowing Latin to that extent is amazing. I am not 100% sure, but I think (especially with a perfect test) you can set yourself apart. </p></li>
<li><p>Same goes with your french awards. </p></li>
<li><p>Your ECs are what they are, not amazing, but not bad by any means, just generic. Although I personally think they are quite scattered.</p></li>
</ol>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/715911-not-affirmation-topic-please-chance-worried-junior.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/715911-not-affirmation-topic-please-chance-worried-junior.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>Everything looks good. Your main focus now should be thinking about the most effective way to present all those things. </p>

<p>You will get in somewhere good even if you don’t get lucky with the most selective schools.</p>

5

<p>Hey, thanks for responding!

  1. Yes, I know… sigh. Nothing to do about that.
  2. Yeah, NYU and Stonybrook are my two safeties. I think I may need one more. The other schools are all going to be tough, I know.
  3. Luck, lol. And a ton of studying. Thanks!
  4. previous years:
    Freshman (honors algebra, world history, english, french III, honors bio)
    Soph (advanced eng, ap euro, honors chem, honors math, french IV, latin X)
    Jr (ap ush, ap chem, ap psych, honors eng (pre-ap), french V (pre-ap), honors pre-calc)
  5. Thanks! I really wish I could have continued with it. Unfortunately my school only offers 1 year.
  6. Thanks, French is one of my passions. I hope to minor in it.
  7. Yeah, that was what I was afraid of. Ah well. I’m going to frame my app with the main points being foreign languages and math/science I guess.</p>

<p>Thanks for chancing me! Off to your thread now ;)</p>

6

<p>Thanks so much! I’m going to have to figure out how to frame my app this summer… Do you have any suggestions for other other schools I should apply to?</p>

7

<p>Okay, I would just like to wish you congratulations because you are obviously very bright and will excel wherever you go. You do have quite a daunting list, so it needs to be trimmed down a bit haha :). Out of HYP (unless you are in love with them all), choose your favorite. Cross off MIT immediately because you would not be happy there (it seems) because your parents really want you to go there. And honestly… if you ended up at Stony Brook (which is a great institution), I would personally be disappointed because you totally KILL the standards there. So… this is your final list IMHO. 9… that’s not as bad, you’ll have a lot of time to change that, since your a rising senior. Here are your estimated chances acccording to me :)</p>

<p>-Yale: 25%
-Columbia: 40%
-Cornell: 70%
-UChicago: 70%
-WUSTL: 60%
-UPenn: 40%
-Northwestern: 80%
-Hopkins: 90%
-NYU: 99%</p>

8

<p>You have very impressive stats. I think you have a shot at all of these schools, but the top schools are unpredictable. On the other hand, you could get into most schools in this country. Have you thought about what you’re looking for? All the schools on your list have in common are selectivity. What do you want to major in? Do you want an urban or suburban setting? How far from home do you want to go? Do you want to continue your sports in any way in college? Once you answer some of those questions, it will be easier to add some safety and match schools, and eliminate some reaches.</p>

9

<p>@mcvcm92:
Thanks so much for the positive words! That was really helpful by the way. I like the percentages thing :smiley: even if some of them seem high. I thought JHU was more competitive? I’m unsure about applying there too. Dunno if I want to go there yet. I might even like MIT a bit better. I forgot to mention that I have legacy at WUSTL. But yeah, thanks again! It’s really encouraging to me!</p>

10

<p>@momjr:
Thank you for responding! Yeah, I know how unpredictable top schools can be. That’s why I’m applying to so many…
As for what I want, these are the main things:
-academically challenging/stimulating - the students there have to be genuinely curious (that’s why I put UChiacgo on the list).
-I’m not sure yet what I want to study, so most of the schools I picked have numerous strong departments. I’m looking to explore different things. I don’t want to be limited.
-I’d prefer a somewhat urban setting. The only exception to this is probably Cornell. I also would like a bigger school. Going to such a small high school has been somewhat stifling…
-The farthest I want to go from home is basically St. Louis/Chicago. That’s pretty much reflected in my choice.
-Sports-wise, I’d love to fence in college. But most Ivy teams are incredibly tough to get into. I’m probably not good enough, but who knows, if I improve enough? That’s not a big factor in picking a school though.
Whew! Hopefully those answers can give more insight!</p>

11

<p>Bump!
Any other opinions?</p>

12

<p>you have as much of a chance at those top schools as any other competitive applicant.</p>

<p>however, why are you applying to all those ivies and tops places? is it because you think they are good schools with good reputations, or because there is something for you at each of them.</p>

<p>only apply to schools where there’s something specific that genuinely attracts you there. Don’t just toss the top schools on there and think that because they’re good schools, you’ll be happy at whatever you get in to.</p>

<p>moreover, id imagine that it’s more convincing to write an application explaining why you WANT to go somewhere based on your interests and capabilities instead of why you DESERVE to go there based on your work and performance.</p>

13

<p>Hey, thanks for responding!
I do realize how it looks to have so many top schools on my list. But I do genuinely have one thing I like about each school. For example, I’m really into UChiago’s intellectual atmosphere, and I’m really excited about that school at the moment. I could really see myself being happy there.
The other few schools I am pretty much forced to apply to. I don’t really want to go to Harvard or MIT, but my parents are pretty set on those schools. And some of the other schools I’m kinda iffy on, like JHU and UPenn will probably be eliminated soon.
I agree with you, I definitely need to consider schools I’ll be happy at. Right now, in terms of that, my two top choices are probably Princeton and UChicago. I’m sure I’ll be able to be quite eloquent about why I want to go to those schools when writing the applications. Unfortunately, right now, I have absolutely no clue what I want to do, so it’s difficult for me to narrow down schools based on major. I’m just going by general feel right now.
Thanks so much for your response, you’ve given me lots to think about! :)</p>

14

<p>Update!</p>

<p>-Elected secretary of French Club, running for President of Mathletes this week.
-SAT II: 800 on Chem, taking other 2 tomorrow.</p>

<p>Schools:
Eliminated JHU. I’ve really fallen in love with UChicago. Along with Princeton and Yale, it’s one of the 3 I’d most like to attend… Also now considering Brown - went to an info session, and it sounded great. </p>

<p>Any new insight based on this info? Thank you guys!</p>

15

<p>bump. opinions please?</p>