Chicago, Yale, or Harvard

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Well, I'm a girl who goes to a public school in Auburn Hills, Michigan.</p>

<p>Academics:
GPA: 4.278 weighted, 4.0 unweighted on the 4.0 scale.
Class rank: 2/254 (though if we go by unweighted I would be number 1 hehe)
ACT: 33
SAT: 2150/2400.
SAT Subject Tests: French 710, Math Level 2 800, US History 650 (yeah, I know. My parents insisted that I didn't need to take them until I showed them that I needed them, so I didn't get good prep)
AP test results to date: AP Calc AB 5; AP US Gov 5 (May 2008)</p>

<p>Very rigorous schedule. Took a class at Oakland University (Calculus II) while in high school, got a 4.0 (A) in the class. (I already put in the request to have that transcript sent to all schools.)</p>

<p>This semester's schedule:
Shakespeare
Basic Business Apps (a grad requirement!)
AP English
AP Biology
Psychology II
AP US History</p>

<p>National Merit Semifinalist (don't know if I'm a finalist yet)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars!:</p>

<p>Varsity Cross Country (Fresh and Soph Year)</p>

<p>JV Volleyball and Varsity Volleyball Manager (Soph and Junior Year) -- had to deal with two different coaching types, got to learn how to deal with conflict (sometimes coach would get angry at the other coach, get angry at the ref, get angry at players, so I had to learn how to deal with that)</p>

<p>Varsity Track and Field (Fresh, Soph, Junior Year -- going to do it Senior Year too) -- acquired leadership, acting as the "captain" of throwers (except all the official captains were boy sprinters ... :( )</p>

<p>French Honor Society (Soph and Junior Year)</p>

<p>National Honor Society (Soph, Junior, Senior Year) -- This year I co-chaired the Tapping and Induction Committee</p>

<p>Summer before Senior Year: I did volunteer work for a nonprofit organization, the Greg Bartolone Memorial Cruise for a Cure, which an alumnus from my high school established. I didn't get to participate in the actual cruise (since I was under drinking age!) but I assembled door prizes leading up to the cruise.</p>

<p>Intramural Dodgeball (junior year) -- not substantial but a fun thing to have. Needless to say, I did not include this in my application. The dodgeball was more for a school fundraiser.</p>

<p>Southern Michigan Chinese School (soph, junior, senior year) -- mostly a cultural thing.</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>Underclassmen awards:
Outstanding Science (for Freshy Year)
Outstanding English (Soph, Junior)
Outstanding US History (Soph)
Outstanding Precalculus (Soph)
Outstanding French III (Soph)
Outstanding Phys Ed -- Commitment to Personal Excellence (Soph)</p>

<p>As mentioned above, I'm a National Merit Semifinalist (first one from my school in eight years)</p>

<p>High Scorer for the Michigan Mathematics Prize Competition.</p>

<p>Invited to do Oakland University Math Summer Institute in Summer 2009 (a free program, I get college credit, some kids who took this ended up going to Harvard where they could transfer that credit)</p>

<p>Okay, well those are my stats. I applied to University of Michigan (where I was already accepted), University of Chicago, Yale, and Harvard. I applied to the last three Regular Decision. Two of my classmates, who have qualifications comparable to mine, were already accepted to Chicago (but one applied Early Decision, and the other one applied a few weeks before I did), so I don't think Chicago is out of my reach. But input on the other two schools?</p>

2

<p>Chicago is a bit of an enigma, you can have pretty dumpy grades and still get in. They're all about essays, so if you think your essays were quirky/good enough and your recs were pretty good, you'll probably get into the land where fun goes to die. Forgive me for racial profiling but I'm assuming you're asian by your username. If not you're probably white, seeing that you'd probably put down and ethnicity if you were a URM. Yale and Harvard you don't have the strongest shot at, your scores are only alright, your grades of course are great but so will be those of 80% of the other applicants, and I don't see anything particularly outstanding about your profile. You've got a shot but not incredibly likely. I'd give you about a 10% shot at Harvard and Yale, 70% at Chicago.</p>

3

<p>it's all right, i am asian, plus by my last name they would be able to tell anyway. I didn't give any of them (except for Michigan, which can't use affirmative action anyway) my race though I did indicate it in my ACT. i wrote pretty quirky essays for Chicago, since I figured that's what they're looking for, so I'm not worried about that. </p>

<p>And yeah, Yale and Harvard are my reaches, I don't think anybody from my school has a great chance of getting in (since we're not that amazing of a school). Though I was hoping that coming from a more underrepresented region would help, since my interviewer from Yale said he wanted more kids from Michigan to get in since it's mostly like East Coast.</p>

<p>But thanks, you essentially just confirmed my thoughts. I just wasn't sure if my hunch was right or not.</p>

4

<p>Keep in mind that your interviewer is only an alum who has no say in the process. That and he is wrong, Michigan and the MW in general are well represented at these schools. Now if you were from one of the Dakota's, that's a different story.</p>

5

<p>I would say that you have a pretty good chance for U chicago. For harvard and yale your scores on the SAT and ACT are about middle 50% of their applicants if not a bit below so they might be a bit of a reach, but I guess it doesn't hurt trying. I also wouldn't worry about making national merit finalist, you'll get it unless you liked stabbed someone in your past.</p>

6

<p>Stats are a good match, scores not standout at Yale or Harvard, but you have a good chance I'd say. Depending on your essays, very good match for UC.</p>