Come here and stomp on my dreams

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>The weakest part of my app is my freshmen gpa and class rank. I did have a HUGE upward trend however.</p>

<p>Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Asian ( unfortunately )
State: Texas
GPA: 3.7 uw ( Huge upward trend 3.0 freshmen year ----> 3.9 Junior Year )
Class Rank: 126/835 (About 15% unfortunately)
Test scores :</p>

<p>ACT (34 cumulative : 33 English, 34 Reading, 34 Science, 32 Math )</p>

<p>SAT subject tests
US History: 760
Math II: 760
English: 700</p>

<p>Took about 6 APs ( freshmen - junior ) and I'm going to take 5 more senior year. ( 11 total )</p>

<p>My EC's aren't very abundant but I think they're pretty good.</p>

<p>EC's:</p>

<p>Started a Card Distribution non-profit ( not an official non-profit ) - partnership with an entire school district, and about 4 giant churches giving out thousands of cards every 3 months to veterans, elderly, hospice patients, cancer patients, soldiers, Ect. (11,12)</p>

<p>Debate Team Captain (9,10,11,12) - Top 32 in state, Buncha random awards.</p>

<p>UNICEF Club Founder and President - Raised $3000 total.</p>

<p>Service: ( About 150 hours) -
World Changers service trip to Arkansas
New Mexico Service Trip
Guatemala Service Trip
Big Brother Big Sister Foundation
Gave out flowers to nursing homes
Church Tutoring Service</p>

<p>Expect my recs to be like 8/10, but my essays to be 9-10/10</p>

<p>Now my list ( this is where you crush my dreams )</p>

<p>I put two EDs in this last just because I'm curious which school I have a higher chance at. I put ED and RD on both.</p>

<p>Cornell (ED) AND (RD)
Northwestern (ED) AND (RD) -
Emory - ( Early Decision 2 )
Georgetown-
Carnegie Mellon University - (HSS, MCS,SCS,IS)
UCLA -
Berkeley -
UT austin - ( not guaranteed admittance = pretty difficult )
Northeastern -
Texas A&M -</p>

<p>My rank makes me the most nervous. </p>

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<p>Bumpity bump</p>

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<p>I think you have a pretty solid chance considering your trend. Rank only matters at some schools such as Carnegie Mellon. But solid chances. I would also recommend Worcester Polytechnic Institute and some UC schools.</p>

<p>Chance Back?</p>

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<p>Out of all the schools, you should have ED Carnegie Mellon. </p>

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<p>Chance Back?</p>

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<p>Thanks! Can anyone chance me for NW, G-town, and Cornell? Are they impossibly high reaches? Plausible? </p>

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<p>You should be okay for admission at some UC’s but probably not Berkeley. LA might be a reach. OOS fees will be significant. </p>

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<p>I know for a full fact that most schools ignore freshmen GPA (with UC’s completely ignoring them). Heck, even Stanford says that they pay careful attention to your GPA from sophomore year onwards. I know one of the girls that got into Stanford and Upenn this year from our school that had a horrible first year, so stop worrying about it. The fact that you are doing well in your rigorous courses right now is much more important, but you have to basically get straight A’s in your first semester of senior year to prove your college readiness. Your ECs are ok.
Carnegie Mellon ED depends all on what your major is gonna be, with comp sci having an acceptance (I’m estimating) of about 9%. The other colleges at Carnegie are probably much easier to get into. </p>

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<p>Hate to break it to you but a 34,34,33,32 is a 33 cumulative for your ACT. A high 33, but a 33 nonetheless</p>

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<p>@applicant‌ crap! Thanks for catching that. English should be a 34. </p>

<p>By the looks of this thread it seems I’m not a very solid applicant for the schools I have listed. :(. If only I tried during freshman year… </p>

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<p>did you even read what I wrote? Why do I even bother…</p>

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<p>@Classof2018app‌ </p>

<p>Oh no, trust me I did. While I do know colleges tend to value freshman year less, my mediocre rank and gpa kind of still stands. At best, if I got all A’s for the 1st semester, I would only get maybe a 3.75, which is incredibly meh for an asian applicant. With the exception of Stanford and the UC’s, there usually isn’t a special gpa or class rank recalculation. Considering the fact that for most of these schools have over 90% of their class in the top 10% ( at this point it’s literally impossible for me to get into the top 10% ) I honestly still have no clue where I stand.
I already know it’s a reach, but how reach? Impossible reach or worth trying and spending money reach? After twelve posts, I honestly don’t have a definitive answer. </p>

<p>I’m assuming most people aren’t doing the "“traditional” method of chances threads by listing my chances for each school because nearly all of them will be super high reaches. </p>

<p>Thanks for the info about CMU, but I honestly have no clue what my chances are. </p>

<p>The more I browse this forum, the more I realize how mediocre I am, and ultimately the more nervous I get that I’ll pretty much be rejected everywhere.</p>

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<p>Yeah I fully understand. Btw that girl that I mentioned was also Asian (albeit her SAT was a 2380) and was also not in the top decile. You just gotto keep moving forward and do your best in the future. There is no use in regretting the past</p>

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<p>@Classof2018app‌ </p>

<p>Thanks for the help. Yeah, I’m not extremely regretful of the past, but I am nervous about the future. I just gotta hope for the best. It’s just that I recently heard a horror story of someone just like me who got rejected nearly everywhere.</p>

<p>Do you think I’m aiming too high? While A&M/NEU are fine schools, i feel like I’m letting my parents down if I don’t end up somewhere “better”. They were already disappointed when I told them that I was aiming too high with Upenn and Brown. It would honestly be a dream to get into Georgetown, northwestern, or Cornell, but being realistic should be my top priority. Emory would be damn nice also. Any opinions? Do you think these schools are remotely plausible? Should I move CMU to ED instead?</p>

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<p>Well tbh i dont know much about CMU admissions, since I never applied to it. I can only go as far as telling you what the acceptance rate is, which you can just google yourself. I understand how parents can be unrealistic with their expectations, but you have to realize that there are some things that are not in your control. For early, it seems like you’re very interested in NU, so just do ED there. EA at GU is pretty much the same as RD, but I guess it helps out a bit to apply early. Same goes for UChicago (although their essays are a pain)
Anyways, I would suggest these schools for applying(btw I dont know much about state schools of Texas):
UCSD (OOS money though)
UCLA(same as above, although they care a bit too much about GPA)
UMichigan (rolling admissions, so apply early)
USC (show a lot of interest since they care a lot about their yield)
Pitzer (only if you’re interested in social sciences tbh)
Tulane (dont know anything about this school except their average stats)
Northeastern (same as Tulane for me)
UNC Chapel Hill (have heard good things about this school, one of the top publics in the US)</p>

<p>Put some safeties in there as well. </p>

<p>For NU (or basically any school that you do ED for), it pays to show interest besides the early decision agreement. Visit the campus and schedule an interview. Emailing them with insightful questions about the school shows that you’re interested. If you get deferred, write a letter telling them that the school is still your no. 1 choice and if accepted, you would still attend. The same goes for UChicago EA. There was even a rumor going on that UChicago cares about who follows their twitter and who responds back to their fan mail photo thing(doubt it, but it never hurts to show that you care about the school). </p>

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<p>@Classof2018app‌ </p>

<p>Thanks for being such a help! I’ll definitely consider some of those schools. </p>

<p>I definitely plan to visit Northwestern, Emory, Carnegie Mellon, and MAYBE Georgetown.
Although this may seem like a dumb question, what “insightful questions” can you ask? I’m finding it difficult to think of an example.
I feel a lot about the school can easily be researched and such. I would like to avoid asking obvious questions or something.</p>

<p>Would it be like, about the admissions process? Traditions? Specific professors? Things to do around the campus? I want to avoid asking stupid questions haha</p>

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<p>So for Pomona, I actually like emailed a music professor haha because I was genuinely interested in learning more about their music program. Since Pomona is so small, I’m guessing (not too sure though) that some of the professors are in contact with the adcom, especially since my music supplement was critiqued by the same professor. That is what I consider an “insightful” question; something academic that you genuinely want to know more about, but just cannot find on a website. I don’t think that asking about traditions or the admissions process will help you. Tbh, your question has to be very technical and specific. Just find your niche and then ask a question about it that relates to your field of study. </p>

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<p>Ah, I see. Thanks! So the question is not necessarily about the school but about the subject matte in general…</p>