Deferred from Duke... chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I was deferred from Duke yesterday, and although I thought it would happen, it is still depressing.
I changed my school list around a little- this is my final list and my final stats</p>

<p>Schools:
Duke
Notre Dame
Cornell
Hopkins
Chicago
Wake Forest
BC
WUSTL
Harvard
MIT
Princeton
(i know the last 3 are ridiculous reaches, I want to try though)
I have already been accepted to Penn State rolling admissions so I dont really need a true safety (I really like PSU)</p>

<p>Major: Chem or Physics</p>

<p>White male, affluent NYC suburb</p>

<p>Stats
SAT: 2180 (790 M 710 CR 680 W)
SATII: 760 Chem 760 Physics 760 US History 740 IIC
GPA: 94.6 UW, 97.9 W, about a 3.9 UW (9th-11th)
Rank: 38/449 (very competitive public school, about 1200 SAT average, #34 was accepted ED to Brown)
AP: 5's on Chem and World History, 4 on US History
IB: 6 on Math Methods SL</p>

<p>Senior Courses (First quarter grade)</p>

<p>AP Calc BC- 95
AP Stats- 95
AP Gov- 98
AP Physics B- 98
SUPA WRT 105 (Syracuse Proj Advance English)- 91 (highest grade was 92)
American Law- 99
Academy of Finance College Financial Planning- 100
Health- 96</p>

<p>AP Tests Senior year: BC Calc, Gov, Physics B (maybe C Mechanics also), Stats, English Lang, Euro History (self study) </p>

<p>EC
Varsity Bowling- 4 years- all county/all league last year (212 average), placed in top 20 in 2 national tourneys
Academy of Finance- 3 year program in business which includes 4 college classes and a summer internship last summer- i am an officer this year
Quiz Bowl- 3 year starter on varsity- team made it to the 3rd round of LI Challenge televised quiz show (round of 8 out of 32 teams)- also helped organzize a tournament which 32 teams from 4 states attended
DECA- 2004 State qualifier
Varsity Golf- 1 letter
NHS (11-12)
Business Honor Society (11-12)
Mathletes- 9-12
a few other small things</p>

<p>Work Experience
Internship at small company doing accounts receivable (133 hrs over summer this year)
umpiring for little league for 4 years
tutoring 1-2 hours a week this year</p>

<p>Awards
AP Scholar
Scholar Athlete Team Award
Deca State qualifier
All County Bowling
AOF school awards</p>

<p>Teacher recs- good to very good
Essays- decent</p>

<p>my confidence is way down after this deferral, what does everyone think</p>

2

<p>if you don't get in, travel Europe and work for Anadolu Holdings Group with me.</p>

3

<p>i'll join as well lol</p>

4

<p>people get into every one of those schools with your stats. With that said, your stats are great. Write great essays, and try to paint a picture of yourself from so many different angles so you dont appear purely academic and i say you have a great shot.</p>

5

<p>thanks- bump</p>

6

<p>bump one more time</p>

7

<p>i am really interested in chances for UChicago, since i just added it
also, should I take the SATs again or the math IIC?</p>

8

<p>............... last time</p>

9

<p>I'd suggest Hopkins or Notre Dame!</p>

10

<p>I wouldnt mind going to one of those</p>

11

<p>your scores are fine. if you are adamant about a retake i'd go for the SAT I over the IIC though.</p>

<p>Even though you go to a tough school I think the rank is what got you deferred...get some killer grades 1st semester and that should help out. I'm kinda surprised you got deferred though - your ECs are phenomenal IMO.</p>

<p>Duke - slight reach
Notre Dame - match
Cornell - slight reach
Hopkins - slight reach
Chicago - match / slight reach (it's all about the essays here...)
Wake Forest - match
BC - match
WUSTL - slight reach
Harvard - reach
MIT - reach
Princeton - reach</p>

12

<p>I agree with stambliark41 on your chances. Chicago depends on the essay. They make you write like 3 or so of them, and they have to be outstanding.</p>

13

<p>Specifically, they make you write a long essay and two short essays. Writing the U Chicago essays were the most fun I had doing college apps, though. I don't think they have to be "outstanding," but they do like "quirky" essays. </p>

<p>At Wake Forest you're almost definitely in, although their physics program isn't quite as strong as their chem program. U Chicago is also a match (they don't require SAT II's, btw), and their chem and physics programs are better than most of the schools' on your list.</p>

14

<p>Chris, maybe we'll both go to UChicago...!</p>

15

<p>haha maybe, i dont think my essays are that great, and you are probably taking my spot :)</p>

16

<p>The coach called my coach today. <3.</p>

17

<p>yea see they arent taking 3 people from our school</p>

18

<p>i also have an upward grade trend- rank goes from 87th after 9th grade to 64th to 38th</p>

19

<p>I would disagree about the chem program being "stronger" than the physics program at WFU. It may be more popular in terms of majors but not necessarily stronger. My nephew is a physics major on the campus and it is amazing the stuff that he talks about that they are doing there. The profs are very accessible, highly engaging in terms of incorporating students into their personal research and they have good facilities. </p>

<p>Some of their recent moves as a department have been very impressive including hiring away the entire Center for Nanotechnology from Clemson I believe. A lot of state of the art laser research is being done and one of their most recent hires is a Biophysics professor who made millions as the head of her own biotech company but now just wants to teach. Came from out in Cali if I am not mistaken for all those CA residents.</p>

<p>Bottom line I guess is that the physical sciences are alive and well at WFU from what I have gathered since my days in the bio classrooms on campus...ranging from the most popular bio to chem and physics.</p>

20

<p>Observer- I don't doubt that you're right. I'm not interested in physics, and I didn't research their department. I did, however, thoroughly investigate their chemistry department. For a school Wake's size, I was very impressed by the professors (all of whom were unbelievably helpful and friendly), the labs (far nicer than Duke's :eek: ), and the superb grad school placement (90% into the grad school of their choice). Undergrads were given a bounty of research opportunities (the department head said many went unclaimed!), and the department seemed small and supportive. :)</p>