Do I have a shot?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I've got no major hooks, so how do I stand at the schools mentioned below my stats (especially Brown, Wesleyan, Vassar, U of Chicago, UPenn, and Haverford)?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

<p>School: Highly competitive public school in CT (we've got a ridiculous amount of Intel semi-finalists, finalists, and the same applies for Siemens; at least 3/4 of students go to highly selective schools)</p>

<p>Rank: Top 10% (top 15% at worst) of a class of ~350
GPA (F/S/Junior): 3.9<X<4.0 (weighted), low freshman year GPA significantly harmed me (Junior year predicted based on semester grades)</p>

<p>SAT (I took the March SAT and am retaking the SAT in May, taking ACTs in April)
CR: 800
M: 610 (had intensive tutoring, aimed for 700, but didn't reach it)
W: 710 (was aiming for 750 or better)</p>

<p>SAT II: 780 US History (taken in June of last year), ??? Lit (taking it this June), ??? Bio (Ecology, maybe, maybe, this June)</p>

<p>APs Taking Currently: AP Environmental Science, AP US Government & Politics, AP English Language and Composition</p>

<p>APs To be Taken: AP Euro, AP Calc AB, AP English Literature, and AP Econ</p>

<p>Independent Research – Economics related, highly regarded by PhD candidate at Ivy where I took a summer class on economic growth and development, also well received by UConn professor and UMass-Amherst professors; I'm trying to get published</p>

<p>Have won awards from CT science fair, a regional fair, attending more fairs, and hoping to do well elsewhere; won "gold key" (1 of 3000 awardees in the nation) for the Scholastic Art and Writing awards, won award at Columbia Scholastic Press Association conference in NYC; numerous community service awards </p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>Viola - 6-ish years w/private teacher, formerly in school orchestra, dropped it for a local youth orchestra (at least 3 hrs. week of orchestra practice in that group, which was audition-only)</p>

<p>Administrative assistant (volunteer) at local hebrew school, 4 hrs. per week</p>

<p>12 hrs. a week at local Barnes and Noble –cashiering, customer service, etc.</p>

<p>School newspaper (highly regarded, old, Columbia Scholastic Press Association gold award every year for half a decade-ish) –
9th gr.: ombudsman,
10th gr.: copy editor (managed copy editor staff of 5 persons)
11th gr.: opinions editor (position is shared with a senior), about 10-15 hours per week
12th gr.: unknown, editor in chief OR managing editor (probably one of them)</p>

<p>Highly involved in local and state Democratic politics: Worked for mayoral candidate in two most recent elections, worked for local Democratic Town Committee in past three local elections, worked for ("intern") House of Representatives candidate in 2004 and 2006 (lost both times); all of those jobs were for a considerable amount of hours worth of phone calls, clerical work, research, canvassing, etc.</p>

<p>Also:
Applied for Bronfman Youth Fellowship (apparently highly regarded), didn't get in, but I beat out 78% of the students (was a finalist and got interviewed)</p>

<p>If you could make some suggestions for my APs next year and what I should do about SAT IIs, that would be much appreciated.</p>

<p>Schools (categorized as safety, fit or reach; are these accurate categorizations?):</p>

<p>Safety:
Connecticut College
Trinity College (CT)
Union College
Franklin and Marshall
UConn
U of Rochester</p>

<p>Fit:
Colgate
Hamilton
Macalester
Brandeis
Carleton
Oberlin
Grinnell</p>

<p>Reach:
Brown
Dartmouth
Haverford
Wesleyan
Vassar
Swarthmore
Amherst
Williams
Columbia
JHU
UPenn
U of Chicago</p>

2

<p>You should have a good chance at Chicago, Wes, Vassar, JHU, and Haverford. Write great essays. The research may help- especially if you can publish it or if you can work it into the essays and interviews. You should have a chance at Ivies, but definitely not a strong chance. You should have a pretty good chance at Amherst and Williams.</p>

3

<p>I wouldn't say that you should have a pretty good chance at Amherst and Williams, they are just as competitive as Brown, Dartmouth, and U. Penn, especially from CT. They would still be a reach in my opinion at least as of now</p>

<p>SAT scores are weak, while SAT II, EC, research, honors are all great.</p>

<p>I agree with the Chicago, Wes, Vassar, JHU, and Haverford as good chances</p>

<p>If you do end up getting published, retake the SATs/do well on the SATs, do well on APs, bring up GPA a little bit though, I think you would be a seriously strong candidate. </p>

<p>I think just with the testing if you do really well on the SAT/ACT, you could be an ivy candidate (brown or upenn ED?). I can tell you're very passionate about your work and have amazing ECs. It stinks you're from a competitive part of CT though =/</p>

4

<p>800 on Critical Reading is very impressive, few guys are able to do that. You should have solid chances at more reading/writing focused liberal arts colleges, ie. Amherst, Vassar, etc. However, a 610 in math could bar you from acceptances at Ivies, jhu, and chicago. The rest of your resume looks quite good.</p>

5

<p>Alright. Would I have a good shot at the two Ivies that I'm interested in (UPenn and Brown) if my math went up to 650 or somewhere between 650 and 700?</p>

6

<p>Bump, lolz, k?</p>

7

<p>A 700 on the math would definitely help with getting into those Ivies. I reccomend using the Princeton Review from personal experience - I upped my score from a 710 to an 800 with no tutor, which was awesome.</p>

<p>Your ECs and awards look great. As for APs, you're taking a high number, which is a good thing as long as you don't kill yourself :) Good luck on those, by the way. </p>

<p>Don't stress the effect your freshman year had on your GPA - if anything, it will look good to colleges that you improved so much in you high school years.</p>

<p>And your safety/fit/reach list looks about right. Best of luck!</p>