Do I REALLY stand a chance, or am I fooling myself?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I am a 17 year old Asian in his senior year of a competitive and very large, diverse high school in IL (4100 students split between a fresh/soph campus and a junior/senior campus) (by the way, is "senior" supposed to be capitalised?)</p>

<p>Chances at:
Northwestern University (only school that recommends subject tests, and it recommends 3)
University of Chicago (only considers subject tests)
University of Michigan
University of Wisconsin Madison
University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana</p>

<p>My current school includes physical education in the GPA. Also, in IL, PE is a required course all four years of high school (you can opt out, but I did not take advantage of that by taking it over the summer 5 hours a day for several weeks).
At my previous school, I took the most rigorous courses except for Honors Spanish (I sort of regret not doing that now).
At this school, I am also taking the most rigorous courses.</p>

<p>GPA UW: 3.7
GPA W: 4.21
Projected graduating GPA W: 4.3 ~school no longer ranks (magna cum laude GPA= 4.2-4.4 and summa cum laude GPA= 4.4 and above, which is about top 3%)
Still, top 6-7 percent in a very large public school (class of 1000) (highest GPA is 4.63ish)
Freshman year: 4.0 UW/4.42 W
Sophomore year: 4.0/4.42
I transferred schools during summer vacation, and struggled during my the first semester of my junior year. I would easily be ranked in the top 15/1000 had I not struggled, probably with a 4.52 GPA
Junior year S1: 2.43/3.0 (I know)
Junior year S2: 3.71/4.57
Senior year projected S1: 3.83/ 4.67
Senior year projected S2: 3.83/4.67</p>

<p>ACT: 32/32
Math: 33/32
English: 31/33
Reading: 30/31
Science: 32/30</p>

<p>SAT II Chemistry: projected 750-790
SAT II Biology: projected 780-800
SAT II Math Level II: projected 760-780</p>

<p>College course at a community college last summer:
Introduction to Psychology -A/3.0 credits</p>

<p>Classes:</p>

<p>Freshman: Honors Biology, Honors Freshman English, Honors Geometry, Spanish I, World Geography, PE</p>

<p>Sophomore: Hon Algebra II, Hon Soph English, Hon Chem, Spanish II, Child growth and development semester 1 and health semester 2, US government semester 1 and Drivers Ed semester 2, PE</p>

<p>Junior Year: AP Language and Composition, AP US History, AP Microeconomics/AP Macroeconomics (S1/S2), Honors Pre-Calculus BC, Honors Physics, Honors Spanish III, PE</p>

<p>Senior Year: AP Literature and Composition, AP Statistics, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus BC, AP Biology, PE</p>

<p>AP tests: </p>

<p>Freshman: none available</p>

<p>Sophomore: none available</p>

<p>Junior year:
AP Language and Composition-3 (mentally exhausted during essay portion)
AP US History-4
AP Macroeconomics-5
AP Microeconomics-5</p>

<p>Senior year:
AP Literature and Composition: projected 4
AP Statisitics: projected 4-5
AP Chemistry: projected 4-5
AP Biology: projected 5
AP Calculus BC: projected 4-5
AP Physics B (self study): projected 4-5</p>

<p>essays:
good-great (probably not excellent), some figurative language in them for creativity and my own unique style (especially for University of Chicago)</p>

<p>Teacher recommendations:
Very good
-AP Biology teacher: I am the top student in AP Biology out of 70-80 students, but that isn't completely reflected in the letter
-Honors Sophomore English teacher
-Honors Physics teacher</p>

<p>All feedback is greatly appreciated! I will chance those who chance me!</p>

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<p>High School Extracurricular Activities:</p>

<p>Researching Influenza A (H1N1) virus to suggest potential ways to improve people’s health, 12th, Independent researcher, 5 hrs/wk; 12 wks/yr</p>

<p>Students of Service, 12th, 2 hrs/wk; 25 wks/yr
-involved in various volunteer efforts for the purpose of improving my community</p>

<p>Academic Team, 9th, 10th & 12th, 1 hr/wk; 16 wks/yr</p>

<p>Robotics Club, 11th & 12th, 2 hrs/wk; 16 wks/yr
-incorporated creativity and science in designing and building small robots</p>

<p>Math Team, 9th, 10 & 12th, 1 hr/wk; 16 wks/yr</p>

<p>Track and Field, 9th & 10th, 5 hrs/wk; 16 wks/yr</p>

<p>Community Service:</p>

<p>Shadowed a gastroenterologist, Letter of recommendation, 12th, 4 hrs/wk; 8 wks/yr
-Observed doctor and patient interactions and learned how to take notes on individual patient cases</p>

<p>Hospital Volunteer, Letter of recommendation, 12th, Guest Services Volunteer, 4 hrs/wk; 13 wks/yr
-greet and direct patients to destination, office work</p>

<p>Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center, Letter of recommendation, 11th, Volunteer, 4 hrs/wk; 8 wks/yr
-provided social interaction for elderly, computer networking</p>

<p>High School/Community Awards or Recognitions:</p>

<p>AP Scholar with Honor, 11th</p>

<p>Who’s Who Among All American Scholars, 10th</p>

<p>Induction into 2008 U.S. Achievement Academy National Yearbook (Who’s Who in Minority Leadership), 10th</p>

<p>Nominated to National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine, 11th</p>

<p>Inducted into National Society of High School Scholars, 11th</p>

3

<p>i commented on your previous post</p>

4

<p>Thank you for that. I am going to chance you now.</p>

<p>Also, I am in Indian Club and am learning Chinese and Arabic in my free time (I have a passion for linguistics as well).</p>

5

<p>Also, my school has a student who scored a 36 on the ACT (36 in Science as well) and 3-10 students who scored 35. We’ll have some HYPSMIT admittants as well (3-6/1000).</p>

6

<p>Assuming your in state school is a safety and you can afford the OOS publics, the list is fine.</p>

7

<p>Im in a similar fahdh, I also live in Illinois. I go to a college prep school in a much smaller and more competitive class (not knocking your school, but I went to 6-8 in public schools and it’s a different ballgame, based off your 3% I’m sure you could have done well in a c.p. as well). I can’t really say how you are looking because I feel like we’re in similar boats - you have an upper hand number-wise but particular schools value college preps much higher than public so I really have no idea how to classify you. Your standardized test schools are good enough but not clinchers. U of I you should be a shoo-in but U of C could really go either way (it’s really a bummer for us that both NW and U of C don’t give us the ol’ in-state bump like California or Michigan gives). That said, Michigan is very particular so it’s a toss up. Wisconsin you have a good shot at as well, I would say. Maybe look into Minnesota as well, if your senior year projections aren’t completely manifested. Your extra curriculars are very good and your awards are excellent (although based off your grades I am surprised I don’t see a NM award…) There are sites that predict your chances percentage wise, but I have found them to vary up to 20% so don’t value them much more than a hint. FYI the 36 students won’t particularly help you…</p>

<p>Now I have a quick question for you - how can you opt out of gym? I haven’t heard anything about that at our school short of taking other physical alternatives that also last a semester and are equally moot for colleges (classes like weight training). I am trying hard as hell to squeeze in what I can senior year, particularly because I may have to add art to qualify for UC schools (*At my school we also had a required semester of Health and 6 total semesters of religion. My gpa would finish about ~4.4 instead of ~4.2 and my CR would be ~20 opposed to ~40 without religion… As I mentioned I went to a public school before high school and am agnostic. It’s really an unlucky circumstance but short of the hour commute to Fenwick it was the best option I had). So, how can I get out of gym?</p>

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<p>At my current school, there are 2 ways to opt out of gym.

  1. Taking gym over the summer
  2. Involvement in a sport during the semester of gym waiver (must be involved in a sport both semesters if one wants to opt out of gym for the year)</p>

<p>At my previous school, I had the choice of:

  1. Taking a proficiency test (my current school does not have this option)
  2. Involvement in a sport during the semester of gym waiver (must be involved in a sport both semesters if one wants to opt out of gym for the year)</p>

<p>Find out if your school offers a proficiency test of some sort, and if it does not, encourage the principal to create such a test.</p>