Duke!! <3

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>So I just finished my junior year (finally!) and I was wondering what you guys think of my chances for Duke ED this fall...</p>

<p>-Western NY, female, Asian
-Rank: 3/ about 250
-GPA (unweighted): 3.95
-have taken all APs/honors possible so far</p>

<p>Courseload for this year + grades for each quarter:
-APs... Bio: A, A, A+, A+
US: A, A, A, A+
Lang. and Comp.: B+, B+, A-, A
*I expect a 5, 4, and 5, respectively...Euro last year-4
-French through local college: A+, A+, A+, A+
-Honors: Physics (A, A, A, A), Pre-calc (A-, A, A, A+)
-Anatomy (no honors available): A-, A+ (half-year course)
*Yeah, I had a kinda rough first quarter, but hopefully the upward trend makes up for it...</p>

<p>Senior Year Schedule:
-AP Physics
-AP Calc
-AP Psych
-AP Literature
-French 4
-regular Gov. and Econ (I don't see the point of taking the APs when I have no interest in these subjects whatsoever...and I don't want to kill myself senior year with 6 APs. I know a lot of you CCers don't think that way, but hey)</p>

<p>ECs:
-Research Assistant this summer at a world-renowned cancer research/treatment center (working under a doctor who is researching androgen-independent prostate cancer)
-Job @ public library (haha so dorky but it pays well), usually around 10 hrs. a week...working since May, will continue to do so until I graduate (I got hired at Hollister, but I couldn't go b/c my car was taken away...will switch jobs if I get it back)
-250+ hours community service: nursing assistant in Intensive Care Unit of local hospital, skating instructor for Skating Assoc. for the Blind and Handicapped, errand/escort service at hospital, tutor for 9th grade Bio students...will have 300+ by the time I apply
-Interact Club (community service-based school org.)
- Cheerleading: Football, Soccer, and Basketball Seasons...JV (1 year, captain), Varsity (2 years...will be captain next year), UCA All-star ('03, '04, '05...probably this year, as well)
-JV Lacrosse (10)
-Violin: Seven years in nationally recognized school orch. (but couldn't fit it into my schedule this year :/ ), Area All-State Orch. member, Auditioned for All-State, private lessons since 5th grade (still continuing, even though I'm no longer in the school's orch.)
-Student Council VP (2 years)
-NHS (projected: Pres. or VP?)</p>

<p>Awards/Other:
-all the standard academic ones (that Presidential Scholar thing, National Honor Roll, blah blah blah)
-various academic awards in my school (ex. Academic Pin, Medal, and Letter in 9, 10, 11 for making high honor roll...just little things like that)
-completed a Mini-Medical School program at a local university (state school, not community college)
-Superlatives (yeah, I don't know if I"ll include these lol but anyways)- in my class: Most School Spirit (9), Most Likely to Make You Smile (10,11), in cheerleading- Sweetest Cheerleader (9, 10, 11)</p>

<p>SATs: 2290 (740 M, 750 CR, 800 W)</p>

<p>-planning to take SAT IIs in October (def. Bio and Math IIC, not sure what else...I'm expecting an 800 in Bio (not to be cocky, but I'm studying really hard for it). I'm also striving to do well in Math, since I did the worst on the Math section of the SAT I.)</p>

<ul>
<li>I will have pretty kick-ass essays/recs from my AP Bio and Us teachers (I talk to both pretty regularly outside of class)</li>
</ul>

<p>-as of now, I want to major in biology (pre-med)</p>

<p>*I reeeally like Duke, but if you have some other colleges that you think would fit me well, let me know! And tell me where I should improve (if it's not too late now). Thanks a bunch for any help you can give me! :)</p>

2

<p>oooh a fellow asian! looks like you're pretty heavily involved in ECs</p>

<p>question:
"Area All-State Orch. member, Auditioned for All-State, "
how does that work out? in ohio, we have a regional orchestra, and then they pick the top several ppl from each regional orchestra to go to all-state.</p>

<p>man you are pretty dang well rounded. a cheerleader, AND a violinist, AND academically strong???
you have an extremely good chance (of course, there's no way of knowing for sure, but i'd say you have a very strong resume that should at least get the admin officers to do a double take)</p>

3

<p>i think u have a good chance. I was ranked 8/274, with a 2210, 3.96 UW GPA, and my extracurriculars were eh...less than what you have. Oh, and I'm Asian, and I got into Duke reg. so good look :p</p>

4

<p>i wish my stats were as good as yours!! i don't think you should have any problem, but who knows, sometimes admissions officers are hard to read.</p>

5

<p>awww thanks for being so encouraging, guys :) I really didn't think my chances were that good, after seeing the stats of others who want to apply to Duke this fall as well.</p>

<p>chrischang: In NY, there are two seperate auditions for each orchestra, meaning that All-State doesn't have to accept a certain number of musicians from every Area All-State (regional) orch.</p>

<p>latinac2: oh, you're so nice :) I'm sure your stats are really good!</p>

<p>Oh and a quizk update...I got my final exam grades today:
AP U.S.: 99 (Regents exam)
AP Lang.: 100 (Regents exam)
Pre-Calc H: B- (yuck!! local exam), 99 (Regents Math B exam)
Physics H: 93 (Regents)
College French: A- (through college)
Bio: A+ (local)</p>

<p>Yup the math grade sucks...first thing below a B+ I've ever gotten, but I hope the Regents grade helps a little...</p>

6

<p>presidential scholar---sorry, but they give those to graduating seniors...nice BS...</p>

7

<p>why would someone BS and then ask for chances??? are u retarded</p>

8

<p>Hmm I could have sworn I got something like that in like 8th grade...maybe I'm thinking of a different award. It was a Presidential something though...sorry about the confusion</p>

9

<p>ah i see, wait did you get into all state orch?</p>

<p>oh i know what youre talking about with the presidential doohickey, but that means absolutely nothing... so dont include in your resume lol.</p>

<p>presidential scholar is like an extreme superawesome award, which yea, is only given out as a senior. </p>

<p>and definitely i dont think you need to worry about your chances. strong resume.</p>

10

<p>ohhh oops sorry, I def. wasn't trying to BS anything. I knew that most of my awards were stupid things like that, that's kinda one of my weaker areas. I probably won't include it...speaking of which, do you think I should include the superlatives, like all as one award or something? I'm not sure if it'll look retarded...but they're kinda concerning my personality (vs. appearance, like "Best Hair" or something) so I dunno if admissions people would care...</p>

<p>no, I didn't make all-state b/c I had a craaazy judge who was actually banned from judging in our state after that year lol...I was offered a chance to reaudition 3 months later but I declined. Not trying to make excuses or anything, just explaining some of the circumstances</p>

11

<p>ahi see. crazy judges. i hate those lol</p>

<p>i dont think you should include those superlatives. for one thing, they dont really have any merit because they're 'fun awards' (and highly subjective- voted on by peers).
itwouldnt look exactly retarded if you put them on your resume... but i dont think the admission officers will give them a second thought.
i think that the college essays that we have to write are designed so they can see your personality through those, so just make sure that you really show who you are there, and thatll make you stand out</p>