Energetic and eccentric caucasian debater

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>School: Bellevue HS (really competitive, 13th by Newsweek)</p>

<p>GPA: 3.73 UW, 4.0 W (If freshman year omitted: 3.89 UW, 4.29 W) [see below]</p>

<p>SAT (estimated): 800 Verbal, 800 Writing, 650 Math (my achilles' heel)</p>

<p>APs:
AP World History: 5/A/A;
AP European History: 4/<em>/</em><em>;
AP American Literature (projected 5)/A/A;
AP Biology: (projected 5)/A/A;
AP US History (projected min. 4, most likely 5--I am excellent in history, and consequently am not studying too hard for this one)/A/A;
AP Micro/Macro ?/<em>/</em></em>;</p>

<p>*The class was not offered for these, so I just took/will be taking the tests (shows initiative, I suppose).</p>

<p>Senior year I will take: AP Chem., AP Gov, AP Eng. Lit., AP Spanish (and intro to calculus [non-AP] and some other electives), leaving me with 11-12 in total.</p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>Debate (9-12)
-President (11, 12), LD Captain (10)
-2005 NFL National Tourn. Qualifier (1 of 6 from Washington)
-Triple-octofinalist, Harvard Invit. ('05)
-Run-off round, Stanford Invit. ('05)
-2nd, Eastside Catholic Invit. ('04)
-See also Summer (VBI)
-Essentially began the team--though it existed nominally, it was never active until it was under my leadership.
Newspaper (11, 12)
-Editor, Copy (11, 12) [I edited pages for grammar & usage--very tedious]
-Assistant Editor, Opinion (12)
-Op-Ed Columnist (11, 12) [Will send in samples of work ... they're quite good]
Boy Scouts (9-12)
-Senior Patrol Leader (9-12)
-Eagle Scout
-Two 50-mile hikes under my belt
-See also Summer (Nat'l Jamboree)
Baseball (9, 10)
-Frosh (9), JV (10)
-See also Summer (summer teams)
Seminary (9-12)
-This is a one-hour religion class @ my church (LDS/also known as Mormon)
-One hour, every day, except Wednesday, before school [I have to wake up @ 5:45!]
GWB Campaign (2004)
-Made phone calls</p>

<p>Summer:
VBI (summer 2004, 2005)
-[2-week summer debate camp @ UCLA]
Boy Scouts National Jamboree
-Translator for Italian, Spanish-speaking scouts
-Adjutant to Western Region President</p>

<p>Etc.: I am self-taught (and pretty fluent) in Italian. I love Russia, and I will focus my essays on this passion. I will have excellent recs. and ECs, and I feel my test scores will suffice, but my GPA worries me: I had a poor first semester freshman year, and have a declining grade trend because of increased involvement in debate.</p>

<p>Another note: I will be approaching my teachers and trying to persuade them to allow me to do some kind of project/extra credit in order to raise grades that are marring my transcript. If I am successful, this could really increase my GPA.</p>

<p>What do you guys think of my own estimated chances at these schools (please add more!):</p>

<p>Reach:
-Harvard
-Princeton (no freshman year grades = 3.89 UW, 4.29 W) -- Plus I have demonstrated interest by sending all scores here, and will visit soon.
-Stanford</p>

<p>Good Match:
-UPenn (the College)?
-UChicago</p>

<p>Safety
-UWashington Honors
-NYU</p>

2

<p>bump bump bump bump</p>

3

<p>You're in em all...good a shot as anyone in HYPS</p>

4

<p>bump bump bump bump</p>

5

<p>Er... no comment on the stats (I'm only a junior)... but I'm surprised to see another debater on this board XD... (Also a VBI 2004 attendee, and competed at Stanford this year.)</p>

6

<p>i think you have an excellent chance at all the schools you mentioned.
your debate skills will obviously help you. (hey but what do I know, im only a soph)</p>

<p>why aren't you applying to yale? isnt it a good "liberal artsy" school, which you seem to be very strong in?</p>

<p>btw, you said by sending scores to certain schools, one can demonstrate his/her interest. so does it help one to send his/her sat scores to schools before applying? id like to know more about this.</p>

<p>and how did you self-study for ap euro? im eager to know because im doing it too.</p>

<p>(sorry for all these questions, when im supposed to give you responses... :p)</p>

7

<p>cyanthis- what lab were you in? Will you be returning? (I will be, for Session I) What's your code? (mine's Bellevue JP)</p>

<p>Caesar55- I figure that because Yale looks at freshman year grades, my chances are equal to those I have of getting in to Harvard, so I figure, Why do another application?</p>

<p>I self-studied for AP Euro by doing three things: 1) I checked out "History of the Modern World" (I forget the author's name) at the local library; 2) I got the Princeton Review (be sure it is the Princeton Review) for AP Euro; 3) I took the class for AP World concurrently at my school.</p>

<p>When you take the SATs/APs, the college board will give you the opportunity to send your scores to 1-3 colleges for free. I don't know how much it can help on its own, but in combination with other things that demonstrate your interest I'm sure it can make a small difference.</p>

<p>See, the thing is, I don't think you guys understand how bad my freshman year grades were. My GPA breakdown follows:</p>

<p>2.86
4.0</p>

<p>4.0
3.71</p>

<p>3.85
4.0 (projected, of course)</p>

<p>Included in that freshman year first semester are a D, a C, and 3 B's. I am currently trying to arrange for summer school in order to bring at least the D up. I will also be approaching my teachers and asking them if I can do a research project of some sort to recover the poor grades. Hopefully it works ... what do you guys think of my chances, sans improvements?</p>

8

<p>I was in the Massey/Seiler lab this year... going back for Session I again XD... (I'm Lynbrook CC). </p>

<p>As for college-ish comments, I'm far from an expert, as another worried junior, but with a high total GPA, the guidance-counselor type at my school would probably say you had a fighting chance anywhere (with Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford still being reaches, as they are for anyone)... And as for showing interest, arranging for an interview with an alumni or at the school itself is supposed to help, and speechie/debater types are good at talking ^_^.</p>

9

<p>I was in Duby/Pinto last year. And congrats on sending Lynbrook CL to Stanford ... that'll set a good precedent for your school.</p>

10

<p>I forgot to mention, I have ADD (somewhat bad. I take 20 mg of Adderall/day).</p>

11

<p>What was I thinking...CL is from Bellarmine</p>