Final chances for Columbia (ED), HYPSM, Caltech, Chicago, Dartmouth, Duke, JHU, NW

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>It's up to fate/God/gods/Buddha/Allah/flying spaghetti monster/nature now, but here are the stats I listed on my app:</p>

<p>Stats
GPA: 3.9, Top 10% - highly competitive private
SAT: 2360, 12 essay
ACT: 36, 10 essay
SAT IIs: 800 - Math II, Physics, Chemistry, World History, Chinese
APs: 5 - European History, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Calculus BC, Physics C: Mechanics, Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, Chemistry, World History, Human Geography, Chinese (10)
IB:
Physics SL – 7
History SL – 6
May 2008: English HL, Math HL, Chemistry HL, Spanish SL
Current schedule: IB Discrete Math, IB Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Orchestra, AP Bio, IB Spanish IV, AP/IB English, IB Theory of Knowledge, IB Organic Chem</p>

<p>Awards:
AP National Scholar
1st in state and 10th in nation, TEAMS applied math and science competition
Champion 2x, 06 and 07 WSU Debate Tournaments
Semifinalist, 07 Division I State Debate Tournament
Most Improved, Varsity Track - improved my mile time by 2 mins
AIME Qualifier 2x</p>

<p>Activities
Varsity (Policy) Debate - Captain
School Orchestra - Concertmaster (11-12)
Varsity Track
Tutoring Service - Tutor Board (11-12)
Newspaper - Columnist (12)
Economics Club - Co-Founder (11-12)</p>

<p>Outside school:
DSO Civic Orchestra - First Violinist (11-12)
Hospice Volunteering - 70 hours, Student Advisory Committee
Piano</p>

<p>Jobs
Chinese School Teacher - 3 hrs/wk
Private Violin Teacher - 1 hr/wk</p>

<p>Misc
Wrote my essay on debate - how I loved 7 weeks of camp this previous summer and want to continue debate in college - it's pretty good.
Recs - mediocre-good</p>

<p>Chances for:
Columbia (ED)
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
MIT
UPenn
Caltech
UChicago
Dartmouth
Duke
Johns Hopkins
Northwestern</p>

2

<p>zero chance don't apply to any of those schools, especially columbia</p>

3

<p>improved mile time by 2 minutes...from horrendous to mediocre, or what?
I think you know your chances</p>

4

<p>Hey there.</p>

<p>You are obviously aware of your academic credentials. Here's what I noticed when I read through your lists.</p>

<p>What is you passion? I didn't see anything that stood out to me, such as being in one kind of activity for 4 years or doing some kind of amazing community service. While your grades and scores are awesome, most of the schools on your list want to know about you as a person. If everyone who had 2300+ on their SAT's got into Harvard, Harvard's SAT Range would be much much higher. The Ivies and other Top LACs want well rounded people, not merely academic powerhouses. </p>

<p>That said, I think you have a good chance at Columbia since you applied ED. However, the others I really don't know. You'll probably get into Caltech, MIT, and Northwestern as well.</p>

5

<p>
[quote]
What is you passion? I didn't see anything that stood out to me, such as being in one kind of activity for 4 years or doing some kind of amazing community service. While your grades and scores are awesome, most of the schools on your list want to know about you as a person. If everyone who had 2300+ on their SAT's got into Harvard, Harvard's SAT Range would be much much higher. The Ivies and other Top LACs want well rounded people, not merely academic powerhouses.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>How can I spin passion out of something? I tried to do that for debate by focusing my essay on it, but is that enough? Should I get my teachers to write about it too?</p>