First post! what are my chances please?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello. This is my first post and I was curious if you all could give me your opinions as to what my chaces are at the following schools. I applied EA to Georgetown school of foreign services. I also plan on applying regular decision to middlebury, tufts, claremont mckenna, and johns hopkins. I'm looking for an International Relations / political science major. My SAT scores are not great but hopefully other aspects make up for that. </p>

<p>-Sex: Male
-Race: White American
-Hometown: Eau Claire, Wisconsin
-Current city: Scottsdale, Arizona
-Religion: Roman Catholic
-Large public High School</p>

<p>-SAT CR: 630
-SAT Math: 590
-SAT Writing: 690
-SAT II French: taking in december
-SAT II Literature: taking in december
-SAT II World History: taking in december
-ACT plus Writing: taking in december</p>

<p>-GPA weighted: 4.667
-GPA unweighted: 3.997
-Class rank: 23/600 = top 4%
-International Baccalaureate Diploma Candidate</p>

<p>*Junior Courseload
-IB English III HL
-IB French IV SL
-IB Biology I HL
-IB Psychology SL
-IB History of the Americas HL
-Algebra II</p>

<p>*Senior Courseload
-Economics Honors
-AP Government
-IB Theory of Knowledge
-IB 20th Century History HL
-IB Biology II HL
-AP Statistics
-IB Math Studies SL
-IB English IV HL
-IB Extended Essay</p>

<p>*Extra Curriculars
-Youth Minister for middle school kids at my church (past 2 years)
-Involved in high school youth group (past 3 years)
-Founder and President of Student World Assembly (past 3 years)
-Cofounder and undersecretary general of Model United nations (past 3 years)
-High School Ambassador for new students (past 3 years)
-Founder and President of Scottsdale Sister Cities club (this year)
-Afterschool chinese class (sophomore and junior year)
-IB elected junior class representative
-Key Club (freshman and sophomore year)
-National Honor Society (past two years)</p>

<p>*Explanation in detail
-Student World Assembly is present in over 154 countries, and the organization promotes global democracy and the protection of human rights around the world. It is a platform for university students to debate global issues and find a way to advocate action within their respective communities. I am the founder and president of the second high school chapter in the world. We are currently the only active HS chapter.... all the other ones are at a university level.
-I am extremely involved in church and my faith is extremely important to me. I place a great amount of emphasis on this in my applications and I have a rec letter from a prominent member in my church's community.
-The director of Scottsdale Youth Rotary Exchange contacted me last year and asked me to start a Scottsdale Sister Cities club at my high school. I am founder and president and we are working closely with the Scottsdale Sister Cities parent organization. I am organizing a two week exchange to Morocco.</p>

<p>*Rec letters
-First letter is from my former french teacher. I had her sophomore year for French III and last year for French IV IB. I have worked with her for 3 years in founding and running the Model United Nations club. She is the MUN sponsor. I know her on a very personal level, and she worked hard to convince my parents to let me go to france this past summer. French is my passion, and she knows it!
-Second rec letter is from my former history teacher. I had him sophomore year for World Geography Honors and last year for IB History. We are very close, and I have worked with him for 3 years in forming my high school chapter of Student World Assembly. He is the SWA sponsor. </p>

<p>*Essays
-I am extremely proud of my personal essay (and i am never proud of my own work). My english teacher read it and said it's a shame i wasn't in his creative writing class and my counselor said that it's one of the best he's read in his career. My second essay deals with the european political climate in relation to the Middle East. Both essays are very strong.</p>

<p>*Summer activity
-This past summer I went to language school in France for six weeks. I went there all alone and I met tons of friends. I travelled all around europe either by myself or with friends. Two day trips to geneva, a day trip to Turin, a day trip to the top of Mont Blanc, a weekend in Paris and London. I'm not one of those kids that gets sent off to leadership camp A, B, and C, but my experience in France this summer really gave me real-world experience. I got involved in sooo many sketchy and crazy situations that most people haven't!</p>

<p>*Other
-Nobody in either side of my extended family holds a four-year degree. My dad has an associates degree and my mom did not go to college. </p>

<p>I would really like some honest answers as to my chances at the aforementioned schools. I don't have the money to apply to a bunch of schools so I want to make the few that I apply to worthwhile. </p>

<p>Thank you so much!!</p>

<p>Regards,</p>

<p>dan</p>

2

<p>forgot to post my work experience.</p>

<p>*AJ's Fine Foods (courtesy clerk)
-may 2006 to august 2006</p>

<p>*Barnes and Noble Booksellers (receiver and bookseller)
-may 2006 to march 2007</p>

<p>*Coffee Plantation (supervisor / key holder / barista)
-april 2007 to present</p>

<p>So basically i've worked an average of 18 hours a week since turning 16</p>

3

<p>bump... please!! =]</p>

<p>dan</p>

4

<p>Everything is phenomenal except for your sat scores...but i wish the college process was as "wholistic" as its perceived. </p>

<p>Middlebury- Reach
Tufts- Match to High Reach
ClaremontMckenna- Safety to Match
Georgetown EA- you are competitive but you need to do something about thsoe sat scores.</p>

5

<p>Thank you!! I know the SAT scores aren't great. I'm not a test taker... at all. It's really too bad!</p>

<p>I'm not taking the SAT this saturday either because I will be youth ministering up north for the weekend. </p>

<p>Ah!! I can't take the SAT again in december either b/c i need that month to take the subject tests! Perhaps if I do well on the ACT in december it will help me with the other schools.</p>

<p>I'm really worried about georgetown now though....</p>

<p>Does anyone else have any input?</p>

6

<p>You have a lot to offer any college and have what it takes to be successful wherever you go. Your high GPA and rigorous program speaks well of your academic abilities and work ethic. </p>

<p>You should definitely take the ACT. Many students who do not perform well on the SAT find that they do much, much better on the ACT. This is because the SAT is a reasoning test, and the ACT is more closely tied to what you have studied. The ACT also lets you decide which, if any, test administration to send. </p>

<p>Also, if you are not a great test-taker, it helps to take these tests multiple times. Check the deadlines for your schools and see what is the last test administration they accept. You might be able to fit in some additional tries. </p>

<p>You have a challenging list, even in the best of worlds. Consider looking at one or two off the beaten path.</p>

7

<p>Honestly all those schools are reaches, particularly because of your test scores. Make sure you have safeties and more sure-fire matches.</p>

8

<p>bump... any other comments would be appreciated. I really appreciate the honesty you guys. :))</p>

9

<p>its true that your SAT scores aren't as high as they could be, but i think you should be optimistic in that you have a lot of other things going for you! also, it would be nice if people had a LITTLE faith in the fact that college admissions are not entirely SAT score based. i agree with those who said i would try retaking the tests, you never know how much your scores could shoot up with a little practice :) good luck!</p>