Give me your best shot-- Chance Me

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Preface this by saying, I’m only doing this to see where I would fall in the world of everyone needing high scores and perfect GPAs to get into College. Here goes…

(Junior)
GPA: (UW/W) 3.5 UW/ 4.35 W
ACT: 30, But will Retake
APs: AP Euro(4), APUSH(Prob. 5), AP LANG(Prob. 4)
Next Year: AP Gov., AP Spanish 5, AP Lit, AP Calc AB, AP Environ.,
High Honor Roll 7 Semesters(4.0+ GPA)
Gifted Talented Program( Highest Academic Honor @ My School, only 20 per class)
SSP ( Prestigious Scholar Program in Illinois)
SAT II: USH & Lit (TBD)
Summer College Program: JSA @ Princeton U. ( Speaker of the House)
Rank- N/A, But probably top 20 out of 700 ish

Ok enough with that garbage, time for the fun stuff. The things that make you human…

ECs: SERIOUS ABOUT- Captain of Varsity Basketball(Getting Recruited D3; IHSA Scholar Athlete), Baseball( 2 years; Many awards), Model UN, NHS, DECA (2nd place Area), Principal’s Leadership, Lobbyist for school-based health centers, Created a student section, Student delegate for City hall transport committee, Bosnian Folk team

EXTRA EC- Spanish Club, Ping-Pong Club (lol), Tutor, definitely more but I can’t remember.

Service: Going to India for a program on development (1 month in India), Founder of GrandFriends( Local service project), Co-Founded partnership at my school for a global initiative adopting a village in India (un-related to my trip), Volunteer at local homeless girls shelter.

Job/Work- Intern for Bruce Rauner Campaign(Recently elected Gov. of Illinois), Office clerk @ Attorneys Office, Will intern for Local State Representative (hopefully get a letter of Rec.)

OK Enough of that, why am I different?

Essay: Will discuss being an international refugee, my parents escaping war in Eastern Europe(Dad was a soldier), and how what I learned in rural India changed my life.

WHITE
MALE
NOT BORN IN THE US(Bosnia)
Family Income- ~95,000

HOOK- First Generation College, Refugee from Bosnia

Weakness- GPA & ACT( Got a C Soph. Year too)
Strength- No one will have a better essay that me.–> I’ll put $1 on it.

School- Top 20 most difficult school in IL
Large Public( 2,000+)

Recs-

  1. Principal of my school
  2. Hoping the IL State Rep. will write one
  3. Very good relationships will my teachers & counselor.

Schools- UPENN, Northwestern(#1 ED Choice as of now), Georgetown, Lafayette, Muhlenberg, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, WUSTL, Tufts, GWU, Princeton ( Just because I had my Summer College Program there)

Intended Major- International Relations
Minor- Economics

( Scholar Program paying for my app fees/trip to India/ACTS’s/SAT II’s/AP’s/basically everything so I’m letting it fly)

2

Again, won’t be paying for any app fees. Additionally, I have very tough skin and am very confident in my abilities so feel free to be honest. I like the motivation. Thanks in advance.

3

I’d say UPenn, Northwestern, dartmouth, johns hopkins, cornell, WUSTL, Tufts, and princeton are reaches. You seem like you’d stand a good shot at Georgetown though, and I’d day you’re a shoe in for GWU. I’m unfamiliar with Lafayette and Muhlenberg.

4

@gdlt234 I’m mostly going to apply to a bunch of reaches and hopefully one admissions rep likes me. Maybe luck will be on my side come November/January

5

Hiya.

You have a strong application. Your ECs are outstanding and it looks like you’ve got some great letters of recommendation. Your weighted GPA and ACT score (which could help a lot if you bump it up a few points) strengthen your application. However, to be brutally honest, I think that most schools on your list will take one look at your UW GPA and deem you unqualified. As you know, your college list is pretty much entirely made up of top-tier and ivy league schools. I would recommend looking into some less competitive schools where you are pretty sure you’ll be admitted. Schools on the tier I am referencing are Tulane University, University of Washington, George Washington University, NYU, Boston University, UMass Amherst, etc. Obviously, there are more than this, but I think it’s important that you have a well-rounded college list (don’t forget safety schools) filled with places you would be happy at. College admissions are ridiculously competitive at this point.

Good luck.