<p>The applications are officially complete and I'm wondering if I have any hope come April. I've already been accepted by UChicago EA and wanted to gather some more options. I would probably only consider WF if I get the President's Scholarship for debate, and Kenyon only for a full ride.</p>
<p>The main wrinkle in my application is that I moved, and transferred schools, after sophomore year at a public AP school and restarted the 10th grade at an IB school in a new city. Otherwise, white male with a boring name and unqualified for FA.</p>
<p>Stats:</p>
<p>– GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.4 W (according to transcript, at least. It's absurdly complicated due to the high-school transfer and the way my current school translates IB scores to percentages. I do <em>not</em> have straight As and napkin math suggests I should be closer to 3.9 unweighted)
– Class rank: top 10% (school only reports deciles)
– Predicted IB total: 43/45
– SAT I: CR 800 M 760 W 800, single sitting
– SAT II: US History 800, Math Level II 800, Chemistry 770
– AP tests (all 5s): World History, Biology, US History, Calculus BC, English Language & Composition (got a perfect score on Lang + Comp along with ~5 other people in the world the year I took it)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:</p>
<p>– Debate: Team captain at both schools, long list of tournament successes, including an appearance in a state final, wins in a number of prestigious high-school tournaments, and qualification for an international final at Oxford. Discussed this activity in the EC supplement for H/D.
– Writing: Club head/editor of annual literary publications at both schools. Wins in a few national high-school poetry prizes and have attended two summer programs for creative writing. Submitted an art supplement to Chicago, Dartmouth, and Harvard with a small portfolio of poems of the caliber that won prizes.
– Math Team: Made varsity at my old school and was on the short list for captain but my current school doesn't have a competitive team.
– Mock Trial: Captain at old school, re-founded the club at new school, hoping to go to our first competition in the spring.
– Contributed to school papers and the like but never managed any awards/leadership positions.
– Various volunteering at the school/neighborhood level totalling 100-200 hours but nothing in a serious, directed effort. Didn't put this into the Common App but it'll be implicit in the IB diploma requirements and (hopefully) my GC recommendation.</p>
<p>Subjective stuff:</p>
<p>– Essays: Personal statement, apparently good enough for Chicago, focused on the personal experience of creative writing and how it has shaped other aspects of my life. Harvard supplement about the importance of humor and creativity even in serious work, no Dartmouth supplement beyond the short EC note, and the usual Wake Forest carnival of supplements. Probably in the A- range overall in this category, good writing but I stuck to safer topics.
– LoRs: English and Biology teacher, both of whom have taught me for junior+senior years. English teacher is my faculty advisor, seems to like me well enough as a person, and gave me the award for being the best Lit student in the class. Biology teacher tried to convince me to go to a science summer camp, had all the paperwork together, but I was already committed to a poetry workshop. (She didn't seem too crestfallen, though; I think she's trying to redeem me for STEM) I don't know my GC nearly as well but he's been in the job for decades and takes pride in helping people target elite schools.</p>
<p>Hooks: </p>
<p>– Legacy (parent) at Harvard.
– Being a male interested in humanities majors helps some places but these schools all run a tad male-heavy.</p>
