Hey, What's One More "Chance" Thread Gonna Do To You?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Alright, so I've always been curious how I would fare in one of these chance threads. So, please, be honest!</p>

<p>Chinese-American Male (which obviously won't help me whatsoever) from a semi-competitive, HUGE, suburban high school (over 3,300 kids in the whole school)</p>

<p>Future Major: Neuroscience, Human Biology, Spanish, Philosophy... all over the place</p>

<p>Class of 2010
Rank: 7/814
GPA: 4.79 weighted, 4.0 unweighted
SAT: Hasn't taken yet, but on Princeton Review practice tests, scoring consistently around 2000s, so I'm expecting 2100s this fall/winter.
SAT II:
US History - 720
Will take - a math SAT II / chinese / spanish / biology</p>

<p>Courses:
9th Grade
-Earth Science Honors
-Spanish 2
-American Studies I Honors
-Concert Band
-Geometry Honors
-Journalism
-Computer Programming I
-English I Honors
-Phys Ed/Health</p>

<p>10th Grade
-Biology Honors
-College Algebra Honors
-English II Honors
-US History AP (expecting 5 on AP test)
-Spanish 3 Honors
-Psychology AP (expecting 4/5 on AP test)
-Phys Ed/Health</p>

<p>11th Grade (next year)
-Biology AP
-Chemistry I Honors
-English III Honors
-World History AP
-Spanish 4 Honors
-Trig/Analytic Geometry Honors
-Phys Ed/Health</p>

<p>12th Grade (expected)
-Physics I Honors
-English IV AP
-Comparative Government AP
-Economics AP
-Spanish V AP
-Calculus AB, AP
-Phys Ed/Health</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-Leo Club - 9,10,11,12 (secretary 11th grade, expecting president 12th grade; more than 150 hours of community service by the end of 12th grade)
-National Honor Society - 11,12
-Spanish Honor Society - 11,12
-Math Honor Society - 11,12
-Math League - 10,11,12
-Club Medicine - 10,11,12 (expecting president/vp 12th grade)
-Science Fair - 9,10 (1st places at local science fair, participant at regionals)
-Chinese Corner - 10,11,12 (founder, I go to my local community college every Saturday morningwhere I converse with college students learning chinese... it's basically a really chill time, practicing their chinese)
-Kumon Math & Reading - 10,11,12 (job as a tutor 4-8 hours a week... really fun!)
-Summer@Brown (summer 2008) - accepted with scholarship, if that matters for anything (sidenote-best week of my life!)
-Club Swimming since 6th Grade
-Winter Track - 10,11,12
-Piano since 6 years old / played flute from 6th grade to 10th grade
-Honor Roll/department awards/"STAR" student for history/spanish/college algebra etc...</p>

<p>...who knows what could pop up the next two years!</p>

<p>expecting fantastic teacher recommendations/college essays</p>

<p>Probably applying to...
-Princeton/Yale (HUGE HUGE reach, but hey, there may be a chance)
-Brown University(absolute DREAM school, probably early decision, with TONS of work on the app)
-Cornell University
-University of Pennsylvania
-Tufts University
-Wesleyan University
-Boston College
-Boston University
-Swarthmore College
-Franklin & Marshall College
-Penn State, University Park</p>

<p>Any comments? Other college suggestions?
Thanks in advance!!</p>

2

<p>Also considering:</p>

<p>Temple University</p>

3

<p>Well, this is a little early for a chances thread. (But of course, I did one this early too, so I can't really say anything!) Anyway, you look pretty good for top schools. Your rank is almost absurdly high so congrats on that. Your test scores are a hair low for HYPSM, depending on the distribution of those 2100something points. (If it's like 740CR, 740M, 650 writing, that's a lot better than 650CR, 650M, 770 W, for example). You've got a buttload of ECs, which looks decent, and I suspect there's even a focus in there, but I don't see it clearly. I see them as a hair on the typical-Asian side, which, unfortunately and perhaps unfairly, works against you some. </p>

<p>As it stands now, pretty slim chances at HYP, decent chances at lower ivys, places like tufts and swarthmore (and maybe Penn State, I'm not sure) are matches, anything below that are low matches to safeties. </p>

<p>Keep going in this direction, and best of luck!</p>

4

<p>silverchris9, thank you so much for your input - I truly mean it!</p>

<p>I tried to hold back making one of these chances thread until at least like the end of next year, but I couldn't really help it. :P</p>

5

<p>yeah..the whole asian thing isn't going to help us much in terms of applications, but oh well. life is unfair -- we just gotta accept it.</p>

<p>your stats aren't exactly shining for princeton/yale, but it's just a crapshoot with those schools. on the plus side, you have loads of good ECs. and you just never know with those ivies, so go for it!! (also brown, penn, cornell etc.)
that missing SAT score kind of prevents any further judgment, but by looking at your current stats, i'd say the rest of your schools, with the exception of swarthmore, are pretty solid matches. tufts/wesleyan might be a bit of a low reach, but again, it depends on your SAT score now, since you seem to have everything else.</p>

<p>good luck, fellow asian!</p>

6

<p>Alright, assuming you get a 2100 on your SAT and you keep up that fabulous GPA and rank (junior year is going to be hard) these are your chances.</p>

<p>-Princeton/Yale - Yep, Big Reach
-Brown University - With ED, Reach
-Cornell University - Reach
-University of Pennsylvania - Reach
-Tufts University - Low Reach
-Wesleyan University - Match
-Boston College - Match
-Boston University - Low Match/Safety
-Swarthmore College - Reach
-Franklin & Marshall College - Never heard of it...must be a Safety.
-Penn State, University Park - Safety</p>

<p>I would aim higher than a 2100 if you really want to get into some of the big names. Ah, I see you're one of my fellow 2010ers; that's cool. Keep up the good grades in junior year (the most important year) and you'll be set. Yes, I thought about making a Chance thread this early, but I'm going to wait a year until I get my ACT scores and more ECs. </p>

<p>Good college choices. Good luck!</p>

7

<p>Agree with cosine 45, </p>

<p>Franklin and Marshall is indeed a safety, >50% acceptance rate from what I hear. But it's a great LAC though. </p>

<p>Remember, Ivy league admissions is basically a complete and total crapshoot! (with the possible exception of Cornell)</p>

8

<p>Again, thanks for all the input everyone.</p>

<p>Does anybody know much about the Penn State Schreyers Honors College program? I've heard some really good things about, so I may consider that also.</p>

9

<p>I feel terrible for doing this but..</p>

<p>bump^</p>

10

<p>bump bump x2</p>

11

<p>Does anybody know if interning or whatever during a summer is basically a "necessity" for the Ivies/top schools?</p>