high school junior---chance me for ivies. other suggestions are very welcome

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>well i have always aimed for top colleges like the ivys etc but lately i've started panicking that there is no way i will get in becase my ECs are weak. chance me please</p>

<p>-->I was born in the u.s. but my father is Greek and my mother Romanian and i currently live in Greece</p>

<p>-->Languages: English, Greek, Romanian, French(sorbonne 1 diploma, will take the sorbonne 2 in april.sorbonne 2 is basically the highest it can get), German(grades 7-9)</p>

<p>-->PSAT: CR66, M64, W72
SAT subject tests: French 800, Literature 670(considering retake)</p>

<p>-- >Freshman year: 17.9/20
-->Sophomore year:18.3/20
-->Junior year:
IB student:
first semester:
psychology HL:6+/7
english A1 HL:6+/7
visual arts HL:5/7
math SL:5+/7
environmental systems SL:5+/7
modern greek SL:6/7</p>

<pre><code> greek ministry courses:18.7/20

  these grades are definitely going to improve in semester 2. my  prediction is a 37/42

</code></pre>

<p>-->extracurriculars: volunteering at the center of audio-psycho-phonology(3 hours per week), art club, school choir, piano(grades 1-7,11-...), music theory, dance lessons, will organize fund-raising event for school, lots of one-time volunteer activities</p>

<p>-->Summer activities: Columbia summer program for high school students:focus on visual arts, applying to ce internships for summer 2008</p>

<p>-->i think my recommendations will be very good (my psych teacher loves me!)
-->generally good in essays so hopefully that'll be good also. i think im gonna write about being multi-cultural and multi-lingual but im not sure yet. do you think that's a good start?</p>

<p>-->oh and i also do extremely well in interviews(i know thats subjective but thats what people tell me so..)</p>

<p>-->My father went to Columbia and Wharton</p>

<p>anyway im sorry i had to write down every little thing and i probably bored u but im really hoping u could chance me! im thinking of applying to Columbia, Yale, Boston U and i dont really know what else so i would appreciate any other suggestions!!</p>

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<p>anyone...?</p>

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<p>I'm confused as to your GPA, as I have never seen that system used. Could you explain it?</p>

<p>Also I'd suggest getting the SAT scores up, you still have a long time so you can prepare decently. Aim for at least over 2200.</p>

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<p>yes, i know the IB grading system is confusing. Basically each subject is graded on a scale of 1-7, 7 being the highest, and you have 6 subjects, so the total is out of 42. generally 6 is considered an A, as far as i know, so a 36/42 means straight As. i hope i made this a little bit easier to understand, but i dont really not how to convert it to the 4.0 scale. anyway, i've already started preparing for the SAT so i'm sure i will manage to do better, i already score better on practise tests so...
Thanks for the help!
Do you, or anybody else, have any other suggestion?</p>

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<p>Oh and the /20 scale is based on the greek system. just divide by 5 to get the usual 4.0 GPA scale. i don't know about APs and such though, do IB courses count as APs? i think the Higher Level one's do. anyways.</p>

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<p>Your SAT needs to come up a lot higher...ECs are (as you said) okay, nothing spectacular. Do you need fin aid? B/c if you don't, you'd stand a much better chance. Possibly Columbia admit given your legacy and summer program there and assuming you have great recs and essays that display passion.</p>

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<p>no, i don't need financial aid luckily so that's okay. i wish Columbia admit., it's like my top choice. do you maybe have any other schools to suggest?</p>

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<p>buuuump.......</p>

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<p>I'm being a little harsh here, but I figure that's what you're asking for. Your ability to speak multiple languages is impressive, and you have a pretty good GPA and you're doing pretty well in the IB program.</p>

<p>You need to bump up your SATs about 200 points, particularly in the math section. If you have a 76-80 math they may be slightly more forgiving of weaker reading/writing if you live in Greece. I don't know. I think for Ivies you're going to want 22s on the SAT I, and an 8/high 7/med 7 on your SAT II's.</p>

<p>You don't seem to have much passion for your EC's, that kind of leaps off the page. I don't really know how you're going to remedy that, I think colleges are more impressed with a sport/music/art/etc. that you've done for many years and takes up much of your time (as opposed to having ten different BS EC's like being the secretary of the French club, member-at-large in student council, VP of the law club, or whatever) so it's not like something you can just remedy.</p>

<p>As of now, I think you have a 10% chance at any particular Ivy; you're an average Ivy applicant I think. There's a lot to be said for how hard you've worked, and those chances are something plenty of people would love to have. Just make sure you're not just looking Ivies if you're definitely looking to attend a U.S. university.</p>

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<p>Thanks for your help innervisions, you' re right in that i really have no time left to fix my ECs, so i think i'm just gonna try to organize fund-raisers and stuff like that this year, it's really the only thing i can do.</p>

<p>About the SATs, i seem to be getting a much higher score in the writing and critical reading sections( i get around a 700-760 or even more on practise tests) than in the math section(but i can still get like a 700 if i work hard enough). is it bad if the math section is lower than the verbal part? its not that im bad in math but somehow i cant do well on multiple choice questions, mainly because i grasp theories perfectly but then get confused doing simple algebra.</p>

<p>Also, do you know whether IB courses are like Advanced Placement or honors courses? i heard somewhere that they're supposed to be even higher. i mean, i know for sure that the work is hard but do colleges know that too?</p>

<p>sorry for asking a million questions!</p>

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<p>oh dear... i just have to buuump...</p>

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<p>IBs are at least as hard as APs. I'd say they were a bit harder, if anything, so I think you're okay there... I don't know--can you improve your IB scores? I think you'd want to boost the 5s up to the 6s, but I don't know how it works. </p>

<p>Well, you should at least get a 700 on the math, I'd say. You have to aim for that, and a 2200 on the SAT. </p>

<p>What are you looking to study?</p>

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<p>yeah, you 're right and i'm pretty sure my 5s will turn into 6s by the end of this semester, professors are always harsher at the beggining</p>

<p>well i haven't really decided yet but i'm mostly interested in journalism, psychology or design. i know these are not connected but i really am undecided!</p>

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<p>beginning*</p>

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<p>I think you'd have to up that score on the SAT lit test first for journalism... </p>

<p>The legacy and summer program do help for Columbia. Make the most of the experience in Greece in your application, and yeah, just work on your academics+ECs for now, since you still have a little time.</p>

<p>I'd say you should consider some other schools, though. NYU, BU, BC, etc...</p>