How screwed am I?

Applying to College
21

<p>My mom called the Brown office of admission today and they said, and she quoted this to me, that my language study was sufficient to put me “in good standing” and that the course guidelines were just that, and not requirements. When my mom asked about taking a course at a CC, the officer said my time would be better spent working on my application and keeping my first-semester grades up.</p>

<p>I think if my course of study is good enough for Brown, it’s good enough for me. Thanks for everyone’s help and with all due respect to MYOS1634 and all others who suggested I take an online class, I’m not going to. </p>

<p>If anyone’s curious, here is my course load for all 4 years of high school. My parents (both Dartmouth grads…not that it really matters…) and guidance counselor seem confident that it is rigorous enough:
GRADE 9:
Honors English
Honors Spanish II
Honors Earth Science
Orchestra
Chinese I
Geo/Civics (the required freshman social science, ew.)
Honors Algebra II</p>

<p>GRADE 10 (note: I transferred schools between 9 and 10):
English II (no honors or AP option available)
Honors Biology
Honors Chemistry
Chamber (basically the equivalent of orchestra, I play violin)
Honors Precalc
US History</p>

<p>GRADE 11:
AP Lit (5)
Honors Spanish III
AP Bio (4)
Anatomy/Physiology
AP Stats (4)
APUSH (4)</p>

<p>Grade 12:
AP Lang
AP Human Geo
Honors Calculus
Honors Physics
European History
AP Comp Gov</p>

<p>My scores are:
SAT Composite: 2170 (750 CR 720 M 700 W)
Subject Tests: 800 Lit, 730 Bio E, 650 USH (whoops…)</p>

<p>I have read my LORs and they are positively glowing, my ECs are fantastic, I have 700+ hours of volunteering, I am a leader in multiple organizations, I have done research. I interview extremely well. The list goes on and on. (Sorry to sound arrogant…) Basically, all the subjective is above and beyond. :wink: I am also a very strong writer (contrary to that SAT score…hahaha) dedicating a LOT of time to the essays.</p>

<p>And I am applying to Bowdoin, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Mount Holyoke, Stanford, UChicago, UPenn, UVA, WUSTL, Wellesley, and Williams. :)</p>

22

<p>Someone called! No one on CC ever calls! Good job, Mom!</p>

<p>You’ll be fine. I have no doubt you’ll be accepted to several of those.</p>

23

<p>Your stats are good, and at this point, it’s questionable what an online language course would do in terms of upping your chances. However, do bear in mind that top schools like the ones you listed do like to see 4 years of a foreign language, and all things equal, those with it will have a better chance of admissions. If it were like a horse race, i’d put my bets on those with that fourht year of foreign language. Anyone looking to apply to a list of school like that would generally get the advice to tget the fourth year of language in there.</p>

24

<p>@MrMom62: Thanks for your support! My parents are shockingly rational, not that you would know based on my neurotic posts. Just this weekend they talked me down from the metaphorical bridge I was about to jump off based on the SAT score that I had convinced myself (thanks to CC…) would get me an automatic rejection from any 4-year institute. ;)</p>

<p>@cptofthehouse: Haha, if my acceptance/rejection decision comes down to something as arbitrary as a single class I will be floored…then shrug my shoulders and move on. I’ll keep that in mind, though. ;)</p>

25

<p>Absolutely agree with the adcom saying your time would be better spent working on my application and keeping my first-semester grades up than taking the class at CC if you have already met the requirement.</p>

26

<p>You never know what the reasons for not being accepted are. It’s just when you assign percentages and do the analysis, you get some idea as to what those most often accepted have in terms of courses, grades, etc. At this point, it is a moot one. What is your area of interest academically? </p>

<p>And, yes, when one looks at the accept %s broken down by test scores, it can get discouraging when one does not have the numbers way up there. You just go with what you have. One of mine got into many schools where his scores were very much in the lower 25%. Had hoped to get a few hits, but he did better than expected. And, there are applicants with with test scores way up there with 4 years of foreign language and every other t crossed and i dotted who get turned down. It’s just when one tallies up the results in a large group, you can see where the odds lie.</p>

27

<p>@cptofthehouse Very true! Great insight. Regarding my SAT scores, according to the common app I am above the median for my composite score for every school but WUSTL (by 20 points), UChicago (by 50 points…yikes!), and Stanford (2 points, but I assume the athletes drive it down.) So that’s comforting! All of my individual scores are in the 50% range (top 25% for a few, even!) for every school I’m applying to as well. However, I do know there’s a massive volume of kids with better scores than I applying, and I certainly know which of my list are reaches, which are super-reaches, and which are targets/safeties. I mean, I definitely know my limits–no HYPMC for me–but I don’t think I’m THAT bad. It’s easy to get caught up in the CC “2300 or bust” movement.</p>

<p>Congratulations to your son! Very encouraging news. And thank you again for your explanation…sorry if I came across as rude earlier.</p>

<p>My academic interest is primarily neuroscience (that’s what I did research on this summer, which was SUCH a formative experience), but I am also a huge politics nerd and want to study Political Science or Urban Studies along with neuroscience. My end goal is law school…not sure where neuroscience factors in there…but hey, I have time!</p>

28

<p>CC is full of humblebrags and wishful thinking. Do not confuse it for the real world.</p>

29

<p>^ I have seen people with both extremes. People may get in with below 25% of admission stat and people do not get accepted with above 75% admission stat. Even there are admission data available, the admission process is still mostly a black box as there are way too many factors contributing to it. Nevertheless, the only thing we can use as reference is still the admission stat.</p>

30

<p>Even though I do think the 4th year of language would be nice to have since most competitive applicants (except those from schools that don’t offer a 4th year) will have it, I agree it’s not going to be a deal breaker and your resume as presented above is impressive. Do not lose sleep over it. :slight_smile:
For many of these schools, it’s impossible to predict who will get in and why, and you’re as good an applicant as anyone can be (except for that 4th year, but you have summer research which more than makes up for it.) I’d be surprised if you don’t get accepted to not just one, but a few of these highly selective colleges. And you’ll have time to take Spanish there, or to try a new language (noticed you started with Chinese :stuck_out_tongue: )</p>

31

<p>Not rude at all. I like your attitude. Though it’s nice to be in the top 25% of the pool, clearly most of those accepted were not! Good luck to you.</p>