I want you to hit me as hard as you can.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Updating an old chances thread of mine.</p>

<p>I'm an Asian male, a senior in a new, competitive public high school in NJ.</p>

<p>GPA: 4.4 w (weird scale, don't ask)
Rank: 46/490 (finally got our ranks; see background for reason)</p>

<p>SATs: 2240 comp (junior year); 710 CR 730 M 800 W (12 essay)
PSATs: 227 (Semifinalist +)
ACTs: 34 comp (junior year); 35 E, 32 M, 33 S, 35 R (9 essay)
SAT IIs: 800-U.S. History; 730-World History; 730-Literature (self-studied the last two)
APs: U.S. Gov/Pol - 5, USH - 5; Eng. Lang/Comp - 5; Calc AB - 4</p>

<p>Background:</p>

<p>My school is less than a decade old.</p>

<p>I am currently in a brand new magnet program within my high school that focuses on law and public service. (I'm in the first class!) This magnet program decided most of my classes for the past three years: English and Social Studies are locked classes, and our electives are chosen for us.</p>

<p>I was supposed to enter high school in Honors Geometry, Spanish II, and Lab Biology. Instead, my school gave me Algebra I, Spanish I, and Physical Science Lab. I had only 2 honors courses in freshman year as a result (program classes). I studied math on my own, entering junior year a course ahead of my peers instead of behind (AP Calc AB instead of Hon. Precalc). I took summer courses in Sophomore year and skipped chemistry to go to physics this year. While I was going at a faster pace than my peers, my school gave no credit for the courses I took; it merely allowed me to skip the course in school after taking the school final exam. My peers have about 3-5 more honors courses than I do because of this, so most of their GPAs are about .2-.4 points higher than mine. Regardless, I have worked hard and this is my result.</p>

<p>My passions are in law, government, politics, and public speaking. Everything I have done in the past three years has been for one of these four things. My college and career will be related to this in some way (barring a complete change of heart).</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:</p>

<p>Mock Trial: Co-Founder (Frosh) and have been either an attorney or an expert witness for the past three years. Last year, as a part of a 4-attorney team, we took county championships in the NJ competition.</p>

<p>Amnesty International: Co-Founder (Soph) and treasurer.</p>

<p>Forensics/Debate Team: Founder (Junior) and Captain; now has $2000 in the bank due to successful ratification of budget. Everything (creation/planning of events) has been done by me or the teacher who supports the team.</p>

<p>JSA: Member for 3 years</p>

<p>Sophomore Class VP / Junior Class VP / Senior Class VP</p>

<p>About a year's worth of volunteering at a local retirement home
120 hours volunteering at various positions in a local hospital
Full time internship (40 h/w) at local courthouse for half the summer</p>

<p>Senior Class Schedule:
AP Physics
AP Statistics
AP English Literature (required)
AP Psychology
Honors Senior Seminar (required)
Gym</p>

<p>Tentative list:
Harvard (my dream school, but I understand that nothing is for certain)
Yale
University of Chicago
Columbia
University of Pennsylvania
Swarthmore
Dartmouth
NYU
Rutgers (safety?)</p>

<p>Chances for these?</p>

2

<p>Do you honestly expect to go to college with those putrid stats?</p>

<p>You can get a good amount of aid at Rutgers. For most students in your situation, I would recommend it, but law/politics is a field in which going to an "elite" college actually might be worth the extra initial burden. Everything besides Rutgers and NYU is a maybe, wouldn't get your hopes up too high.</p>

3

<p>That's what I'm asking you, no?</p>

4

<p>Ok I edited the post to include actual insight, though I don't really say anything useful.</p>

5

<p>I believe my guidance counselor said that any NJ senior who maintains over a 4.0 WGPA with over a 2200 SAT would be able to go to any public NJ university for free.
I don't know whether that's exactly true, and I'd rather leave the state for greener pastures, but it is comforting.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice. Good adjective, by the way; you don't see the word 'putrid' a lot these days.</p>

6

<p>Considering that you have been harsh in my threads before, I was tempted to be vengeful.</p>

<p>However, I think the only thing that really takes away from your application is your rank and lack of passion in any one area. Otherwise, I think your SAT, SAT II scores are great, and you have a valid reason for your classes having been a little odd.</p>

<p>Harvard, Yale, Columbia and even UPenn seem to be reaches for you. I think you need to choose a few other match schools besides UChicago and NYU.</p>

7

<p>I only posted once on one thread of yours 4 months ago. It appears that old posts die hard.</p>

<p>My rank is terrible, I acknowledge that. I do contest my lack of passion, however. There were zero clubs in my school that had anything to do with law or politics when I came. In my time, I started a Mock Trial team to get a taste for law, an AI club acting as a stage for political action, and a Forensics Team so that I could debate political issues. Are they not related?
Hmm...I asked for suggestions for matches/safeties, but CC seems to have deleted it...so I reiterate:</p>

<p>Any suggestions for other matches/safeties with strong ties to law-related fields, preferably outside of NJ?</p>

8

<p>No, I just happen to point out people when they're being mean.</p>

<p>You have the opposite problem I do, because you have great stats, but no passion. I have a passion but horrendous stats. And because of that, I don't know whether my suggestions are valid, but here goes--</p>

<p>They are related, but I still think you can do a little more to show that passion. I know that your school is stiff in the clubs-department, but it's not just clubs that make a difference. How about starting a group that helps a local political campaign, for example?</p>

<p>Are you interested in LACs or no? I notice that your entire list is made up of universities save for Swarthmore. You can probably look at schools like Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Washington University in St. Louis, and George Washington University. You seem interested in law and politics, but aren't applying to Georgetown. Georgetown is actually probably more realistic than some of the other schools on your list.</p>

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<p>Test scores are good, but rank of only top 10%. ECs are very good.</p>

<p>Law, government, and politics says Georgetown, UCLA, UC Berkeley, NYU, Univ of Virginia, Duke, Stanford, and, surprisingly, Texas. You will be competitive at all of these except Duke, Stanford and maybe UC Berkeley (OOS). </p>

<p>Consider George Washington or American University as backups. Another good match is William and Mary.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

10

<p>I have far from great stats, although I appreciate the compliment (veiled?). </p>

<p>Interestingly enough, my friend and I are proposing on Friday a (non-partisan) project to all of the administrators in our school district (principal, superintendent, school board, etc) that attempts to inform NJ citizens and students about the political corruption that is going on unnoticed (our teacher's pension fund is going dry in 5 years because legislators keep taking money out to pay for others things, politicians are using eminent domain to help private investors instead of using it for public purposes, etc.)
This will actually take up several hundred hours over the course of this entire year, both in and out of school. Our proposal includes a documentary, articles in the local and county newspapers (we're in the process of getting press passes to report from town halls), and speaking sessions in high schools and other places. I can't really get any more into my passions than that.</p>

<p>I've considered LACs like Williams and Bowdoin, indeed. I am not sure about them, in the end. I definitely like the feel of the places listed above--I know that they're varied, but I've found a little niche that I feel that I could fit into for each one of those schools.</p>

<p>Georgetown just somehow turned me off, kind of like how I came to dislike Princeton.</p>

11

<p>According to Rutgers website, if you have an ACT of 34 and a class rank Top 5%, you get full scholarship basically, top 10% like you would be $10 k. Maybe they make an exception for a high weighted GPA.</p>

12

<p>My GC probably meant that I wouldn't have to pay tuition, since I'm instate.</p>

<p>And hey, Calcruzer totally chanced me! Depressing, yes, but still! That's like a rite of passage on this board...</p>

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<p>BUMP for good measure. Any other opinions, suggestions, etc?</p>

14

<p>Oh No! Its TEH BUMPASAURUS!</p>

15

<p>Now all I need is Gaffe to rip me apart...come on...</p>

16

<p>this isn't fair. why did that title work for you, and not for me?
isn't that a movie quote?</p>

17

<p>Your SAT score is effectively (for Harvard) 1440/1600. Still really great, but it's towards the bottom of the their 25-75 median range. Without any awesome hooks, it will end up being luck.</p>

18

<p>I wanted to utilize my ACT score as much as possible; a 34 is the 75th percentile for Harvard, no?</p>

19

<p>I agree that it will end up being luck but you should have a significantly better chance than most people. Your SAT score isn't all that amazing, but you certainly have an ACT score to cover. The only thing I'd say hurts you significantly is your rank. I can only fathom what your results will be in April. Write some really good essays! (Didn't we trade essays before?)</p>

<p>Anyway, good job with the high achievements! If you wouldn't mind, could you look over my thread as well. Help a bro ya know? haha</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=401742%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=401742&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Thanks man</p>