IB student; please chance me! :)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello!
I'm a female student from Tampa, and I'm about to enter my junior year. Any opinions about my chances/what I can do to improve over the next year would be much appreciated!</p>

<p>Academics:
- I'm enrolled in the IB (International Baccalaureate) program.
- Unweighted GPA: 4.0 ; weighted: 5.28
- Rank: 83 out of 14,000ish
- Past AP's: Statistics & European history. Scored a 4 on Euro and a 3 on Stats (low, but stats isn't really meant for sophomores :( )
- Should take 5-7 more AP's before I graduate.
- IB HL's: English, psych, and chemistry (I am one of 3 kids out of 145 taking HL chem; we had to be given permission to take it)
- Sophomore PSAT was 212 (Reading: 69, Math 68, Writing 75). I'm hoping to raise it to at least the 220's.
- No SAT Subjects yet, will take them this year.</p>

<p>Work:
- Nearly impossible for me to get a job with my schedule/transportation options.
- I will shadow a doctor at my local hospital at the end of this summer (not much, but it's something).</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
- Played flute since 6th grade; school band consistently scores straight superiors.
- Marching/concert band & schoolwork take up the vast majority of my time :&lt;/p>

<p>Leadership:
- One of two flute section leaders (very happy since it's a position normally reserved for seniors)
- Band Relay for Life captain
- The only junior officer of the Chemistry Club, mainly because the current president is training me to be the president when she graduates.
- Founder and co-president of our school's first book club.</p>

<p>Volunteering:
- Relay for Life since freshman year; team captain for next 2 years
- I volunteer regularly at my local Humane Society (should reach 150-200ish hours)
- Working on a service project for the book club, will most likely be reading to little kids/the elderly.</p>

<p>Honor Societies:
- Mu Alpha Theta (math)
- French Honor Society
- National Honor Society
- Science Honor Society
- Music Honor Society (if it continues, it might not)</p>

<p>Awards:
- Superiors & excellents at county Solo & Ensemble (I'm not very good...)
- Principal's Honor Roll since pretty much forever.</p>

<p>Other:
- I attended a LeadAmerica Medicine & Science conference the summer before I started high school. Due to financial issues, I haven't been able to go anywhere else, but I'm currently saving up to attend a summer program next year.
- Planning on neuroscience or chemistry major, with a minor in psychology; I've wanted to be a neurosurgeon since elementary school.</p>

<p>Background:
- Parents/older brother have gone to college
- Caucasian
- Dad went to Carnegie Mellon, but no other significant alumni in the family
- Upper-middle class, but have had previous financial issues (losing a family business)</p>

<p>Schools:
Cornell (my DREAM school, will apply early decision, but very unsure about acceptance)
Johns Hopkins
University of Chicago
Oberlin College
University of Rochester
Carnegie Mellon
Bowdoin
Northwestern
Penn State
Various other little liberal arts schools; haven't decided yet
Florida State University (safety)</p>

<p>Sorry for the length! Wanted to be thorough, haha.
ANY comments are appreciated! Suggestions for improvements/other schools are welcome, too :)
Thank you!</p>

2

<p>Anyone? :(</p>

3

<p>You are on track to get admitted to atleast one of those schools. Get you 2200 and keep your very good gpa and you should be fine. I hope they teach the chemistry well enough in your program to get you prepared for the HL IB test. My dd school did not teach the chemisty class well and the kids did poorly on the test and so the new kids didn’t want to take chemistry.</p>

4

<p>gpa is awesome</p>

<p>class rank is awesome</p>

<p>EC’s are pretty solid</p>

<p>hard to say without standardized test scores, but:</p>

<p>Schools:
Cornell- low to mid reach
Johns Hopkins- high match to low reach
University of Chicago- low to high reach
Oberlin College- mid to high match
University of Rochester- don’t know
Carnegie Mellon- high match
Bowdoin- low to mid reach
Northwestern- mid reach
Penn State- low match
Various other little liberal arts schools; haven’t decided yet
Florida State University (safety)- safety</p>

<p>you’re a strong applicant for cornell (and the others), keep up the good work. score well on your SAT/SAT IIs (spending time preparing really helps!)</p>

<p>make sure your essays are exceptional, and develop some close relationships with your teachers this year so they can write personal and informed letters of recommendation</p>

<p>if you have an inspiration to take some sort of initiative as far as starting/creating/participating in something really cool, go for it!</p>

<p>best of luck</p>

5

<p>Thank you! :slight_smile:
Actually, the chemistry teacher is absolutely terrible… which is why I bought myself a chemistry book and have started to learn on my own, haha (not too bad because I LOVE chemistry). At least the teacher adores me and should write a great recommendation.</p>

6

<p>Thanks, imasophomore :smiley:
Luckily, I have two teachers (chemistry and french) that love me and should write great letters. And as far as starting something, I’m really excited to get my new book club up-and-running this year. Everyone who signed up is as passionate as I am and I think it’ll be very successful :)</p>

7

<p>I believe that your tremendous efforts in the book club should render you a guaranteed candidate for northwestern.</p>

8

<p>Awesome! Thanks for the insight :)</p>

9

<p>14,000 class size! woah! keep up your work! try to get more ec’s if you can! and try to make some of your CAS creativity hours into something you like</p>

<p>-from an ib student :)</p>

10

<p>Wow, you will go far - you know more about college admissions (and your future life plans) than any rising junior I know!
Your class size is ridiculous - does that mean there are like 50K students in your whole high school?
Starting a school club, doing Relay, and being recognized for musical talent, along with an internship? Your ECs are fine, just fine - fabulous actually.</p>

<p>Those are great schools and you are a great student, so I think all of them are
Cornell: low to mid reach (only because it is a reach for everybody)
Johns Hopkins: 70% with an SAT in 2200’s
University of Chicago: low reach
Oberlin College: hm… musical talent is hardly a hook there; as long as you satisfactorily explain why their school is a good fit for you in their app, then 100%
Carnegie Mellon: 80% with an SAT in 2100’s
Northwestern: 85%
Penn State: 95%
Florida State University: can’t get safer than this</p>

<p>I’m amazed that you can take on that many IBs and APs. Do you take SL courses too?</p>