I'm fantastically bored and feel like having my dreams shattered.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I read a little bit on this site last year (beginning of junior year), but I didn’t post anything because it seemed to early. I never really thought much about going to a college above, say, Ohio State, since my parents told that I couldn’t afford anything. Now that so many top schools have help for the under-$60k crowd, I’m beginning to get hope (read: inflate my own ego). Now approaching my senior year and already in the process of filling in applications, I’d appreciate some opinions on the past three years of my existence. Thanks!</p>

<p>Basics: Grades and Scores</p>

<p>GPA: 4.34 weighted, 3.98 unweighted. Third in class of about 300.
ACT:
English - 35
Math - 36
Reading - 34
Science - 30
Writing - 9
Composite: 34</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests:
Math II - 800
Physics - 800
Literature - 740</p>

<p>PSAT: 216 I think. That’s at least commended, hopefully semi-finals.</p>

<p>School-sponsored EC’s and awards:</p>

<p>A Capella Choir - Audition-only choir. Self explanitory.
Show Choir - See above.
Jazz Band - See A Capella but replace choir with band.
Economics Challenge Team - for participating in the Ohio Economics Challenge; see below.
National Honor Society - You all know this.</p>

<p>Competitions! (My favorite…)</p>

<p>AMC 12 - School winner every year since 7th grade, state winner for AMC 12B in 2008.
American Invitational Mathematics Exam (AIME) - Every year since 7th grade. Highest score: 11 (junior year), Lowest: 5 (sophomore year, lol, crappy day)
USA Mathematical Olympiad - Freshman and Junior years. Freshman year I was fortunate enough to qualify for and attend the Math Olympiad Summer Program; see further below.
USA Mathematics Talent Search - Silver medal 2007 I think. To be honest I only did it for the free Mathematica 6, but of course I won’t say that.
American Regions Math Leage - Ohio A-division team 9th, 10th and 11th grades.<br>
Ohio Economics Challenge - First place team AND first place individual. I was unable to make regionals as the competition was on the same date and at the same time as the USAMO. My team utterly failed without me because they didn’t follow my advice (STUDY!) but oh well - I won’t report that.
Ohio Music Education Association contest - Superior (I) rating for piano solos 2004-2006. I never a solo for contest again because it was boring. However, I’ve participated with my A Capella choir every year with I ratings each time.</p>

<p>Summers</p>

<p>2006 - Math Olympiad Summer Program. Only about 60 people who participated in the USA Math Olympiad are invited to this. So I listened to lectures from Harvard and MIT math professors and did hard problems for 14 hours a day for 3 weeks. Great fun.</p>

<p>2007 - Broke, no driver’s license, did nothing but read and play piano and guitar all summer. I obviously won’t report this.</p>

<p>2008 - Martin Essex School for the Gifted. It’s a camp for “gifted” students obviously, except Ohio-exclusive. There were about 70 of us, and we had to apply by writing essays, supplying grades, recommendations, etc. just like any college application. Anyway, we listened to lots lectures and talked about nerdy things like any other such camp.</p>

<p>Assorted crap!</p>

<p>The closest thing to volunteer work I’ve done is I’ve played piano at my church (without pay) for 5 years, including various graduation ceremonies and weddings.</p>

<p>I’m going to run for class president this year. If it’s like any other year, it will be uncontested. I’ve talked to everyone in the top 10% of the class and none of them are running. Woo.</p>

<p>Well, there you have it! I’ve left out some things that I don’t think are very important, (Who really cares that I’m on the honor roll? Isn’t everybody?) but if I think of something I’ll add it in.</p>

<p>Schools:</p>

<p>**Ohio State<a href=“I%20can’t%20really%20mess%20that%20up,%20can%20I?”>/b</a>
**Case Western Reserve University<a href=“I%20hear%20it’s%20not%20hard%20to%20get%20in”>/b</a>
Now things get a little harrier…
College of William and Mary
Northwestern University
And now just-for-laughs:
Duke University
Stanford University
Brown University
Caltech
MIT
Yale
Harvard
Princeton</p>

<p>Two final (random) notes:</p>

<li><p>Funny thing about Duke University. A while ago they sent me a letter saying that I am invited to join their Putnam seminar as a freshman. This is apparently restricted to only a few select freshman. “Great!” I thought, “This must mean I have a very good chance of getting in!” That felt good, but I just got an email welcoming me to Duke’s Math Union. They made it sound as if I were an undergraduate already, which is really strange… Oh well, I’ll email them and see.</p></li>
<li><p>It seemed silly to myself looking at a whole bunch of risky schools. But today I got bored and though that if each of my 10 risky schools gave me a 15% chance of getting in, the probability of me getting into at least one of them is 1-.85^10 = about 80 percent! I’m not sure why I’m including this, but it seemed pretty warming :)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Anyway, thanks for reading through all this and I hope you have a little bit of advice you can throw my way! Good day!</p>

2

<p>Wow, you have really good stats. Anywhere you go you should get really good scholarships. </p>

<p>The ivies are a crapshoot for everybody, but with those stats, you have a better chance than many. </p>

<p>W & M is hard to get into OOS but you have a great shot. </p>

<p>Ohio- in. Probably with a good amount of money too. </p>

<p>Northwestern I’m not too familiar with :(.</p>

<p>The only thing you’re lacking in is volunteering. I would tutor or something this year because you obviously seem to love math. Maybe you could work at an after-school math tutoring service for younger kids. That’s all I can recommend. </p>

<p>Keep up the good work. Chance me if you’d be so kind (thread is "This thread has no title, just words and a tune). </p>

<p>:).</p>

3

<p>Well, I’m not going to shatter your dreams :smiley: I don’t think…</p>

<p>Ohio State (I can’t really mess that up, can I?) - no you can’t!
Case Western Reserve University (I hear it’s not hard to get in) - I think you’re right</p>

<p>College of William and Mary - ehh, low match
Northwestern University - high match</p>

<p>Duke University - match
Stanford University - reach
Brown University - low reach?</p>

<p>CRAPSHOOT
Caltech - high reach
MIT - sorry, but oh gosh, I think high reach
Yale - I think… you know what, let me separate these five
Harvard
Princeton</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the quick reply! I do tutor math to whoever needs it - casually, but I guess it might be worth putting.</p>

<p>I just realized I forgot to talk about my classes. I’ve only taken the most difficult classes at my school. That’s not saying much though - they don’t offer any APs except US History which I’m taking this year.</p>

<p>I guess one sort of cool thing is I took Calculus I, II, and Multivariable Calculus through PSEO at the local community college in 7th, 9th, and 11th grades and got an A in each. I’m also taking Number Theory this year online through Stanford.</p>

<p>I’d love to chance your thread but unfortunately I know far less than anyone here about college admissions. Sorry!</p>

<p>EDIT: Yeah, about MIT… My friend’s mom came up to me earlier this year and told me to apply to Caltech because MIT’s admission policies are “neither equal nor fair.” I’m not sure what all she knows about them, but I’ll take her word. :p</p>

5

<p>^ No problem. </p>

<p>Yeah, I’d try to get involved with some community service somehow. That’s just the only thing that can be considered “lacking”. Best of luck!</p>

6

<p>Nice stat. Did your parents go to college? If not, that should also help. If your parents make less than 60,000 and if you should get into those schools you should be able to get a full ride. You should also look into U of Mich’s honors program, it probably would be a good safety for you. Are you a male or female? If you are a girl, it would be an advantage at MIT. Why not add Cornell to your list, if you are considering Duke.</p>

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<p>No, I’m not a girl, and both my parents graduated college. :stuck_out_tongue: Never really thought about Cornell, might have to now.</p>

<p>While I’m thinking of it, another EC I’ve done for a couple of years is drama club.</p>

8

<p>^ Boys tend to get into W & M easier than females.</p>

<p>Drama club- do you do stage work or acting?</p>

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<p>^ Stage work - always sound crew, specifically. Setting up mics, sound effects, etc.</p>

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<p>^ Awesome. You’re just like me :). Anyways, do you want to do this in college? If so, I’ll PM you some colleges with good theater departments (none of which require you to be a major/minor in theater before you can work on plays).</p>

11

<p>Do you know what your parents EFC is? There are some very good threads on schools with good merit scholarships.</p>

12

<p>oldfort: No idea.</p>

<p>romanigypsyeyes: Not really. To be honest I really only did drama club because all my friends were in it.</p>

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<p>^ Ah, okay. :slight_smile: Lol.</p>

14

<p>Holy… your math record is really outstanding! Present yourself well in your essays and I think you’ve got a really good shot at MIT.</p>

15

<p>Good stats, ACT and EC’s awesome. Ivies, anything could happen but I think you are on the above average type of applicant. Since Duke shows so much interest, there’s a good match X). The other schools on you list (NW, CWR, etc) are a great match. Good Luck</p>

16

<p>Dreams are meant to be fulfilled :)</p>

<p>good luck my friend</p>

17

<p>Thanks for all the responses!</p>

<p>I’m applying early for MIT. Do you think applying early is less of a crapshoot?</p>

18

<p>Eh, it’s arguable. Yes, the admit rate is higher – but the pool is also extremely self-selective (even more so than the RD pool.)</p>

19

<p>Applying Early Action to MIT is fine because it isn’t binding. Since you need financial aid, don’t apply Early Decision (binding) anywhere. Then in the spring you’ll be able to compare offers.</p>

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<p>I think EA @ MIT really does help a lot, as far as I’ve seen. It should increase your chances by a decent amount.</p>