I'm too lazy to think of a snazzy 'chance me' title, so, chance me?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello, I, like many others, wish to have some advice/chancing help from my lovely fellow CCers! Here's a bit about myself to help you out:</p>

<p>General Stuff
Female, Asian-American, attending a large suburban public high school in NJ</p>

<p>Applying to (so far):
Duke - maybe ED? Haven't decided yet
UNC Chapel Hill - probably EA
UVA
Emory
JHU
Vanderbilt
Wake Forest
TCNJ
Rutgers</p>

<p>I would especially like chancing for the first two, but if you wish please help me out with the rest. The list goes in the order of how much I care about the school. If, after reviewing my stats, you can think of another school that I would fit well, please do not hesitate to suggest it!</p>

<p>GPA:
4.2 weighted
3.7? I think unweighted
As you can see, mostly an A/B student</p>

<p>Testing Stuff:
SAT: 730 M, 720 R, 680 W (2130 superscore, taken it 3 times)
SAT II: 770 Bio, 700 History, 680 Math II (will retake either History or Math II in October)
ACT: see the "Help Me!" section below</p>

<p>ECs:
Cultural Diversity Club (10, 11, 12), Publicist for 1 year, Treasurer for 1 year
Lacrosse (9, 10, 11, 12<em>), Freshman team for 1 year, JV team for 2, Varsity for 1</em>
Academic Team (10, 11, 12), JV co-captain for 1 year, Varsity co-captain for 1 year
Habitat for Humanity (9, 10, 11, 12<em>), around 20 hours? Not sure
Science Olympiad (10), won 5th place in Astrology in the regional competition
Veteran's Appreciation Club (11, 12)
New Jersey Chinese Community Center (10, 11, 12), 400 hours (will be around 550 by the end of this summer)
Making A Difference Everywhere (9, 11, 12</em>), 10 hours (will be a lot more as senior year starts)</p>

<p>*not official yet, but will likely occur</p>

<p>Honors:
NHS (11, 12)
Latin Honor Society (11, 12), plus various state/national Latin organizations that I can't think of at the top of my head
Honor Roll/High Honor roll during various semesters but I don't think this really matters</p>

<p>Coursework (freshman > senior):
Algebra II H
Lit H
World Civ H
Bio H
Latin II H
Chamber Orchestra
Photo Editing</p>

<h2>Desktop Publishing</h2>

<p>Geometry H
Chem H
Lit H
AP USH I
Latin III H
Symphony Orchestra H
Forensic Science</p>

<h2>Medical Physiology</h2>

<p>AP Calc AB
AP Bio
AP Lang Comp
AP USH II
Latin IV H</p>

<h2>Symphony Orchestra H</h2>

<p>AP Prob Stat
AP Lit
AP Physics B (may change to AP Enviro)
AP Psych
AP Latin Vergil
Symphony Orchestra H</p>

<p>Other Random Info:
-Graduated from the Huaxia Chinese School (can write/speak/read semi-fluently in Mandarin)
-Will be taking a Neuro course at Brown in a few weeks
-Leaning towards a major in Neuro/Cognitive Science/Marine Biology, but hey, you never know what'll happen in college.
-I am getting two strong recs from my teachers, one from my APUSH I teacher and one from my AP Calc teacher
-Obviously I plan to write the best essay(s) I possibly can</p>

<p>Help Me!
Okay so, as you can see, I'm not the star student of the century, and there are a million other applicants with similar stats. So I would like to ask some questions to see if I can improve and would prefer sincere answers for them, but I mean if you want to answer with "Dick Grayson is my favorite superhero" I guess that's okay because he's mine too.</p>

<p>Seriously though, I do need some help, so here we go.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>My SATs are a bit lacking for some of the schools I'm looking at. Would you recommend taking the ACTs? If so, with or without writing?</p></li>
<li><p>Likewise, my GPA isn't so hot either. Any advice for the upcoming school year? As in, should I drop some of my APs and take Honors instead to help boost my GPA, stuff like that. It's not too late for me to switch classes.</p></li>
<li><p>Is there any specific advice you can give me for admissions to Duke and UNC? Any essay advice/things I should know about the kind of people they're looking for/who to send cupcakes to, etc... (okay I'm kidding about that last one. If you can't tell by now, I kid a lot.)</p></li>
<li><p>For the record, Dick Grayson is amazing and you cannot convince me otherwise.</p></li>
</ol>

<hr>

<p>Many thanks in advance to whoever replies!</p>

2

<p>Can’t answer the majority of your questions. But I will tell you that it would be helpful, if you are considering that direction, to declare an English major for Hopkins. They are a hot commodity there and you fall somewhat into that direction.</p>

3

<ol>
<li>Take the ACT! I scored much better on the ACT (35) vs. on the SAT (2150)</li>
<li>Go for the AP/Honors classes. Colleges won’t look at your GPA alone; they look at your course-load as well.</li>
</ol>

4

<p>Right now for Duke I’d say a reach. UNC is difficult to judge but since they are really hard on OOS applicants I’d also say a reach. UNC OOS acceptance rate is like 10% or something</p>

5

<p>Duke - maybe ED? Haven’t decided yet REACH
UNC Chapel Hill - probably EA REACH
UVA- Reach OOS
Emory- Reach (lower reach than others)
JHU- Reach
Vanderbilt- reach
Wake Forest- lower reach
TCNJ- safety
Rutgers- safety</p>

6

<p>Hmm so would you say that for UNC and UVA, the acceptance rate for OOS is low because they have higher standards or just because less OOS people apply?</p>

7

<p>^It’s because they have higher standards. The ACTUAL OOS statistics for UVA - they must accept 2/3 in-state, thus 1/3 of the acceptances are OOS. For UNC - everyone keeps throwing around numbers in the 80s all the time. State law requires them to accept 82% in-state, thus the acceptance rate for OOS is 18%. Definitely try to take the ACTs if you have the time - WITH writing. ACTs without writing is totally pointless, no colleges will look at that.</p>

8

<p>Thanks :)</p>

<p>I also have a question about SAT II’s - since I’m leaning in a more sciencey direction in terms of my major, should I then retake Math instead of History? I’m not planning to apply to any specific programs or schools that prefer Math over History, but - and I’m sorry for using this phrase - does it make me look better?</p>

9

<p>Yeah, make sure your Math score is pretty high if you’re leaning towards a science major.</p>

10

<p>Wake forest is definitely not a reach. Its probably a comftorable match. It’s an excellent school but it’s acceptance rate is higher than most top 25 schools. Also duke and UNC and UVA are reaches but certainly doable.</p>