Would it affect my chances if I’m not taking any Honors classes? I go to a lab school and they don’t offer Honors classes to Freshmans
Hello fellow applicants,
I’m a current ninth grader at KHS with a multitude of concerns regarding this year’s application process. I’ll share my question below, in the hopes of feedback.
But before then, here are some quick stats:
- Ethnicity: Multiracial, mostly of Asian and Native American descent
- Current freshman at KHS (Kaneland High School)
- Resides in the rural Chicago-land suburbs
Now, to my question:
Although I have kindled a newfound interest for science, most (if not all) my activities and awards fall in the “other” category. My only real science-related activity is my status as a directorate of my innovation club. Would my lack of science-related activities, and converse abundance of other activities/awards suffice my chances of acceptance to IMSA?
Here are examples of my activities for comparison:
Science related activities:
-Board member, directorate, and co-founder of the Student Innovation Club at Kaneland (S.I.C.K)
- (Insert IMSA Virtual programs and camps)
Other activities/awards:
- Presidential Award for Academic Excellence (3)
- Golden Palette Award
- Letters About Literature- Honorable Mention
- ILMEA All- District Musician award (I was the Jazz Pianist)
- Fashion Design Club
- Project KC
- Secretary of Global Cultures Club
- Jazz pianist in Jazz Band
- Student teacher at Ray Chinese summer camp
- First chair flutist/soloist
(Among other awards/activities during my middle school years and quarantine. I also have a lot of “other” activities that I did over quarantine, like participating in live TED discussions/the TED Climate Countdown and performing virtual dissections, etc.)
I’d really appreciate the feedback! Thanks for reading.
Hi,
Earlier in the school year I participated in one of IMSA’s virtual application sessions where some of the IMSA admin gave tips and responded to questions from students. I’m pretty sure that this question was quite prevalent in the discussion.
I don’t think that it’ll affect your chances, especially if you demonstrate excellence in your essays, statements and activities/awards. But my personal advice? I would write a response in the “optional statement” section. In there you can make a note to the IMSA admin about how your school doesn’t offer Honors classes. From there, IMSA can take your notes into consideration when reviewing your application.
I hope this helped!
Hi there,
Although I’m quite new to this whole application process myself, I’m happy to help/give possible tips!
In chronological order of your questions:
-
In one of IMSA’s pdf documents (regarding the official qualifications for students) IMSA states that while grades are indicative sources of your academic performance, they are ultimately not the most important factor in your application. So, I’m going to assume that IMSA is flexible in terms of grades, especially when those B’s were in your early years of middle school.
-
Although I haven’t “made it” into IMSA (since I’m a fellow applicant) I can share some of my tips as I navigate through my essays!
During the past summer I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of time reading and analyzing those college tips-and-tricks videos where accepted ivy-league students read their essays and share their thought processes behind it. What I found is that every essay not only carries a theme, but shares a personal, characteristic memory-- outside of a general extracurricular-related subject. By sharing that specific memory, key symbols are added, which help carry the theme and the flow of the essay. For student confidentiality-purposes, I’m not going to share exactly what I wrote down for one of my essays; but I’ll give an example of an accepted college student’s essay:
- This student (that I’m referencing) introduced her essay topic with a memory- a conversation between herself and her father as she prepared her science project. Her motive- back then- was to earn a National Geographic subscription, in its glory of learning experiences and scientific jargon. By introducing this key concept, she pretty much tied in her point by saying that (insert college here) is National Geographic come to life.
…By analyzing this story, we can see that she begins by tying in a memory, which leads to key concepts and ultimately brings about the objective of the essay. So, as a tip to help you along your essays: think from the smallest unit to the broadest, like an upside down ice-cream cone. Find a memory that can tie into key symbols in your writing, that further develop your story and thematic statement.
Again, although I’m just a current applicant, I thought that this info could be helpful for others. I hoped this helped you - and good luck on your application process!
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Looking at my sister (who is a senior at IMSA), and myself, I think that IMSA really emphasizes science-math related activities, because the application itself has a separate part for science and math-related awards and activities only.
Especially this year when the SAT scores are not required or considered, I think that it will really come down to your GPA, Extracurriculars, awards, and essays. Based on your awards and extracurriculars, I think that you are really smart and have a decent chance as long as you show interest in STEM through your essay and tie your extracurriculars well with STEM learning.
Then again, I’m only a freshman but you should really join a math or science team now, so you have something to write about in your essay and how you want to be in STEM in high school.
Also, you live in Chicagoland, and IMSA likes to pick students from all areas of the state, and Chicagoland probably has the most qualified, STEM focused students, so I think that I'm unsure.....Why does this topic get 50 views a day but nobody talks?
Personally, I read the thread but I’m not applying to IMSA so I don’t comment.
somebody say something;; 400 views without a single person saying anything
hi, i just recently found this thread. i’m a 9th grader living in the chicagoland suburbs, and don’t know anybody who attends or previously attended imsa. i’ll be taking the sat in march, so i don’t have my scores yet. but in previous years, i had pretty good numbers in the act (enough to earn me awards, not sure the exact conversion from act to sat) so hopefully the tests shouldn’t be a big issue.
not going to put my entire app here, but i’ll be around to talk/give some advice.
hi there, i’m in a similar boat, where i also haven’t participated in many math or science activities (two clubs, not heavily awarded). but in my opinion, what you’ve done is still very impressive.
i wouldn’t worry about it too much, as i believe imsa likes well-rounded students. of course, they still have a preference for stem activities and awards, but if you don’t have a bunch, it won’t be the end of the world. in the end, with your list, what you’re showing is that you’re able to manage many extracurriculars while maintaining good grades, which is never a bad thing.
also; i read somewhere in a previous thread that they like trailblazers/ founders of clubs, so your ‘co-founder’ title of s.i.c.k. (stem related to, a big bonus!) definitely will help you. good luck!
Hi guys!
I am going to be applying
-gpa unweighted is around 3.78
-gpa weighted is around 4.3(ish)
-b+ in honors bio
-a- in honors alg 2
-b+ in english
-rest are As
-robotics, scioly, and math counts
-volunteer a lot
-club basketball
-tennis
-XC
Do you guys think I got a good chance of getting in?
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im from aurora
and go to OEHS
my essays are pretty good too I just need to finish my last 1
ssjaguar100, what types of awards do you have? I think that you have a good chance, but you didn’t really write anything about awards in your stats.
your gpa looks fine (i think i read somewhere else that 3.75 and above is good?) but keep in mind that they’re receiving multiple years of your grades, starting from the 2018-19 year. hopefully you’ve been able to consistently keep your gpa at this level.
you also have a lot of activities so that’s good, and yeah i think somebody else mentioned that providing a list of awards will help
I have a list of awards in my application, I should be covered in that
my teacher in LA adjusted my grade to an a- lol
I have a list of awards in my application
I think I know who this is lol, I also go to OE. your application looks good
did u go to bednarcik in junior high
yes I did