Is it even worth doing my applications?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>After looking at other CC chance threads, the situation in front of me seems disheartening. </p>

<p>I don't honestly think I'll get into any colleges with my weak uh...everythings, but individual feedback could still help.</p>

<p>I'm applying to:
Boston College
Claremont McKenna
Emory
JHU
Rice
Chicago
Notre Dame
USC
Vanderbilt
WUSTL</p>

<p>SAT I: 720 Math, 780 English, 700 Writing (Essay: 10)
SAT II: 800 Math2C, 800 USH, 800 World History, 700 Chemistry
GPA: 3.666(it repeats) UW, 4.282 weighted
APs: Stats - 5, Psych - 5, APUSH - 5, AP World - 5</p>

<p>Geographic Background: San Francisco Bay Area
Ethnic Background: "Asian" (Although it's a rather rare North Asian ethnicity)
Religious Background: Raised Atheist</p>

<p>ECs: Model UN - No real leadership positions, but I've gotten a few Outstanding Delegate Awards here and there.
JSA - A few years, but nothing spectacular beyond typical participation.
Quizbowl - Never took it too intensely, but my team somehow got ranked one of the top ten in the nation for some reason or another.
No Work Experience</p>

<p>For some strange reason, my sibling got into WUSTL and JHU (while being waitlisted at Cornell) with a 3.4ish. Because of this, my parents have unrealistic perceptions of college admissions and view schools like JHU and WUSTL as "safety schools", while constantly complaining about the fact that I'm not wasting an application on HYPSM. </p>

<p>I think my essay writing is somewhat average. Some people think it's amazing, some people think it's awful, and I think it's just average.</p>

<p>I personally think my school is pretty awful, but it somehow got ranked in the top 50. I don't know what kind of screwed up criteria they used, but it's there.</p>

<p>NOT applying for needs-based financial aid. (Family can pay for college out of their pocket).</p>

<p>I'm almost certainly a National Merit Finalist. </p>

<p>My GPA also has a schizophrenic trend. I went from 3.7 to 3.4 to 4.0 over three years. Not sure if that will hurt or not.</p>

<p>No idea what my rank is. I do not believe my school will actually rank me. And I have no idea about the quality of my teacher's recommendations because I am unsure of what they will say.</p>

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<p>Anyone with a 1500 on the SAT and a likely NMF should not be asking that question. I know your SAT scores are in the top 25 percentile for several of those schools and your SAT 2 And AP scores are stellar. These factors are likely to compensate for a GPA which is strong, just not as strong as your other stats, especially since you are coming from a highly ranked HS. You are also evidently a respectable writer if you scored a 10 on your SAT essay. Yes, a higher GPA is better than a lower one, and yes leadership experience is an asset. And yes, when you are applying to highly competitive schools there are no for sure shoo ins. What your post really seems to lack is recognition of your own accomplishments and an ability to sell yourself. It sounds like you need to speak to someone who you know respects your accomplishments. From what you have listed there has to be someone, I would expect several people! It might help if you heard from them so that you can write your essays in a way that they sell your strong points. I expect that if your essays say that you are nothing special the admissions folks are going to believe you. You need to be looking at that glass being half full. It definitely helps to have a couple of Safeties, I really don’t know enough about all of those schools to know if there are any on your list. If it isn’t worth it for you to do your applications where does that leave most of the other students out there?</p>

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<p>Hey! I 99.99% sure you’re from my school (6 school limit! :P). If you are, you probably know who I am. Hang in there. We’ll get out of there soon.
By the way, you’re really smart. 800 US history? I heard that was really hard! You’ll get in, especially cuz these schools aren’t that popular.</p>

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<p>OP, you’re in a good position at those schools.</p>

<p>@ngstar: What are you talking about? Those schools are very popular.</p>