Last Chances, HYPS Duke JHU, Rice

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey guys, I would really appreciate it if you gave me your two cents. Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Intended Major: Biology
Need-based financial aid: not needed
Location: Near Dallas, TX</p>

<p>I went to two different high schools: one public for Freshman and Sophomore, and another as a special program (TAMS) at the University of North Texas,
where we basically take college courses Junior and Senior years.</p>

<p>SATs: 800 R, 800 M, 760 W, 10 Essay, 2360 Composite
ACT: 36 E 35 M 33 R 33 S, 11 Essay, 34 Composite
Sat II: 800 MathII, 790 Biology E, 760 Chemistry</p>

<p>TAMS:
Sends lots of people to nice schools. This year, 2 people got EA Stanford, 1 EA Yale, 4 EA MIT, 2 EA Cal-Tech, 1 EA UPenn, 5-6 ED Cornell, approx. 10 ED Rice, 2 RD Cal-Tech, as far as I know.</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0</p>

<p>Already Taken:
Calculus I
Calculus II
Biology Honors I & II,
Biology Lab I & II,
General Chemistry I & II,
Chemistry Lab I & II,
Writing About Literature I & II,
Intermediate French II,
Research,
Multivariable Calculus,
Physics Mechanics,
Physics Lab,
World Literature II,
American History II,
Micro-Economics</p>

<p>All A's</p>

<p>This year, I'm taking:</p>

<p>Physics Electricity and Magnetism
Physics Lab
World Literature I
American History I
Applied Stats
American Government
Behavior Analysis</p>

<p>Activities:</p>

<p>Community Service Club (Founded an opportunity for volunteering at the Dallas Science Museum), Mu Alpha Theta, Research Organization (Chemistry Chair), Ambassadors</p>

<p>High School (Freshman and Sophomore):
Competitive, lots of grade-devoted Asians</p>

<p>GPA: 4.2
H-Honors
Humanities I (Honors level)-92
Algebra 2 H-96
Geometry H-96
Biology H-96
English I Pre-AP/ H-93
Band-100
French II H-97</p>

<p>Humanities II (Honors level)- 93
Pre-Calculus H- 95
Chemistry H- 97
Human Geography AP- 92 (5 on exam)
English II Pre-AP/H-93
Band-100
French III H-97</p>

<p>No B's</p>

<p>Activities:
NHS, French NHS, Marching Band, Math Club,</p>

<p>Research:</p>

<p>Did research in Developmental Biology for my pre-Junior and Senior summers
10hrs/day, 5 days/ week, 3 months (I could afford to do this because of the extended breaks the program has in comparison to normal high school). I also submitted research abstracts, papers I wrote, etc.</p>

<p>Siemens Regional Finalist
Intel Semi-Finalist (Don't know if Finalist yet)
Regional Science Fair First Place</p>

<p>Hopefully my professor will publish a paper with my name in it for me to add</p>

<p>Music:</p>

<p>I've played Alto Sax for 7 years now. All Region principal player, All area, Solo and Ensemble at State->got an Outstanding performer award from Dr. Harvey Pittel, professor of Sax at UT Austin (hasn't given one out in 3 years), recorded Creston Sonata and sent as supplementary materials</p>

<p>Principal sax at the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Wind Symphony, really competitive to get into, prestigious, closely affiliated with the Dallas Wind Symphony</p>

<p>Volunteering:</p>

<p>I haven't done much volunteering, about 170ish hours
Lots from random stuff, but a lot (120 hours) came from a leadership camp where I was an assistant counselor. Week long boarding camp, barely slept, had to do a lot of preparation for it, but it was lots of fun teaching 39 11 year olds</p>

<p>Leadership:
I'm kind of scared, because I'm not president of like 50124790187 clubs</p>

<p>Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra- Principal Saxophone (2006-2008)
TAMS Research Organization- Chemistry Chair (2007-2008)
TAMS HOPE- Committee Head (Founder) of Science Museum Volunteering (2007-2008)
Community Youth Leadership Camp- Assistant Counselor (2007)
Marching Band- Saxophone Squad Leader (2006)</p>

<p>Academic Awards (because I couldn't find a better place to put them)</p>

<p>The U.S. Presidential Scholars Program Candidate
University of North Texas President’s List 2006-2007</p>

<p>I couldn't read my counselor/ teacher recs, but I read the one my research professor wrote, and it was amazing.</p>

<p>I worked on my essays a lot, and both my parents and one of my friends (English major at Amherst, accomplished writer) helped me, worked on it until we were all very happy with them</p>

<p>Could I get chances for:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
Duke
Johns Hopkins
WashU (Accepted)
Rice (Likely Letter)
UT (Accepted)</p>

<p>I'm really nervous since I wasn't Valedictorian at my old high school, might be even too low (16th/ 1000). Also, I'm nervous about my grades at my old high school, since I think they're kinda low. I'm really anxious right now, even though there really isn't anything I can do. Lastly, thanks for the chances!</p>

2

<p>I can't really judge. But your SAT scores are sick!!! You're very "asian" (is that how they put it?) but your stats are beyond amazing. I think you're going to get into one or more of those top school personally. Good Luck!</p>

3

<p>Nothing's certain for Ivy Leagues, you know that. I'd say you're in for Yale and Princeton.</p>

4

<p>If that's an actual resume, you're set, my friend.</p>

5

<p>this is sick .. like, u can't do any better</p>

6

<p>Very nice, highest possible chances at the ivies. I predict a almost certaintly of getting into one or two of HYP.</p>

7

<p>You have as good as anyone can hope for. I would guess in everywhere, MAYBE 1 or 2 rejections.</p>

8

<p>Why are you worried? You've been accepted at WashU, the 6th most selective school in the country, and a damn fine school to boot. Great campus full of smart, friendly kids, top-notch professors, dorms to die for, excellent facilities, really strong academics, top of the charts reputation. Visit if you haven't. Lots of kids do, and turn down the Ivies and go there instead.</p>

9

<p>holy **** man, you shouldnt even be asking us questions, ****.</p>

10

<p>Thanks for your input guys. And to Amptron, where do you base your claim that WashU is the 6th most selective school in the country? I know WashU is a strong school with a great biology program, but my opinion is that WashU does not have as prestigious a reputation nor the strong network that you can build as in the top tier Ivys. But I think I'm still rather ignorant when it comes to these things, and I'll be glad to hear your views, since you've obviously had many years of experience in dealing with college admissions.</p>

11

<p>Your leadership is a bit lacking. I know what "principle saxophone player" means (my friend put "principle oboist" because he's the better of 2 oboe players).</p>

<p>But other than that, really I have to congratulate you because you are probably in the top 5 most impressive profiles I've seen at CC - and I've been here a long time (ignore the low post count).</p>

<p>Harvard - slight reach
Yale - slight reach
Princeton - slight reach
Stanford - slight reach
Duke - Safe match
Johns Hopkins - Safe match</p>

12

<p>Source for all info: US News, Aug. 27, 2007</p>

<p>Selectivity Ranking:</p>

<p>Harvard 1
Yale 1
Princeton 3
MIT 3
Columbia 5
Wash U 6
Stanford 7
CIT 7
UPenn 7
Brown 7</p>

<p>SAT scores:</p>

<p>Sorry, but the numbers don't line up. Here's what each column contains, in order: Rank (by Total difference of SAT scores from top scorer - CIT), 25th percentile SAT, 75th percentile SAT, 25th percentile difference from top scorer, 75th percentile difference from top scorer, total difference from top scorer.</p>

<p>Rank School 25% 75% Diff/25% Diff/75% Tot. Diff
1 CIT 1470 1570 0 0 0
2 Harvard 1390 1590 80 -20 60
3 Yale 1390 1580 80 -10 70
4 Princeton 1370 1590 100 -20 80
5 MIT 1380 1560 90 10 100
6 Dartmouth 1350 1550 120 20 140
6 WashU 1370 1530 100 40 140
7 Duke 1350 1540 120 30 150
7 Pomona 1370 1520 100 50 150
8 Stanford 1340 1540 130 30 160
8 Brown 1350 1530 120 40 160
9 Columbia 1330 1540 140 30 170
9 Rice 1330 1540 140 30 170
10 UPenn 1330 1530 140 40 180
10 Amherst 1330 1530 140 40 180
11 UChicago 1320 1530 150 40 190
11 Swarthmore 1320 1530 150 40 190
12 Williams 1320 1520 150 50 200
13 Northwestern 1320 1500 150 70 220
13 Tufts 1340 1480 130 90 220
13 Carleton 1330 1490 140 80 220
14 Notre Dame 1290 1500 180 70 250
14 Carnegie Mellon 1300 1490 170 80 250
14 Georgetown 1300 1490 170 80 250
14 Haverford 1290 1500 180 70 250
15 Johns Hopkins 1290 1490 180 80 260
15 Wellesley 1310 1470 160 100 260
15 Bowdoin 1300 1480 170 90 260
16 Cornell 1280 1490 190 80 270
16 Emory 1300 1470 170 100 270
16 Wesleyan 1290 1480 180 90 270
17 Vanderbilt 1280 1470 190 100 290
17 Middlebury 1270 1480 200 90 290
18 Davidson 1250 1440 220 130 350</p>

<p>Wash U ranks 6th in both tables above. Village, Wash U is an excellent school with a very, very good academic reputation and a faculty and administration that really cares about students. If you go there, you will not regret it. Like I said before, visit. I think you'll be impressed.</p>

13

<p>WashU does game the numbers a bit with scholarships inflating the avg. scores. Its probably about the 15th most selective school in reality with HYPSM, Caltech, Dartmouth, Brown, Penn, Columbia, Duke, Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, and Northwestern all being more selective in reality.</p>

14

<p>Hopefully you get to Intel Finalist so I can meet your brilliant self in Atlanta this year ;) good luck; you seem EXTREMELY well qualified for all those schools.</p>

15

<p>I looked at those results with a bit of skepticism, and slipper1234 makes a very good point about how they inflate their scores with scholarships. I personally applied for both the full Biology scholarship and MD/PHD combined program, but was rejected from both.</p>

<p>I'm also curious as to what they based their selectivity rating on, as in how much they weigh each factor (Scores, EC's, etc.). Data like this is really susceptible to be skewed, intentionally or not, and doesn't provide the full picture. I know some people that made it to WashU that I believe have much lower chances of making Stanford or any of those other colleges listed "lower" on the list.</p>

16

<p>look, if you are an intel semifinalist along with the rest of that stuff, you are definitely in the college of your choice :D</p>

17

<p>Alright guys, thanks for your chances. Here is where I finally got into, for anyone that cares =)</p>

<p>Harvard- Rejected
Yale- Accepted
Princeton- Accepted
Stanford- Waitlisted
Duke- Rejected
Johns Hopkins- Accepted
WashU- Accepted
Rice- Accepted
UT Austin- Accepted</p>