Lay it on me thick, big boy(/girl)!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi. I've been putting this all off because the idea of what you guys might say makes me anxious and I have this avoidant personality. But that's stupid. So let's try this.</p>

<p>I'm an African American, by the way. Also, the random *s in this post mean nothing and I don't know how they got there. >.></p>

<p>SAT: 2140 (first testing)
Critical Reading (verbal) * 800
* *Mathematics * 660 ((Ugh; WILL rise on retesting)
* *Writing * 680 (I usually do really well on writing, but on my first testing, I didnt pay attention to time during the essay; so will probably improve by at least 50 points in future)</p>

<p>ACT Test Scores (first testing)
* *English * 34
* *Mathematics * 28
* *Reading * 32
* *Science * 32
* *Writing * 33
* *Composite Score * 32</p>

<p>AP Scores: 5 in AP Euro, 7 in IB Economics (the rest aren't done till Senior Year in IB)</p>

<p>GPA: 4.75/5
(Think that converts to a 3.8/4)</p>

<p>Rank: 12/(500-550)</p>

<p>Course Rigor:
I took the best classes whenever possible, which at my school means 3 honors classes in 8th grade, all but a few advanced honors classes in 9th grade, honors classes and 1 AP class in 10th grade
And in the 11th grade, I decided to become an IB Candidate, taking 3 HL courses, 1 SL, and the rest, Honors classes.
Senior year is even heavier. ^_^</p>

<p>And I fit in some online honors classes to expand my class-taking capacities.</p>

<p>ECs: Not as great as I want because my opportunities weren't pristine. Nothing interesting is particularly close and my parents don't like to drive around much for me. It was a struggle to get what I did get.*</p>

<ul>
<li>NJROTC Academic Team Commander - Sop, Jun and prob Sen years</li>
<li>NJROTC Physical Fitness Team Commander (for proper stereotype deflection) - Junior, Senior?*</li>
<li>NJROTC Public Affairs Department Head - Same as Academic</li>
<li>" " Newsletter Editor - Same as...</li>
<li>Military Ball Planning Committee Member</li>
<li>Track (Distance running) - 8-12 grades (varsity, state-level)</li>
<li>15 hours of community service per school year at a variety of places</li>
<li>Summer job at McDonalds before Junior and Sophomore Years
And more things during senior year...hopefully.</li>
</ul>

<p>ROTC is my main EC. I didn't plan it this way (I wasinitially forced into it by my parents, though now I've come to love it), but with all the individual teams and activities that comprise the program, it actually turned into a great way to obtain leadership positions. I may or may not be involved in ROTC programs in college.*</p>

<p>I also put a lot of time into activism for the gays at my school, and that's really my proudest accomplishment. I was able to force the approval of the founding of our school's GSA (and ensuring that its name unambiguously asserts a pro-gay position), and change my ROTC Unit's policy on same-sex couples allowed at the formal military ball. All while facing the vigorous wrath of my unsupportive parents (/essay topic).</p>

<p>I also really, really, really love psychology and related sciences (like neuroscience) . I've studied through many advanced textbooks, academic handbooks, and theoretical works on the subject. I've also devoted a lot of <em>time to philosophy, with psychology really complementing my studies (for example, I use the data on the psychological basis of value to draw normative conclusions about what matters and explore the fact-value distinction).</em></p>

<p>But there really hasn't been any way of putting this interest into anything more than a really obsessive hobby. I don't have the resources to play scientist in recordable ways. >.>**So I might just have to hide what probably is the biggest thing about me and foxus on something more hook-worthy?</p>

<p>Awards:
Keystone Award in Social Studies (highest honor for the subject at my school)
Scottish Rite of Freemasonry JROTC Award
Letter in Track Team
Highest GPA on Track Team Award all 3 years
Probably will progress in National Merit and National Acievement Scholarship Competitions, being from South Carolina</p>

<p>So...What am I missing?</p>

<p>Right, the colleges I'm applying to.
Uh. I'm not sure. There are hints that I can aim high, but after watching a friend get crushed (CRUSHED, I say) after being rejected from Columbia, I've been careful not to raise my hopes one bit.</p>

<p>And my parents are still wishy-washy about a lot of things, including how from from SC they'll let me go, how I should intend to pay for things (loans or ROTC for any expensive college?), whether I can apply to LACs, etc.</p>

<p>I'll just list the colleges I'm interested in. -_-
Williams/Swarthmore/Amherst
HYP (may as well ask)
Cornell / Dartmouth / Penn / Columbia
UChicago <3 <3 <3
Johns Hopkins /*Emory /Vanderbilt</p>

<p>And I'm willing to apply early decision to any top college where ED helps and I have some competetiveness in the application pool. Which seems to include most of these...</p>

2

<p>I think you have as good a chance as possible, given the fact that all of your intended colleges have admit rates below 20%. You do need to include some safeties.</p>

3

<p>Oh, the safeties go without saying.</p>

4

<p>My younger brother is in JROTC and let me just say, if we had it in my school I would join in a heartbeat. ROTC IS extremely impressive, takes a lot of discipline to rank up and to stay for that long. I like your GSA stuff, maybe you could extend it to a bigger community? Colleges in general like projects that are scaled big enough to affect more than in school. Either that or join a community group or just amp up some community service.</p>

<p>Great SAT/ACT scores for first testing, keep them up!
I think only one school where I live offers IB… is it ranked the same as AP courses? and does this mean you already have a degree going into college? Sorry I’m not quite clear so I can’t say.</p>

<p>Oh and please don’t hide your hobby! Just cause you’re not in a club about psych doesn’t mean you can’t WRITE about it! Psych is obviously something you’re incredibly passionate about and that’s brilliant. You want to use it, and that can be your hook. Use it to explain who you are, what you’re interested in doing, who you’re interested in helping… because at the end of the day, the essays that turn out the best are the ones you WANT to write not the ones you feel like you have to… </p>

<p>:) Chin up and good luck with apps!</p>

5

<p>IB = AP, essentially.</p>

<p>I should’ve stayed with AP, though. >.></p>

<p>THANK YOU, GUYS.</p>

<p>But no, my GSA stuff’s unacceptable to those arbiters of my life, my parents.I’m tired of rocking the boat with them right now. >.<</p>

6

<p>I would focus on the ACT as it seems that you are better at that. My kid had a disparity between the ACT and SAT1 and we decided to use only the ACT and the SAT2 subject tests, which he did well on.</p>

<p>With regards to you getting into a top college, you are the perfect candidate for an elite school. Intelligent, good grades, decent scores, ROTC, a gay activist, not to mention being African American. You do not mention your gender. However if you are female and if you also were a religious minority (Jewish, Buddhist or Muslim, Mormon, etc.) you’d be a rare minority diamond that any top school would have a feeding frenzy over.</p>

<p>I do not doubt your story as most ■■■■■■ are not imaginative enough to write what you have written. So, I would let your rainbow flag fly very high in your essays and applications. You might even get free tuition if you spin your story correctly. Just remember, when you write your essays disregard what you learned in English class and feel free to write in the first person and use the words “I, me, myself, etc.” In the essays they want to get to know who you are as a person. Classic formatting will impress no one. Just make it is easy to read and exciting from the first sentence. This is the one time that you are allowed to crow about yourself. My son was accepted to several elite schools and the lead essay question asked my son to “describe his world”. We are Japanese and Jewish. My son opened his essay with, “The world I come from is an interesting place.” Then he hit it out of the park describing growing up in a multicultural, multilingual family of world travelers. My wife and are an interracial/intercultural couple and my son is also in an interracial/intercultural relationship.</p>

<p>If it is important to you, I would also narrow your school choices to places that are supportive of gay rights. Many of them you are already applying to.</p>

<p>Here are a few:
[The</a> Top 10 Colleges for Gay Students](<a href=“http://gawker.com/5655407/the-top-10-colleges-for-gay-students]The”>The Top 10 Colleges for Gay Students)
[The</a> Most GAY-FRIENDLY Colleges (PHOTOS)](<a href=“The Most GAY-FRIENDLY Colleges (PHOTOS) | HuffPost College”>The Most GAY-FRIENDLY Colleges (PHOTOS) | HuffPost College)
[Top</a> Colleges for Lesbian and Gay Students](<a href=“http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/lesbianactivism/a/TopColleges.htm]Top”>http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/lesbianactivism/a/TopColleges.htm)</p>

7

<p>That is extremely encouraging. Thank you.</p>

8

<p>Badabump.</p>

<p>I’m not very concerned about going to a gay-friendly college. One being unfriendly would just give me something to do.</p>

9

<p>Oh, right.</p>

<p>I’ll chance anyone back if you ask.</p>

10

<p>Disclaimer: Admissions can be a crapshoot.
That being said though, your profile is superb. Your ACT is definitely better than your SAT, and I think you have met the academic threshold at every college. I think you have an amazingly good shot at some of those universities, assuming your essay will be up to standard as well.</p>

11

<p>Your profile is very accomplished from your stats to your ECs. Being URM will help you a lot and if you get your SAT to over a 2200, I would say you have a shot at all of the schools you listed. If you write good essays, maybe about your love for psychology then you will be a very intriguing candidate for the schools you listed. I would say that you will get into at least one or two of them. Good luck!</p>

<p>Chance me??</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1368547-chance-me-syracuse-howard-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1368547-chance-me-syracuse-howard-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>I personally think you have a great shot at any of those schools. If you’re looking for matches I would suggest Vassar, Wesleyan and Bard. They are small like WAS, liberal, and amazing schools that I’m sure you would probably have no trouble getting into. Also if you can go West Coast look into Pomona and Pitzer! Oh and why is Brown not on the list!</p>

13

<p>I don’t believe any of you. >.<</p>

14

<p>Your CR + M SAT score is really higher than your ACT composite: </p>

<p>[The</a> ACT | ACT-SAT Concordance | ACT](<a href=“http://www.act.org/aap/concordance/]The”>The ACT Test for Students | ACT) </p>

<p>…however you may want to apply as a psych major as opposed to something like neuroscience, where your 660 M score may raise some concerns.</p>

15

<p>There we go.</p>

<p>You’re right. I’ll probably have to do that if I don’t significantly raise my math score in a retest. (But I will.)</p>

<p>Didn’t know about Subject Tests! Or at least that they were required for top schools. I’ll prepare accordingly.</p>

16

<p>Both Cornell and Penn admit a lot of students through ED, 30-40%. If you like them well enough, and do not need FA then applying ED to those 2 schools would give you a bump.</p>

17

<p>I need FA. >.></p>

<p>So I’ll probably do one of the single choice early action opportunities, right?</p>

18

<p>Pumb! Pumb! Pumb!</p>

19

<p>Yes, or just regular EA, like U Chicago, UVA and U Mich.</p>

20

<p>Uchicago FA is supposed to be terrible! And I have a friend that was accepted ED to Columbia and they didn’t screw her financially, but I’d understand if you feel more comfortable just applying RD. Use a financial aid calculator on a college’s given website to get an idea how much you’d be paying. Also, props to OsakaDad for such great advice. Now remember, OP, some schools need SAT/ACT and two subject tests, others want SAT with two subject tests OR ACT with writing. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. You’ll clearly be a competitive applicant anywhere.</p>