let's hear it for an international relations major!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>I originally posted my chances thread a couple of months ago I believe. I've updated since then and i need fresh comments please :)</p>

<p>**looking at Harvard, Rice, Georgetown as top schools.</p>

<p>Me: Female, White? (check "what is the ethnicity of an arab?!" thread), 1st generation american, but was born here.</p>

<p>School
VERY LARGE...graduating class >1000 students.
Suburban
Very competitive
About 15% Asian</p>

<p>Scores
PSAT: 212 in a competitive state
SAT: 680 CR, 750 Math, 780 Writing, 11/12 Essay
SAT IIs: 720 US History, 720 Spanish, 780 Math II, 730 Math I (will take chemistry in october)
AP Exams: 5 in English Language and Composition
5 in Spanish Language
4 in US History
APs to take next year: Spanish Literature, English Composition, Biology, Government and Economics, Calculus BC.</p>

<p>Rank: 58/1017 *top 5-6% roughly.</p>

<p>GPA: 4.2 unweighted</p>

<p>Grades: about 80% of grades are A's and 20% of grades are B's. resume is good. Taking as many AP classes, most difficult courses, BC instead of AB calculus, no early releases senior year. wide variety from the humanities to the mathematics and science, including Junior Varsity Swimming.</p>

<p>12th Grade Schedule
BC Calculus
Spanish V AP (Literature)
Biology AP
Junior Varsity Swimming
Government and Economics AP
English Composition IV AP</p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>Founder, LAYL (Lebanese American Youth Leadership)
-nationwide organization
-networks students in many cities such as Dallas, Detroit, NYC, and San Francisco
-also repsonsible for Dallas/Fort Worth area events
-Team Leader of Mission 2008, a trip to Lebanon to do a marathon of humanitarian work with many nonprofits such as the Lebanese Red Cross/Red Crescent, UNICEF, American Lebanese National Mission, Offre Joie (Joy of Giving), and Habitat for Humanity
-will be represting LAYL at annual Lebanese American leadership conference in Houston this August and meeting with member of Lebanese parliament and former US ambassador to Lebanon, and doing a 30 minute presentation of Lebanese American youth leadership initiatives</p>

<p>Texas Representative of the nationwide ShalomSalaam Movement
-organizes various events and activities (mostly in Dallas area and outside of it if possible) between Arabs and Jews of different backgrounds.
-mostly recreational, but has an enormous "put yourself in their shoes" benefit.</p>

<p>Member of the Arab American Institute (2006-present)</p>

<p>Organized a school-wide fundraiser to raise money for victims of earthquake in Pakistan (Spring 2006)</p>

<p>Project Leader/Creator of "Children of Abraham" Summer camp for youth of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths (religiously affiliated) (Summer 2007)</p>

<p>Helped organize a joint Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Mother's Day banquet open to all of the community (May 2007)</p>

<p>President of Amnesty International (school chapter) (2007-2008)</p>

<p>Secretary of Learning About Science and Engineering Research (LASER) (school chapter) (2006-2007)</p>

<p>Model UN, Key Club, National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, Multicultural Club</p>

<p>Member of Student Senate</p>

<p>Member of Habitat for Humanity
-also collaborating with them for international volunteer work.</p>

<p>Nine continuous years of participation in the science fair
-three years of a continuation project of local acid rain research
-9th grade: 1st at school science fair: bacteria project
-10th grade: 3rd at district fair, honorable mention at regional fair: Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful, Year II
-11th grade: 1st at district fair, special award from Meteorological Society of Texas at regional fair for Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful, Year III</p>

<p>Full scholarship paid to attend annual Student Peace Action Network Summit in Detroit, Michigan (Summer 2006)</p>

<p>Won 3rd place in my division for nationwide essay contest named ________ for essay entitled __________ (I'm going to have to look these up!)</p>

<p>Etc.
Personal qualities:
-OPTIMISTIC! very first thing anyone would say about me.</p>

<p>-very open-minded: i regularly attend meetings of the Jewish Student Union and the Muslim Student Union and am working on a joint project </p>

<p>-motivated to improve living standards: life-long dream is to open a medical clinic in an impoverished area of Lebanon (the country), focusing on pediatric care.</p>

<p>-loves photography. sometimes drools over being a journalist but...still undecided.</p>

<p>-went to Lebanon in the summers of 2005 and 2003. had some interesting experiences there that i would like to discuss in my essays and pull those experiences to reflect on violence in general on a personal basis.</p>

<p>-foreign languages:
-Arabic: speak, write, read
-Spanish: speak, write, read
-French: read, speak. still working on literacy :)</p>

<p>Background:
-American-born with Lebanese parents
-VERY proud of my culture and my country
-not a 1st generation college kid, but am a first generation american.</p>

2

<p>oh gosh. my title wasn't catchy enough i guess. bumpppp.</p>

3

<p>All I have to say is... it is extremely frustrating to see someone say ther GPA is 4.2 unweighted. Can't people at least research a little bit about how GPA calculations work before posting on here?</p>

<p>Regardless of that, since you seem very involved in what you are majoring in and have good stats I'd say you have a good chance at the schools you listed... however with all top schools it's still impossible for anyone to say "you're in for sure!" maybe instead of trying to get into a top school just based on namesake you should consider some other schools based on the type of school it is.</p>

4

<p>rice and georgetown seem to be matches. harvard...pshh...dream on</p>

5

<p>I disagree with Elvito.</p>

<p>I think you'll be among Harvard's competitive applicant pool, with a low chance at acceptance but still a chance. You can never say with these top schools but I think your ECs are passionate and demonstrate intelligence and leadership; they are definitely the strongest parts of your application. Your GPA and class rank will hurt you the most, though they aren't by any means a killer for your app. Your SATs are average for those schools and won't help or hurt, but they're perfectly fine. </p>

<p>I think you are probably in at Rice and Georgetown, with maybe a 30% chance at Harvard. You should maybe look for some safties and perhaps another reach to balance out your app. Good luck! Getting all As next grading period and raising that class rank will help you <em>a lot</em>.</p>

6

<p>Oh my goodness I am so sorry i meant WEIGHTED...I copied and pasted some of the info from my last chances post and forgot to change it.</p>

<p>I'm so glad to hear some feedback about Georgetown.
My only concern is to which school in Georgetown to apply to...
I am about 70% sure i want to major in intl relations, but there's a major at Gtown called International Health. That's in the school of nursing and health science and it seems like a fascinating program, especially since I am expecting to continue on to med school.</p>

<p>This has been tearing me apart all summer because my EC's say INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS but my secondary passion is internation studies and health combined. I'm stuck. Help!</p>

7

<p>So, what's a better fit?</p>

<p>Georgetown's School of Nursing and Health Sciences (International Health major) or School of Foreign Service?</p>

<p>I am planning on going to med school.</p>

8

<p>bumppppppppp</p>

9

<p>It all depends on what you want to do.
I'd say that if you wanted to go to medical school, the school of nursing would be the optimal choice...</p>