Looks like the paranoia's infectious, a chance would be nice :)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Amherst College
1

<p>Hey guys,
It would be great if you could chance me.
I know no one can reliably predict a decision, but lately I’ve been really worried about my chances at an institution like Amherst. Thanks for your time!</p>

<p>Applied Early Decision to Cornell Human Ecology for the HBHS (Human Bio, Health, and Society) major and got deferred.
My parents are Russian-Jewish immigrants, and I speak Russian at home.</p>

<p>SAT: 720 CR, 780 Math, 800 Writing
SAT IIs:
790 Biology E
760 World History
750 Spanish (not with listening)
680 Chemistry
640 Math I (took it freshman year)</p>

<p>GPA: 96 unweighted (my school does GPA’s out of 100) doesn’t rank, and doesn’t weight.</p>

<p>Classes:
Freshman Year:
Earth Science (required, didn’t offer advanced when I was a freshman)
Honors English 9
Math 11-1Y (two years accelerated math)
Honors Global (world history) 9
Spanish 2A (honors)
Music Theory</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
AP World History
Honors Precalculus (two years accelerated math)
Chemistry X (the options were Regular Biology, Enriched Biology, or Chem X and Chem X was the hardest option available in the sciences)
Spanish 3 (choices were Spanish 3 and 3B, 3 being the more advanced option)
Honors English 10
Science Research</p>

<p>Junior Year:
AP Biology
AP Calculus BC (two-years accelerated for my school)
AP US History
British Literature (most advanced English class for juniors)
Intermediate Spanish (college-level Spanish, through University in High School program at SUNY Albany)
Health (requirement)
Human Physiology (1/2 year elective)</p>

<p>Senior Year:
AP Economics
Mandarin Chinese 1 (first year my school offered the language to any students)
AP Literature and Composition
AP Physics B (considered toughest class in our school, the teacher is tough and the school doesn’t offer Physics C)
Calculus 3/Linear Algebra (still 2 years accelerated)
AP Spanish</p>

<p>I had PE every year, so I had a full schedule with one free each year.</p>

<p>AP Scores:
AP Biology: 5
AP US History: 5
AP World History: 5
I canceled my AP Calc BC score because I was pretty sick that day and did poorly.</p>

<p>Awards/Honors:
Toshiba ExploraVision Contest Honorable Mention (10th grade)
Spanish Department Award for Excellence in College-level Spanish
AP Scholar (eh, I got it so might as well list it)
New York State Scholarship for Academic Excellence
NY State Math Honors Society Inductee (also an EC, but I won’t list it again)</p>

<p>EC’s:
I’m not going to list all of them since it’s really pointless to do so on CC so I’ll put my main ones.
Worked for two summers 3 days a week for 9 hours a day at a local endocrinology clinic as a checkout person, I took copayments, helped with patient issues, scheduled/rescheduled appointments. I also got to shadow a couple doctors there a few times to see what it was like to be an endocrinologist.</p>

<p>Volunteered at the local hospital for 3 summers (9th, 10th, 11th), ended up shadowing a couple doctors there as well a couple times</p>

<p>Co-President of school Masterminds team, member for four years (sort of like Quiz Bowl)</p>

<p>Piano for 12 years, performed some high-end pieces at recitals each year.</p>

<p>Those are the main ones, the others aren’t as important. Basically, I listed the ones that take up most of my time.</p>

<p>Essays were definitely on unique topics, kind of quirky, but also a bit long.
One teacher rec should be spectacular, the other one I don’t really know.</p>

<p>So, yeah, there’s my cliched chance thread, please don’t berate me for posting one, I truly couldn’t resist.</p>

<p>Good luck to all! And sorry for the REALLY long post!</p>

2

<p>I would say you have a great shot. Your stats are certainly better than mine (you've seen my page) and your EC's are great. I sure hope you get in, because if you don't, I have no chance. Then again, at a small school like Amherst it's incredibly hard to tell. I wouldn't worry about your stats at this point, the only thing that could keep you out is the fact that it's a crapshoot.</p>

3

<p>Your stats look better than mine, and I got in ED, so I'd say you have a great shot</p>

4

<p>Do you got to a private or public school?</p>

5

<p>Thank you guys for chancing me!
I go to a public school, it's not uber-competitive like the ones in NYC but it's definitely very competitive (one of the most in my region of NY)</p>

<p>I just hope they like my essays then, it seems like that's what makes or breaks the deal at a college like Amherst.
Any more thoughts?</p>

6

<p>I actually think that it would be important to list your ECs, especially for Amherst. They like a diverse community that has a range of passions. Do you have a particular passion or interest that you participate in inside and outside of school? Language? Music? Science? Amherst wants interesting people to form an interesting community, not just robots with perfect scores. So try to find that special something about yourself and convince Amherst that that something is unique and very important to you and that you will continue to pursue that passion at Amherst if you are accepted.</p>

7

<p>My personal statement, for the most part, was about my passions for geography and foreign languages (it's about my obsession, as a little kid, with the Weather Channel and a certain placemat with the map of the U.S. printed on it). My EC's go along with my other passion, medicine/public health.</p>

8

<p>I'll be annoying and bump this :D</p>

9

<p>What? I thought your first choice was Williams. Go there. =P</p>

10

<p>Looks like someone stalks both the Williams and Amherst boards :P
Yes, Williams is my first choice, but I've visited Amherst and thought it was amazing, too. It's not far after Williams in my book.
Not that I'll get into either, judging by the competition of 2013.</p>