my chance please

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>i m a white jewish male from minnesota</p>

<p>my sat (first time no study) is 2360 (800-cr,780-m,780-w)</p>

<p>sat2: physics-800, math2c-770 (most colleges now count writing section as third)</p>

<p>AP: calc ab-5, calc bc-5, english comp -5, physics b-5, physics c mech -5, statistsics -4, u.s. government -4, european hisotry-5,
8 in all, taken before senior year (which means national ap scholar in junior year, only 500 get that in america per year, and only 17 in minnesota)</p>

<p>GPA: something like 93 (Unwieghted, its not very high, but mostly because religious classes drag it down)</p>

<p>Classes: In addition to ap classes, i took two college classes junior year (differential eq and complex eq, A's in both), and will be takign 3 in senior year first semester.</p>

<p>Extra Curric: Presidetn of Debate Club, won a number fo first place awards at regional competitions
Editor in CHief of school magazine, which won first place in american scholastic competition
piano, guitar, honors society, other little things</p>

<p>Summers: spent summers working for charities adn attending journalist program with 33% admittal rate</p>

<p>Colleges im considering: all the ivies and mit</p>

2

<p>You are competitive, but I don't see a 'hook' in what you have written. There are many, many thousands of people competing for a thousand or a few thousand spots at these ultra-competitive universities, that even a 2400 in one sitting doesnt mean you will probably be admitted. Have you done anything spectacular, that when the adcoms will read it they will say WOW, WE WANT THIS KID IN OUR SCHOOL? Won anything national? Created anything? If you dont have a significant hook, which is what I assume from what you have listed, you need to show the colleges that you have a passion for what they are looking for, and you are their type. Personally, I am against applying to for example ALL THE IVIES AND MIT (not saying you are doing that) bc that shows you just want to go to a good school, and not the one that fits you best. I would narrow down the list to like 4 schools that you havea passion for, and display this passion on the application. The admissions officers are looking for people that define their university, not ones who score a 2400 on the SAT and have perfect on 12 APs. </p>

<p>After rereading your 'resume,' I want to ask you a question. Did you make it to nationals in debate? Place in anything national. Which regional one did you attend? If it is really prestigious, that can potentially be a hook.</p>

3

<p>rnt college classes and the american scholastic prize out of the ordinary?
also, only 17 people in minnesota take 8 APs by senior year and get 4s and 5s on them, doesn't that separate me from the pack?
The debate competitions had around 10 schools and overall probably something like 40 different debaters. I don't think it's known for being prestigious especially.
As to creating something, I write poetry which my english teacher says is quite good. I've never won any awards for it though. Could i use that?</p>

4

<p>You need to make yourself stand out, and write stellar essays. Being from Minnesota should help you out a little bit.</p>

5

<p>National AP Scholar means nothing.</p>

<p>You will be rejected at MIT.</p>

<p>At the Ivy Leagues, I won't be surprised if you are rejected by all of them.</p>

6

<p>Agree with Gaffe. No hook = reject. And no, American Scholastic Prize is pretty trivial when it's the magazine that won not you individually (although you're an important contributor). National AP Scholar is pointless, I think 20 rising seniors in my school have it. It all depends on what your school offers, and we offer almost every AP class out there.</p>

7

<p>I agree with "stupidkid." Just curious, when did u take Calculus BC? And where did u take diff. eq.? And wat college classes r u taking next year?</p>

8

<p>clarification: you're right people, tons of kids get national ap scholar in senior year. thousands. but according to collegeboard.com official stats, only 17 kids in minnesota, and 26 in new york for a wider view, get it during junior year, as i did. that's something like .0001% of kids who take APs overall, for some perspective.</p>

<p>about how different schools offer different amounts of AP classes. Only three (physics B, Calc. AB, and Euro) of the 8 APs were taught by my school. the rest were self study. so id didn't depend on what my school offered.</p>

<p>i took bc in 10th grade, for he who asked.</p>

<p>I didn't take my college classes at some lowest common denominator community college, i took them at Yeshiva University, which is currently ranked in the top 50 colleges in the U.S.</p>

<p>out of curiosity, how many kids out there have taken 5 college classes and achieved A's in all of them by the time they're applying to college? isn't that out of the ordinary? isn't that a 'hook'? </p>

<p>As to the American Scholastic prize, i restarted my magazine after a year of neglect, wrote half the articles, and essentially wrote the rest of them through extensive editing. so i'm not "an important contributor", i m essentially the magazine, as my teacher advisor plans on writing in my recommendation so the colleges are aware of that.</p>

9

<p>^ grades can't be a hook. a hook is usually (but not always) something unacademic that makes you stand out. such as 1000+ volunteer in Africa, URM status, published research (or any writings), $5000+ funds raised for darfur. </p>

<p>getting A's in your colleges classes isn't a hook, many people do that.</p>

<p>ps: most of the hooks i listed are extreme, but you get the point.</p>

10

<p>Ok, he's not an automatic reject. He's got good enough stats to be somewhat competitive. Ivies can be very unpredictable. Heck, people in Oklahoma are trying to figure out why Harvard picked this boy over a member of the US IPhO team. You definitely have a chance. If you write great essays that reveal your awesome personality or your great passion for your activities, then you have a shot.</p>

<p>National Scholar and your college classes won't mean much to the Ivies if you really show your passion for your magazine or debate. AP scholar depends on school, and I can't think of any people with 5 As in college courses, but I can think of a couple who got As in a Java class at Tulsa U in 8th grade.</p>

11

<p>I dont understand what your talking about for the magazine.
Is your name on 1/2 of the articles? If it is, that looks bad for the magazine. If it isnt, having your 'teacher advisor' as you call it write a reccomendation saying you did will make the college seem suspicious. And about national AP scholar, I have a few JUNIOR friends who haev 10 5s already, so it isnt a hook (and if you self-studied 5 as you tell us, college might think u did that just to look good on ur application, which is REAL BAD. Make sure you note that you did so out of enthusiasm for hte subject).
As my fellow posters noted, grades is NOT a hook. A hook is 1 thing in particular that will make the Adcoms say, "I want this kid." 10,000s of people have stellar grades, and you dont (as you've noted with your average). Colleges might think Yeshiva inflates grades if u have a 92 but 5 As there. And I thought you have only taken 2 classes? Why are you saying how many got 5 As??? I repeat my previous message...
Look at a few of the colleges you are interested in, look what type of people they search for, decide 4 or 5 you think you fit the best, and show passion for one of those things in your essay.
EDIT: And I dont think raising 5000 is a hook, you'llsee.</p>

12

<p>I think your SAT scores are phenomenal as well as AP, no matter how things turn out, you're a very smart person and if you just put your mind to something, you'll be successful. Its more up to the determination of the person. Good luck.</p>

13

<p>when i said "5 A's" I was being cocky and referring to the 2 classes I already took in addition to the 3 i'm taking first semester senior year before I apply to college.
Good points all, I'll definitely have to reconsider.
By the way, I forgot to mention, and I don't know if this is significant, but I'm doing research with my college math teacher senior year on chaos theory (that's what my class 'complex' equations' was about). I'm not sure if that would fall under "published research," as even if it's published, my name will be only be written as, at most, assistant.
I dont believe Yeshiva's grades are waited. out of a mean class of 15 in each class i took, i believe only 4 or so kids got A's.
Does the journalist program I did last summer count as a minor 'hook.' it had a 30% acceptance rate (around 39 out of 120 something), and was affiliated with Columbia University, to add authenticity.
Lastly, does anyone know of any high school poetry contests of which i could get results back before I apply to college? As I said, I have some writing in mind that I think may have a chance for some sort of recognition.
Oh yeah, and what's with the Siemens Contest. I got an email from College Board about it. What do you have to do? What sort of math do they expect you to use (it seems like most research would just involve basic stats or at most probability theory which doesn't seem so clever.)</p>

14

<p>(sorry--hit button twice in error)</p>

15

<p>MIT/Harvard/Yale/Princeton/Caltech/Dartmouth/Columbia--Slight reach to Reach</p>

<p>Penn/Brown/Duke/UC Berkeley--match
Stanford--maybe--probably waitlist</p>

<p>Cornell/Georgetown/USC/UCLA/UVA/Tufts/John Hopkins--safe match to match</p>

<p>Yes, the ECs are not up to the standards of the top schools (see above for list)--but some schools will give you a chance based upon those notch top test scores.</p>

<p>Best of success.</p>

16

<p>Yes, your research is significant. I wish I had that opportunity.</p>

17

<p>could someone please tell me if either of these 2 specific EC's is significant: 1. I applied and was accepted to a journalist training program at columbia with a 33% admittal rate that gave us all a free trip to asia for 10 days
2. i spent a summer working for a charity in israel in which i visited and helped out terror victims
also, even though i went to school in new york, will the fact that i was born and grew up in minnesota give me an advantage?</p>

18

<p>those are stellar stats but it's true, no real hook. i'd say you're in at some of the ivies though but then again you can never really be sure which ones. i don't relaly know how they choose. i mean some people get into harvard but are rejected by brown. i'd say you're in at cornell, dartmouth, maybe columbia, maybe brown and MAYBE yale, not sure about princeton, harvard and mit. why don't u try northwestern?</p>

19

<p>Id say
REACHES
Harvard
Princeton
MIT
Small REACHES
Yale (I just get this feeling you fit better there than the others)
Columbia
Stanford
Penn
Matches
Cornell
Dartmouth
Brown
U Chicago
Safeties
UCs
Colleges bellow top 15.</p>

20

<p>out of curiosity, how do i know that these predictions are even vaguely accurate? do the people who post have some sort of history of accurately predicting acceptance?</p>