My Chances (or none at all) @ Ivy Leagues

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Class: 2009
GPA: 4.0 (Rank: 1/350)</p>

<p>Classes Taken:
!!!Note!!!: My high school only offers AP classes in Psychology, Calculus AB/BC, Statistics, Am. History, English, and Spanish.</p>

<p>8th Grade:
Honors Geometry (@ HS)</p>

<p>9th Grade:
Honors Adv. Algebra
Honors Biology
Honors Composition/Communications
Honors American History
French 1
Wind Symphony (1st Chair)
Health (mandatory)
Gym (mandatory)</p>

<p>10th Grade:
Honors English 10
AP Statistics
Chemistry (there is no honors at my school)
Honors World History
French 2
Entrepreneurship
Wind Symphony (1st Chair)
Gym (mandatory)</p>

<p>!!!NOTE!!!: In the summer after my sophomore year, I learned precalculus by myself so I could take AP Calc in junior year.</p>

<p>11th Grade:
Arg & Per
French 3
AP Calculus BC
AP Psychology
Physics
Gym (mandatory...it sucks lol)
Am. Lit
Wind Symphony (1st Chair)</p>

<p>12th Grade (Prospective):
AP American History
AP English
Advanced Chemistry
Advanced Biology
Calculus 2 (at nearby college)
French 4
Sociology
Teacher Assistant
Wind Symphony (1st chair...hopefully?)</p>

<p>AP Scores:
Statistics- 4</p>

<p>SAT Scores:
I am still waiting on the March 2008 SAT Score.
However, my SAT II Scores are:
Math Level II : 800
Am. History (self-learning) : ???
Chinese: 800
Chemistry: ???</p>

<p>Activities:</p>

<p>TENNIS:
Varsity Tennis Team (I have earned 3 Varsity Letters as of now)
Varsity Tennis Singles Fifth Place at North Shore Conference - 9th, 10th
PVTC Club Thanksgiving Tournament: 1st Place Varsity 2 Level - 10th</p>

<p>MATH CLUB:
Marquette University High School Math Bowl 1st Place– 9th, 10th
Marquette University High School Science Bowl Participant– 9th, 10th
Marquette University High School Advanced Summer Math 1 & 2 Course – 9th, 10th
Mathcounts Assistant Coach at Kennedy Middle School – 9th, 10th, 11th
<strong><em>There was never really a Math Club at my high school until my sophomore year</em></strong>
Germantown High School Math Club Co-founder and President –10th
AMC Competition – 10th, 11th
North Shore Conference 4th Place – 10th, 11th
Germantown High School Math Club Assistant – 11th</p>

<p>PIANO:
I have been taking private lessons for almost 13 years.</p>

<p>Chopin Youth Piano Competition Finalist & Performer @ Summerfest - 10th
Solo & Ensemble for Piano Rating I* (perfect score) - 9th, 10th, 11th
State Solo & Ensemble for Piano Rating I* (perfect score) - 9th, 10th, ???
I have also volunteered my time to play at my local church and senior center on weekends.</p>

<p>WALL OF SOUND - 9th, 10th, 11th
Section Leader (flutes) - 11th</p>

<p>Wall of Sound is my high school's competitive marching band. We put over 300 hours into the making of our show every season, starting in early spring and lasting until the football games end. We perform at 5 competitions every year and state competition at UW Whitewater. We also perform at home football games.</p>

<p>WIND SYMPHONY- 9th, 10th, 11th
I have been section leader and first chair all three years.</p>

<p>FORENSICS - 9th, 10th, 11th, (I am continuing this into senior year too)</p>

<p>Prose- I qualify for State every year and have gotten perfect scores/gold medal during 9th and 10th grades.</p>

<p>NEWSPAPER - 11th - Warhawk Word</p>

<p>FBLA- 10th, 11th
I competed at the regional FBLA competition for Job Interview and Introduction to Business.</p>

<p>PEERS 4 PEERS - 10th, 11th</p>

<p>STUDENT COUNCIL- 9th, 10th, 11th
<em>prospective Exec. Board member (treasurer or vice president) next year</em></p>

<p>NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY - 11th</p>

<p>FRENCH HONOR SOCIETY - 11th</p>

<p>POLITICAL CLUB - 11th</p>

<p>CUPS OF CONTROVERSY - 9th, 10th, 11th
<em>this is like a "debate" group where we have discussions about controversial topics in society</em></p>

<p>SUMMER PROGRAMS:
People to People Ambassador Student Leader Program (@ Stanford) Medical Summit</p>

<p>VOLUNTEER:</p>

<p>RELAY FOR LIFE
NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY
BLOOD DRIVES
FOOD DRIVES
ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY
MATHCOUNTS ASSISTANT
YOUTH FUTURES
ETC</p>

<p>HOURS TOTAL: ABOUT 640</p>

<p>JOBS:
Cousins Subs (submarine sandwich restaurant) - 1 year</p>

<p><strong><em>I know this is early but I am looking at the top 10, specifically Stanford! (yay!), Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton.
I am also looking at Northwestern, Columbia University, and WashU.</em></strong>
My safety, of course, is Madison!
My intended major(s)/minor(s) are Psychology and Biomedical Engineering. Although this can totally change :)!</p>

<p>Thank you! I love you all =D</p>

2

<p>Wow, you have great grades and lots of EC’s. First of all, it’s hard to give a chancing without any SAT scores. What did you get on the PSAT? </p>

<p>Anyhow, your EC’s seem rather unfocused. From what I can tell, you’re involved in piano, tennis, math club, flute, debate/speech, newspaper, business leaders, student council, some honor societies, volunteer work, political clubs, and a non-selective summer program. I suggest you think about your passions and really try to pursue them deeply. DOn’t be afraid to drop some EC’s you’re less than ecstatic about!</p>

3

<p>I think colleges will take a look at your excessive EC involvement (and in varied fields no less) and assume that you a) lack passion and b) never pursued any one of them to a significant extent. However, that said, your chances at all of them are pretty decent considering your valed status and SATs so far. I don’t think you’ll get in at HYPSM, but the rest are within your range.</p>

4

<p>How are they “varied”?
Obviously, I have a strong passion for Math, Music, Leadership, and Speaking.
I mean, I can see how the Business FBLA activity and Newspaper (which I just joined this year) could be a little varied, but I only did it to give it a shot. And What’s wrong with that? lol
And I didn’t really like FBLA so I wouldn’t do that ever again.) I probably won’t write those two on my application, but…
This summer, to further my medical scope, I will be doing a job shadow at A nearby hospital for occupational therapy and pediatrician.
I guess I am just rambling, but I really don’t understand how my activities would be ‘varied’ or whatever. Furthermore, i DID pursue them to the most “significant extent”, I can’t help it if there are no national competitions in which you people go to offered at my high school.
thanks for the help!</p>

5

<p>Oh, you’re in Wisconsin…I was wondering how one person could be so successful in so many different activities (i.e. tennis, forensics, math)…I think that boosts your chances though, since many of the schools you listed love to take people from random states. Your school is very preppy btw… based on its website.</p>

6

<p>I think you will have an excellent chance of getting into at least one of them. HYP are anyones guess. So keep up the good work and when you send in your applications focus on two or three EC’s. My D is a freshman at H and had no where near quantity of EC’s you have, but she had two extensive (math & Drama) EC’s which showed many years of commitment.</p>

7

<p>Wow, another Milwaukeean on CC! I never thought I’d see the day.</p>

8

<p>“Oh, you’re in Wisconsin…I was wondering how one person could be so successful in so many different activities (i.e. tennis, forensics, math)…I think that boosts your chances though, since many of the schools you listed love to take people from random states. Your school is very preppy btw… based on its website.”</p>

<p>–what’s that supposed to mean? (jw)-- and how do you know what my schools website even IS…?</p>

9

<p>And obviously…my school is the least from your typical preppy rich school. We only offer 6 APs, 5 if you don’t take Spanish.</p>

10

<p>well you put your school name in your ECs yourself, i guess people just googled it. :stuck_out_tongue:
MATH CLUB:
Marquette University High School Math Bowl 1st Place– 9th, 10th
Marquette University High School Science Bowl Participant– 9th, 10th
Marquette University High School Advanced Summer Math 1 & 2 Course – 9th, 10th
Mathcounts Assistant Coach at Kennedy Middle School – 9th, 10th, 11th</p>

<p>i think what azn&proud means is that college admissions officials not only look at test scores and ec’s, they also consider the location from which the applicant is from, in order to add diversity to the student body. i don’t think he meant it offensively. :stuck_out_tongue:
and i think it’s pretty cool that your school isn’t the “typical preppy rich school” because it shows that even though you had less to work with, you were still able to come out on top and thrive in your environment, and i think if you make a note of that to the admissions people, they’ll see that and a little more weight will go down in your favor.</p>

11

<p>Actually, unless he’s lying, Marquette University High School is not really his school b/c it’s really preppy (like Exeter preppy)…and yeah, living anywhere outside of TX, MI, MA, MD, NY, NJ, CT, or FL gives you an automatic boost…So, good for you?</p>

12

<p>Pretty sure Marquette is one of the preppiest schools I have ever seen. Just being located in the ghetto doesn’t make it gritty. So yeah…</p>

13

<p>I am not discrediting your activities but it seems that there are not enough hours in the day for you to really focus on all of those clubs and extracurriculars. How can you play tennis, an instrument, be in math things, and volunteer all of those hours?? It just seems impossible and you should emphasize what you truly love to participate in..otherwise it seems like you are a member of these clubs just so it looks good.</p>

14

<p>Dude people! I’m sorry I confused a lot of people, But i acctually go to Germantown High School. (you can google it too if you want, aznproud haha :P)
Anyways the Marquette High School thing was just a competition and course I took there. It’s actually an all BOYS high school. Haha. Sorry about the confusion!!!</p>

15

<p>And to tuiro89, thank you for your comment. I know, I am way too busy for my own good, sometimes I wonder if I will get like chronic heart disease from all this stress before I am 30…haha. I was really busy freshman/soph. year because I had more time and that is why all the math and activities were in my 9th/10th grade year. This year I’ve been mainly focusing on music, speaking, and leadership. Idk. I hope this ‘un-discredits’ my E.C’s. And I won’t list every one of those on my application next year…this was just a mock list of stuff that I have done, that I typed up last night because I was bored, found this website and forum topic, and needed a way to procrastinate from Taylor Polynomials in Calculus :P</p>

16

<p>…Political Club? What the <em>bleep</em> is that.</p>

17

<p>I think you have good chances! I agree, however, that you would benefit from creating focus in your application by centering around your most important ECs and trying to create a “theme”–I know it’s difficult, and I don’t blame you for not having found one central “passion” in HS ^.^</p>

<p>And Infinite_Truth, Political Club is probably exactly what it sounds like. A group of students interested in politics who gather to discuss and debate politics.</p>

18

<p>Hmm…theme. It’s just, if I do do that, I feel like I’m just trying to impress some admissions officer (the theme idea)…although it is a very good thing to do. I dont know, I don’t do stuff/continue stuff I don’t enjoy doing, which is why as I’ve said before I won’t do FBLA, business activities, and etc again. But thank you. And it sucks I can’t delete this thread now! I feel dumb asking for chances because it’s just a waste of time. Haha I’m so paranoid and ■■■■■■■■.</p>

<p>I apologize in Advance, people.</p>