Nervous junior/Newbie poster...PLEASE chance me!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi, everyone! I just joined these forums after I creeped around a little and saw how helpful people seem...If anyone would be kind enough, I'm a junior at a competitive public high school (ranked in the top 20s nationally) and I'm pretty antsy about college--I can't WAIT, and I'd love to hear opinions about where I'd best fit.</p>

<p>So here are my stats. Thanks so much!</p>

<p>ACADEMICS
Total GPA (weighted): 4.6 or 4.7
Total GPA (unweighted): I'm not sure; I got one B+ in 10th grade. The rest are A's since 9th
AP: European History - 4
SAT I: 8th grade (Johns Hopkins program) - 2170
10th grade (October) - 2370 (770 Critical Reading, 800 Writing, 800 Math)
SAT II: Math Level 2 - 800
School Courseload: I'm currently taking 5 AP classes (including Calculus BC and Spanish 4) and am in the IB program.</p>

<p>AWARDS
-Rotary Award for being one of the top 100 students in 10-12 grades at my high school (10th)
-Principal Honor Roll (9th, 10th)
-Honors at Entrance (9th)
-5 Departmental awards (Certificate of Merit) for being the top student in my class (9th)
-1 Departmental award (Certificate of Merit) (10th)
-Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) Certificate of Merit for Editorial Leadership
-Completed two summer journalism workshops
-Full scholarship for an art program for high school students at a prestigious art college (10th)
-City-wide first place, county semifinalist in a national creative writing contest (10th)</p>

<p>WORK EXPERIENCE
-Private tutor (9th-11th)</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS
-National Organization for Women (NOW) chapter at my school (member since 9th, Vice President 10th, Club President 11th)
-School newspaper (writer since 10th, Opinion editor 11th)
-Communications Club (Vice President 11th)
-Tutoring Club (Junior Representative 11th)
-Air rifle team (member since 9th, Captain 10th-11th)
-Venture Crew (like Boy Scouts, but a co-ed branch. Crew secretary 10th)</p>

<p>Also:
I'm an avid feminist! I'm the Student Representative and a member of the Board of Directors for the YWCA (like YMCA, but for women) in my community. I founded, organized, and edited a community newsletter to reach out to young women for the YWCA with members of NOW Club from school, using my experience as an editor for my school newspaper. I also created a MySpace to help the YWCA reach out to girls my age. With my club from school, I'm planning a community art show to benefit the YWCA. The thing is, I didn't really do any of those things with college in mind...I did them because I wanted to help empower girls my age. It's not just something I'm committing to so I can slap it on my resume...I LOVE doing it.</p>

<p>I also love to draw/paint/write, and I'm currently working on a novel (: I know I'll probably never publish it or anything, but it really helps me de-stress.
In terms of recognition for my writing, I'm thinking about entering a few national essay contests...any good suggestions??</p>

<p>My dream college is Yale--I fell in love with the campus when I visited and could totally imagine myself there.
But here's the complete, gigantic list (please keep in mind that I'm a junior; by this time senior year, things could look different):
HYP
Stanford
Columbia
Brown
UPenn
UC Berkeley
Dartmouth
Amherst
Duke
Northwestern
Johns Hopkins</p>

<p>I know that was really long and all over the place, but I'd really appreciate it if you sized up my chances or gave me some tips :) Thank you!</p>

2

<p>Really, really nice chances, you're probably in fairly easily at all except for HYPS, which you still have a good chance at.</p>

<p>It's really awesome that you didn't do all the feminist work with college in mind; I think passion is really important in college admissions, and you obviously have it. Don't be afraid to show it when the time comes.</p>

3

<p>Thanks so much!
Does anyone have any other opinions?</p>

4

<p>You look great for these schools but remember Andi and Andison and the #1 rule of College Confidential. Build your college list from the bottom up. </p>

<p>You need one or two safeties you can afford and would like to attend. (If you can get a rolling answer from a safety you really love early in the apps process, one safety will do. Two is better.) Is there a nice honors program at your in state flagship?</p>

5

<p>Andi and Andison? Haha sorry, I haven't been here long. Care to tell me who they are?</p>

6

<p>why do u take APs if your in an IB program? is it necessary?</p>

7

<p>Here you go. From the parents' forum. Required reading for smart and involved people, so there is no chance something like this can happen to you.</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/47867-we-re-picking-up-pieces-but-what-went-wrong.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/47867-we-re-picking-up-pieces-but-what-went-wrong.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Not to spoil it, but there was a nice happy ending after a gap year.</p>

8

<p>Well, AP and IB are both optional at my school, but I just decided to take AP classes and enroll in the IB program because I guess I'm up for a challenge. Haha.</p>

<p>I heard IB diplomas aren't actually worth much, especially in admissions, but for the time being I'm working for it....</p>