New Senior (class of '07) looking for insight

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello, I was wondering what my chances of admission are at a few select colleges from my list, as I have a good idea of what the outcome of my application to the rest of the list will be. The schools are:</p>

<p>Emory University
Furman University
Sarah Lawrence College
University of Chicago</p>

<p>Thanks so much, in advance!</p>

<p>STATS:</p>

<p>Entering college: Fall 2007
Gender: Male
Prospective Major(s): English, Spanish
Current location: Georgia</p>

<p>SAT: 710 cr 600 m 600 w (I'm retaking this very soon, and I feel like I can easily raise my CR and W scores, just from experience, and I can significantly raise my math score since I have now taken trig/precalc.)</p>

<p>ACT: September 2006 :)</p>

<p>GPA: 99.0/100.0</p>

<p>Class rank: 3/140</p>

<p>ECs:
Marching Band (July- January, 20+ hours a week): This is why I have a small list of ECs. - 5 years</p>

<p>Concert Band (November- May, 8+ hours a week): first chair soprano and alto saxophonist- 4 years
Part of my baptist church orchestra (Year-round, 3-4 hours a week): first chair soprano and alto saxophonist- 3 years
National Honor Society
Spanish Club President (sophomore, junior, and senior years)
Art Club- 3 years
SAGE Club (future teachers)- 2 years
Literary Team- 3 years
Pegasus (Honors students)- 4 years</p>

<p>Awards, honors, and achievements:
English excellence award (highest GPA in all English classes)- 3 years in high school, 6 years total
AP U.S. History excellence award
1st place region spelling competition winner at literary meet (soph. and junior)
1st place state spelling competition winner at literary meet (junior year)
Perfect attendance (freshman- junior year)
Who's Who Among American H.S. Students (3 years)
National Honor Roll
Nominated for the National Society of H.S. Scholars (2 years)</p>

<p>Interests:
Literature
Spanish and other Romance languages
Musical theatre (though I have no previous experience, other than having seen lots of it! :))
Grammar, linguistics, spelling, etymology
Graphic/web design- 5 years
Writing
Saxophone performance- 7 years
Art</p>

<p>Classes I have taken:
- Freshman year:
Honors Freshman Lit/Comp.
Honors World Geography
Algebra I & II (I actually got to take Al. I in eighth grade for h.s. credit)
Honors Biology
Intro. to Technology I
Personal Fitness/Health (Had to take this...)
Visual Art/Composition I
Band
- Sophomore year:
Honors World Lit/Comp.
Honors World History
Euclidean Geometry
Chemistry (Gifted/Talented)
Spanish I
Intro. to Technology II
Visual Art/Composition II
Band
- Junior year:
Honors American Lit/Comp.
AP U.S. History
American Government (Gifted/Talented)
Advanced Algebra and Trigonometry
Physics
Spanish II (Unfortunately, only Span. I & II are offered at my school.)
Band</p>

<p>Classes I signed up for:
- Senior year:
AP English Literature
AP Economics
AP Calculus
Honors Human Anatomy
AP Art (Visual Art/Composition III)
Journalism/Writing Workshop
Band</p>

<p>(Unfortunately, our school only offers, AP U.S. History, AP English, AP Economics, AP Calculus, and AP Art.)</p>

2

<p>Left off an EC:</p>

<p>Independent study in linguistics, etymology, and language</p>

3

<p>Weird...I'm looking at 3 of those 4 colleges myself (all but Emory)...</p>

<p>Just for the record, does the "Who's Who Among American H.S. Students" actually mean anything? They sent me something for it, but it gave me a creepy reminder of the poetry.com vanity publisher...</p>

<p>...and NOT FAIR that you still got to do spelling competitions in high school! I was done after 8th grade :(</p>

<p>You're obviously in at Furman. SL doesn't take standardized test scores, so the other parts of your application have to be strong - and they will be, I'm sure, so you're in there too.</p>

<p>You're a very well-qualified student, so I assume you have a very good chance at UChicago and Emory as well.</p>

4

<p>I've heard talk that Who's Who is a money scam and seen the proof. However, I still feel like it is a type of recognition... and they didn't get any of my money! :)</p>

<p>The spelling competitions were through the GHSA's (Georgia High School Association) literary meets, in case you were curious.</p>

5

<p>I would love a lot of people to respond so I can see what the general consensus is! So, I suppose this is a bump post. Heh.</p>

6

<p>Once again, -bump-.</p>

7

<p>I think you can get into Emory pretty easily (especially if you show interest). But that SAT score definitely needs to improve. Then again, I could be wrong. I have a friend who got into UChi with like a 1200-something on his SAT and a 32 on his ACT.</p>

<p>lol, I didn't know they had spelling bees after high school for GA.</p>

8

<p>Thanks for the input, comoseva. I feel like I can get around 2100 next time around with the SAT, but obviously I don't want to jinx myself. ^^</p>

<p>I guess it's really more like a competition (like the written one that is part of the National Spelling Bee) in spelling than an actual spelling bee, as we're all given 100 words and the 1st place person is the one who got the most right. They tend to range from moderately easy to words plucked from obscurity. ;) Coming from a tiny school, I feel like winning at the state level is actually quite an accomplishment, and I hope the adcoms see it that way, too! Hehe. :)</p>

<p>Does anyone know of ways, OTHER THAN RAISING MY SAT SCORE (because I know about that), that I can make myself more appealing to UChicago?</p>

9

<p>Any further advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.</p>

10

<p>Another -bump-, as I want to hear from more than just 2 people! Please! I really need insight!</p>