Not your ordinary chance thread

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>It kind of is, but with a twist. Didn’t think I would ever do this, but I’m freaking out a little about this whole downward trend thing I’ve got going. I want to know how big a deal it is in context, and if I should possibly write about it in some way.</p>

<p>General Info:</p>

<p>Gender: Male
Location: Middle of nowhere, PA
High School: Tiny rural public, sends 1-2 grads to top schools every year.
Ethnicity: White
Financial Aid: Yes, a lot.
Major: Neuroscience/Cognitive Science</p>

<p>Tests:</p>

<p>SAT: 800 CR, 740 M, 780 W, 2320
SATII: 790 Chem, 780 BioE, 720 USH
APs: 5 on Chemistry, Calc AB, Biology, Psychology, US Govt. and Politics (self studied); AP Scholar w. Distinction </p>

<p>Grades:</p>

<p>“Most Rigorous Courseload” basically, my school only offers six APs in actual classes and one is Spanish, no honors.
My school also has an unusual grading system:
100-95 A
95-85 B</p>

<p>GPA: 96.2/3.75 UW. I included the midyear report.
Rank: 5/76</p>

<p>Freshman:
Biology 99
Algebra II 100
French II 98
Chemistry 98
English 98
Civics 98</p>

<p>Sophomore:
French III 98
Am. Cultures 100
Physics 100
AP Chem 99
English 10 98
Pre-Calc 99 </p>

<p>Junior:
AP Calc AB 92
Contemporary USH 92
AP Bio 95
French IV 97
Prin. of Dem/Econ 96
English 11 93
AP Psych 93</p>

<p>Senior (mid-year, obv.):
French V 95
AP Lit 85
Anatomy and Physiology 90
Technology II 100
APUSH 84/85
Statistics 94/95
Abnormal Psychology 93 (Local LAC, night class, audited, my instructor was nice enough to grade my material)</p>

<p>The midyear report is what worries me the most. Due to my own stupidity/stress/a lot of stuff going on I had the worst semester of my life academically this past semester, after having a noticeable dip Junior year. Grade-wise my mid-year report would best-case be ABBABAA, worst-case ABBACBA. Neither of those are good. Wat do? Should I write about this? I didn’t in the additional information because I was a) in denial and b) I hate making excuses. </p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:</p>

<p>-Volunteer at Camp Emerge, and a few other camps (<9, 10, 11, 12)—A camp for families with Autistic kids. My brother is autistic and though I spend more time doing other things this is the most meaningful to me; I wouldn’t otherwise be going into neuroscience.
-Boy Scouts of America (<9, 10, 11, 12)—Eagle Scout, OA Troop Rep, Patrol Leader
-Football (10, 11, 12)—JV 10, 11; V 12. I suck, basically.
-Science Club (9, 10, 11, 12)—President 11. Science Olympiad and other stuff like that, some demos. Won some nice medals, nothing beyond regional.
-Outdoors Club (11, 12)—Founder, President. Thought it was a shame, rural as we are, not to have one. Ski trip in a month!<br>
-Basketball (9, 10)—JV lol
-Hospital Volunteering (11, 12)—Two hours a week, about 20 weeks a year. Not much, hence seventh. </p>

<p>Also NHS and Weight-Training Club (lol)</p>

<p>No jobs.</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>-Telluride Association Summer Program, UT 2009. Best six weeks ever.
-National Merit Semifinalist
-Had independent research I did as part of AP Bio published in the Whitman Journal of Psych, a national journal for HS students.
-Book award for best science student at my HS</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Essays: Personal, tell some interesting stories, I like them a lot.
Recommendations: I haven’t seen them but I assume they are very good.
Additional Recommendation: From my TASP prof, should be great. He asked me what I wanted him to talk about and I essentially had him tailor it to Columbia, though it would work everywhere. Didn’t send to Harvard.
Interviews: I interview well and have experienced a few intense ones.</p>

<p>Colleges:</p>

<p>Pittsburgh (already in)
Columbia (#1)
U Chicago
Cornell
Yale
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
Ursinus
Macalester</p>

<p>I realize the die has already been cast, I’m just curious and wondering whether I should submit a note with my mid-year report. I’m generally very self-defacing, so you can’t say anything negative that I haven’t already told myself. Be honest, and don’t hold back.</p>

2

<p>Columbia- High Match
U Chicago- High Match
Cornell- Match
Yale- High Reach
Harvard- High Reach
Johns Hopkins- Match
Ursinus- ???
Mcalester- High Match</p>

<p>Good luck :)</p>

<p>Chance me back please—
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/838740-what-my-chances.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/838740-what-my-chances.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Thanks again. Can someone please tell me something about this downward trend thing?</p>

4

<p>HY are reaches but the rest you should be good</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/845309-chance-me-por-favor-urm-d.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/845309-chance-me-por-favor-urm-d.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>I do not blame you for wanting to explain your downward trend to the colleges you are applying to. I am having the same problem. I do not have the guts to do it, honestly. However, think of it like this, these colleges want to know who YOU are and your downward trend does not truly define you, but if you tell them why you have the downward trend (might it be studying for the SATs or too busy applying to colleges), the colleges might still consider you; whereas, if you did not explain yourself, the colleges would have accepted someone who was just lucky enough to steal your acceptance letter. I hope this helped in some way. I just wanted to put it into perspective for you. Good luck.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/835075-chance-me-please.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/835075-chance-me-please.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I really hope I did the above link right.</p>

6

<p>Assuming you can explain your dip in grades, this is what I think (Since you have amazing SAT scores and everything else looks fine as well). If you can’t explain it then it might be an issue because your senior year grades would represent what you are most likely to do in college.</p>

<p>Pittsburgh (already in)
Columbia (#1)- Low Reach
U Chicago- Reach
Cornell- Match/Low Reach
Yale- Reach (same as Harvard)
Harvard- Reach (for everyone, usually a good hook is needed)
Johns Hopkins- Match/Low-reach
Ursinus- Not sure
Macalester- Not sure</p>

7

<p>i think that a note couldn’t do any harm, esp. if it’s for real, not just made up…</p>

<p>Pittsburgh (already in)
Columbia (#1)
U Chicago - high match/ reach, but depends on essays
Cornell - match
Yale - reach
Harvard - ditto
Johns Hopkins - match
Ursinus - in
Macalester - in</p>

<p>good luck!</p>

8

<p>It all comes down to the reasons for the drop. You make it seem like it was at least partly your fault, so that will not look good. Remember, all of us are dealing with stress/senioritis/EC’s so unless you have a legitimate reason for your grades, that won’t look good. It won’t kill you, but it will hurt.</p>

<p>Stats are good, ECs decent (I like how your brother motivated you to do volunteer work for reasons beyond app padding). </p>

<p>Columbia (#1) - reach
U Chicago - low reach/high match
Cornell - low reach
Yale - reach
Harvard - reach
Johns Hopkins - low reach/high match
Ursinus - ?
Macalester - ?</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/847941-chance-nearly-2nd-semester-senior-hypsm.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/847941-chance-nearly-2nd-semester-senior-hypsm.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

9

<p>Thanks people. Combination bump/update.</p>

<p>-I’m pretty sure my mid-year report will be “best-case” scenario.
-I forgot to mention this (and I doubt it makes much of a difference) but I’m a legacy at Yale. We don’t donate any money to them, so not really a big deal ahah.</p>

10

<p>Ok this is what my mid-year report will look like, it’s essentially finalized now.</p>

<p>French V- 95 A
AP Literature- 85 B
Anatomy and Physiology- 90 B
Technology II-100 A
APUSH- 85 B
Statistics- 94 B</p>

<p>Abnormal Psych- 93 A</p>

<p>I’m writing something about it for Macalester, since it specifically asks for explanations for grade drops. Would anyone not mind looking over it for me? I’ll show it to my GC also. Still not sure if I should send it anywhere else.</p>