please chance me for EARLY DECISION II!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Richmond
1

<p>Hi everyone!=] I applied regular decision, but have inquired about switching to ED2 and plan on doing so if it's possible. So please, offer your opinions for ED and RD (in case the former doesn't work out). Thanks guys=]</p>

<p>Basics:
-White female from northern NJ
- pretty competitive public high school -- about 250 in my graduating class (my school doesn't rank)
- I want to study communication with a concentration in public relations. At UR i'd study Journalism or Rhetoric with a probable minor in Business Admin (marketing).
- I have legacy at UR. (an aunt and an uncle who I'm pretty confident have donated some serious cash.)</p>

<p>Academics:
Frosh & Soph year I had all A's & B's and a few honors courses.
Junior and Senior year: 2 APs (2 is the yearly limit at my school, believe it or not).
Tests: English Lang 5, US History 4).
Besides the APs: honors French (Jr year, no longer taking French), four Syracuse University Project Advance classes in senior year (Forensics, Psych, Sociology, and English), selected for NJ Teen PEP program (basically sex ed but we educate the community about issues and help the freshmen adjust to the high school)</p>

<p>***I had a serious concussion before my junior year and as a result my grades plummeted and I have maybe five Cs on my junior year transcript, but my counselor rec denotes it as a medical reason (well, obviously lol)</p>

<p>At the end of the year I will have taken a total of 6 years of language -- 3 Honors french and Italian I - III (only levels offered in my school currently as it's a new program)</p>

<p>GPA - 88.2 (low for UR, i know =[)
SAT I: CR-680, M-630, W-700
SAT II: English Lit-670, US History-600
ACT: 27 (but i didn't submit it)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
a) Community Service
- Girl Scout since second grade (pursuing Gold Award and I have my silver award)
- Sent shipments of Girl Scout cookies to Iraq as an independent service proj
- Interact club 10 11 12
- 4 years volunteering at the hospital
- Tons of miscellaneous community service</p>

<p>b) Athletics
- Field Hockey
- Lacrosse (soph yr only -- couldn't continue because of aforementioned concussion)
- Track (jr year)</p>

<p>c) Music
- Marching Band for 3 years (varsity letter)
- I've played the clarinet for 9 years.</p>

<p>d) Miscellaneous
- Global Connections Club - 11 (my applications might say 12? i filled them out before the schoolyear began, but i just got lazy and never showed up senior year haha.. shhh=])</p>

<p>***i know that some of my extracurriculars are all over the place/don't show much commitment, but my big ones were girl scouts and interact, as well as the rest of the community service.</p>

<p>Leadership:
- Team leader for a CCD (confirmation) group
- Nominated for and attended the National Student Leadership Conference (Mastering Leadership) at the University of Maryland
- Girl Scouting awards and projects I guess. GSUSA denotes all awards as leadership.</p>

<p>Work Experience:
I have a part time job as a hostess at a local restaurant (15 hours per week, got the job in June and have been working there ever since)</p>

<p>Application:
Teacher recs: i didn't see them, but i'm assuming they were good.
Counselor rec: haven't seen it, but i know it explains the concussion predicament in detail.
Essays: pretty good, i think. writing is one of my strengths.
My common app was relatively fresh & creative, and my supplement essay was as well.</p>

<p>Here's the Naviance scatterplot for my school. It's kind of disheartening but no one on here applied ED, and I have some legacy, so I'm hoping that'll help me out =/
<a href="http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t14/ESmith5382/richmond.jpg?t=1262677299%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t14/ESmith5382/richmond.jpg?t=1262677299&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>I’m not sitting in the UR Admissions office and I have but one year of exploring UR but I’ll throw in my two cents. My D was accepted ED with a 1900 SAT/30 ACT. She has a high GPA and high class rank. I believe though that what set her apart was a great essay and great ECs. UR says they look at the whole person and I believe that to be true. You need a story that sets you apart. Maybe your concussion story?? I think admissions will look at your academics and while they won’t be impressed they also wont discard you. The essay is your opportunity to really sell yourself. Have you visited the campus? My D immediately felt at home there. She sat in on some classes, interviewed and did the Spider Saturday. I don’t know if those things show an interest that is also considered. Anyway, I think you have a reasonable shot. Good luck to you!</p>

3

<p>Our daughter is a freshman at UR and last year was an odd year in which something went way awry in admissions and they ended up with a class of 938 students, well over the 750 to 800 target. As a result, their SAT scores dropped (they accepted lower scores) and my understanding (which has been confirmed) is that this year they will scale back in such a way as to limit to the targeted 750. Your situation is hard to predict: the “serious cash donation” by your aunt and uncle could be a factor, on the other hand, being from NJ and your grades (C’s the entire year??) are not positives. Finally, I would observe that your ECs are long and spotty, and colleges are interested in seeing what a student’s passion is (all four years leading to a leadership position in a single area or more) Switching to EDII (you can do that) will allow them to make a decision on your transcript knowing that if you accept you are in. It is a wonderful school and our daughter LOVES Richmond. By the way, she took a journalism class this fall, very rigorous! They had to read the NY Times daily and were quizzed each Friday on front page news (obviously a reading comprehension focus) and did lots of writing. Great course. Great faculty. Good luck!</p>

4

<p>nope, not C’s all year. it was for a couple of marking periods because of the concussion… i mean, i could not concentrate at all and my memory kept lapsing. it was a pretty serious head injury, and my counselor explains it pretty well. my common application essay is about the concussion. at the beginning of this year i actually got into a car accident and got yet another concussion, but it’s not mentioned anywhere. my grades have been pretty high though.</p>

<p>and i know i have a drawn out list of extracurriculars, but girl scouts is my long-term EC. it takes up a lot of my time, and i’ve done a lot of service projects. my CA short answer was a pretty good piece about my girl scout experience, so i think that my schools understand that it is my main extracurricular focus. the concussion also messed up my extracurriculars (i had to stop playing field hockey for a year, i couldn’t continue with lacrosse and had to switch to track).</p>

<p>i have not seen it yet, but i plan on doing so very soon. i just have a good feeling about the school and i’m confident that it is where i want to be. thank you for your input:)</p>

5

<p>Well, it all depends on how much the targeted class profile changes for the entering class, but I’d say you have a lot of pluses. They’ll love the legacy, especially if your aunt & uncle gave money. They should love the Girl Scout dedication, and I think all of your other interests would be pluses, to, especially since you have a clearly defined focus. Richmond students are really, really involved on campus and off in a variety of things. Your SATs should be fine. I think I was admitted with a 2070 or a 2100 or some such score. GPA is sticky, but if you do have the medical excuse. </p>

<p>So…I’m not really adding much, but good luck! I think you have a good shot!</p>

6

<p>thank you very much, hopefully it turns out well:)</p>

7

<p>anyone elsee?!</p>

8

<p>Cs in the junior year does hurt you, along with your location however applying ED II will help you. Richmond’s ED acceptance rate is 50-60% compared to ~30% in regular decision. I do think like others mentioned they are scaling back on the number of students they are accepting because class of 2013 was much larger than average and ED applicants most likely increased due to the cutting back of acceptances. As long as you master your Common App essay along with the supplement, I think you have a shot!</p>

9

<p>you dont really have that many APs or anything that sets you apart from every other student applying to richmond</p>

10

<p>um my school doesn’t offer very many, but I took two. I also took a lot of honors courses, and this year I’m taking 4 college classes (which are a lot more rigorous).</p>

11

<p>either does mine but you still have to take advantage of all you have thats how they will differentiate.</p>

12

<p>obviously, but I took the college classes in lieu of 4 APs this year. it’s what my school recommends. it’s not community college btw, it’s syracuse.</p>

13

<p>plus, the limit per year is 2 at my school. the profile guidance sends to admissions says it right on there.</p>

14

<p>were you able to apply EDII ?</p>

15

<p>yeppp I was. i think i had everything submitted by the 10th or so</p>

16

<p>Yeah, your GPA will definitely be a negative but your SAT scores look pretty good. I have pretty much the same stats just switched(higher GPA, lower SAT), and I was accepted ED. Good Luck! Hopefully you’ll be a part of Richmond’s 2014 Class!</p>

17

<p>i hope so tooooo(: thanks!</p>

18

<p>oh robnoco what were your extracurriculars and such like?</p>

19

<p>I had a pretty good amount of extracurricular work.</p>

<p>I’m not really the sport kind of guy, but I was a member of National Honor Society and VP of my school’s chapter this year, was a member of the Oak Society (its like a prefect system), member of the Lost Boys of Sudan Club, bowling club, st. mary’s hospital club, young democrats, etc. I have also done ALOT of volunteer work in my area, from tutoring underprivileged kids (how cliche), working at a church soup kitchen, helping at a hospital. I am also a member of my city’s youth council which makes reccomendations to city leaders. I also had an internship at the VA Port Authority last summer. </p>

<p>When I type it all out it seems like a ton of stuff, but I was only committed to a few of those things all through high school. When I started pursuing UR I realized that showing interest was really important to them, so of course I did the interview and managed to get a reccomendation letter from an alum. I know this seems like a mini essay, but I hope it helps!</p>

20

<p>okay, sounds good. thanks for your answer!</p>