Please chance me (I will chance back!) :)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Middlebury College
1

<p>The Stats:
I don't want to post the name of my high school, but It's a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence! A private, Catholic school</p>

<p>GPA:
3.8(out of 4.0) unweighted, 4.0(out of 4.0) weighted</p>

<p>SAT:
2070 (680 Math, 720 Writing, 670 Critical Reading)</p>

<p>I didn't send in SAT II's.</p>

<p>Class Ranking:
19/173</p>

<p>Senior Schedule: Semester Grade
Government H/Economics H 89
Latin III H DC 96
Calculus BC AP DC 78
Physics B AP 92
Computer Science CP 99
English IV AP 92
Theology IV CP 95</p>

<p>My only other B is from last year in my English III AP class.</p>

<p>**My school only offers 4 AP classes for seniors.
I'm awful at calculus, but I wanted to take the most difficult math course offered at my school, so I went for cal BC AP (last year I took pre calculus because calculus AB wasn't offered). I am very concerned about my calculus semester grade. It's not like I didn't try, and it's not like I'm bad at math. I made A's in all of my previous math classes. I guess calculus just isn't my thing :/</p>

<p>Major: Classics
I love Latin and all things Roman! I was on the 1st place team at this year's National Junior Classical League certamen competition (a classics/Latin competition similar to an academic bowl). It was pretty intense... Classics is my passion! Does this make me more interesting than, say, an applicant who wants to major in biology or English (since biology and English are much more popular majors)? I have the extracurriculars to back me up (aside from my 1st place certamen medal, I also have many awards from different JCL competitions ranging from Greek Derivatives to Greek Mythology). With this all being evident, will my bad semester grade in calculus still be my downfall? </p>

<p>Leadership:
President of Renaissance club (supports those who make Honor Roll every quarter) (member 1yr, President 3yrs)
Secretary of Latin club (member 2yrs, Secretary 1yr)
Team Captain of school certamen team (member 1 yr, Captain 1yr)
Treasurer of NHS chapter (member 1yr, Treasurer 1yr)
Mu Alpha Theta Member (2yrs)
Student Ambassador (3yrs)
Prom Committee (one time thing)</p>

<p>Athletics:
11 belts from Kenseido and Okinawan Shorin Ryu Karate (4yrs)</p>

<p>Volunteerism:
SPCA Humane Society, Hospital Volunteer, various school functions</p>

<p>Dynamite Essay</p>

<p>I have teacher evaluations from my Latin and English teachers.</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

2

<p>It’s not the C in calc, it’s the B in Gvt, less than top 10% class rank, and your SATs aren’t very good. The classics interest will probably help, but you are definitely not a prime candidate. I would have a back up plan.</p>

3

<p>Why isn’t the C in Calculus as big of a problem as the B in government?</p>

4

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<p>Don’t say that to the ~30% of freshmen who had lower math and critical reading SATs…or the ~ 70% with a lower writing score. ;)</p>

5

<p>Son had mostly similar SAT’s - slightly higher, and a similar GPA (submitted near perfect ACT’s instead of SAT’s). Had a lot more EC’s (lots of awards and capt of two sports as well but was not recruited athlete). There were, however, no C’s and he trended upward throughout the four years of highschool, with a final report card of straight A’s senior year. However, I think the thing that tipped him in admissions was his recommendations and essays. I honestly believe they look at the full picture and not merely these lists that student put up as a “chance me.” There are lots of “perfect” kids who are rejected from schools all over the country, so it is definitely more than just a number crunch.</p>

6

<p>PS… I wouldn’t say Calc isn’t your thing as much I was say that taking BC without having taken AB is pretty big leap. Math is sequential learning, so going from Pre-calc to BC would have anyone not doing their best. My question is how a school skips an entire sequence in Math? It’s like building a lopsided pyramid - you’ll be lacking at least some part of the support base.</p>

7

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<p>That was my point. :)</p>

<p>I missed the calculus sequence issue. Nice catch. The GC should to do some splain’n, which might help mitigate the less than favorable impact of the C</p>

8

<p>Thanks, everyone! Especially CrewDad :slight_smile: I feel better now; we’ll see how it turns out come April (March 26?)!</p>

9

<p>That was my point about the low calc grade. It’s a really hard course, and everyone can’t do “the math” especially in HS. But a Govt course should be more “doable” for anyone of Midd caliber. Of the freshman with lower SATs, I bet they have higher GPAs, or are very interesting in some other way.</p>

10

<p>So you’re saying that I’m not interesting? I’m a catch of a classics kid.</p>

11

<p>Honey, I mean no harm and hope you get in if that is your dream. You asked for my opinion.
Interesting is up a notch from your ECs-I took Latin in HS too and I loved “The Grass Crown” and “The First Man in Rome”-but interesting implies some higher level activity.
I’m not thinkin’ that you are a shoo-in…</p>

12

<p>I’m not saying that I’m a shoo-in; I’m saying that I’m interesting because you don’t see many people interested in classics; or at least, you don’t see as many people interested in classics as English or biology. I’m different in this way.</p>

13

<p>At this point all you can do is hope for the best. No one on here is an admissions expert and there is nothing you can do now to improve your chances anyway. Enjoy the next two weeks and hopefully you’ll hear good news. A ‘B’ or ‘C’ is not going to kill it for you…at the end of the day not everyone at MIDD is a straight ‘A’ student anyway.</p>

14

<p>Thanks, flyboy</p>