Please read...and be brutally honest...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>My GPA is about a 3.6 UW, but it was because of only one year that brought it down due to family issues which will be the heart of my essay. I had a 4.3 unweighted GPA going into that year. Following that one semester, my grades shot back up.</p>

<p>I know my SATS will be in the 2200 range as well as the ACT in the 30's
I will do well on the SAT II's as well.</p>

<p>I went to a large public school in 9th and 10th grade.</p>

<p>I go to a private school (11th and 12th) which i think helps because of the competitive curriculum</p>

<p>Sports :
Freshman Basketball Team (9th)
JV Basketball Team (10th)
JV Soccer (9th,10th)
Snowboarding through a school program (11th,12th)
Varsity Baseball (11th,12th)
Varsity Soccer (11th, 12th)</p>

<p>Other Extracurriculars :
Math Team (9th,10th)
Quiz Team (9th, 10th)
Speech and Debate (9th)
HMMT Harvard-MIT Math Competition (11th,12th)
High Scorer from the Darrow School team
Core Leader (12th)
Math Prefect (12th)
Science Prefect (12th)
Computer Prefect (12th)
Improv Club (11th)
Possibly an RA for the dorm and a peer counselor but maybe not (12th)</p>

<p>Volunteer Work :
200 + Hours of Volunteer Work
Habitat For Humanity - 30-50 hours
An additional 200 hours will be done this summer at a local animal shelter (SPCA) and a local hospital.
AP Tests
Calculus AB - 5
AP European History 3
Any classes that offered honors i took. </p>

<p>Getting a job this summer as well...40 hours a week.</p>

<p>My essay will be phenomenal.</p>

<p>On my regents finals for NewYork
Biology - 94
French I - 97
French III - 99
Math II - 98</p>

<p>Ive taken 5 years of French and will have taken 2 years of calculus by the time i graduate.</p>

<p>There might be other stuff that I missed.</p>

<p>8th Grade
French I - A+
Math I - A+</p>

<p>9th
Money Management - A+
Biology - A+
English 9H - A+
French II - A+
Global Studies 9H - A+
Math II - A+
Studio in Art - A+</p>

<p>Summer 9th grade - Field Biology - A</p>

<p>10th
Chemisty - WF (Withdrawn Fail)
Physics - D
AP European History - C
French III - A-
Math III - B
English 10H - B+
Health - A+</p>

<p>11th
Philosophy - A-
American Literature -B+/A-
Calculus I - A-
Chemistry - A/A+
US History - B+/A-
French IV - A</p>

<p>12th (My planned classes) (Grades will be A's)
Calculus II or Statistics
Independent Study in Russian
Russian Literature A/B
Evolution
Geology
French V
Painting
Economics </p>

<p>Oh and I'm a lower class white male.</p>

<p>My sister graduated from Cornell
My brother currently goes to Cornell
My mom was a high school drop out
My father is a Russian Orthodox Priest</p>

<p>Amherst C
Colgate U
Connecticut College
Cornell U
Emory U
Johns Hopkins U
Northwestern U
Rice U
Tufts U
Vassar C</p>

<p>Any other suggestions? I want to go Pre-Med and get into a GOOD medical school.</p>

<p>Thanks for your help.</p>

2

<p>I think you have a very reasonable list and would probably get accepted to most of them, assuming you have good recs and good essays. Good Luck!!</p>

3

<p>Colleges will probably be very understanding, especially with that huge change in your grades.
I'm also not doing so well in school because of "family problems" and friends say that colleges are very understanding when it comes to that but I almost wish my grades went down more because right now, it looks like it could just be due to my laziness or lack of intellegence or something. (went from an A average to a B+ average)</p>

4

<p>yeah thats what im hoping
any chance of copying the list of the school and labeling them as safety, low match, match, high match, low reach, reach, high reach? it would be GREATLY appreciated. thanks so far though, its really helping me out.</p>

5

<p>Updated list...please just try and rank them?
Colgate U -
Cornell U -
Emory U -
Johns Hopkins U -
Northwestern U -
Rice U -
Tufts U -
Vassar C -</p>

6

<p>bump..
and i figure ill update it again</p>

<p>Boston University -
Colgate U -
Cornell U -
Emory U -
Johns Hopkins U -
Northwestern U -
Rice U -
Tufts U -
Vassar C -</p>

7

<p>Boston University - low match/safety
Colgate U - don't know
Cornell U - reach
Emory U - high reach (since you're majoring in med)
Johns Hopkins U - high reach (med again)
Northwestern U - semi-reach
Rice U - semi-reach
Tufts U - high match
Vassar C - don't know</p>

8

<p>"4.3 unweighted GPA"</p>

<p>Please recalculate your GPA using the standard system (a=4,b=3,c=2,d=1,e=0).</p>

9

<p>Can you take Physics again instead of one of the other courses?</p>

10

<p>yup, your physics is low, try again? if not whatever.</p>

11

<p>do you think its really worth doing?
i mean i got a 90 on the final, and i had like 2 A+'s and an A as quarter grades. it was literally one quarter that brought it down to that. if i send in my report card and they see that do you think theyll understand? or should i just take it again?
also if im looking to go into the med program, how much harder is it to get into Johns Hopkins and Emory?</p>

12

<p>so i dont think im getting the whole uw/w thing
so heres what ill do...
90-100 = 4.0
80 - 90 = 3.0
70 - 80 = 2.0
65 - 70 = 1.0
<65 = 0
With that my gpa is a 3.43.</p>

<p>97 - 100 = 4.33
93 - 96 = 4.0
90 - 92 = 3.67
etc...
With that my gpa is a 3.61</p>

<p>either way my gpa is gonna go up by about .2 by the time i graduate.</p>

<p>how does that change things maybe?</p>

<p>oh and my weighted gpa is the exact same just about.</p>

13

<p>I'll call Vassar a match because they're looking for males.</p>

14

<p>What about the others..?</p>

15

<p>Unless you can arrange otherwise, your school will be sending colleges the semester report card that shows the "D", so if you want to be competative with other students take Physics again, instead of Evolution. Colleges want to see an increasingly rigorous course load, and your Senior year schedule would look better with a "core" science class like Physics, instead of Evolution. And take the Calculus class instead of Statistics.</p>

16

<p>The first method of calculating GPA is the correct way.</p>

17

<p>The only school I'm really qualified to say anything about is Rice. The adcoms there usually tend to favor very "well-rounded" students (maybe even moreso than other schools, I don't know) and your ECs certainly seem to demonstrate that. The bump in your tenth-grade scores is unfortunate, but of course the family issues detailed in your essay will compensate somewhat.
I'd say you definitely have a good shot at Rice, but of course there is always a fair amount of blind luck in these decisions.
I would like to give you chances at other schools, but I'm only a freshman and am very new to this whole game. Your stats, however, are impressive, and your goals seem reasonable. Definitely go for all the schools on your list. :)
Best of luck.</p>

18

<p>Take physics and calculus and pretty much overload yourself with Ap and Honors and ECs(specially community service) as much as you can for your senior year.</p>

19

<p>@elanorci</p>

<p>Any tips for me to get into Rice/BCM (baylor med) BA/MD program? IF you don't know, then please give me some tips for just Rice?</p>

<p>My thread here:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=329041%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=329041&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

20

<p>yeah i was looking at applying for the Rice/BCM program as well, do you know how much harder it is to get into that? i heard if you get in ED youre guaranteed to it. Is that true?</p>

<p>My school doesnt offer AP's. How else does that effect me? Theyre all considered college-preperatory classes though because im at a private school. EC's im doing a ridiculous amount. This stuff is really helping though. What do you(anyone) think about like my chances though? Safety/Match/Reach, what do you think about the schools on my list particularly?</p>