Please sir, a Chance?

<p>I'm very sorry if this is generally frowned upon, but I did one of these a few months ago, and I didn't really provide much information with regards to my high school record. So this one represents a much more complete view of my application than the other one did, and I'll list the schools I'm interested in as well. Thanks very much!</p>

<p>Stats at a Glance
GPA: 4.52 W/4.00 UW
Class Rank: Not Reported
SAT: 800 M, 780 CR, 690 W (potential retake for the writing?)
SAT II's: Math II (800), Literature (800), US History (800)
ACT: 35 (35 E, 35 M, 35 R, 36 S superscore)
AP's: Euro (5), US (5), English Lang (5), BC Calc (5)</p>

<p>Grades! Unfortunately, my district's gradebook is down until September, and I don't precisely remember which one's I was borderline A/A- on, so I'll err on the side of caution. An A I know I got an A in, an A-, I might've gotten an A. Sorry to be unhelpful there :P</p>

<p>Freshman Year (Sem 1/Sem 2)</p>

<p>Honors Algebra II & Trigonometry: A/A
Honors World History: A/A
Honors English: A-/A-
Spanish I: A/A
Biology: A/A
Gym: A/A
Band: A/A</p>

<p>Sophomore Year</p>

<p>Honors Math Analysis: A-/A
AP European History: A/A
Honors English II: A/A-
Honors Chemistry: A-/A
Spanish II: A/A
Gym: A/A
Band: A/A</p>

<p>Junior Year</p>

<p>AP BC Calculus: A-/A
AP US History: A/A
AP English Language: A/A-
Honors Physics: A/A
Spanish III: A/A-
Gym: A/A
Band: A/A</p>

<p>Senior Schedule</p>

<p>AP Biology
AP Physics
AP Government
AP English Lit
Calculus III (through U of Illinois)
Honors Band
Gym</p>

<p>EC's (in order of importance)</p>

<p>Boy Scouts (All Years) - Eagle Scout (gold palm), National Camping Award, Assistant Senior Patrol
Leader</p>

<p>Music (It gets complicated) - Trumpet Player, Pep Band (four years), Private Lessons (four years), Jazz, Symphony Orchestra (three years), Pit Orchestra (two years), Marching Band (one year). 6th Chair Trumpet Illinois Honors All-State Band (junior year)</p>

<p>Cross-Country (Freshman-Junior) - Varsity Junior Year</p>

<p>Speech Team (Junior-Senior) - Regional Representative and Finalist</p>

<p>Student Government (Soph/Senior) - Founding member, and Constitutional Convention member</p>

<p>Track (Fresh-Soph) - Nothing special here, move along, move along</p>

<p>Okay. First of all, thank you for reading to the end (it does mean quite a lot). The schools I'm applying to are, in no particular order,</p>

<p>Yale (SCEA)
Carleton
Brown
UChicago
Georgetown SFS
WashU in St. Louis
Northwestern
University of Illinois</p>

<p>My teacher recs should be good, both are from Junior year teachers. My common app essay is a little off-beat, but I like it, and think it could quite work, and helps explain why I've moved from doing nearly all running my freshman year to becoming quite the band geek by my Senior year. Also, my school is brand spanking new (I'm in the first graduating class), so I have no idea how that'll factor in with the admissions people (I'm assuming they'll just base off of the norm for other schools in my district). </p>

<p>Also one additional question, do you have an opinion on whether or not I should retake my SAT, to hopefully boost the writing score (oh the miserable things an 8 on an essay can do :P )? And thanks again!</p>

<p>Bump, please?</p>

<p>I think that you should just stick with your ACT score. If you send both, they’d just take the better one, so it’d end up being a waste of money retaking the SAT and sending the SAT scores.</p>

<p>You seem to be a great applicant, so while no one can completely predict your chances, especially not for a school for Yale, or Brown, or all those other schools, I’d say that you have as good of a chance as you can get. Good luck!</p>

<p>Sorry if this is too vague…(>__<)</p>

<p>Aha, no, it’s alright. Thank you very much, especially for the SAT advice!</p>

<p>Taking SAT one more time is not going to hurt you.</p>

<p>Are you applying for FA?
Race and gender?</p>

<p>BTW, you are in at UIUC.</p>

<p>I’m not sure about financial aide yet, I’m a Caucasian male $150,000+ bracket, so most likely not (for schools that are not need blind)</p>