<p>I posted one of these chance threads a while ago on another college's page, but since then my stats have changed, plus CC told me I should post something, so what do you guys think of my chances:</p>
<p>White Male
I'm in IB at my public school in VA
GPA UW- 3.93, W- 4.67
rank: 5/455
SAT- 700 CR 660 M 700 W (the weakest part of my application)
SAT II- 770 US history, 790 SPanish, I'm taking World History in Oct, predicted 750-800
recs- excellent
essays- i've more or less written them already and they seem pretty good to me</p>
<p>EC's:
Model UN- (10-12) Treasurer (11) co-president (12)
Diplomacy Club (11-12) co-founder/president
Spanish Club (10-12) president elect (11) president (12)
Marching Band (10-12) section leader (11-12)
French Club (11-12)
Math NHS (10-12) vice president (11-12)
NHS
Varsity Quiz Bowl, letter (11-12)
Varsity indoor/outdoor track (9/10) letter
Relay for life (10-12)
SeaPerch- a volunteer program at a local middle school where we make underwater robots (11-12)
Virginia Commenwealth University's summer Russian Academy (11)- advanced class
accepted into the Governor's School for Spanish, turned down for the Russian thing</p>
<p>If I were to get into Vanderbilt and decide to attend I would plan on double majoring in Russian and Economics and History </p>
<p>I'll also be applying to Cornell (ED), Georgetown SFS, UVa, William and Mary, and probably UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>I think you would be borderline at Vanderbilt. Your grades and class rank look great, but (as you realize) your SAT scores (particularly math) are a little low for a “non-targeted group”–assuming that you are white and not from Wyoming or Uzbekistan. The admissions office may also look at your long list of ECs and see a lot of clubs that may not count for much (i.e they may look mostly like fluff). Things like NHS are also largely redundant because they are a product of your grades. Your best bet is to apply early decision and then distinguish yourself in some way that an Admissions team will remember. It may be that your Russian program and plans to major in Russian will be that ticket. Of course a strong essay and great recs will help. If you get waitlisted and really want to attend, make sure they know that (without being too much of a pest).</p>
<p>I would say Vanderbilt’s chances of admission are about the same as Cornell’s. My dad is a staff at Vandy and he meets with the Dean of Admissions alot and it really isn’t just your other top school where you can get an easy ticket. If Vandy’s your first choice then i’d consider EDing there instead.</p>
<p>Your class rank and the hard evidence that you are interested in Russian are the standouts in your application. If you are not a math person, you need to present yourself as a person who is going to be fluent in three languages. Also, if you wish to feel more secure about your future admissions in April, you should be taking the ACT and the SAT again in the fall rather than stopping now. Our Duke son gained 200 points in October of his senior year. yes, he prepped a LOT in August at home doing the Real SATs on real time but he simply matured as well. This may seem onerous but look at your great SAT subject test scores! You are good at exams when you are prepared.</p>
<p>We are also from VA and have a son at Vandy on merit. Vandy is hugely expensive for language studies compared to the high caliber of teaching you will get at UVA in foreign language and at Wm and Mary. I would not recommend that you spend that kind of money for Vandy unless you like your EFC there and at Cornell as well. Prepare to pay your full EFC since you will not be in the running for merit money at Vanderbilt in all likelihood–few people are in the running. </p>
<p>As a foreign language student, you will want to study abroad at least one semester if not two. We found that we spent less on Berlin and Copenhagen semesters than we paid out to Duke and Vanderbilt for a typical on campus semester. However there are costs to being abroad you need to plan for as well. Which college has the MOST wonderful semesters in Russia? That is where you want to go. You may not realize this but some of the smaller liberal arts colleges do thorough in depth jobs in study abroad semesters. Middlebury. Davidson. many others.</p>
<p>Don’t throw your ED away on any college if your parents are not fully prepared to pay your family EFC. UVA and Wm and Mary are very hard to get into even for Virginians with your good stats. In some NoVa schools you would not be certain to get into UVA due to the excellence of the entire graduating class in many NoVa high schools. </p>
<p>You must not be concerned about your EFC if you are aiming at UCB when you can go to UVA for less than half the cost. Personally, I would turn that around to spending the equivalent of the cost of UVA as a dealbreaker for undergrad in order to afford a more expensive graduate school for my masters in a foreign language. UVA may not be the powerhouse Vandy is in sciences but they do a great job in foreign languages.</p>
<p>Advantages I think you have include the lower numbers of males applying to Wm and Mary compared to females and the fact that die hard Russian majors are not that plentiful so obviously each foreign language department is eager to get a few in each freshman class.</p>
<p>best of luck and happy endings for you in April</p>