rd chances for athlete/debater

Colleges and Universities A-Z Williams College
1

<p>im applying to upenn ed but ive recently started looking at lac's and williams especially interests me, can any of yall evaluate my chances? thanks</p>

<p>I attend the second most competitive public school in Washington state.</p>

<p>gpa- 3.45uw 3.8 w
(6 ap's and 4 honors classes so weighted is close to a 3.9)
sat 2110 (760 v 680m 670w)
im also taking the september act and will likely send in that score rather than the sat.</p>

<p>EC's</p>

<p>Partial debate record:</p>

<p>National Honors
-One of only 18 debaters (nationwide) selected to attend the Team USA All-American qualifier</p>

<p>-Member of Team USA A-Team. (One of only five 1st team All-Americans)</p>

<p>-Represented America as Team USA’s 1st speaker at the Pan-American Championship (western hemisphere debate tournament held in Southern California, October 2006)</p>

<p>-Will represent America as Team USA’s 1st speaker at the European World Championship (held in Germany, February 2007)</p>

<p>-Will represent America as Team USA’s 1st speaker at the World Championship (held in South Korea, July 2007)</p>

<p>-One of the nation’s first 25 to fully qualify for the Tournament of Champions.</p>

<p>-Finished 5th out of juniors nationwide at the TOC.</p>

<p>-Two time national qualifier in debate (finishing 27th Junior Year)</p>

<p>-Invited to 8 round robin tournaments in 5 states</p>

<p>-Member of top lab at Victory Briefs @ UCLA 2006 and varsity member in 2005 (receiving a merit based scholarship to the camp)</p>

<p>-One of only 6 debaters (out of 300) to participate in camp-wide demonstration debate.</p>

<ul>
<li>National Forensic League speech and debate All American</li>
</ul>

<p>State Honors</p>

<p>-Washington state co-champion of Lincoln-Douglas debate.(first junior to with the 3A state title since 2001)</p>

<p>-First speaker honors at state (first junior to receive award since late 1990's)</p>

<p>-First Junior in history to win 3A title, Top Speaker award, and clear as top seed at the state tournament.</p>

<p>-Only junior from Washington state to qualify for "the tournament of champions".</p>

<p>-First debater in Washington to fully qualify to the TOC</p>

<p>-Only debater to clear at all three "Washington TOC bid tournaments"</p>

<p>-Received "top speaker" awards at numerous tournaments</p>

<p>-2nd at state in extemporaneous speaking (2006) 2nd (2005)</p>

<p>-3rd at state in impromptu speaking. (2006) 4th (2005)</p>

<p>-3A Washington state record for both impromptu and extemp state bids (8 and 6 respectively)</p>

<p>-Only junior in recent memory to win the University of Puget Sound's Charles Battin award for outstanding speaker. (Most prestigious speaker award in the state)</p>

<p>Team Honors</p>

<p>-Two time team captain</p>

<p>-Three time speech co-captain and two time debate captain</p>

<p>-First and only debater from my school to qualify to TOC or Nationals in debate.</p>

<p>-Four year varsity lettermen</p>

<p>-Selected to attend the national qualifying tournament all four seasons</p>

<p>-Voted “rookie of the year” for the 2003-2004 season (my freshman year)</p>

<p>-Voted team “MVP” for 2005-2006 season (my junior year)</p>

<p>I have also done a huge amount of debate volunteer work (500+ hours)</p>

<p>Student Government positions held:
-7th grade class senator (one of only four)
-8th grade class senator (one of only four)
-9th grade council representative
-Freshman class vice-president
-Sophomore class president
-Junior class president
-Senior class president
-During my three years as class president I have lead the c/o 2007 to huge financial success. We are far and away the wealthiest class in history of the school due to our vast amounts of fund-raising and dedicated leaders.</p>

<p>Independent Academic Study:
-Took sixty hours of arabic composition at the Seattle Academy of Languages (Spring 2004)
-Practiced arabic speaking skills independently for 15 hours/week (April-June 2004)
-Enrolled in independent Old Testament studies with local biblical doctorate holder Steven Swanson. Six hours/week. (September 2005-May 2006)
-Completed an American Studies honors portfolio (wrote five essays on American historical figures and their influence on contemporary America) six hours/week. (March-June 2006)
-Read from Frank and Bernanke’s Principles of Macroeconomics in preparation for May 2007's AP testing. Four hours/week (September 2006-May 2007)*
-Read from Kleiner, Mamiya and Tansey’s Gardner's Art Through the Ages in preparation for May 2007's AP testing. Three hours/week (September 2006-May 2007)*
-Read from Mahler’s Comparative Politics: An Institutional and Cross-national Approach in preparation for May 2007's AP testing. Four hours/week (September 2006-May 2007)*</p>

<ul>
<li>I met with a HS faculty member once-twice a week and we would have a seminar or lecture on the material I had just read. The times given are for reading, seminars and homework/week.</li>
</ul>

<p>Baseball:
-Member of Peninsula Baseball Academy (18U All-Kitsap County Team) since age 13.
-Member of American Legion Post 68 Baseball Club (18U All-Kitsap Team) since age 15.
-Member of the 13U, 14U, 15U and 16U Traveling Teams (City-Wide All-Star Team)
-Led the 14U, 15U and 16U clubs in Batting Average and On-Base Percentage.
-Attendee at multiple baseball clinics (both pitching and infield)
-Awarded “first team honors” at both Stubbs’ Infield Clinic and Bainbridge Infield Clinic.
-Led the Freshman team in batting average (.535)
-Hit safely in all 8 Metro Division games sophomore year.
-Was an offensive leader in multiple categories (batting average, slugging percentage, RBI’s, Doubles, Hits, On-Base Percentage)</p>

<p>Tennis:
-One of only two individuals in the Metro Division to finish the 2006 regular season with an undefeated record. (11-0)
- Played as high as number 4 for my high school squad.
-Finished 3rd in the Metro Tournament (Greater Seattle Area) knocking off the 2nd 3rd and 10th seeds at the tournament.
-Finished with the highest winning percentage on the tennis team, (14-1, .9333) dropping only 2 sets all season.</p>

<p>Running/Cross Country:
-Member of xc team's “500 Club” (ran 500 miles over the summer)
-Ran number two consistently for the xc Squad.
-Averaged nearly 50 Miles a week in pre-season training
-Trained for and competed in the Seattle Half-Marathon
-Trained for and will compete in the Toe-Jam half-marathon
-Was a top-finisher for my age group in the 2004 and 2005 Winter Solstice 5K’s in seattle.</p>

<p>thanks again!</p>

2

<p>I think Williams would be very, very interested in you. You could get some really excellent feedback on chances by sending this resume to the coaches.</p>

3

<p>Kind of low uw GPA but thats the only problem I see, not that it really is a problem at all. </p>

<p>Also, I think you're going to need to cut back and not list everything that you have ever done. You need to find the important things and refine your resume. I think debate should be one of the things you really focus on, as you are clearly very good at it.</p>

<p>Finally, as a runner myself, and knowing the very competitive nature of the Cross-country team at Williams, things like your weekly mileage won't matter nearly as much as your race times.</p>

<p>And, jw, how did you do both tennis and baseball; aren't they both spring sports?</p>

4

<p>silver- both are spring sports (i play tennis for my school [its far more competitive than the baseball team] and baseball for club teams)</p>

<p>i can run a 49.5 400M and can hit a little below 17minutes in the 5k</p>

<p>I understand the mileage stuff is stupid, what else should i X from the resume. im thinking the independent study garbage (at least some of the repetitiveness) but what else?</p>

5

<p>Maybe the baseball if it wasn't very competitive and clearly isn't your main focus...you don't want to look like you're spreading yourself TOO thin.</p>

<p>I'm just glad I'm not up against you for admission...I'm applying transfer for sophomore status. Your ECs are most impressive.</p>

6

<p>haha, i guess the things i care least about are the extraneous info on my inde academic stuff, the stuff about running mileage and the cluttered nature of my student government record. (ill condense by saying "four year coucil representative" and then list the 4 different class officer positions i held) as far as the baseball stuff goes ill make it more concise but the two select teams ive played for are quite competitive and i care a lot about both</p>

7

<p>Wow amazing ECs. I wish I could run a 49.5 400M...I'm around 10 seconds above that heh.</p>

<p>The GPA is compared to others of your school because you may have "harder graders" so class rank I think is more important (if your school ranks).</p>

8

<p>You're EC's are excellent, though I agree that you should condense them a bit. For example, say "Team USA's first speaker at Pan-American championships (Southern California, 10/2006); European World championships (Germany, 02/2007); World Championship (South Korea, 07/2007)". Also, I wouldn't axe the independent study, just condense it to "Read independently in preparation for AP tests in X, Y, and Z, meeting with teachers 1-2 times per week for a seminar/lecture on the material".</p>

<p>You're an excellent candidate overall. You're grades/scores could possibly be a bit higher, but they should be good enough. Plus, no one will care with all of the independent work you've shown you can do. I'm glad you're apply ED to Penn, because I'd be scared of competing with you. Best of luck.</p>

9

<p>If you aren't already considering it, I would strongly suggest adding Harvard to your potential list of schools. I'm sure Williams will look at your debate record and be very impressed, but we don't have a major debate program here. Harvard, on the other hand, actively recruits the nation's top debaters. Your achievements and passion would almost certainly be a hook for Harvard's AdCom.</p>

<p>...but still apply to Williams!</p>

10

<p>haha thanks. im very interested in williams and definitely plan on applying!</p>

11

<p>Good try getting him not to apply to Williams but I guess we'll just have to accept the fact that 1 acceptance slot had already been filled.
Of course don't take my word for it, I'm a junior in high school, but if you don't get accepted I don't know who does.</p>

12

<p>thanks for all the answers so far, now that ive contacted the debate coach what else is there to do (any more suggestions for my resume) </p>

<p>any other views on chances?</p>

13

<p>Chillax, Your profile would make you a person of interest to Williams. Your grades and scores are acceptable though not outstanding. As mentioned, your rank will be important. I’d consider you statistically neutral – they won’t get you in and won’t keep you out. </p>

<p>Your continued interest and involvement in sports is a plus as Williams likes physically active kids. I assume that you are able or interested in being recruited for varsity sports. If this is not the case, contact the appropriate coach now.</p>

<p>I don’t know much about debate and will take you at your word that your accomplishments in this area are outstanding. Since this seems to be your main interest, I’d consider putting together a separate debate package that would include a complete debate resume, indepth comments on what your accomplishments and awards mean. This would be in addition to your more general and pared down resume. </p>

<p>In a more general sense debate is an EC that develops many characteristics that lead to success at a school like Williams: i.e., communication, analysis, self-confidence. You don’t want to SAY this directly, but you can imply it indirectly by focusing on your debate experience in your essays and recommendations.</p>

<p>Your interest and involvement in Arabic also stands out for me. As you may be aware Williams has recently started an Arabic department and is certainly looking for students to populate it. You will need to get this interest across in your application/resume or possibly in your essay.</p>

<p>Being from the West coast will give you a slight demographic edge. If you are a white, middle class male then take a step backward. If not, speak up, it can make a difference.</p>

<p>I think that your resume needs a fair amount of refining and honing. All of the information is good, but there’s just too much of it. I’d suggest that you go to a teacher or counselor for help in focus and structure. Or use some of those debate organizational skills – three main points with supportive evidence. Your choice of recommendations and essays will also be important in reinforcing your EC strength. You want to convey a strong sense of Who You Are and how you will contribute to the Williams community.</p>

<p>Williams doesn’t interview so you have to communicate this image/persona solely in writing, so think about how every facet of your application can enhance and reflect the others.</p>

<p>Although there’s a fair amount of overlap between the “personalities” of Penn students and Williams students the campus ambience and style of education couldn’t be more different. If you are sincerely interested in Williams (and Swarthmore and Amherst) then I’d take a serious look at your decision to apply ED to Penn unless you have had a chance to visit or possibly overnight.</p>