rd chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Pomona College
1

<p>herrow</p>

<p>I attend a very 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. (33-34 expected)</p>

<p>EC's</p>

<p>Partial debate record:
National Honors
-One of only 18 debaters (nationwide) selected to attend the Team USA qualifier
-Member of Team USA A-Team. (One of only five 1st team All-Americans)
-Team USA will represent the United States in the Pan-American Championships (at Southern California), European World Championships (in Germany), and the World Schools Debate Championships (in South Korea) as well as in exhibitions throughout the United Kingdom.
-One of the nation’s first 25 to fully qualify for the Tournament of Champions.
-Finished 5th out of juniors nationwide at the TOC.
-Two time national qualifier in debate (finishing 27th Junior Year)
-Invited to 8 round robin tournaments in 5 states
-Member of top lab at Victory Briefs @ UCLA 2006 and varsity member in 2005 (receiving a merit based scholarship to the camp)
-One of only 6 debaters (out of 300) to participate in camp-wide demonstration debate.
- National Forensic League speech and debate All American
State Honors
-Washington state co-champion of Lincoln-Douglas debate.(first junior to with the 3A state title since 2001)
-First speaker honors at state (first junior to receive award since late 1990's)
-First Junior in history to win 3A title, Top Speaker award, and clear as top seed at the state tournament.
-First and only debater from my school to qualify to TOC or Nationals in debate.
-Only junior from Washington state to qualify for "the tournament of champions".
-First debater in Washington to fully qualify to the TOC
-Only debater to clear at all three "Washington TOC bid tournaments"
-2 time team captain
-During tenure the team has grown from 7 members to 40 members.
-Put in about 300 hours teaching teammates how to debate.
-Received "top speaker" awards at numerous tournaments
-2nd at state in extemporaneous speaking (2006) 2nd (2005)
-3rd at state in impromptu speaking. (2006) 4th (2005)
-3A Washington state record for both impromptu and extemp state bids (8 and 6 respectively)
-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>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 went through the whole process last year for my daughter who basically applied to LAC's. And, now that she atends a competitive LAC, I have this to offer to you.</p>

<p>Your numbers are good -- in fact they are great. My daughter's were similar, maybe better. But, that is not my point as I am sure the two of you are academic equals -- which is my point as you will see below.</p>

<p>She glided through high school and then attended a very competitive high school for her last two years. At the very competitve school, she worked hard, and did very well. So, I thought, if she could excel at one of America's prestigious boarding schools, she could easily excel in college -- even in an LAC.</p>

<p>Not so. College, it turns out, is much more difficult than even her high caliber high school. This is especially true in reference to LAC's where there is no hiding in the lecture room. So this leads me to the new perspective.</p>

<p>Are you ready to work that much harder for 4 years -- e.g. approximately 25-35% harder? I think my daughter's work has increased as much. And, I would venture to say that even the most challenging high schools in our area are NOT as challenging as where she graduated. Hence, the step increase for their students could be as much as 35-45%. I know that my daughter's roommate is presently overwhelmed -- and she attended a prestigious parochial school.</p>

<p>This is something you must ask yourself. This is an honest question. Your happiness will be affected by whether or not you are overwhelmed. In the same vein, you happiness will be affected if you are underworked. This is a very difficult calibration, and this is very much a concern of the admissions office.</p>

<p>In conclusion, I think admissions people see people with your great numbers all the time. And, they know their job is not to let in those who may become overwhelmed -- something which can happen very easily at a Pomona. Hence, their best way of determining if you are accepted -- as opposed to the other person whose numbers are identicial to your own -- is by reading between the lines of your appplication (whether it be the courses you took, teacher rec's, or something else) and concluding that you "can survive" the academic ardor which you will be encountering for a marathon of 4 years -- and very likely 2-6 additional years elsewhere as many LAC graduates continue to obtain higher degrees.</p>

<p>I hope I did not scare you -- just offering a new perspective. And, in retropsect, I believe this perspective should be known to even someone as young and eager as you or any other 17-year old with great academic history and great academic aspirations.</p>

3

<p>In a nutshell, you have just as good a chance of getting accepted to Pomona as any other student who applied (because students do self-select). Your test scores and GPA aren't stellar, but Pomona looks at the whole student, not just numbers. That said, I noticed that you've posted on the fora for a number of other prestigious institutions. My recommendation is that you dedicate as much time to identifying matches and safeties that you will love as much as, say, Penn to ensure that you'll be happy no matter the outcome.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>thank you for the imput so far. I believe I will be able to succeed in college because I have been able to get by in high school with close to no dedication to my academics. I have essentially done 15 minutes of homework a night for 3+ years. When I devote myself whole-heartedly to succeeding in the classroom I think I can do it. Though I definitely appreciate your comment I think its important to keep in mind.</p>

5

<p>I applaud your self-confidence; however, may I remind you that a 3.45 uw gpa could have benefited from applying yourself more to your studies? I would be curious as to why you didn't feel motivated to do better than you did. I'm only extrapolating that if you had spent 30 minutes of h/w per night, you might have raised your gpa to 3.8. ;)</p>

6

<p>little mother - when a person is that good at debate, they can handle any kind of workload. anybody at all familiar with lincoln douglas debate on the national level knows this. </p>

<p>your debate record is stellar, and just becuase i know that you could easily apply ur effort from debate to school, you shouldnt have a problem handling the courseload- at all. </p>

<p>you prolly have a very good chance</p>

7

<p>i think the trick for me cracking any of america's elite schools will be to get a debate hook-up. if i can get a coach to write me a rec then ill have a far better shot than if i just tool up there with my resume</p>

8

<p>Father of the Boarder</p>

<p>Are you saying that your D is struggling at Pomona? I've wondered whether it might require way more work than my son anticipates. In HS currently, he rarely needs to study more than 1-2 hours per night for As. His SAT and ACT scores are great and he does well in AP classes, but I'm wondering if a really rigorous, highly selective LAC will come as a shock re: workloads.</p>

9

<p>My daughter attends another school -- but very similar.</p>

<p>Her college's work is comparable -- just as are many other aspects between the two colleges. There is one common denominator I also see between them and other elite LAC's -- science, language, arts and science, or any major finds college much more stringent, especially at the LAC where weekly papers are assigned (even for science classes). One kid -- from Pomona -- wrote his mother and said thanks for nothing as college was not 24/7 of beer and fun -- something he expected, maybe from stories from the parents. </p>

<p>In short, life is good in college, but it also demanding. Before your child goes to a top rated LAC, make sure your child can handle it. Does he or she like writing papers -- they better. Or does he or she want to be bundled down. Or does your child seek to be constantly challenged. And, if the challenged soul can accept lesser grades without self esteem scars, all the better.</p>