Rising senior & the anxiety's just set in... Chance me?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Eeek. I tried my hardest to keep from going crazy over admissions... But I just made a CC account and here I am. xD</p>

<p>BASIC INFO:
White, female.
Attended two very large, well regarded suburban high schools. (moved just before junior yr)</p>

<p>SCHOOLS:
Brown, Yale, Northwestern, Chapel Hill, UVA, W&M. Possibly Duke & UChicago. </p>

<p>SCORES:
ACT 35 (34E, 35 M, 36 CR, 36 Sci, 8 Writing)
SAT 2080 - probably won't be sent
PSAT 215 (74 CR, 65 M, 76 W)- possible NMSF
I haven't taken SAT 2s yet, but I will in the fall.
3.9 UW, 4.7 W gpa </p>

<p>COURSELOAD:
Freshman: H Bio, H Eng, World History, Alg 2, French 2, Theatre 1, Gym
+ Summer spent at Northwestern's CTD enrichment program (philosophy course)</p>

<p>Sophomore: H Chem, H eng, AP Euro (5 on exam), Precalc, French 3, Art 1, Health
+ Summer school AP Macroeconomics</p>

<p>Junior: AP Enviro, AP Eng Lang, APUSH, AP Calc AB & BC, H French 4, Art 2, Theatre 2
+ Summer in Russia with NSLI-Y (state department scholarship focused on language learning) </p>

<p>Tentative senior: H Physics, AP Eng Lit, AP Psych, AP Stat, AP French, German 1 & 2. </p>

<p>ECs:
I joined quite a bit sophomore year with plans to continue for all of high school, but then moved junior year... So my EC's are choppy and there's not a lot of "commitment" except to community service & language/culture in general... How much do you think that will hurt me? </p>

<p>Girl Scout - earned Bronze & Silver Awards, regularly organized events with troop - 9 yrs
Taekwondo - earned red belt (one below black) - 4 yrs
Myriad of culture clubs, incl hosting for Japanese exchange program, French, German - 1 yr each
Service clubs (Key Club, NHS, Do Something) - 1 yr each
2nd place for local teen fiction contest
Bill Author & Senator for mock legislature / VP for my school's club - 1 yr
Drama club - 2 yrs
Member of teen library advisory committee - basically, we planned events for the young adult/children sections of the library - 1 yr</p>

<p>I'm also currently organizing a dance marathon/fundraiser for a children's hospital... Assuming all goes to plan, it'll probably happen next winter. Either right before apps are due or right after. </p>

<p>So... do I have any chance?</p>

2

<p>Looks like you have a chance… what is your class rank or percentile?</p>

3

<p>Just outside of top 10%- 50/480 or something like that. I’m hoping it increases when my school recalculates rank/gpa, though.</p>

4

<p>Not to be obnoxious, but anyone else have a viewpoint?</p>

5

<p>Basically no chance at brown, Yale, duke, northwestern UNC chapel hill (unless you live in north Carolina) and UChicago… Very small chance at UVA unless to live in virginia. Solid chance at William and Mary.</p>

6

<p>Don’t listen to cortana. </p>

<p>You’ve positioned yourself well for the targeted schools.</p>

7

<p>Ah, thanks, CentralFC! That makes me feel better. :)</p>

8

<p>Don’t listen to me? OP is not even in the top 10% right now and even if rank increases op would be slightly in the top 10%. That rank is not competitive for brown Yale duke and even northwestern.</p>

9

<p>My school last recalculated GPA/rank in the middle of a grading period. Prior to that, I was in the top 7%. If it went back to there, would that make a difference?</p>

10

<p>I Agree. You’re in the best position you could be in, a 3.9 UW is out of top 10%? That’s obnoxious. Anyway, you’re fine. Apply and see what happens, have safeties, because you never know. Believe us, you’re fine!</p>

11

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1324666-class-ranking-really-important-3.html?highlight=class+rank[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1324666-class-ranking-really-important-3.html?highlight=class+rank&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Waverly, an admissions officer for 2 decades including an ivy league, stated an unhooked applicant should be in the top ~2% at least to be competitive for ivies and peer schools. OP is in about the top 10% and really has no chance at brown Yale duke northwestern and probably UNC.</p>

12

<p>Well I’m glad waverly can speak On her ethos. However, I know firsthand kids who were 10 out of 60 this year and got into Duke and Vanderbilt with 29’s/1900’s and no hooks. I think the op should try, absolutely. My brother had an 1880 sat with a ~3.0-3.3 and got into GW. He was nothing spectacular. I know it’s not the same as ivy, but I’m just saying there is hope for the qualified applicant.</p>

13

<p>And btw, you, yourself said that you were in the 20/202 (barely 10%) and got into an ivy league school. The op has the same act as you. Bottom line: don’t give people information that makes their point</p>

14

<p>Yeah, it’s intense. I came from a school that didn’t rank and it’s quite bizarre for me. Between a 7 point scale, cheating, and a “It’s better to drop an interesting course in case I get a B” attitude, the ranks are really close together.</p>

<p>I’m confused about hooks in general. What exactly counts? </p>

<p>I’m in state for UNC, so I’m pretty confident there one at least.</p>

15

<p>If you are instate for UNC then you should get in there. In fact that makes it easier to get into duke as well. </p>

<p>Hooks are being a URM (underrepresented minority or black Hispanic, Cuban, Alaskan, American Indian, etc), a recruited athlete, or a legacy applicant especially of a legacy that donates money.</p>

<p>All right I agree you should give those schools a try and apply early decision to increase your chances, who knows what will happen</p>

16

<p>Great rank or not, you have plenty to make yourself competitive.</p>

17

<p>Cortana’s chances are generally correct. I have to agree with Cortana on this one. My mom is on the Alumni of Harvard and according to her and the dean of admissions (on of her friends), class rank is used to see how challenging your school is. The fact that your GPA (w and uw) is so high, but you are not in the upper percentile of your class shows that your school may not be that competitive. You may have gone to some competitive high schools before, but colleges don’t look at that. Now, you didn’t mention any presitigious awards, so I will assume you don’t have prestigious ones. Furthermore, your ECs are made up culture clubs and many other minor clubs that you haven’t stuck with, so a college officer will think that you don’t care about them and now suddenly realized that your resume is lacking ECs. ACT is good, I wouldn’t send the SAT. Now all of my chances are coming from college data. Now, for college data, you don’t want to be average. Realize how i am making all these generalizations about you, this is exactly how an admission officer will view you.</p>

<p>[Yale</a> University Admissions Information - CollegeData College Profile](<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=244]Yale”>Yale University Acceptance Rate | CollegeData)</p>

<p>Brown-Reach
Yale- Reach, they take ECs and awards seriously
Northwestern- Match/Low reach
Chapel Hill-Match/Low Reach
UVA-Match
W&M-Match
Duke-Match/low reach
UChicago-Low reach, because they consider rigor of classes, and your classes aren’t that rigorous and you have no major awards, which falls under talent.</p>

<p>Sorry if that was harsh, but this is straight from the numbers and this is very realistic, I am not optimistic, for I am a realist.</p>

18

<p>No, that’s great and exactly what I was looking for. :slight_smile: Thank you so much! My school’s part of a large district with a magnet program where the best students go elsewhere. Moving in three days before junior year started, none of that was an option. </p>

<p>The most prestigious thing I have is the NSLI-Y scholarship ([Home</a> Page](<a href=“http://www.nsliforyouth.org/]Home”>http://www.nsliforyouth.org/)), but I don’t know how much weight colleges would give it. It’s a State Department funded study abroad/language program. It’s not TASP or anything, but only ~15% of applicants are selected, if I recall correctly.</p>