Shamelessly asking someone to 'chance' me...

Colleges and Universities A-Z Williams College
1

<p>I never thought I would actually do this, but now that the push is finally coming to the shove for college applications I'm starting to lose sight of my original motivation for the whole 'college application' process. So I'd really appreciate it if someone could give me some advice on what my weaknesses, strengths, and chances are for acceptance at Williams:</p>

<p>Objective
•SAT I (breakdown): 630CR, 770M, 700W
•SAT II: 700 Biology, 700 Chemistry, Taking Literature and Math II in November
•Weighted GPA: 4.7
•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/661
•AP: Calc AB (4), History (3), Language and Comp. (5)
•Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov, AP English, AP Macroeconomics, AP Psychology, AP Physics, Honors Spanish 5, Calc III at Lehigh University (took Calc II at Moravian College the year before under a Dean's scholarship)
•Major Awards:
-National Merit Commender
-AP Scholar
-Science Olympiad: First Place Cell Bio (Regionals), Third Place Cell Bio (Regionals), Third Place Cell Bio (Regionals), Third Place Egg-o-Naut (Regionals)
-PA Junior Academy of Science: Second Place (Regionals), First Place (Regionals), First Place (Regionals), First Place (States), Recipient of Eberly College of Science $8,000 scholarship (not sure if I should mention this or not)
-Tap Dance: Silver, High Silver, Gold, High Gold, Elite Gold, and Platinum at StarPower, Beyond the Stars, Headliners, Bravo!, OnStage New York, and StarQuest International
-Classical Indian Dance: Third Place, Second Place, and First place at TANA and various devotional functions
-DECA: National Qualifier, Third place (States)</p>

<p>Subjective
•Extracurriculars (leadership in parenthesis): Science Olympiad (Co-Captain), PA Junior Academy of Science (President), Grenadier Band for 2 years performed @ 2009 Tournament of Roses Parade, DECA, NHS (Tutoring manager), PSSA Task Force, Competitive Tap Dance, Classical Indian Dance, Math Team, Young Writers (Prose Editor, Coffee House Staff), Cultural Bazaar (Treasurer)
•Volunteer/Community service: Miller Keystone Blood Center (200+ hours), Relay for Life, Race for Almora
•Summer Activities: UPitt Health Scholar’s Academy (former Governor’s School)</p>

<p>Other
•State: PA
•School Type: Large public high school
•Ethnicity: Asian
•Gender: Female
•Income Bracket: 120,000-150,000</p>

2

<p>A tap-dancing chemist-cool-there must be a place for you! Seriously, you sound interesting,and I think you have a good chance.</p>

3

<p>I hope you’re right. Thanks for the help. You think tap dancing is something I should emphasize then? Would you or any one else recommend sending in an art supplement?</p>

4

<p>Emphasize-perhaps not-I know Williams is big on music-but don’t know about dance. You shouldn’t make it seem like the focus. The chem/science think should be your main thrust, and the dance to show that there is a another side to you and your skills.
?Any ephs here? Myth mom?</p>

5

<p>I think you have a solid chance (of course, solid at Williams is still less than 50-50, but you are definitely in contention), the only real downside is your critical reasoning score, which is a good bit below the Williams average; if you could get that up closer to around 700 that might help. Even still, you have good credentials, especially your impressive class rank. Fortunately, science research and dance are two areas that Williams happens to excel in / have an interest in, so I would stress both. Read up on the great science research going on at Williams, and if you can link your research experience to what Williams has to offer, that would be great. And DEFINITELY mention your science scholarship award!</p>

<p>Also read up on the dance program / extracurriculars at Williams. The Dance Company, Sankofa, or Kusika may all be of interest (search for videos on Youtube, etc.). Each year Williams brings in the NYC Ballet (or at least most years) for a weekend. The newish a’62 Center for Theater has a spectacular dance studio, and the college has invested a lot of money in stellar dance facilities, so I think your intense interest there will help you, especially combined with your demonstrated interest in science research. </p>

<p>Here are a list of campus dance groups and there is a lot more info on dance at Williams on other portions of this page:</p>

<p>[Williams</a> Dance](<a href=“http://62center.williams.edu/dance/ensemble.cfm?cid=9]Williams”>http://62center.williams.edu/dance/ensemble.cfm?cid=9)</p>

<p>I would definitely send in an arts supplement if your dancing abilities are as impressive as they sound. Basically, you want the admissions office to look at your application and think, she will fill, and fill well, two areas on campus: she’ll do interesting science research as an undergrad, and she’ll participate (and shine) in various campus dance groups.</p>

6

<p>I really didn’t know dance was something worth submitting a supplement for because I didn’t think I was actually going to pursue dance at college, but now that I know Williams offers a program that is more impressive than I had thought, I’m definitely considering it. Thank you all.</p>

<p>I’m taking the Literature SAT II’s this weekend–do you think scoring above a 700 will compensate for my low Critical Reading score?</p>

7

<p>I am not an expert, but I’d say no, it wouldn’t. The way I understand it, CR is almost an IQ test; they want to see how well and how fast you process information.</p>

8

<p>Don’t stress about your CR score.</p>

<p>Dancing + solid math + Science Olympiad is definitely good enough, although I’m not sure if class rank shows up. Hopefully that information will shine through in your recommendations. In fact…try to make sure it shows up. There is no shame in asking a recommender to say specific things about you, as long as they believe them to be true :)</p>

9

<p>I’ve had the pleasure of talking a Williams official who said the CR is the most important section, and that 750+ is preferred.</p>

10

<p>Well my S with an 800 in CR was rejected, so there is a lot of stuff they prefer, obviously. I think getting a 700 plus on that AP will help a lot. I’d put the science/math but still artsy angle, as I said before.</p>