The first rule of College Confidential is you don't talk about College Confidential.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you two questions. First of all, what are my chances at the schools listed below? Second, do you have any suggestions to improve my application besides raising the SAT score? I appreciate all of your time and effort and will chance back.</p>

<p>Race: Caucasian
Religion: Jewish (well, atheist, but that's beside the point)
State: Florida
School: Top 100 public school (both US News and Newsweek); magnet arts school
Financial Aid: will not be applying
Possible Areas of Study: Economics, ecology, biochemistry, political science</p>

<p>Grade: Junior (class of 2011)
GPA: 4.00
Rank: 1/332
SAT: 2190 (740 CR / 750 M / 700 W / 9 E) (October 2009); retaking in December
SAT II: Biology M (740) (June 2009); taking more eventually, haha</p>

<p>Middle School Courses for High School Credit
Algebra 1 Honors - A/A
French 1 - A/A
Integrated Science Honors - A/A</p>

<p>Freshman Schedule
Jazz Ensemble 1 - A/A
French 2 - A/A
Symphonic Band 3 - A/A
Geometry Honors - A/A
AP Human Geography - A/A (4)
Biology Honors - A/A
English 1 Honors - A/A</p>

<p>Sophomore Schedule
Jazz Ensemble 2 - A/A
AP World History - A/A (5)
English 2 Honors - A/A
AP Biology - A/A (5)
Wind Ensemble 4 - A/A
Algebra 2 Honors - A/A
French 3 Honors - A/A
AP Macroeconomics (FLVS) - A (5)
AP Microeconomics (FLVS) - A (5)
Personal Fitness (FLVS) - A
Trigonometry (dual enrollment) - A</p>

<p>Junior Schedule
Jazz Ensemble 3
AP English Language and Composition
AP Calculus AB
AP Psychology
Wind Ensemble 5
AP Physics B
AP US History
AP US Government and Politics (FLVS) - A
AP French Language (Laurel Springs)</p>

<p>My schedule is as rigorous as possible. I had a schedule conflict and could not take calc BC. My school does not offer AP Physics C. My school does not offer AP Macro or Micro, which is why I took them on FLVS. My school does not offer anything past French 3, which is why I'm taking AP French online.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars</p>

<p>Little League Baseball - volunteer manager during 10th grade and beyond. I am extremely dedicated to the organization and attend regularly scheduled board meetings.</p>

<p>Music - I have played the soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones for seven years. I attend a performing arts magnet school for saxophone. I play in the school's wind ensemble and jazz band. I made the All-County Jazz Band in 2008. I have played many pieces at the solo and ensemble festival. At the district level, I received two superiors (top grade) my freshman year, one of those being on a saxophone quartet I composed. I received three superiors my sophomore year, one of those being on a saxophone quintet I composed. In 2007, I finished in second place in a Florida composing contest.</p>

<p>Writing - six opinion pieces published in the local newspaper (2007-2009)</p>

<p>Rotary International - in 2009, I attended the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards meeting. This was my first exposure to Rotary. There, I won the Mike Donovan Award for speech. I saw many incredible speakers who were selflessly changing the world and helping those in need. The conference was filled with kids who want to help others as much as I do. Leaving the meeting extremely inspired, I founded a Rotary chapter, Interact Club, at my school and have been volunteering for the past half-year.</p>

<p>Tutoring - I tutor all subjects, both in school and out of school. I tutor math online at NSTEP.</p>

<p>Young Democrats - I have volunteered for many democratic campaigns. My personal favorite was working with the Barack Obama campaign. This culminated in me attending his inauguration in DC, an experience that I will never forget.</p>

<p>Interact Club (10-11) - founder and president (10-11)
French Honor Society (9-11) - treasurer (11)
Young Democrats Club (9-11) - treasurer (11)
Mu Alpha Theta (11) - co-founder and secretary (11)
Environmental Club (9-11) - secretary
Tri-M Music Honor Society (10-11)
National Honor Society (11)
A-Teams Academic Competition (10-11) - 2nd place in the county in 2008
JSU debate (11)</p>

<p>Awards</p>

<p>PROMISE Award (2008)
French 2 Most Outstanding (2008)
Biology Honors Most Outstanding (2008)
French 3 Most Outstanding (2009)
Algebra 2 Honors Most Outstanding (2009)
AP Scholar with Distinction (2009)</p>

<p>Schools</p>

<p>Princeton (legacy)
Harvard
Yale
Columbia
UPenn
Georgetown
Stanford
WashU at St. Louis
UNC Chapel Hill
UMich Ann Arbor
NYU
UF
Rollins College</p>

2

<p>Hey! Thanks for evaluating my chances at my school.</p>

<p>Needless to say, you know about SAT scores (>.>, we both do).</p>

<p>Rank is good. GPA is good. Course rigor is good as well. The only thing I can see that will improve your application is condense your list of E.C.'s to the ones that you are most committed to. I can already see Baseball, music, writing, but the lengthy list at the bottom definitely needs to be condensed into the ones you are most interested in/most committed to.</p>

<p>In conclusion, I’d say that you have a decent chance at most of the schools listed and an even better one with an improved SAT score.</p>

<p>HYP - reaches
Columbia/Penn/Georgetown/Stanford - reaches
WUSTL - low reach
UNC Chapel Hill - high match
UMich Ann Arbor - high match
NYU - high match/low reach</p>

<p>Not really sure about UF and Rollins College.</p>

3

<p>UF and Rollins are safeties. They’re in-state schools that I have no doubt I can make. Thank you for the feedback! Now, not to question your judgment, but would NYU really be a low reach? I have a friend with a 1970, little course rigor, and no hooks who got accepted.</p>

<p>As for the extracurrics, I have no idea how much room I’m allotted to discuss them, so I decided to just throw it all out here. Chances are I’d discuss baseball/music/Obama inauguration in essays.</p>

4

<p>Hmm, I guess for some reason, NYU computes, in my mind, as a “harder” school to get into, but I do recall people telling me that getting into NYU isn’t that difficult. You may be more so right than me >.>. I’ll look into that some more.</p>

5

<p>No worries. This forum is a learning experience. :D</p>

6

<p>…for everything except HYP. Obviously they are a reach for just about everyone.</p>

<p>To get a better idea, based on real statistics, go to mychancesdotnet</p>

7

<p>I think you look good too. I don’t think NYU would be a reach, and why don’t you just go to Princeton?Brown might also be a better fit than a couple of your other Ivies, and my impression is that is is easier than HYP to get into, plus more “artsy”…</p>

8

<p>justchuck - thank you very much for your feedback. I’m hoping that my legacy status at Princeton gives me some help. My mother ran bicker as an upperclassman, and she currently does interviews for the school.</p>

9

<p>OldbatesieDoc - thank you for your time and feedback. I’d love to go to Princeton, but besides the fact that it’s a hard school to gain acceptance to, it does not allow double majoring. I absolutely love learning, and I wouldn’t be able to pick just one major. As for Brown, I’m not really a fan of the Rhode Island area, but I’ll look into it.</p>

10

<p>well gee, you are a flawless human being, you dont need to raise your scores, theyre pro. Out of all the people ive chanced on here you are in the top 5 of everyone, if you spell your name wrong on the applications you can still get into most of those, the admissions are often times quite random at those elite institutions, but seriously, you will get into at least 10 out of those 13</p>

<p>thx for chancing me</p>

11

<p>Wow, thank you. I really appreciate your feedback. I do disagree with it, but hey, we’ll see what happens. I do agree in that the admissions are very much a crapshoot.</p>

12

<p>Princeton (legacy) - Reach unless you donate a lot
Harvard - Reach
Yale - Reach
Columbia - Less of a reach than HYP but still a reach
UPenn - Same as Columbia
Georgetown - Reach
Stanford - Reach
WashU at St. Louis - Do not know enough about it
UNC Chapel Hill - High Match for OoS
UMich Ann Arbor - High Match for OoS
NYU - Match/High Match
UF - In
Rollins College - In</p>

<p>The biggest thing you can do is write really good essays when it comes time to apply to colleges</p>

13

<p>Precise - thank you very much for your time and feedback. I will keep your comment in mind about the essays. If I were to up my SAT score to a 2250, would this change my chances for Georgetown / UPenn / Columbia?</p>

14

<p>Ok, Jewish Atheist? Sorry I’m nosy… perchance closet atheist?</p>

<p>I think we’re about in the same boat college wise. Don’t have much to add, good luck.</p>

15

<p>Well, it’s not closeted. I haven’t believed in a deity since the 6th grade. I’m still forced to go to temple, I still had a bar mitzvah, and I still put down Jewish on my APs and apps and whatnot, but I’m openly an atheist.</p>

16

<p>I’ll put this as bluntly as possible: You have as good a chance as anyone of getting into the ‘crapshoot’ schools. There’s no reason to ask for chances, because you’re well within their ranges. It’ll simply come down to stuff that’s not in your control. Good luck.</p>

17

<p>I’d like to congratualte the OP for posting his actual grades in a “Chance” post. This way we can see for a fact – as long as he is telling the truth – that he is a 4.0 student. Even discounting the non-core courses this is a true-to-life 4.0 student. What we usually get, in contrast, is a weighted GPA that was calculated using a methodology known only to the poster.</p>

18

<p>diontechristmas - thank you for your kind words. As I suspected, the essays, interviews, and recs will most likely be the determing factor for admissions.</p>

<p>hudsonvalley51 - thank you for your kind words. Florida’s weighting system is weird and useless, seeing as it gives 6.0s for an A in an AP class. I have some crazily high weighted GPA, but it’s only for class rank purposes. If anybody does not believe my grades, I can scan my report card (obviously blotting out private information).</p>

19

<p>I’m going to have to bump this.</p>

20

<p>

</p>

<p>That was my point–you dont need to. You need to interview well and write good essays. There’s nothing else of note anyone is going to tell you here.</p>