The Great Escape part 3 (will chance back)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Well I just received updated ACT scores that I am much more comfortable with and naturally I’d like to celebrate with another cliche chance thread. I am a Caucasian male from Alabama and while not opposed to the south as a whole, I am trying my hardest to get out of Alabama for college. Almost every academically minded student at my school goes on to attend the University if Alabama’s honors college and while it is a fine institution, I would much rather attend elsewhere. I am currently at a middle if the road public high school that has only ever sent one kid to an ivy, and that was a while ago.

ACT:
Composite- 33 (36E,33R,25M,36S)
Superscore- 34 (36E,34R,28M,36S)
Yes I know my math score is a joke.

GPA:
UW 3.75ish (math strikes again!)
W 4.4 and increasing

Rank:
Valedictorian in a class of about 460

ECs:
Several Tennis Tournaments including 4 USTA Junior Team Alabama State Tournaments

2 year Wind Ensemble member on baritone and tuba. Many awards and superior ratings as well as being invited to play at the National Concert Band Festival, the nations second highest setting for high school bands.

2 year tuba section leader in marching band.

After completing confirmation I was an assistant catechist in my church’s CCD Program as well as the assistant Games director at my Church’s VBS annually for the last 5 years.

Active Member of Boy Scouts and Recipient of the Arrow of Light, Ad Altare Dei Religious Medal, Philmont Arrowhead Patch, (soon) Eagle Scout Rank, 50 Miler Award, as well as over 30 merit badges and
15 individual patches and awards.

Hiked at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimmaron, NM. Served as the Crew Leader of Crew 608-O, hiked 91 miles over 12 days, climbing numerous peaks and topping out at around 12,000 feet. As a Member of Crew 608-O, we had the luck to be the first full crew to hike on the newly acquired land on the Chase Ranch property. While at Philmont I received the Duty to God, Trail of Courage, and Wilderness Pledge award.

Throughout my years as a Boy Scout, I completed the NYLT leadership training program and subsequently served as Chaplain Aid(3 terms), Scribe, Assistant Patrol Leader (3 terms), Patrol Leader (2 terms), Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Troop Lifeguard (permanent) and was elected Senior Patrol Leader, the highest position a scout may occupy. I also staff NYLT encampments for my council now.

Played as a member of my school’s varsity tennis team since freshman year serving as team captain Junior and probably senior year. Played league team tennis for a club year round with numerous league victories in the Summer and Fall USTA Junior Team Tennis leagues. Although I couldn’t play with my team mates in the Spring as I had before high school thanks to a AHSAA mandate preventing me from playing for school and club simultaneously, I still practiced with both teams. Runner Up in the County Tounament.

The top scoring member of my school’s varsity Scholars Bowl team both freshman and sophomore years
(Disbanded Junior Year) currently working on getting it rechartered with the help of another student.

Served as a representative on the Superintendent Advisory Board as a student advisor and liaison between the student body of my school and the school board, specifically the Superintendent.

The scholars bowl team was much more active in middle school and was eligible for many more tournaments. In my 3 years of middle school, I placed in the top two scorers of the county tournament three times, placing first once. I was also the teams top scorer at many other tournaments and place third in the all state team at the state tournament where we lost in the semi-finals.

I also placed seventh in the state geography bee, making it to the final round

Hooks:
Rural area?
Family history of mental illness and while I am ok, my middle and high school careers were peppered with numerous suicides and close calls with family members. My sister’s boyfriend hung himself my freshman year and my sister and I found him. I had to perform CPR until the paramedics arrived and he unfortunately didn’t make it. I’m not really sure if that counts as hardship to overcome but my family definitely wasn’t what one might call stable for a while.
Large confederate ancestry and interesting family history to boot. If nothing else it’s good essay material.

I am looking to double major in History and Linguistics at the schools which offer it, romantic languages or others of the type at those which don’t.
Schools include:
Vanderbilt
UPenn
WUSTL
Tulane (only possible with merit aid)
Brown
Rice
Cornell
Yale (just for kicks)
Harvard (see above)
Auburn legacy (safety)
Emory (qualify for Emory Scholars?)
Dartmouth
Georgetown
Middlebury

Any chancing is appreciated and I will return the favor if desired!

2

APs: (only available Junior and Senior years)
Stats (12)
Bio(12)
Chem(11)
APUSH(11)
Gov(12)
Microecon(12)
English Lang(11)
English Lit and Comp(12)

3

The reason most top students go to Alabama is the free tuition. How do you plan to pay for these schools?

I realize that GPA’s swing wildly but a 4.4 weighted here is maybe top 15% of the class. Do you have any safeties? Please look at the Common Data set of your target schools to see if they “meet need”, the percentage of admitted students who submitted ACT scores, and their GPA’s. You’ll see that 3.75 is probably not a typical GPA for these schools. I was just checking William & Mary the other day and only 39% of admitted students submitted ACT scores. In that case a student should probably submit a SAT score. I learned when I checked UVA’s Common Data that a fifth year of foreign language is “recommended.”

Schools aren’t going to care about your sister’s boyfriend. I’m sorry this happened to you but it makes me think perhaps you have some PTSD from it. It does not make you a more attractive candidate. Neither is the Confederate heritage. Schools care what you’ve accomplished; not some ancestor. Are you a junior because most application deadlines have come and gone. Good luck to you.

4

The 3.75 GPA is a little low, but i would still apply because you never know! The upper Ivies like Harvard and Yale but be out of reach but I agree that applying just for kicks is worth it (I’ll probably be doing the same next year haha). But you could possibly get into a lower ivy like Cornell and have a good shot at Middlebury, Vanderbilt, and rice as well. Best of luck!
Take a look at my thread if you could please :smiley:

5

Bump

6

If you intend to pursue a career in something irrelated to math, your chances are going to be good.
I like the part when you talked about your special circumstances and I suggest that you focus your personal statement on them.
Your ECs are good overall (I just had a look over them)
The only thing that can make you some trouble is the GPA for sure. However, I am persuaded that being valedictorian and your weighted GPA are good facts that will compensate your academic “weakness” elsewhere.
Here is what I think:
Vanderbilt: High Match
Upenn: Reach
WUSTL: High Match
Rice: Low Reach
Tulane: Match (Merit does not exceed 32k as I remember)
Brown: High Reach
Dartmouth:Reach
Cornell: Reach
Yale: High Reach
Harvard: High Reach

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Thanks for the chance! @AKAKHALEDBEST‌

8

Bump

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Bump

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I think that you can call most of these high matches/low reaches with the exception of Brown, Yale, and Harvard, which are from my perspective high reaches. Now, here’s my advice. Living in an area with a lot of Eastern Seaboard transplants, I would advise against using Confederate anything as essay material. In most people’s opinions writing about that implies a certain affinity for segregation and/or slavery, and while you certainly want to express yourself in your essay you also don’t want to even run the risk of walking a fine line between a knockout essay and something that heavily offends the reader. Your extracurriculars are wonderful, though, and you seem to have a fairly vibrant personality. You also seem very self aware. For that reason, I think that a lot of college admissions officers would love you.

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@chuckleberry‌ Thanks and if I use anything like that, it would be in a purely academic sense. I don’t have any prejudice towards anyone so I will make sure to tread lightly on the subject

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Bump

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Everything looks really good. I always see that with the Ivies, it’s kinda a crap shoot, but your scores, GPA, and EC’s put you in pretty competitive company. I think you’d have a shot at the Ivies, but all the other schools seem pretty realistic :slight_smile:

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Youll get into Auburn Tulane and 1 maybe 2 other schools. Express interest!

15

Vanderbilt: High Match
Upenn: Reach
WUSTL: never heard of it
Rice: Low Reach
Tulane: Match
Brown: High Reach
Dartmouth:Reach
Cornell: Low Reach
Yale: High Reach
Harvard: High Reach

Your ACT score is fine as is your GPA and your math score wont really matter because you want to major in the opposite field. Also quick question do colleges superscore you ACT as I also took it and superscoring would raise my score to a 36. Good luck!

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Thanks all @dvgbhs‌ @zavidoma‌ and @romeosmith‌, some do, others don’t. It really depends on the school whether they officially do or not. UChicago does, but most other elite schools don’t. Even for those who don’t however, if you submit multiple ACT tests they will look at your subscores from each test.

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Vanderbilt: High Match
Upenn: Low Reach
Rice: Low Reach
Tulane: Match
Brown: Reach
Dartmouth: Low Reach
Cornell: High Match / Low Reach
Yale: High Reach
Harvard: High Reach

18

Chance back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1744078-chance-me-ucs-and-privates.html#latest

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Of course adcoms would care about what happened.

Your high school is obviously rigorous enough (class rank and ACT score provide context for your GPA) so you shouldn’t worry. Excellent EC’s. Compelling story, good ability to write with a sense of humor that doesn’t offend (although humor is to be used sparingly in essays, if at all). Applying from Alabama gives you a boost for geographical diversity at most of these schools and rural Alabama means further boost.
Have you run the Net Price calculators and shown the results to your parents? Will they be able/willing to pay their EFC?

I’m not clear if you’re a junior (and the 12th grade APs are projected) or a senior (who already applied to all these schools).

Brown
Rice
Cornell
Vanderbilt
UPenn
Dartmouth
Georgetown
Middlebury
=> I think you’ll get into one of those if your essays are good.

WUSTL => only if your family makes less than 75k
Tulane (only possible with merit aid) = what does that mean?

Yale (just for kicks)
Harvard (see above)
=> both aren’t likely, but you never know; it’s not totally out of the realm of possibility.

Auburn legacy (safety)
=> if you’re a junior, you need to find one more safety you like.
What about another university’s Honors College? I think Pitt would be too hard (they really want 34) but what about UMass Commonwealth College or UMaryland…? The latter would be especially intriguing for interational relations/languages due to its location.

Emory (qualify for Emory Scholars?)
=> match
You need to find a few more matches. You don’t want it to be “top elite OR safety”.
Look into Davidson, Dickinson (the closest you’d have to a Middlebury “match”), perhaps Macalester (high match)?

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@MYOS1634‌ @salvadb‌ Thanks! I have used the net price calculator for all of these schools and facilitated enough funding to cover the costs of most, although scholarships would be nice. That’s also why I labelled Tulane that way. Without merit aid, it would be impossible to pay for. Also I was curious on my chances of getting into the Emory Scholars program and that’s why I labelled that as such.