UCs (In-State), Privates, Some Ivies. Will chance back.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Just seeking confirmation that I'm not going to end up having to go to community college next year. ;)</p>

<p>I live about an hour away from San Francisco, CA, and go to an independent public charter school (converted this year) that kinda sucks. Nothing much has changed from the last three years, and everyone working in the office says to still list it as public (I have confirmed to do this with the UCs). CommonApp also still lists it as public, not charter, so I am attaching a note just to clarify.</p>

<p>Planning to major in Chemical Engineering and minor in linguistics and music.</p>

<p>Schools:</p>

<p>Case Western Reserve University
UC Irvine
UC San Diego
UC Berkeley
USC
Northwestern
Johns Hopkins
Vanderbilt
Yale
Dartmouth
MIT
Caltech</p>

<p>GPA: 4.00 UW, 4.29 W out of 4.39 possible (9-11). UC calculuated GPA 4.54. (Band/marching band drop GPA down from the maximum.)</p>

<p>Rank: Not ranked, but one of two people at school with entirely straight A's and all AP/Honors classes where available (minus music). So either 1 or 2 out of 400, but I technically can't list it. :(</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Checking "Other", because I have little connection to any part of my heritage (Japanese, Polish, Italian, Hungarian, Romanian, Czech, Slovakian).</p>

<p>SAT: 2160 (690 Critical Reading, 770 Math, 700 Writing, 9 essay). Retaking in December, WILL NOT SEND unless 2300+.</p>

<p>ACT: 35 (33 English, 35 Math, 35 Reading, 35 Science, 10 essay (32 English/Writing Composite))</p>

<p>Subject Tests: 800 Math II, 750 US History, 740 Physics, 720 Biology M, 710 Spanish, 700 Chemistry</p>

<p>APs (all junior year, because district wouldn't allow any freshman/sophomore years):</p>

<p>Calculus AB (self-study, 5)
Music Theory (self-study, 5)
US History (5)
Spanish Language (non-native, non-heritage, 5)</p>

<p>Senior Year APs:</p>

<p>Biology
Microeconomics
US Government & Politics
Psychology
English Literature and Composition
Statistics
Macroeconomics (self-study)
Calculus BC (self-study)
Spanish Literature (self-study)
Physics B (self-study)
Physics C: Mechanics (self-study)
Chemistry (self-study)
Computer Science A (self-study)</p>

<p>Have not yet decided if I'm going to self-study any others offered at my testing location (only four other tests).</p>

<p>Schedules:</p>

<p>Freshman Year:</p>

<p>Biology
PE 9
Geometry
Spanish II
Wind Ensemble
English I</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:</p>

<p>PE 10
Algebra II/Trigonometry
English II
Honors Chemistry
Spanish III
Wind Ensemble
World History</p>

<p>Junior Year:</p>

<p>Honors Pre-Calculus
AP US History
Honors English III
AP Spanish IV
Honors Physics
Wind Ensemble</p>

<p>Senior Year:</p>

<p>AP Biology
AP Microeconomics/AP US Government & Politics (each is a semester)
AP Psychology
AP English Literature and Composition
AP Statistics
Honors Spanish V
Wind Ensemble</p>

<p>Community College:</p>

<p>Mandarin I
Russian I</p>

<p>Will be taking Mandarin II and Russian II next semester.</p>

<p>I have taken all the AP/Honors classes offered at my school except French, Calculus AB, Art History, and Environmental Science, with the latter two due to scheduling conflicts. I didn't take Calculus AB because the teacher is not known for preparing students for the AP, and I felt I could do better on my own (last year, of 60 students who took the test, 1 person besides me got a 5, and very few got 3's and 4's).</p>

<p>Awards/Honors:</p>

<p>Miscellaneous school awards in math, foreign languages, and music.
3rd place county science fair (9th grade)
AP Scholar with Honor
National Merit Commended Student
CSF Gold Sealbearer (6+ semesters)</p>

<p>See next section for why I don't have any math/science competition awards.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Marching Band (section leader), wind ensemble (1st chair/section leader), city orchestra (principal 1st), city wind ensemble (co-principal 1st), district and county honor bands (one of best counties in state, 1st chair every year), state honor band (10th chair, 3rd chair), state honor orchestra (1st chair). Clarinet and Piano lessons for 8 and 13 years respectively. Overall, I devote about 25+ hours a week to music and plan to send in supplements where available.</p>

<p>Model UN treasurer (and founding member)</p>

<p>Turning in paperwork to charter Math Club on Monday, will be officer of some sort. Did not learn of Olympiads or other competitions until this year when I found this forum, so I'm hoping to let others (underclassmen particularly) know about such opportunities, as well as encourage them to look for research opportunities (if they become available, since there isn't much in our town in terms of STEM). I am planning to take the AMC 12 this year, if all goes well.</p>

<p>Key Club member</p>

<p>Community Service:</p>

<p>LACKING. Roughly 30 hours total. I tutor about 3 hours a week now, and do some charity events with music ensembles. Doing a project with CSF in December that should add at least 15-20 hours.</p>

<p>Also am attempting to start a program at my local elementary school to start teaching 3rd-5th graders foreign languages with a few friends. Ideally, it would allow them to skip Language 1 courses in middle school and allow them more time to deal with the language. Since studies have shown the earlier one learns a language, the easier it is to comprehend/read/write/etc., we're hoping it would give the kids in the area some bit of an advantage in at least some field, since the area is currently pretty average/mediocre in everything. However, we're being stonewalled by the district and the administration, so I'm not sure how that'll go.</p>

<p>Essays will be about music, my passion for foreign languages (teaching myself French, Italian, German, Japanese, Latin, and Polish for fun in addition to my coursework), and how my grandparents influenced my desires for math and science, through origami and medicine (weird connection, but true and it works).</p>

<p>Overall, I feel my scores are at least semi-competitive for my reach schools, but I'm worried that lack of service will lower my chances. Thoughts would be much appreciated.</p>

2

<p>State schools don’t care as much about ECs as private ones. In other words, a high GPA/SAT score will all but assure you a chance at even the best UCs. </p>

<p>UC Irvine - safety
UC San Diego - safety
UC Berkeley - match
USC - low match
Northwestern - low match
Johns Hopkins - high match
Vanderbilt - match
Yale - reach
Dartmouth - low reach
MIT - low reach
Caltech - low reach</p>

3

<p>Thank you! Just to make sure (I’ve seen some ambiguity on these threads before), a low match is easier to get into than a match, which is easier to get into than a high match, correct? So is it also safe to call Case a safety/low match as well? Thanks again :)</p>

4

<p>Bump please.</p>

5

<p>Bump. Anyone?</p>

6

<p>Don’t waste your time retaking the SAT. Your ACT is great. Focus the time you would have spent on the SAT prep on your essays.</p>

<p>Self-studying for so many APs is not worth the effort. All the admissions info constantly and consistently says that an applicant’s HS record is weighed against the courses offered in your HS. (in other words, a student who attends a school offering two APs and who takes those two is viewed as taking the most rigorous courses; while a student who takes six APs in a school which offers a a dozen is viewed as not taking the most rigorous schedule (assuming that there are no restrictions imposed by the school on taking APs).)</p>

7

<p>UC Irvine - safety
UC San Diego - safety
USC - almost safety</p>

<p>UC Berkeley - match
Northwestern - match
Johns Hopkins - match
Vanderbilt - match</p>

<p>Dartmouth - low reach</p>

<p>Yale - reach
MIT - reach
Caltech - reach</p>

8

<p>Thanks for all the replies. Probably not going to end up applying to UCI (sister goes there) and Caltech (too much of a reach, I don’t think I’d fit in, and I lack math/science ECs), since my parents said 10 is the limit. Thanks for the advice everyone!</p>

9

<p>what’s up i might see you at college. 4 schools in common that’s crazy.
but i don’t think it’s likely, you have some really good schools i think you have a good chance at</p>

<p>my advice to you is DEFINITELY go ahead and start that language program at elementary school. it’ll look great on apps and that’s just what you need to boost service up
everything else you should be giving me advice (holy **** why are you self studying so many AP’s why would you do that??)</p>

<p>UC Irvine - i will **** myself if you don’t get in
UC San Diego - 96% in
UC Berkeley - 67% in
USC - 75% in
Northwestern - 50-60% in, not positive i looked up stats but there’s probably more than that
Johns Hopkins - 50/50 i think, idk much about this school sorry probably shouldnt listen to me here i went strictly by stats and a little ec guess
Vanderbilt - 60% in (damn i really wanna go there too, youre some tough competition)
Yale - 35-40% i have a feeling youll have good essays and thats what matters there
Dartmouth - 42%
MIT - 30-40%
Caltech - 30% you have to be a ****ing genius for caltech but youre close</p>

<p>my percents are kinda random i didnt use a formula</p>

<p>all you have left is ESSAYS, you got it bud</p>

10

<p>UC Irvine 90%
UC San Diego 90%
UC Berkeley 70% (your ec’s are good)
USC (80%)
Northwestern 30%
Johns Hopkins 40%
Vanderbilt 50%
Yale 10% (just cuz all ivy’s are like this)
Dartmouth 20%
MIT 20% (EC’s)
Caltech 0-3% the 50th percentile of accepted sats are 2340, and nearly 95% of the kids won international math/science Olympiads.</p>

11

<p>Give me *all of your brains</p>

12

<p>I think that your SAT score is really good. I wouldn’t worry about retaking it too much. My friend got in to JHU with a 2000ish I think. Your ECs are good. I would recommend focusing on one aspect. If you want to study music, and want to make it YOUR thing (Like, I’m a musician guys), than play up those ECs in band. That’ll look good. And I think any “founding member” will stick out, too.
Good luck!</p>

13

<p>Hi, I am chancing back. However, you should know - this is the first time I chance anyone and I could not really give a correct presumption of whether you are going to get accepted or not. : )
As I read, you are planning to study Chemical Engineering. Something in my brain tells me that you should have a superb score on the SAT Chemistry test, but you don’t. You have a 700, which I guess is not a superb score.
However, you are definitely a good student - you have a good GPA, a decent SAT and many SAT Subject tests (lol, so many) and decent scores on all of them.
Furthermore, I really like that you have interest in foreign languages and musics - this would really be a huge benefit. The one thing I do not like about your application is that it does not have depth. You want to study something, but it seems that you cannot show your interest for it.
However, I think you are a “reach” for every university. The only thing you will need is a little luck and you are in. : ) Good luck and I hope you get in!</p>

14

<p>Case Western Reserve University- your in
UC Irvine- safety
UC San Diego- safety
UC Berkeley- safety
USC- low match
Northwestern- low match
Johns Hopkins- reach (but you still have a really good chance)
Vanderbilt- good chance
Yale- You have a chance, but it depends on your essays and how you market yourself
Dartmouth- You have a chance, but it depends on your essays and how you market yourself
MIT- Good chance given your interest in math
Caltech- Good chance given your interest in math</p>

15

<p>Thanks for all the replies. In regards to the “low” SAT Chem score, I should point out that I was really unfocused when I took it in sophomore year. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life (which I just kinda reasoned out maybe a month ago), and so I made the decision to take it maybe a month before the test. Unfortunately, my HONORS Chem teacher (I still hate him) decided to spend the entire first semester teaching us DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS and SCIENTIFIC NOTATION ugh. And then we got to move on to “How to Balance Simple Equations”. Most useless class ever, so I pretty much taught myself everything on the SAT Chem, like I did with all the other sciences (my school does not have good science/math teachers). Luckily, I probably won’t send that one, but either physics or bio (or both) in place of it.</p>

16

<p>700 is a very good subject test score!</p>

17

<p>Case Western Reserve University - Definitely in
UC Irvine - safety
UC San Diego - safety
UC Berkeley- match
USC- match
Northwestern- low match<br>
Johns Hopkins - good chance
Vanderbilt - good chance
Yale- reach
Dartmouth - good chance
MIT- reach
Caltech- reach </p>

<p>You have really good SAT scores, a good GPA and really good extracurriculars depending on your essay I think you have a really good chance for all the ivies and private colleges.
GOOD LUCK!!!</p>

18

<p>Thanks for chancing me! I don’t think I’ve seen more impressive stats than yours. Here are your chances:!</p>

<p>Case Western Reserve University-Funny
UC Irvine-Funny
UC San Diego-Funny
UC Berkeley-VeryveryveryveryveryveryverySlight Reach-Just that they’re unpredictable
USC-Most likely yes
Northwestern-Slight Reach,
Johns Hopkins-Match
Vanderbilt-Slight Reach - Unsure about this one.
Yale-Its an Ivy in the Ivy’s. Bipolar Admissions + Long Days = Depends on what time of the day they review your application.
Dartmouth - Match/Slight Reach
MIT- Reach
Caltech - Slight Reach</p>

<p>As I said, they’re unpredictable. My friend with a 3.5UW/1780 got into Berkeley, rejected from USC UCLA and others. Another with a 4.1/2100 got rejected from USC. Yet another had a 3.6/2020 and got into Harvard (okay she’s incredibly hot)…while getting rejected from bascially all the UC’s, USC, and Stanford. So really just make sure you show yourself, you never know what they’re looking for!</p>

19

<p>Thanks for chancing me btw : I’m not very experienced with these things, but I’ll try my best :slight_smile: Good luck!
Case Western: safety
UC Irvine - safety
UC San Diego - safety
UC Berkeley - match
USC - match
Northwestern - match
Johns Hopkins - match
Vanderbilt - match
Yale - reach
Dartmouth - match
MIT - reach
Caltech - reach</p>