University of Southern California / Carnegie Mellon University / Vanderbilt University

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello everyone, its lovesdogs101. I don’t know how many of you guys saw my recent post on my chances at Northwestern and Washington University in St. Louis, but whether you did or didn’t it’s okay because I don’t know if I’ll end up applying to those school anyways due to their high competitiveness and my overall lack of self-confidence (trust me, if you went to my school, you’d know). However, there are still some private school that I’m gunning for, and while Vanderbilt is almost as competitive as Northwestern, I feel like I stand a better chance at getting in. I wouldn’t be writing to you guys though if I had some doubt though, and, once again, I’m just wondering what you think my chances are at these universities, so that I know if I should set my expectations a little lower. Thanks to everyone who reads and responds to my posts, I know they’re super long and tedious. You don’t know how much it helps to have someone to talk to about all this college stuff. Sometimes I get so stressed out that I want to tear my head out. If you could also let me know what my chances of earning a scholarship is to I’d really appreciate it. Thanks!

For those of you who haven’t read my previous profile, I’m a high school junior going to the best school in my city and one of the best schools in my state. My school has 13 Advanced Placement Courses and several honors courses. In fact, due to the rigor, counselors recommend against upperclassman taking any more than 2 AP courses. It is also has a state-winning athletics program and a tight-knit religious community.

Academic Profile:
GPA: 3.96 (Weighted and raised from a 3.63)
Class Rank: N/A (My school doesn’t publish rankings due to its high competitiveness)
AP Courses:
- AP European History (Junior)
- AP Biology (Junior)
- AP Environmental Science (Senior)
- AP Physics 1 (Senior)
Honors Courses:
- British Literature Honors (Sophomore)
- American Literature Honors (Junior)
- Pre-Calculus Honors (Senior)
Accelerated Courses:
- Mathematics (Freshman-Senior)
Credit Breakdown:
- English: 4 credits - Social Studies: 3 credits
- Mathematics: 4 credits - Physical Education: 3 credits
- Science: 6 credits - Fine Arts: 1 credit
- Computer Science: 1.5 credits - Religion: 1 credit
- Public Speaking: .5 credits - Foreign Language: 4 credits
Standardized Test Scores:

ACT Score: 31
English: 32
Math: 30
Reading: 32
Science: 29

Extracurriculars (In School):
Greenedge Environmental Club - President (11-12)
National Honors Society - President (11-12)
National Spanish Society (12)
Book Club (11-12)
Close-Up Current Events - Planning Committee (11-12)
Fine Arts Week Film Presenter (11-12)
Senior CROSS Retreat (12)
Powder Puff Games (12)
Link Crew (12)

Extracurriculars (Outside School):
Mass Server (9-12)
Canine Companion at the Humane Society (10-12)
Eager Reader Summer Reading Program (10-12)
Vet Internship - Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights (11-12)

Work Experience:
Babysitter / Pet Sitter (6-12)
Maple Valley Pizza Hut - Head Phone Staff at 12 hours/week (10-12)

Awards:
Knights of Columbus Service Award (8)
QP Knights Award (8)
Presidential Award for Academic Excellence (8)
National Spanish Exam Honoree (11)
Edgewood High School Academic Award (11-12)

College Degree:
Undergraduate: Physics with a minor in Business
Graduate School: Veterinary or Physics if I can’t get in

Special Notes:
- I have several reasons for not doing sports, the most important of which are…
- My dad is a single parent and couldn’t take me to practice
- I had to pick up my brother from school once I was able to drive
- My eating disorder made exercise a health concern
- My school doesn’t give out most of their awards until junior year so (hopefully) the
awards category might fill up a little more
- My dad attended college at Marquette University and my mom never went to college

Again, thanks for reading my lengthy post and I hope that it’s helpful enough. God bless you all and have a wonderful day!

2

I also have great recommendations from my Physics, Guidance Counselor, and Vet that I volunteer for and have 300 hours of community service (didn’t know how to edit my document so I couldn’t enter it on the post)

I also forgot to tell you guys a little bit more about “me” that doesn’t have to do with grades or extraciriculars. As I said before, my dad is a single parent and I also have a younger brother. When I started kindergarten, my mom was diagnoised as bipolar. She evenutally got so bad that my dad decided to divorce her in order to keep my brother and I safe. Two years later, my mom died of prescription drug overdose. As if that wasn’t bad enough, my mom’s family blamed my dad for what happened and, as such, have made a point of not involving themselves with my dad, my brother, and me. It wasn’t until I was in 10th grade that my dad remarried. While having another person in the house is weird, it’s not bad, but it’s just not something that I was used to. While most might think this a moment of happiness, it wasn’t. 6 months before the wedding I was diagnoised with an eating disorder and a couple moths later I went into treatment. I’m proud to say that I’m doing better, although I’ve recently expreinced a little bit of a digression because, like I said, I’m not all that positive about my college chances. This doesn’t mean I don’t want you to be honest and truthful about my chances. I just thought it would be good to just put it all out there so I know I’m not just getting accepted or rejected by my grades, Standardized Test Scores, etc. Thanks so much again!

3

CMU and GTown: Reach
USC: Okay chances

4

Bump

5

They’re all reaches, however I feel like you may have a chance at all of them… the only thing that may scare them away is that your weighted GPA is a bit low.

6

Your ACT is a bit low for these schools with your GPA. You have time and should consider intensive preparation to retake your ACT.

7

Bump

8

Try the SAT at least once, and consider re-taking the ACT.

9

Your ECs and awards are great, I don’t recommend taking the ACT score again (but if you think you can increase your score, go ahead), but I do recommend trying to get your GPA up (the weighted GPA, certainly is a tad bit low). With good recommendations and good essays, I’m pretty sure you’ve good chances with your background.

USC - Low Reach
CMU - Reach

These are GPA intensive schools, and granted that your ACT score is 31, having a bit of boost in your GPA would be amazing. Your ECs and awards complement the same. I think you probably will get in. Best of luck.

10

I’m not sure about Carnegie Mellon or USC, but I was accepted to Vanderbilt this year, and I think you need to have a 4.1 or higher GPA weighted, probably 3.8 unweighted, plus hopefully a 33+ ACT to have a decent chance. I’m not saying it’s impossible for you to get in, but I don’t think your scores/numbers are quite high enough. FYI I was accepted with a 3.85 UW/4.25 W GPA, and 2360 SAT score. Yes, admissions are holistic, but numbers are important at a school with so many applicants.

11

Weirdly enough I actually applied to all three of these schools. Your EC’s are really good, but unfortunately your GPA and ACT might not be competitive enough. Try raising your ACT to at least a 33+ and make sure you improve on your grades. Colleges really like to see an upward trend. Anyways I would categorize these schools as reaches as it is now, but with your EC’s it’s still possible for you to be admitted. Good luck!

12

Do I have a chance at someplace like UCLA? It’s one of the only schools actually on my list of potentials. Also I had a 3.63 my first semester of my freshman year, but since then I’ve been getting a 3.96 or higher. Had I gotten the grades I do know during my first semester, I would have a 3.96 unweighted and a 4.0 weighted GPA (ARRRGHH!). Is that enough of an upward trend or will schools still count that my first semester of freshman year against me?

13

Bump

14

Bump

15

UCLA seems probable, CMU and VB are reaches. Keep working hard though and apply to many others! Good luck!
Chance me please! I’ll chance back!
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18206554#Comment_18206554

16

Bump:)

17

Bump

18

I got into USC but not UCLA. Don’t pay too much attention to admissions statistics, they are a rough guide, not a bible. There are plenty of people both lower and higher than the stats say. Word of advice though, I wouldn’t mention the eating disorder, unless it seriously seriously impacted your academics, and definitely do not write your essay on it; it will only be seen as a red flag. As far as I can see, your ECs are strong, not everyone is sporty so that shouldn’t be a concern. Also, I’m pretty sure the awards section of common app has been scrapped, cause I’m pretty sure i didn’t fill it out…

19

Nothing you can do about that GPA, so don’t worry about it. Work on trying to pull up that ACT if you can; it’s not far outside their average range but you’d have a better chance if you could pull it up even a point or two. Study hard, write good essays, and then just hope. And know that if you don’t make it into these schools it’s honestly a-okay, there’s a bunch of awesome schools in the country that you could get into.

Can you chance me back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1776265-chance-me-vandy-nd-nmsqt-some-others.html#latest

20

@lovesdogs101 Honestly, I think the ACT needs to be at least a 33 to get into any of those schools. CMU cares very much about level of interest, so if you can afford to visit, that will help you with them. Last time I checked ,Vandy did not care about level of interest. I’m not sure if USC cares about that or not because our family is so entrenched in USC that we never felt the need to prove interest. I also think you should try the SAT – some kids do better with one test over the other. You want to try to get at least a 2150. I also wouldn’t rule out Northwestern or Wash U. I’m pretty sure USC had a tougher acceptance rate than WashU. Honestly, I think they’re all in the same league. Northwestern and WashU also care very much about level of interest, so if you can afford to visit you should. FWIW, son #1 applied to USC and Northwestern and got into both. He picked USC. He had a 34 ACT and 2270 SAT. (but that was 5 years ago – both schools are tougher to get into now.) Son #2 actually had a much better resume than son #1 – valedictorian, national merit finalist, better ECs, but almost identical test scores. USC was his first choice and he got in there. He got WL and Northwestern and CMU, but I think that is because he showed zero interest in either school and was treating them as backups. There is no way son #1 should have been accepted, while son #2 was not. No harm, no foul because he got into his dream school, but it was a good cautionary tale for us. Don’t take anything for granted. Son #3 had a 36 ACT and 2370 SAT. He got offered a full scholarship to Vandy and Presidential Scholarship (invited to interview for Trustee )at USC, but ended up picking UChicago. Funny thing is, my kids applied to relatively few schools - only 4 each for the older 2 and 6 for the 3rd son - compared to most kids, yet they are almost all in common with your interests! Despite (or perhaps because) we live near St. Louis, none of my kids were ever interested in Wash U. That said, I understand it is quite a trendy pick. Based on what I’ve observed, you may actually have your best shot there. They are very quirky in their admissions, They seem to reject the kids with the very highest scores and take those at the next level. We know a kid who got in with a 28 ACT. If I were you. I would apply to WashU and show them you’re really interested. There isn’t much you can do about GPA, but if you have had a heavy diet of AP classes, that will help. Focus on getting the test scores up, and contact the schools, join their websites and do what you can to show an interest and find out what they’re looking for. Also, since all of those are really competitive schools, you should have a few backups. (As much as I hate Notre Dame because they are USC’s main rival, you may want to check them out. Their acceptance rate is pretty easy, considering their rank.) You seem like a great kid. May I ask your race and gender? It may sound cynical, but sometimes those demographics factor in. Good luck and Fight On!