WashU, Hopkins, ND, etc? I chance back!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm looking at Washington University in St. Louis (considering ED), Johns Hopkins, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Notre Dame, Emory, Brown, Princeton. Obviously, some of those are reach, but I figured I would try anyway. </p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.84 (too late to fix, unfortunately), school doesn't rank
ACT: 34 (retaking)
SAT I: 2150 (retaking)
SAT II: Chemistry 710, Biology 750- will take math 2 and lit soon
AP 4's and 5's: Bio 4, Physics 4, Econ Micro 5, Econ Macro 5, Psychology 5
Achievements: National Merit Semi-Finalist, Honor Roll</p>

<p>Honors/AP courses:
Freshman year- none offered
Sophomore: AP European History, Alg 2Honors, English Honors, Honors Chem, AP Bio
Junior: American Lit. Honors, AP Econ, AP Physics, Precalc Honors, AP French
Senior: AP US History, AP Calc, AP Chem, AP Lit.
had one open Junior year one tri, 2 opens now; rest of schedule filled with regular classes like Band, French, etc.</p>

<p>EC's:
4 years- Environmental Club, Executive board Junior year, now President
Amnesty International, Secretary Junior Year, now Vice-President
Biology Club
Soccer (will be varsity for sure this year, but too late to show on resume)
3 years- Student Government
Numerical Club
2 years- Debate
This year- Art Club</p>

<p>Essays/letters:
Counselor rec- decent, but I don't know him very well; Our school has so many students that we are required to make appointments if we want to talk.
Teacher recs- both good (unfortunately, my fave teacher retired last year or I would've had an excellent one..)
Personal essay- I think it's pretty good and definitely memorable, but I can't really rate my own writing...</p>

<p>Volunteer/work:
Over 300 volunteer hours at the eye clinic, daycare, food bank, children's museum
Worked in research lab this summer</p>

<p>Additional info: I'm Asian which might make it a bit harder to get into these schools, and my parents run a restaurant so they haven't had much time to drive me to many college visits- I've only gone to WashU and Emory. </p>

<p>Thanks for chancing me! Any suggestions for schools would be appreciated as well.</p>

2

<p>WashU - Match
Johns Hopkins - Reach
ND - Reach/high reach</p>

<p>You don’t really have any hooks to make you stand out. But you said your essay is going to be memorable, so hopefully that helps.</p>

<p>Chance back please.</p>

3

<p>Wash- Good Match
JH- High Reach
ND- Reach,
chance me?</p>

4

<p>Just an FYI Wash U cut their supplement in a shot to get more applicants, heywant to be sub 10% accepted this year. so with that
Bowdoin: Mid Beach
Brown: High Reach
Emory: match
JHU: high match/ low reach
Notre Dame: low reach (but they are looking hard for minorities lately)
Princeton: high reach/ may be unreachable
Wash U: mid reach
Swarthmore: low reach</p>

5

<p>I think your stats are pretty competitive for a lot of the schools. I really see no reason to retake either the ACT or SAT. Your ACT score is phenomenal, and I would submit that rather than the SAT score. My son is a freshman at WUSTL and absolutely loves the school. I’m not sure how much depth is conveyed in your extracurricular activities, but make sure that your essays really stand out. If you’re truly considering WUSTL, then applying early decision is the best way to show interest. I would also try to interview with an admissions officer on campus if possible, but if this is not possible, see if you can attend an information session if one is in your town. For what it’s worth, I think that Johns Hopkins and Notre Dame are equally as competitive, and I don’t agree with anyone saying that one particular schools is a match and another is a reach. I think that all of the schools are reach schools given how competitive that they are.</p>

<p>And Missouri boy, WUSTL did not have a supplement last year. Where are you getting your information that they want the acceptance rate to be less than 10%?</p>

6

<p>The unweighted GPA and ACT scores are, in terms of raw numbers, good enough to qualify you at pretty much any one of these schools. Since about 70-80% of applicants are qualified, it comes down to your extracurriculars, essays, and recs, all of which seem to be in good standing.</p>

<p>I would think that Emory should be a good match school; I think it all depends on what major/school you wish to enter. Some concentrations will be harder than others, and obviously being Asian does not help either. I think if you apply early to WUSTL, then it should not be that huge of a hurdle to overcome. Best of luck!</p>

<p>Chance back?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1542999-nyu-stern-ed-chances-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1542999-nyu-stern-ed-chances-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>^ well to debunk your thought that being an Asian is a hindrance, my son is Asian with a highest composite ACT score of 30, and he got into WUSTL, Emory, and Johns Hopkins.</p>

8

<p>Please include a link if you want me to chance back! </p>

<p>Also, I’m retaking the ACT because I know I can do much better for math and science; for some reason, I started getting allergies toward the end of the test and that really impacted my science score b/c that’s the section that I have to focus the most on. I only got a 30 for that, so I’m hoping for at least a 33 next time without the runny nose and watery eyes.</p>

9

<p>^a 34 on the ACT puts you among the top 1% in the nation. Getting a 35 or 36 is likely to make very little difference, if any.</p>

10

<p>^I don’t think the fact that your son got into those schools really debunks that; studies have shown that Asians tend to need an extra 100 points on the SAT to get into the same schools that an average student would get into with a similar GPA/workload, etc. Also, schools with completely merit-based acceptance have extremely high percentages of Asian enrollment while regular schools try to have more diversity. I’m not trying to complain that being Asian is some sort of handicap in the application process- I don’t think it impacts things much anyway, but from what I have read and heard, it does make it slightly more difficult to get into selective schools. Congrats to your son for getting accepted into those schools though!
As for the ACT, I know it wouldn’t make too much of a difference, but I decided to retake because I know for sure that I can do better. </p>

<p>For those who mentioned that my EC’s weren’t great, I’m actually very passionate about Environmental Club and have put a lot of work into it. This school year we have already made it onto the local news and planted a small orchard behind our school, as well as earned enough from fundraising to save 30 acres of rainforest. Although I don’t have any on here, I’ll definitely add descriptions to the activities for Commonapp to make it more appealing. </p>

<p>Last thing- why are you guys saying that WashU is more of a match than Notre Dame? I’m just confused because I thought it was more selective…</p>

11

<p>You have a solid shot at all of those schools! I talked to admissions officers at Notre Dame and they said research can add a ton to an application. So that should help. And a stellar essay should be good too. However, other than that your ECs are standard. But you have great academics. So may chances go as follows:</p>

<p>WashU- high match/low reach (ED/RD)
JHU- low reach
Notre Dame- low reach
Brown- reach
Princeton- reach
Bowdoin- low reach
Swarthmore- low reach
Emory- match</p>

<p>Chance me back? We are applying to a lot of the same schools. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1544406-chance-me-please-duke-notre-dame-johns-hopkins-etc-ill-chance-you-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1544406-chance-me-please-duke-notre-dame-johns-hopkins-etc-ill-chance-you-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Good luck! You’ll get into somewhere you love!</p>

12

<p>I think you’re good for Notre Dame. Don’t beat yourself up on that ACT score, you’ve done great in high school. WashU, I’d say you’ll get in. The Ivies are always reaches, but you know that. </p>

<p>Chance me back!</p>

13

<p>Notre Dame: low reach.
Brown: mid/high reach.
Bowdoin: Match/low reach.
Princeton: high-reach
Emory: match.
John Hopkins: low reach.</p>

14

<p>Nice ACT score! Unless you really bump up your SAT, I would suggest just sending your ACT.<br>
For your GPA, it looks pretty good, but it might hurt you that your class doesn’t rank, as schools like seeing their kids on the upper scale of their class (preferably top decile). It’s hard for them to compare when they only see a number. Your EC’s are also a little thin, just based on what you have here, although kudos for your leadership!</p>

<p>I think you have a really decent chance at Emory/Bowdoin (high match/match) I’ll put JH/WashU at low reach, and the Ivies at reach/high reach.</p>

<p>But that’s just my 2 cents. Good luck, and I’d love to hear how you do in April :smiley: I’m sure we’ll have good things to share.</p>

15

<p>Pick one.
Apply ED.
Explain why it is your number one.</p>

16

<p>WashUSTL: Match
Notre Dame: High match
Ivies: Reach as they are even for the perfect candidate
I would apply ED to the one you want most, and tell them why you chose them in your essay. Best of luck to you.</p>