wharton/stanford/cornell/etc... chance me.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>i'll try to keep it short with perhaps insufficient details for guidance, but any opinion based on this would be appreciated, regardless. thank you.</p>

<p>for junior year:
weighted GPA: 4.3~4.4
unweighted GPA: 3.9~4
my previous years i've received similar grades, but without as many ap's as i've taken in junior year.</p>

<p>SAT:
single score - 2150 (730CR, 720M, 700W)
super score - 2200 (730CR, 770M, 700W)
aiming for 2300+ in the fall.</p>

<p>SAT subjects:
math 2c - 800
physics - 770
what to take as the third test not determined yet.</p>

<p>AP scores:
microeconomics (soph) - 5
macroeconomics (soph) - 5
calc ab (junior) - 5
physics b (junior) - 5
psychology (junior) -5
human geography (junior) - 4
ap courses for senior year: english language, literature, calc bc, environmental science.</p>

<p>EC's:
-basketball captain (junior,senior team), played since gr.6
-rugby, played since gr. 6 (team has won 2nd place AA provincial championship)
-vocal jazz group, choir (section leader), since gr.9 (groups have won gold standard, 1st place, etc in worldwide heritage festivals)
-student council/executive member; potential/possible head boy/valedictorian.
-a retreat program/activity (president,) to describe simply: personally spiritual, socially unifying, unprecedented life-changing experience that not many come across in life; i'm very devoted to this huge/best program of the school, might be a good essay.
-piano (gr.10 level? ish)</p>

<p>nothing official but,
-tarantula hobbyist (just.. a huge hobby of mine literally since as far as i can remember about my childhood, kept over 10 of em, just thought might be something unique that i can elaborate on essay, etc)</p>

<p>expecting great recommendations.
no outstanding awards, volunteer, or work experiences.
side note...my greatest passion is all about my devotion to and happiness with school and social life.</p>

<p>absolutely any opinion would be appreciated.</p>

<p>thanks so much,</p>

<p>g</p>

2

<p>ECs are uninspiring, so Stanford is probably out, but I think you are better than 50/50 at the others.</p>

3

<p>yeah i agree with my EC.
thanks very much soze!</p>

<p>*one more extra EC:
a solid role(not lead) in school musicals in gr.9 and 10, (considerable effort and work were involved) in front of 500-people public audiences for several performances each.</p>

4

<p>Agreed about the ECs which makes Stanford a high reach as well as Wharton because I can’t see any demonstrated interest in business? But I think you’ve got Cornell.</p>

5

<p>Would need to know where you rank. Need to bring up scores unless you’re from a severely underrepresented state.</p>

<p>The tarantula hobby, if used well in an essay, could make you stand out. Kids here don’t understand that a unique hobby can push qualified candidates in.</p>

6

<p>Thanks elbeen and redroses.</p>

<p>My rank should be top 10% out of 100 at an independent school in BC canada.</p>

7

<p>For Wharton specifically, you need demonstrated business interest, as elbeeen said. Wharton also recommends Calc BC scores.</p>

<p>Without some basic personal background info (have you ever faced any hardships? is your life just peachy?), it is hard to evaluate you in an “average” context.</p>

<p>I like your involvement with rugby and choir. But again, I don’t know how to put them into context because this time I’m not familiar with the competitions you mentioned.</p>

<p>You already know to raise the SAT score, so I won’t spend further time mentioning that.</p>

<p>Overall, your application is outstanding on its own, but in the entire pool of Ivy/Stanford applicants, it falls flat. And why is that?</p>

<p>So many applicants look to colleges to see what the college can offer them, but not enough applicants consider the reverse: the perspective of the admissions officer. What can you offer the school? That is the question they want to see answered by your extracurricular record.</p>

<p>You have some solid leadership roles, but so do many other applicants. What separates you from the pack of other high-scoring, high-potential applicants? You need to make yourself a compelling case by showing the adcoms <em>what you can offer the school</em>. </p>

<p>That’s why rugby and choir appealed to me. You demonstrated a lot of ability in those activities. </p>

<p>I’m not familiar with the extent of your impact on the religious group you mentioned, so I can’t really make any pointers there.</p>

<p>Your tarantula hobby is unique and could make for a very potent essay. However, it is risky because you may come off as…different in a negative way. You want adcoms to view you as interesting to be around and a unique addition to the campus. While this hobby satisfies the latter point, I am
not so sure that it’ll inspire an adcom to want to hang around you. But for the most part, your hobby can be a very intriguing essay topic.</p>

<p>While it is good that you have a passion for happiness, again, how will this personal commitment influence the school? If you cannot demonstrate what you can contribute to the campus, why should an admissions officer want you at the school? </p>

<p>Put yourself in the shoes of
an admissions officer and answer that question. Once you have a justifiable answer, approach your applications with that mindset.</p>

8

<p>ECs are probably not strong enough for Wharton and Stanford. Maybe cornell if you can get the 2300+ you’re aiming for</p>

9

<p>Your ECs are really at the low end for those three schools. You should still apply, but I hope you have a good backup list</p>

10

<p>thanks drunkofdreams, for the very helpful post.</p>

<p>and thanks awped, and sup.</p>

<p>it just seems that the more i think about this and read these replies, the more unlikely my chances seem to be.</p>

<p>i don’t want to do something at this point (too late now anyways) just for the sake of college applications; i prefer to just do my best and create with what i’ve really done so far, but i am starting to feel desperate.</p>

<p>drunkofdreams, i’ll keep your post in my mind until the moment i click “send” or "save’ on my applications. :)</p>

<p>but is there anything i can do at this moment?</p>

<p>any other input would be really appreciated…</p>

<p>thanks in advance,</p>

<p>g</p>