What are my chances? (Aiming for Yale,UPenn, UChicago EA and others) Thanks!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Gender: F
Ethnicity: Asian
Location: Southwest
College Class Year: 2013
High School: Public
High School Type: sends some grads to schools like duke, upenn, stanford but no harvard or yale, etc.</p>

<p>Academics:
GPA - Unweighted: 3.85
GPA - Weighted: 4.90
Class Rank: top 5% (Currently ranked 8/700, but that will probably change after 2nd semester grades go in)
Course selection: All AP or IB courses. (Tested in 2 IBs (chem and spanish) and 4 APs) Next year will be all AP and IB courses as well. </p>

<p>Scores:
SAT total: 1410/2110
SAT I Math: 680
SAT I Critical Reading: 730
SAT I Writing: 700
ACT-32</p>

<p>Will take SAT II's in US History and Math-2, chem on June 7th
Will retake SAT in Oct--aiming for 2250-2300
Will retake ACT in June--aiming for 35-36</p>

<p>ECs
-Speech and Debate (9-12), President/Head Captain (11,12), Policy Captain (10)
-National Spanish Honors Society (9-12), President (12), Publicity Manager (11)
-Key Club (9-12), President (12), Lt Gov (12)
-National Honors Society, Secretary (12) <---considering dropping
-Governor's Youth Commission(11-12), Chair of a committee and team leader (12)
-Mayor's Youth Commission, Chair(11-12)(this upcoming year)
-National Youth Council (just chosen to join)
-Independent Volunteer Project
-Science research--For the past year at the state university working with a professor. As a sophomore, independently seeked out a grad student to serve as a mentor (9-12)
-And a myriad of other stuff like MUN, and I played tennis during 9-10 but didn't my junior year so I don't think I'm putting that on. </p>

<p>Employment
This summer: Working at a university lab that I've been researching in all year.</p>

<p>Honors/Awards
1st place Congressional Speaking- Local Tournament
2nd place Expository Speaking- National Tournament
3rd place Extemporaneous Speaking- National Tournament
And a myriad of semis and finals for local tournaments..
1st place- My school and another school in my district's science fair (three years now)
2nd place- State science fair (2007)
5th place- Science symposium--also was the state delegate to the National symposium
HOBY delegate
Summer program--1 of 10 US representatives chosen to attend a fully scholarship funded international program by the US State Department
--1 of 9 girls chosen to attend a mountaineering/glacier/leadership program in Seattle
---State delegate to the Congressional Academy program funded by the US Dept. of Education
---Various leadership summits
I'm aiming for more speech and debate awards and getting to ISEF and ITS, etc.</p>

<p>Recs/Essays
I've got one good teacher rec for sure, and my counselor actually knows me. I have like 3 good outside of school recs from the ppl I work with. Essays will hopefully be good. I used to love writing when I had time.</p>

<p>Hooks--ECs, and summer programs. Weaknesses: GRADES (I got 4 Bs 1st semester of junior year and will probably get 3 Bs 2nd semester of junior year...they're in the same classes of chem, and math. Otherwise, before that it was all As)<--How bad will this hurt me?</p>

<p>Colleges of Interest
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
UPenn
Duke
JHU
WUSTL
Georgetown EA
UChicago EA
Notre Dame- EA
UMichigan OOS--AnnArbor-Rolling admission
Rice
Northwestern
UC Berkeley OOS
Boston University/College
USC
Columbia
Williams
Wesleyn
Cornell
NYU</p>

<p>Interested in majoring in econ/foreign policy/maybe biochem<--stuck between science and humanities, but I love politics
Obviously I need to cut my list some. I'm defn applying to all the EA schools, but other than that I need help to find fit schools to apply to. Sorry this is kinda long, but thanks in advance for any help/advice you can give! :o)</p>

2

<p>Your ECs and awards are really great, and this will help you A LOT. The Ivys are going to be reaches, but they are for just about anyone. I say if you can raise your SAT score another 100 points or so like you have planned, you should be in decent shape. And the B’s shouldn’t hurt you too much. You’re unweighted GPA is still really good, and your rank is fine.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for your advice! Any more chances anyone? I’m trying to use this to help me narrow down my college list. :o)</p>

4

<p>7 B’s on your junior transcript and 2110 SATs are going to make admission to YPS very difficult. You still would have a chance, but I don’t think your EC’s and ORM status could open the door at this point.</p>

<p>Your EC’s are decent; they wouldn’t keep you out of school. But the commissions and councils might be tiring on an adcom eye after a while. </p>

<p>I’ll try to expand later, but try to cut down that list to something a little more reasonable.</p>

5

<p>yeah, but isn’t she going to retake the SAT’s??</p>

<p>good luck!</p>

6

<p>everything you have pretty much puts you within the ivys, except try to improve on your SAT test scores.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for all your help everyone! Innervisions advice made sense, lol. Here’s a more reasonable list of colleges for you all. If you could chance me with like match/reach/fit I would greatly appreciate it! You’re all amazing :)</p>

<p>Colleges of Interest
Yale
UPenn
Duke
JHU
WUSTL
UChicago EA
Notre Dame- EA
UMichigan OOS–AnnArbor-Rolling admission
Rice
Northwestern
Columbia
Williams
Cornell
NYU</p>

8

<p>bumppppppppp</p>

9

<p>Scores:
SAT total: 1410/2110
SAT I Math: 680
SAT I Critical Reading: 730
SAT I Writing: 700
ACT-32</p>

<p>WAAAAY below average for Yale</p>

<p>Will take SAT II’s in US History and Math-2, chem on June 7th
Will retake SAT in Oct–aiming for 2250-2300
Will retake ACT in June–aiming for 35-36</p>

<p>Sounds good.</p>

<p>ECs
-"Speech and Debate (9-12), President/Head Captain (11,12), Policy Captain (10)
-National Spanish Honors Society (9-12), President (12), Publicity Manager (11)
-Key Club (9-12), President (12), Lt Gov (12)
-National Honors Society, Secretary (12) <—considering dropping
-Governor’s Youth Commission(11-12), Chair of a committee and team leader (12)
-Mayor’s Youth Commission, Chair(11-12)(this upcoming year)
-National Youth Council (just chosen to join)
-Independent Volunteer Project
-Science research–For the past year at the state university working with a professor. As a sophomore, independently seeked out a grad student to serve as a mentor (9-12)
-And a myriad of other stuff like MUN, and I played tennis during 9-10 but didn’t my junior year so I don’t think I’m putting that on. "</p>

<p>No community service= not good. Sorry, but you need some leadership.</p>

<p>Employment
This summer: Working at a university lab that I’ve been researching in all year.</p>

<p>“Honors/Awards
1st place Congressional Speaking- Local Tournament
2nd place Expository Speaking- National Tournament
3rd place Extemporaneous Speaking- National Tournament
And a myriad of semis and finals for local tournaments..”</p>

<p>Not bad, but the Ivies strive for excellence.</p>

<p>“1st place- My school and another school in my district’s science fair (three years now)
2nd place- State science fair (2007)
5th place- Science symposium–also was the state delegate to the National symposium
HOBY delegate
Summer program–1 of 10 US representatives chosen to attend a fully scholarship funded international program by the US State Department
–1 of 9 girls chosen to attend a mountaineering/glacier/leadership program in Seattle
—State delegate to the Congressional Academy program funded by the US Dept. of Education
—Various leadership summits
I’m aiming for more speech and debate awards and getting to ISEF and ITS, etc.”</p>

<p>Good.
R</p>

<p>ecs/Essays
“I’ve got one good teacher rec for sure, and my counselor actually knows me. I have like 3 good outside of school recs from the ppl I work with. Essays will hopefully be good. I used to love writing when I had time.”</p>

<p>Ok.</p>

<p>“Hooks–ECs, and summer programs. Weaknesses: GRADES (I got 4 Bs 1st semester of junior year and will probably get 3 Bs 2nd semester of junior year…they’re in the same classes of chem, and math. Otherwise, before that it was all As)<–How bad will this hurt me?”</p>

<p>It’s all over, kid. Unless, of course, you go to an amazingly competitive high school with an average SAT of 2150 or whatever, then you might have a slim shot.</p>

<p>Seriously, if you can’t get A’s in high school, I don’t see how Yale would want you, no offense.</p>

<p>Colleges of Interest
"Yale
Princeton
Stanford
UPenn
Duke
JHU
WUSTL
Georgetown EA
UChicago EA
Notre Dame- EA
UMichigan OOS–AnnArbor-Rolling admission
Rice
Northwestern
UC Berkeley OOS
Boston University/College
USC
Columbia
Williams
Wesleyn
Cornell
NYU
"</p>

<p>You need more back-ups. Try Texas A And M, you’ll probably have a good shot there.</p>

<p>Just being realistic, no offense.</p>

10

<p>jmanco has some good advice for you.</p>

<p>Test scores and grades are going to kill you. It’s hard enough to get into schools like Yale, and being an ORM doesn’t help at all…</p>

<p>Your ECs are ok, I see lots of nice leadership positions and such, but nothing really from it. For example, you’ve been working in a lab all of high school and you haven’t entered a competition to legitimize your work? ISEF is going to be next spring…and depending on your regional, it may come too late for any regular decision college to see. </p>

<p>EDIT: Sorry, didnt see your other science awards. I’m guessing you went through JSHS, good job on getting to nationals.</p>

<p>I don’t necessarily agree with jmanco on community service though. I don’t think its required or anything.</p>

<p>*What do you mean by 2nd/3rd at the national tournament. You got 2nd/3rd at NFL Nationals? Because if so…that is very impressive. I have a feeling that what you mean instead is the “district tournament” that qualifies people to nationals.</p>

<p>Chances are iffy-er than the average 7% admit rate or whatever. Your ECs are your strong point, though I probably wouldn’t say theyre good enough to be deemed “hooks”. The key will be if you can make them strong enough so that adcoms look past your grades/scores and admit you.</p>

11

<p>Yale- Reach
Princeton- Reach
Stanford- Reach
UPenn- Match/Reach
Duke- Match/Reach I think it will be a Match if you get that 2250 on SATs
JHU- Match
WUSTL- Match
Georgetown EA- Match
UChicago EA- Match
Notre Dame- EA- Match
UMichigan OOS–AnnArbor- Match
Rice- Match
Northwestern- Match
UC Berkeley OOS- Match
Boston University/College- Match
USC- Match
Columbia- Reach
Williams- Match
Wesleyn- Match
Cornell- Reach
NYU- Match</p>

<p>those are just my opinions :)</p>

12

<p>ponying you to search something, sorry, ignore this…</p>

13

<p>How did you choose your EA choices?</p>

14

<p>jmanco49–No offense taken, I’m glad to take any advice. But, I’m not quite sure what you’re talking about for no leadership in my ECs as I’m going to be prez/chair of several things next year. Maybe I didn’t write that clear enough? Oh and I probably need to point out that the commissions and councils are all community service hours and they all benefit the community, etc. I’ll defn get my SAT scores up to 2250 at least. You mentioned more backups–it seemed you were judging my things by ivy standards, but for the colleges I listed other than ivies (UMichigan, UChicago, JHU , etc.) How would I match up to those?</p>

<p>Echelon32–I’ve done the local/state science fairs since freshman year but getting to ISEF from my state is really weird. But yeah I did JSHS and I’m going to do Siemens, and ITS. Were you at JSHS nationals? For speech and debate–national tournament was the ASU Southwestern Championships. (I was meaning the national tournaments like Harvard and Berkeley, etc.instead of actual NFL Nationals–which would be so cool) The awards I got were actually in the Tournament of Excellence where each school could only send one person to compete and they would have to do like 5 events and it was the day before the actual ASU tournament.</p>

<p>pml161991–thanks for going down my list of colleges. I really appreciate it.</p>

<p>lilian09- I chose them by the schools I love and really want to go to. Notre Dame and Umichigan are tentative safeties but UChicago and Georgetown are schools I really would want to go to. </p>

<p>And for ORM–would it be bad to put down Race Unknown? I don’t completely fit the azn sterotype (piano, math, etc.) but at the same time it is ORM…</p>

<p>Thanks for chancing me! As much as I love being chanced for the Ivies (lol), can you chance me for the non-ivy schools cause I’m having problems on figuring out which schools are match schools, etc. &lt;/p>

15

<p>I have a question- how do you have 7 B’s and a 3.85 UW? That looks a bit odd to me…I think the UW( without adding any extra weight for honors/APs, +/-'s) would be a bit lower…around 3.5+…</p>

<p>I would say Berkeley is a no go because you are 1) OOS and your academic stats aren’t impressive enough to score a win against thousands of really smart californians and uber competative OOS’s and internationals.</p>

<p>You definitely need safeties on your list- I can’t see a single school where you are a shoo-in or ‘safe’ despite UMich and ND.</p>

<p>What schools are you applying EA to? That would make a difference.</p>

16

<p>I would say Rice is a reach for you - might want to consider Tufts as well.</p>

17

<p>7 Bs are semester grades so technically it would be 3 Bs for year grades so my unweighted GPA ended up as 3.85. And while honor classes and stuff aren’t counted into unweighted, I do take a lot of classes (required is 6, but I’ve been taking 7/8) for the past two years. Idk, our school is weird like that.</p>

<p>I’m applying EA to UChicago, Notre Dame, Georgetown (most likely), UMichigan rolling admission and maybe Boston College (as a safety).</p>

<p>And I’ve thought about Tufts and Carnegie Mellon; would those be matches?</p>

18

<p>I’m sorry, but I’m still a bit boggled about your GPA- which is my primary concern when looking at your “reach” and “match” schools</p>

<p>You say that seven B’s are semester grades…so they come out to 3 B’s..how? At my school, we have two final semesters a year and each semester is looked at. Does your school only compute and reflect grades at the end of the year? So, you ended up with 3 B’s and those other 4 B’s were just technicalities that won’t even factor into the admissions process?</p>

<p>Why even mention the other 4 B’s if it’s not seen? Confused…</p>

19

<p>Huh, this is confusing me too now. Lol, ok so let me try to explain this (to you and myself, lol). I got 4 Bs 1st semester of junior year and 3 Bs 2nd semester of junior year. But my GPA is still 3.85 unweighted because it’s cumulative GPA. So it’s not just the GPA of the semester. It’s the ending GPA of junior year and sophomore year and freshman year. And I got all As sophomore and freshman year and I took a lot of classes so maybe it balanced out? Generally, my school is if you get an A in the class for unweighted GPA it’s 4.0 is an A, B is 3.0 , etc. So you just add it all up and divide. And my school only does cumulative GPA. I think I should’ve said it’s cumulative GPA. I just thought most schools did it like that. I hope this clears up the confusion.</p>

20

<p>bumpppppppp</p>