What are my chances of getting into Middlebury?

[ppmirmov]

<p>Thank you in advance for looking at my information and helping me out. I'm extremely obsessed and passionate about language, hence I want to go to the best place for it, Middlebury. (Unless you have other thoughts regarding that?)</p>

<p>So here it goes.</p>

<p>My 9th and 10th grade are disgusting. But, my 11th grade is ridiculous improvement. I hear improvement matters a lot.... so here it goes - </p>

<p>Gender: Male
Los Angeles, CA
Caucasian
Fluent in Russian</p>

<p>9th grade:</p>

<p>English Regular A+
French I A+
Spanish I A+
Geometry Honors C-
Biology Honors C
Track A </p>

<p>English Regular B+
French I A+
Spanish A+
Geometry Regular B+
Biology Honors C
Track A</p>

<p>9th grade GPA - 3.2 - Yes I know, absolutely disgusting. Here I went into 10th hopeful and this is what happened </p>

<p>10th grade</p>

<p>English II Honors B-
French II A+
Spanish II A+
AP European History C
Algebra 2 Honors C
Track A</p>

<p>2nd semester - dropped Algebra 2 Honors, and was recommended to go to spanish 3.
and also (long, horrible story short - someone cheated off of me twice in english, thus was drop failed from the class - there is a WF on my transcript however it does not average into my GPA. I retook "Honors British Literature" at Laurel Springs, and did the 'liberty' of putting into my HS transcript"</p>

<p>English II Honors WF
French II A+
Spanish III A+
AP European History C
Algebra 2 B- (switched mid semester.. didn't have enough time to raise my grade)
Track A
Honors British Literature A</p>

<p>10th grade GPA: 3.4 </p>

<p>3 on Euro.</p>

<p>Yes, so far it is absolutely repulsive and hopeless. I know.</p>

<p>HOWEVER, 11th grade!!!!</p>

<p>There were budget cuts, so there weren't enough periods for me to take Honors Chemistry and Honors Math Analysis (yes it's a stupid longshot due to my previous honors math attempts...but....) Also, I was recommended into Spanish 5 AP and French 5 AP by both of my teachers. The head of the language department of my school said this was one of very few cases of the history of the school that students excelled to take both AP languages... </p>

<p>English 3 Honors A
AP Statistics A
AP Art History A
AP Spanish 5 A
AP French 5 A
US History A
Track A</p>

<p>English 3 Honors A
AP Statistics A
AP Art History A
AP Spanish 5 A
AP French 5 A
US History A
Track A</p>

<p>11th grade GPA: 4.83</p>

<p>Got 5's on all AP tests. </p>

<p>Also, took John Hopkins CTY Honors PreCalculus and Honors Chemistry and got A's in both - 11th grade GPA hopped to 4.857</p>

<p>Senior year, taking</p>

<p>AP Calculus AB
AP English
AP Government/Econ
AP Environmental
AP Physics (very hard, btw...)
Track</p>

<p>I assume I'll get A's.</p>

<p>SO.... how does this look. How does the 11th grade improvement carry things over?! My 10-11 GPA is 4.25 with everything.</p>

<p>A... how horrible is the WF on my transcript... (be assured that when this happened I lost all hope of university and wanted to get my GED... but i geared up to have a good junior year and it happened)</p>

<p>B....In Junior year, I created the most prodigious club at my entire school, called the Calabasas Language Exchange. It's a tutoring system where I find and qualify language speakers at my school and train them into tutors, and pay them with community service to tutor kids struggling. I have like 400 hours from that. Also, I play piano on a pretty professional level.</p>

<p>C.... Is that AP languages and the 5's on them really good for a school like Middlebury?? Is this good?</p>

<p>D... I might go to NY with my mom soon, and we may go to Middlebury. Will it be ok if i go to the admissions office and ask them about my situation and express my wanting to go there?</p>

<p>E.... Should i apply early decision?</p>

<p>or F.... am I screwed and 10th grade F-ed me up.</p>

<p>I would like to know all!!!!!</p>

<p>Recommendations please!!!!!</p>

<p>THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>

<p>*** i am going to learn/teach myself italian and portuguese during this year as well.. perhaps start japanese. the more the merrier!</p>

[hmom5]

<p>A fly on the wall speaks:</p>

<p>

A look at Middlebury admissions
A reporter from the Burlington (VT) Free Press sat in on an admissions committee discussion at Middlebury, and wrote this article:
<a href=“http://burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/...3120309&theme=[/url]”>http://burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/...3120309&theme=&lt;/a&gt;
(I don’t think Free Press articles stay up indefinitely, so this link may not work after awhile.)</p>

<p>To me, the most depressing part of the article was the reporter’s impression that extracurriculars don’t seem to count. The admissions officers seemed most interested in grades and SAT scores.</p>

<p>Some excerpts:</p>

<p>“Applicants the committee tended to endorse quickly were mostly academic titans. They were often in the top 5 percent of their class, with all or almost all A’s in the most difficult courses available at their schools, and near perfect SAT or ACT scores. The admitted applicants often listed numerous extracurricular activities, although the impact these had on the decision-making process was unclear to this reporter.”</p>

<p>And:</p>

<p>"The committee grew excited about one applicant’s internship with a public health organization and the recommendation that she received from a scientist there. This – coupled with the student’s interest in majoring in science at a time when Middlebury is trying harder to recruit future scientists – seemed to help erase a few B’s from the applicant’s transcript in the eyes of the committee. They recommended her for February admission.</p>

<p>In other cases, extracurriculars did not help. A student’s four years on the school newspaper did not cancel out the C he received in pre-calculus or the drop in his GPA after the first semester of his senior year. He was rejected.</p>

<p>Another applicant had an 800 on the SAT critical reading, 700s on the SAT math and writing, and captainship of the varsity soccer team to her credit; but she, too, had a C on her transcript, and her GPA was only in the high 3’s, raising suspicions of slacking.</p>

<p>Someone with such great SATs should be closer to a 4.0 GPA, one committee member suggested. As for her soccer playing? It was viewed as ho-hum – there was no indication she’d taken the initiative to contact coaches at the school, nor was she a recruited athlete. The committee recommended that she be rejected, and then went on to waitlist a 3.97 GPA cello player who had not sent a recording of her cello playing to the music department."</p>

<p>Yet this student was accepted:</p>

<p>"The committee’s longest discussion was about a math genius with weak social skills. The young man’s tests scores were impressive – a perfect 800 on the math SAT II and scores nearly as high on verbals. He’d earned straight A’s in his school’s most challenging math and science courses and dominated math competitions with outstandingly good computation skills.</p>

<p>However, there were problems in his file. The boy had flunked at least one class and consistently drew low ratings on PQs – personal qualities. A school recommendation suggested that the student might need support, socially. An alumni interviewer noted that the boy came across as unenthusiastic during their meeting. "

</p>