Would somebody please chance me at these top schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>First of all, interesting forum. If you're reading this, thanks dave33 for referring me.</p>

<p>Now for the reason for this thread... Below is a copy of my "resume". It's nothing that I'd send to colleges, but I've been using it for a while, and it gives a pretty good summary of my activities. I'd like feedback from the community about my chances of getting into the top tier schools, specifically: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, UofPenn, Brown, Dartmouth, UofChicago, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, Duke, Standford and Princeton.</p>

<p>EDUCATION: Plan to Graduate from Council Rock High School South June 2010
Current 4.00 GPA
Rank in class: 1 out of 549
A in AP Macroeconomics and AP Us Government and Politics from John Hopkins University's CTY Distance Education (June - August 2007)
A in Honors Precalculus with Trigonometry from John Hopkins University's CTY Distance Education (July - October 2006)
Advanced Music Theory from Settlement Music School (September 2007 – present) </p>

<p>ETS Tests PSAT- 229 total- 80 Critical Reading, 80 Math, 69 Writing (fall 2008)
SAT I- 2340- 800 Critical Reading, 800 Math, 740 Writing (March 2009)
SAT II Chinese – 800 (fall 2007)
SAT II Math Level 2- 800 (fall 2008)
SAT II US History- 770 (fall 2008)
5's on AP US Government and Politics and on AP US History Exam (2008)
4's on AP Biology and AP Macroeconomics Exams (2008)
HONORS
AND AWARDS: AP Scholar with Honor
Top scorer on Council Rock High School South Mathletes season 2007- 2008
Top AMC score in Council Rock High School South(2008)
Top 15 Atlantic Pacific score in Council Rock High School South (2007 - 2008)
Merit scholarship from Settlement Music School (March 2007)
Certified level 5 pianist (one level below professional) from Settlement Music School (March 2008)
Invited to play in Settlement Music School's Annual Concert (April 2009)
2nd place in Economics at Pennsylvania Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Regional Leadership Conference (December 2008)<br>
16th place in Economics at PA FBLA State Leadership Conference (April 2009)
13th place in Business Math at Pennsylvania Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) State Leadership Conference (May 2007)
2nd place in Business Math at Pennsylvania FBLA Region 12 Leadership Conference (January 2007)
3rd place in Public Speaking I at Region 12 Leadership Conference (January 2008)
1st place award Bucks County Reading Olympics (spring 2008)
3rd place 2007-2008 Mathletes season<br>
Membership Mania award from PA FBLA (February 2009)
Membership Madness award from PA FBLA (February 2009)<br>
Recognized by Council Rock School District Superintendent for exceptional commitment to the community
WORK
EXPERIENCE: Internship with Non-Traditional Media Co. (June 2007- present)
Perfected the Online School Business Program (the program targets high school organizations and markets goods designed to fit their needs)
Counselor for Camp Invention (summer 2007, summer 2008)
Volunteer at Holy Redeemer Hospital (April 2007- present, every Saturday)</p>

<p>ACTIVITIES/
ACHEIVMENTS: National Philanthropy Councilperson on the National FBLA Treasurer's
Council
President of PA FBLA Region 12 (January 2008 - present)
President of Council Rock High School South FBLA (2007-2008 school year)
Executive Officer of Scholar's Bowl (2008 – present)
Captain Council Rock High School South Mathletes team (summer 2008- present)
CEO of PFEW group C-2
Member Spanish National Honors Society (Spring 2008 – present)
Member Science National Honors Society (Fall 2008- present)
Coach Richboro Middle School Mathcounts Team (2006- 2007, 2007- 2008 school years)
Piano Scholarship from Settlement Music School (2007 – 2008, 2008 - 2009 school years)
Member of the Talk Tennis Warehouse tennis forum (July 2007-present),
2200 posts and counting
Member of South Symphonic Choir Bass II Section (2007 – 2008 school year)
Member of Scholar's Bowl (September 2007 – present)
Member Mathletes (September 2007 - present)
Member Interact Club (2007 – 2008 school year)
Member of Reading Olympics Team (September 2007 - present)
Member of Environmental Action Club (2006 - 2008)
Member of FBLA (2006 – present)
Member Political Science (2008- present)
Member JV Tennis Team (Spring 2008)
Member of PFEW company C-2 (Summer 2008 - present)
Tennis player 6 years<br>
Pianist 9 years</p>

<p>I'm aware that nothing on my resume is "exceptional". I'm trying to appeal to the top tier colleges as the perfect well rounded student. </p>

<p>In terms of what I've spent my summers doing... I volunteered at a hospital, visited China and took two AP courses over the summer freshmen year. I took 1 AP course, attended a smal summer program, and continued my volunteering summer of sophmre year. I plan to continue volunteering and attend PA's School for Global Entrep. (gov school) this summer.</p>

<p>Thanks for your imput!</p>

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<p>Good shot at all.</p>

<p>Good luck</p>

3

<p>Sleep much?</p>

<p>That aside, judging by a quick glance at your stats, I think that CMU, Northwestern, Chicago & Duke are quite within reach. What are you looking to study?
I can’t say much for Ivies - it’s really a bit of a crapshoot, in all honestly.<br>
That being said, I would make sure that your essays demonstrate a clear passion for something - if you look too well-rounded, it may appear that you seek to cover many areas, but none in particular depth. Demonstrate your passions.</p>

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<p>I’m looking to go for either a business/econ major, or a premed/biochem major.</p>

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<p>I’d also appreciate it if somebody could tell me how much I need in terms of volunteer experience/hours. I have 80 from volunteering at a summer camp, 22 from coaching a math team, and 150ish from volunteering at a hospital. I’m aware that it totals 250 some, but is that enough? Should I focus a bit more on community service?</p>

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<p>Whoa! I’m only a high school sophomore so I can’t really chance you but your high school career has blown me away. How did you have time for all those? Wow. By the way, any tips on preparing for FBLA competitions? I’ve been in the club for a year and I’m strongly considering competing this year. But there are so many events that I don’t know where to begin/choose from. I should probably ask the sponsor as well, lol.</p>

<p>Just from an objective, not-experienced-with-college-apps viewpoint, I think that your experiences strongly shout: Very involved in community, especially in math and business. Not to be stereotypical, label, no negative connotations involved, etc, but they also lean on the nerdy side. However, based on what I’ve heard from family friends and college students, since you have awards in those areas and good general stats (test scores, GPA, etc), I think you have a fair chance at the schools you’ve listed and you don’t look like a “nerd-just-because” who stays at home all the time since we can see that you’re truly passionate and involved in your activities. That’s just what I think. Adding one or two safeties probably won’t hurt but again, I don’t know much about the specific application competitiveness of these schools.</p>

<p>Hope that helps lol. Good luck!</p>

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<p>pinksoysauce… As a HS sophmore, I recommend that (if you really want a strong shot at nationals) you compete in any event labeled with a I or with a grade specification of 9-10. These events include accounting I, word I, public speaking I, business math, among others. As for asking sponsors… well, they won’t do anything. For the most part, the sponsors won’t really have that much of an idea, considering that the amount of money they’re sponsoring is very small. </p>

<p>As for preparation, it depends. If it’s for any of the interview/public speaking stuff, there’s no real way to prepare. You’re either good at it, or you’re not. For the rest, find a business teacher and get them to lend you a course text book. Most of the competitions relate directly to a class. </p>

<p>The competitions I competed in were Business math, econ, and public speaking. For business math, make sure you read through a business math textbook, as there’s a lot of business specific terms. Also, get to really fast with a 5 function calculator. For econ, learn micro and macroeconomics well. I took both AP exams, and still did poorly at states. Partly, this is because there’s quite a bit of business calculations stuff covered on the econ exam.</p>

<p>Hope this helps, and best of luck in your competition this year. If you have any more questions, feel free to email me at my user name @gmail.com. If you need help running for any of the offices, feel free to contact me.</p>

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<p>Wow, that’s some amazing advice! Thanks so much. That narrows it down a bit and gives me a better idea of what the competitions are like. By sponsor, I meant the club supervisor, who’s a business teacher - we call them sponsors at our school but I suppose that’s not the best term. :)</p>

<p>I was looking through the events listing on the FBLA website and I was quite surprised at some of the events. Client service? Job interview? While they’re business-related, I didn’t think they’d have events for those lol.</p>

<p>Thanks so much for your help! If I have any more questions, I’d love to contact you in the future. Best of luck on your college applications!</p>