Yarr, what be my chances? (Seven top-rated schools)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I’m from a small, rural, backwoods public school that has sent one kid to an Ivy League school (a kid who was accepted to Dartmouth ED last year) in its entire forty-three year history. The locals place an emphasis upon athletics to the point that, in an edition of the local newspaper released a few months ago, a photograph displaying a state champion (me) and state runner-up in VHSL forensic competition standing alongside their two coaches appeared in a small black-and-white frame in one corner of one page – complete with a caption that inaccurately identified the four people in the picture. On the adjacent page read a massive caption titled “EIGHTH GRADE RUNNERS”; the entire page was comprised of full-color photos of the latest eighth-grade track and field event. Sorry, I think I’m just rambling now. Onward, then…</p>

<p>I’m interested in applying to Princeton or Penn ED, or Harvard EA; I haven’t decided yet. If I’m deferred (or rejected outright) in the early round, I will apply to Brown, Stanford, UVA and Yale in addition to the three aforementioned schools. I am interested in knowing my chances at Princeton and Penn ED, Harvard EA, and all of these schools in the regular application season.</p>

<p>I have my preferences somewhat aligned in terms of schools, although I won’t bother mentioning them here. What opinions are given here won’t affect what school I apply to in the early decision/action round; at the moment, I am merely finalizing my choice.</p>

<p>My family’s low-income, if it matters. My mother has a high school diploma, and my father has a four-year college degree.</p>

<p>My high school also includes eighth graders (we have no middle school), and I have included below the only two eighth grade courses that will show up on my transcript.</p>

<p>Class rank: 2/142
GPA: 4.29</p>

<p>8th grade classes:</p>

<p>-Algebra I (A)
-Spanish I (A)</p>

<p>9th grade classes:
-Geometry (A)
-Spanish II (A)
-Health/PE (required…sigh) (A)
-Speech/Drama (A)
-World History II (A)
-English 9 (B)
-Earth Science (A)
-Algebra II (A)</p>

<p>10th grade classes:</p>

<p>-Trigonometry (A)
-Honors English 10 (A)
-Biology (A)
-Chemistry (A)
-Geography (A)
-Spanish III (A)
-Accounting (A)
-Driver’s Ed/PE (again, only because it was required…) (A)</p>

<p>11th grade classes:</p>

<p>-Calculus (A)
-Honors English 11 (A)
-Chemistry II (A)
-Finance (A)
-Advanced US History (no, not an actual AP class…although it was a weighted class) (A)
-AP Psychology (independent study) (A)
-Physics (A)
-Study Hall (I don’t know if this actually shows up on the transcript; I’m pretty certain that it doesn’t, although only three courses would be present for my second semester nevertheless…)</p>

<p>11th-12th grade summer classes:</p>

<p>-AP Microeconomics (independent study) (A)
-AP Macroeconomics (independent study) (A)</p>

<p>12th grade classes:</p>

<p>-AP Calculus (two semesters) (anticipated A)
-AP US History (two semesters) (independent study) (anticipated A)
-Honors English 12 (anticipated A)
-AP English (anticipated A)
-Honors Government (anticipated A)
-AP Human Geography (independent study) (anticipated A)</p>

<p>SAT/SATII/AP scores:</p>

<p>-SAT: 2100 (670 CR/690 M/740 WR), retaking in October; comparatively speaking, I scored 200+ points higher than anyone else in my class, where the average score for the new SAT thus far seems to be ~1400
-SATIIs: 700 USHistory, 670 Literature (retaking in November), I haven’t decided on a third…maybe World History…ehh, who knows.
-APs: 5 Psychology</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendations:</p>

<p>-Honors English 11 teacher/forensics coach (should be a wicked awesome rec)
-Honors English 10 teacher (should be a good rec…I can replace her with possibly my Honors Government teacher if you folks deem it highly advisable…)
-Optional rec: AP Psychology teacher (this guy uses my papers as reference material, should be an excellent rec)
-Counselor rec…hmm…I don’t know my counselors super well but the rec should be good nevertheless. I hope.</p>

<p>Extracurricular activities, awards:</p>

<p>-VHSL Forensic Competition (Division A), Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, 9th-12th grade
-Participated in district competition, 9th grade (4th place so I didn’t advance to regional competition…should I bother mentioning my place at all in this particular instance?)
-Outstanding Achievement Award from school board office for forensic participation, 9th grade
-2nd place at district competition, 2nd place at regional competition, 4th place at state competition, 10th grade
-Selected as most outstanding forensic participant of the year in my school, 10th grade
-Outstanding Achievement Award from school board office for forensic participation, 10th grade
-VHSL forensic letter (should I elaborate upon the significance of this? I “lettered,” ta-da!), 10th grade
-Attended weeklong forensic camp at Hargrave Military Academy, summer of 10th-11th grade
-6th place (finalist) at an invitational forensic tournament (schools from much of the state showed up…I’m not mentioning a school name for reasons that I myself am not sure of, although I will certainly mention the school name on my application), 11th grade
-2nd place at district competition, 1st place at regional competition (regional champion), 1st place at state competition (state champion), 11th grade (should I bother with the stupid little “_____ champion” title? Is it worth its mentioning? Sounds grandiose, but is it superfluous?)
-Outstanding Achievement Award from school board office for forensic participation, 11th grade
-VHSL forensic letter, 11th grade
-Participant, 12th grade (although we must wait and see to determine the results of the upcoming invitational tournament and of the regular forensic season…)</p>

<p>-Local academic decathlon (that I’m not naming for some reason or another), 9th-11th grade
-Participated in Social Studies decathlon extensively, in All-Around decathlon semi-extensively
-Attended regional competition and competed in Social Studies category at this competition, 11th grade
-Likely not participating this year because I feel no commitment to this activity, do not enjoy this activity and dislike a few of my teammates (should I mention these reasons as an addendum of sorts on my application?)</p>

<p>FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America), 8th-12th grade
-Member, 8th grade
-Attended FBLA regional conference, 8th grade
-Member and Treasurer, 9th grade
-Attended FBLA national conference, 9th grade
-Member and Historian, 10th grade
-Attended FBLA regional conference, FBLA state conference and FBLA national conference, 10th grade
-Business Communications competition: 1st place at regional competition, 3rd place at state competition (should I somehow mention that this was essentially a test of writing/spelling/syntax/grammatical skills?)
-Member, 11th grade
-Attended FBLA regional conference, 11th grade
-Member, 12th grade</p>

<p>Work experience:</p>

<pre><code>-Worked at a local fast-food restaurant
-~40 hrs/wk, summer of 10th-11th grade (2004)
-~10hrs/wk, first semester of 11th grade (2004-2005)
-~30 hrs/wk, June of 11th-12th grade (2005)
-~20 hrs/wk, July of 11th-12th grade (2005)
</code></pre>

<p>Class office:</p>

<pre><code>-Class Vice President, 10th grade
-Class Vice President, 11th grade
</code></pre>

<p>Beta Club:</p>

<p>-Member, 11th grade (members are selected based upon GPA…should I mention this? It would explain why I was not a member for any previous years)
-Member, 12th grade (might be club President, not sure yet though)</p>

<p>-Member of SADD Club, 10th-12th grade
-Co-founded debate team, 11th grade (I didn’t attend the regional competition due to obligations with my academic decathlon team; should I mention this?)
-Scholastic Bowl (sort of another decathlon sort of thing), 11th-12th (probably) grade…likely the team captain this year
-Junior English Award nominee (at my school)
-Junior English Award recipient (at my school…sole recipient…how do I convey this in my application?)</p>

<p>Students for Students club
-Member, 11th grade
-Volunteered twice at local soup kitchen, 11th grade</p>

<p>-Ayn Rand "Anthem" national essay contest, semi-finalist (~250/8600+…need I include these figures?) (sponsored by the Ayn Rand Institute)
-Academic Letter, 10th-11th grade (probably 12th as well)
-Independent Study of AP Microeconomics and AP Macroeconomics, summer of 11th-12th grade (received an A in both subjects)</p>

<p>I was in the marching band in eighth grade, but I don’t feel that this is worth mentioning. However, I deemed my FBLA membership in eighth grade worth mentioning because it demonstrates the longevity of my participation in and commitment to FBLA.</p>

<p>I’ll probably write essays about fast-food work, forensics, why I am interested in the school(s) I’m applying to, my love for music…things of that nature. Perhaps my favorite quote as well, which has stuck with me despite its extreme obscurity (it’s from a children’s book).</p>

<p>Whew, I don’t think I missed anything. Considering a philosophy or psychology major.</p>

<p>My apologies in advance for presenting so much information, and for the funky formatting; I attempted to copy this from Microsoft Word and it didn't work quite as expected (a loss of italics and alignment, among other things). Righty, then: Have at it, folks.</p>

2

<p>When I look at your list, I see the words "member" and "attended" all over the place. Adcoms don't acknowledge these words (or the sentences they are phrased in for that matter)</p>

<p>All 7 of those schools are super reaches, with exception of UVA if you are instate... You have to find real reaches, matches, safeties. Good luck</p>

3

<p>The schools don't really care what the average SAT for your school is, they care how you did against the rest of the country. They will cut you some slack for being from certain depressed areas, but you are not first generation college like many low income people. You need to raise your SAT to the 720+ range on all parts plus 3 SAT IIs over 750.</p>

4

<p>Ba-dop bop, buh-dop BOP! <em>BUMP</em> (Mario theme)</p>

<p>I appreciate the replies but must admit that I'm puzzled by them because they conflict with my own experiences.</p>

<p>The kid who was accepted into Dartmouth from my school last year was ranked 20/~130, took nothing close to the most rigorous courseload offered (I shared many classes with him despite his being a year older than me), had a similar SAT score to mine (if you convert his to the new scale, or mine to the old scale) and received no actual awards for his extracurriculars, only participating in our academic decathlon. SATIIs above 750? No, his Chem SATII was actually a 640. He never held a job, never took summer classes, but Dartmouth was more than happy to take him nevertheless. Didn't even get deferred.</p>

<p>Actually, he served as our school's mascot for football games/promotional events/etc.; how much of an impact does that have? Does it compensate for all of his shortcomings - relative to me - and make him a thoroughly more desirable candidate than me? I enjoy having responses, but I can't understand them because they don't match up with my own experiences, unless top-rated schools absolutely love high school mascots.</p>

<p>In fact, the kid from a neighboring school who got into Harvard RD, Duke RD and Yale EA last year had a 1480 on the old SAT, never achieved at my level in forensics (think he was 2nd at state one year), and lacked club participation; in the scholastic bowl he took his team to the state title one year, but...that's all, methinks.</p>

<p>I'm puzzled by my responses but...ehh, whatever. Still happy to have replies, so thanks.</p>

5

<p>I think you have a decent chance at Dartmouth. They seem to like the backwoodsy sort (or so I've experienced, with a few friends who have been admitted). I wouldn't say you are a shoe-in or a shoe-out (yes, I know that isn't a phrase). You obviously have stellar ECs and good grades. I would say it could go either way. Yes, they compare SATs/ACTs to the rest of the nation, but they still evaluate you within the context of your school. I wouldn't base your entire philosphy on the fact that a similar kid from your area got into similar schools with similar stats...Admissions are subjective, so obviously it varies from kid to kid/ year to year, etc. I wouldn't rule any of them out though. Good luck :)</p>

6

<p>I think you'll get into at least one of the schools on your list. Maybe not Harvard but definitely one of them because of your high rank, crappy school (no offense) and okay scores. You'll also receive a little push (dare I say affirmative action?) due to your rural location, assuming that it doesn't send that many people to ivys or top schools.</p>

7

<p>It is tough to compare you to the one particular applicant that was accepted ED to Dartmouth, as no numbers will explain why he was accepted. With that in mind, you have a chance. But by no means are you an "in" b/c you have better stats than someone that was accepted. Think about the perfect scorers that are rejected from these places...</p>

<p>However, you are in the game and have a chance. I hope you have some super safe schools in mind as back-ups. There is no one that should only apply to those schools.</p>

8

<p>The kid from your school had something that made Dartmouth want him with below average stats. You may or may not know what it is. Low income is a plus, but you have a college educated parent, average (for ivies) ECs and well below average SATs (most aren't looking at writing which means you have a 1360). I see good schools, but not an ivy. Try Trinity, Colby, Bowdoin, etc.</p>

9

<p>Colleges look for diversity by state (i.e. they like to say that every year they accept students from every state). If you are from VA, your location is not good for college admissions, as you will be compared with applicants from Fairfax County. You have the best shot at upenn; bad shot at harvard, princeton, yale</p>

10

<p>You didn't ask about Dart, you asked about Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton. You won't get into those with those scores, and likely not Dart either.</p>

11

<p>i highly recommend u apply to some other schools and some safetys. all those colleges u listed are very high reaches for u.</p>

12

<p>You need safeties - if you don't revise your list to have like...Johns Hopkins / Brandeis etc. you run a serious risk of not getting in anywhere.</p>

<p>If your school doesn't give you awards for the crap you do, mention that somehow...right now it looks like a laundry list of semi-attendance to resume build! I'd rather have half of your ECs and show commitment if I were an adcom.</p>

<p>Sorry...its the truth.</p>