Chance pleaaase??

questcrew · 10-15-2009, 10:50 AM

I'm a senior from Oregon and I really want to attend Amherst so chances and advice would really be appreciated. I'm an African-American URM my high school is pretty highly ranked in Oregon for large public schools but we're nothing special.

My Stats:
ACT: 32
Class rigor: By the time I graduate, I will have taken around 6 AP's:
AP Psychology
AP Biology
AP Chemistry
AP Lit and Comp
Calculus
Statistics
this is a fairly high amount for my school

lots of honors as well, but too many to list

UW GPA: 4.0 so far
Rank: 1/680-ish students but I share the rank with some other kids because my school doesn't weight grades

EC's:
Speech and Debate team (This is my main one)
~Awards
6-time District Champion in 5 different events
Northern Oregon LD Debate Champion
Impromptu State Finalist
Won numerous local competitions
National Qualifier to Birmingham Alabama
Broke at Nationals in Impromptu

~Honors
National Forensic League All-American
Speech and Debate team president for 3 years
Many team awards like best new speechie(when i was a freshman), Most Valuable Speechie etc...
Set School Record for most posts (correlates with distinctions below)
Four Varsity Academic Letters

~Distinctions
Merit, Honor, Excellence, Special Distinction, Superior Distinction, Outstanding Distinction
Hoping to get Premier Distinction before i graduate

Senior Class Vice-President

Track and Field 1 year (Varsity Letter)

2 year Cav Crew leader (Nationally known as Link Crew, helps lead incoming freshman through first days of school)

Medical Explorers Member

Participant on "High Five" Game show, Kind of like quiz bowl but a little better and not as frequent

Other Honors/Awards:
AP Scholar
Certificate of Excellence (Pretty big deal, got it in front of my whole school)
Honors Diploma
Some Student of the year stuff but not that big of a deal

Volunteer:
Church Youth Group Leader (200+ hrs)
Hospital (100+ hrs)

Summer:
Job-Shadowed an Anesthesiologist and watched several surgeries

I'm also hoping to write my best essays to further improve my chances. I am also hoping my URM status + Geographical location will give me a little edge as well. Please chance me and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

kwu · 10-15-2009, 03:24 PM

You look great. You should consider applying for, and then attending, Amherst's Diversity Open House to better determine whether it's the right school for you. Essays are very important. Good luck.

sptch · 10-15-2009, 03:37 PM

Ditto what kwu said.

GA2012MOM · 10-15-2009, 04:34 PM

The OP is a senior, so has missed the opportunity for DIVOH, but I agree in thinking that she/he looks very competetive.

The Government · 10-15-2009, 05:23 PM

Eh, you'll probably get in, considering that you're an African American valedictorian from Oregon with good ECs and a good ACT score.

questcrew · 10-15-2009, 06:41 PM

Thanks so much for all the chances!! From what I hear Amherst is a fairly diverse campus, or at least different races get along well and there isn't a strain like there is at Vanderbilt or other colleges which are far away from Oregon. Here it really isn't a problem at all and most of my friends, in fact all of my friends minus a couple, are white. Can anyone confirm this to be true or at least similar at Amherst??

ejr1 · 10-18-2009, 11:28 AM

DD, who is white, and a FA student, just graduated, and her friends ran the gamut - international, afro-american, orientals, whites, etc.

Parliament · 10-24-2009, 08:22 PM

orientals? EXCUSE me?