For all the chance threads..

Harris Hall · 10-25-2009, 09:09 PM

I assumed this might be helpful.

These were my stats when applying to Emory.

Race: Caucasian
Gender: M
Location: Louisiana
College Class Year: 2013
High School: Public
High School Type: never sends grads to top schools
Will apply for financial aid: Yes

Academics:

GPA - Unweighted: 3.92
GPA - Weighted: 0.00
Class Rank: top 5 students
Class Size: 44

Scores:

ACT: 31

Extracurriculars:

Significant Extracurriculars: FBLA
FFA
NHS
NJHS
Student Council
Stage Crew
Library Club
Leadership positions: Student Council Pres
NHS/NJHS officer
FBLA officer
Volunteer/Service Work: volunteered at "help hammer hunger"
volunteered at church roofing project
volunteered at shriner's circus

I think the fact that I was from Louisiana was a hook that helped me out. I wrote a decent essay, definitely not the best that I've done but not terrible. I was accepted ED. Schools I also applied to were U Rochester (accepted, scholarship), LSU (accepted, full scholarship), Tulane (accepted, full scholarship --including certain LA only scholarships--), Drexel (scholarship), LA Tech (full scholarship), Brown (waitlisted, stayed on but didn't follow through, not selected), and Washington and Lee (waitlisted, didn't stay on).

Hope this helps, you guys can kind of stack up against me and see where you are. The thing is, there are so many intangibles that I really wouldn't worry. Just make sure to apply to the schools you like, put in some work on your essays, and you should be fine. You will get in somewhere you like. Also as for "effort in pursuing the school" or whatever, I never visited, or had an interview.

I'll be happy to answer other questions, but I'm pretty busy normally so I may not always get to get back very soon, but I should be able to respond at some point.

ToTheResQ · 10-27-2009, 08:57 PM

Thank you for posting this kind sir.

Colleges00701 · 10-30-2009, 07:50 PM

I guess I can post too......Since I remember looking through the Accepted Students link on What Are my Chances Forum, and only finding a couple of kids who posted about Emory......

Asian Male from Texas

College Class Year: 2013
High School: Public
High School Type: Most kids in top 5 percent get into top 20 schools....
Will apply for financial aid: First I didn't, but after I got in, I did

Academics:

GPA - Unweighted: 3.8
GPA - Weighted: 4.1
Class Rank: Top 20 percent. ----High school was compeitive, counselor mentioned this in letter of rec
Class Size: 470

Scores:

Sat Scores - (Single Sitting) 750 - Critical Reading, 730- Math , 700 -Writing (2180/2400), (1480/1600)
- (Super Score ) 750 - Critical Reading , 750 - Math, 700 -Writing (2200/2400), (1500/1600)

Sat Subject Tests
750 - U.S. History
730 - Math 1

Extracurriculars:

Karate
Youth Club
Pre-Med Club
NHS
Volunteering/Shadowing Physicans

If you get into Emory, and plan on attending, get ready to work your asses off for your grades....

gkc4 · 11-09-2009, 12:35 AM

Waitlisted, but then accepted.

Race: Asian
Gender: F
Location: Georgia
College Class Year: 2012
High School: Public
High School Type: top 5% go to top 20 schools
Will apply for financial aid: Yes

Academics:

GPA - Unweighted: 3.5
GPA - Weighted: 3.8
Class Rank: top 10%
Class Size: ~480
Courses: 11 APs (5s on all except Calc and Physics which I got 3s in)

Scores:

SAT: CR) 800, Math) 700, Writing) 730
SAT English Lit: 730
SAT US History: 720

Extracurriculars:

Significant Extracurriculars:
Newspaper (editor)
Model UN (delegation leader)
NHS (treasurer)
Orchestra
debate (co-captain)
volunteering at this bible study camp for disabled kids during the summer

I was rejected by most of the colleges I applied to (Northwestern- R, USC- R, Columbia- R, NYU- A w/ scholarship, UGA- A w/ scholarship, Emory- WL, accepted).

When I look back, I think my GPA was what killed my apps. I felt my ECs were decent in that I focused on several and held leadership positions/won awards with them (journalism awards, first place national high school MUN, etc.). I was honestly really proud of my college essay, and I got very good comments on it by two English teachers.

However, don't worry that much. I remember freaking the **** out about colleges and how I thought where I got in would determine the rest of my future... TBH grad schools are more important, and it's how well you do in undergrad that determines things.

To anyone who really wants to go to Emory, make sure to visit or show interest since Emory loves that stuff.

If any of you are WL and want to follow through, make sure you send in extra recs and supplementary materials to really show them you're interested. Off the top of my head, I remember sending an email reaffirming my interest to my counselor, a peer review, samples of the work I did on my school newspaper, artwork I won some award for, and other random artwork I've done.

melin720 · 11-09-2009, 03:51 PM

It seems that from what I've seen the rigor of high school courses don't matter that much as long as you took the hardest class in your school.

That means if your school offers IB (if you go through 4 years of this program then you really have a skill for keeping sanity, since it gives you crazy amont of homework and hard tests) you're screwed, unless you're really good at time management and have a lot of intelligence.

No joke.

Everyone in senior IB at my scholol (well, most people) is ****ed right now 'cause if they dropped out they could easily ace every AP class and get 4.5+ GPA and get into any college. But now that they chose to go through this hell their GPA is a bit low....

Don't do IB I'm telling you! It's NOT worth it! Your GPA'll skyrocket once you drop out (like 20 people I know who dropped out of IB is getting straight A's taking 10 AP classes... not to mention they all got killed when they were in IB)

gkc4 · 11-09-2009, 11:34 PM

I find the whole IB/AP debate pointless. I've heard so many things about both, and it varies by school. Take whatever course you think you can handle and do your best.

melin720 · 11-10-2009, 03:03 PM

Then I guess our school's on the bad side....

IB makes us take at least 6 college level courses in 11th and 12th grade, ending up with a total of 12. AP, on the other hand, does not force you to take 12 college level courses....

The rest of the debate is up to the school, I guess, but I seriously do not like the situation at ours. Would wanna go to a school where IB is easier than AP and then excell with a lot higher GPA....