yes...another chance thread

[springflower203]

what do u think my chances at UVA are based on the following credentials (sophomore, Chinese female)

SAT: yet to take (expecting >2100)
PSAT: yet to take, although I got a 206 on the practice one I took this year
SAT II: Math I: 750, Math 2: 780, plan to take US History and Biology

GPA: 4.00 unweighted, 4,63 weighted
Rank: 1/418

AP:
10th: World History, Calc AB/BC (awaiting results; most likely 4's and 5's)
11th: Lang & Comp, Chinese, Biology, US History. (i'm also taking calc 3, although that's not considered an "AP" course)
12th: Lit, Chemistry, Stats

EC:
Dance Team 10th-12th
Mock Trial 9th-12th (all-star lawyer 10th)
Future Business Leaders of America 9th-12th
Freshmen Club
Sophomore Club (secretary)
Chinese Club 10th-12th (founder/president)
NHS 11th-12th
Junior Club
Senior Club

Awards/ Honors:
State and Regional Dance Awards in hiphop, jazz, and open competitions (I don't want to list all of them right now)
Level 12 in National Piano Playing Auditions
All-American Scholar
National Acheivement Academy Math Award
National Acheivement Academy English Award
National Acheivement Academy Leadership and Service Award
National Honor Roll

Work/Volunteer Experience:
9th volunteer at retirement home (30hrs)
10th-12th volunteer at local hospital (>200 hrs)
10th student teacher of Bilingual class at Chinese School
11th-12th Bilingual class teacher at Chinese School
summer before 12th-12th National Cancer Institute internship

I plan to write my essay on either teaching Chinese to non-native speakers or my passion towards dancing (emphasis on hiphop)

[BruinsJEW]

We'll I'd say your pretty much in. Your the #1 rank in your class. Great grades, your unique with your dancing, and you seem to really stick out. If you don't get in, I'll be surprised.

If I were you, just my 2 cents, write your paper on your passion for dance. Like what inspired you to start dancing and all that.

Hope my 2 cents helps!

[GIMEurSTRESballZ]

i agree with bruinsjew...your stats seem higher than mine were as senior. then again, you are much more focused. try not to kill yourself and poop out!

[iamjacquesbarjon]

you took BC calculus as a sophomore?!?

[citybirds27]

um.. I think Freshman, Sophomore... clubs are just resume padding so don't put that..

But anyways.. you got the whole Chinese thing down.. since you're emphasizing that in everything and all I have to do is look at your #1 rank and 4.0 UW GPA to find out you're smart.. so yeah you got in

[vistany]

How does weighing for AP work? It doesn't seem mathmatically possible to go from a 4.0 to a 4.6 with just the 2 AP courses you have completed. Even with the 9 which you expect to complete it doesn't seem mathmatically correct. My son is an IB diploma candidate and the extra .5 doesn't move his GPA that dramatically. Am I missing something in the calculation?

thanks!

[springflower203]

I'm not entirely sure how my school calculates them, but that's what my counselor told me.

The weighted courses that I have so far are (i think):
Alg.-Based Physics 9th
Algebra 2 Honors 9th
English 9 Honors 9th
Pre-Cal Honors 9th
Biology Honors 10th
Chemistry Honors 10th
English 10 Honors 10th
AP Calc. AB 10th
AP Calc. BC 10th
AP World History Seminar 10th
AP World History 10th

I have no idea why all these non-AP classes are weighted...

[vistany]

Springflower, do you get weight for Honors? My s doesn't. Neither Honors nor G/T provide the weight, only AP and IB. Prior to IB's the only classes he took were honors or GT which is consider a little harder. Further you need 94% or better to obtain a grade of A.

[springflower203]

Apparently we do get weighted grades for honors. I guess because the weighted grades differ so much from school to school, colleges consider one's unweighted GPA more than one's weighted GPA.

[vistany]

I have always wondered about which one they consider. If you look at some of the college guides it is often hard to tell. UVa for example lists an average GPA of 4.1 which to me suggests weighted.

[GIMEurSTRESballZ]

In my school we get an extra 5% on a 100% scale for honors as well as APs. Everywhere grades differently..

[vistany]

That seems to be a big disadvantage to kids who don't get anything for honors. It is impossible to get anything close to a 4.6 in our county even with straight A's and the toughest IB/AP curriculum. How does UVa address these variations?

[LBP]

vistany, you bring up a good point - not just in regard to UVA but many other colleges as well. From what I understand, colleges get to know the high schools' various grading systems, especially when these schools have sent successful candidates to the college and the students are accepted. I've heard the phrase "feeder schools" at an admissions seminar at my D's hs that was spoken by a UVA rep. (Maybe he should not have said that.)

If your hs has had students admitted to UVA in the past, that's a good sign, IMO. Good luck!

[cganyard]

I've gone through this whole process now twice with two sons at two different high schools - one that weighted honors and one that didn't. Huge difference in the two GPA's! In fact, the son with the better grades (a few more A's) had a significantly lower weighted GPA. It's really ridiculous that this isn't more consistent from hs to hs.

But take heart, from what I've read, colleges are very aware of this and don't disadvantage those who don't receive that honors "bump" from their high school. Many actually refigure the GPA using their own method - and - not surprisingly - those methods vary widely, too. Some give a half point bump for honors and a full point bump for AP. Others add weight to only AP. Some (I think Georgetown is one, but don't quote me) even disregard 9th grade completely. It strikes me as crazy that the colleges have to take the time to do this refiguring, but at least it evens the playing field.

And you're right, Springflower, some schools DO seem to consider the unweighted GPA as a better indicator - even though that's a disadvantage for those with B's in honors classes.

I researched this and found that many colleges explain the method they use to refigure the GPA. Often, I found it on the website. Sometimes it took a little more digging - like a phonecall to admissions. But for the most part, it did seem that most schools try to make the system as fair as possible... Which only makes sense, since it's in their best interest to admit the very best students.

[vistany]

Does anyone happen to know any specifics on how UVa handles grading variations?