More Organized Chance Thread

[ironmetal250]

All right, so in my last chances thread, I had info flying everywhere in multiple posts, so hopefully this one is easier to read.

Stats:
• SAT: CR: 670 , M: 720 , W: 720
• SAT II: Math II: 750, Chemistry: 780 , Ecological Biology: 750
• ACT: Didn't Take
• GPA: UW: 3.95000 , W: 4.69000
• Rank: County doesn't rank (In top 1% of my class of 352, if I had to estimate)
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP - [5: Chem, Calc AB, English Lang, World, Environmental Science]; [4: U.S. Government]; [Not yet taken: Calc BC, Bio, Literature]
• Senior Courses: AP Literature, AP Bio, AP Calc BC, NIH Internship

Subjective
• Essays: Good to Great (One about my first time crabbing, another about helping my family deal with domestic violence or my speech impediment (I still can't decide))
• Teacher Recs: Outstanding (One from math teacher for both precalculus and calc AB, one from AP chem teacher who's also NHS sponsor)
• Counselor Rec: Outstanding (also very close to my counselor)
• Supplement Information (Y/N): Yes, scientific abstract
• Interview: Not sure if I'll get one (I am having an off campus Bowdoin interview at least)
• Hook (recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Did research (my own personal research project) at the NIH in what's considered one of the premier science education programs in the country. Concerns Apoptotic CD4 T-Cells and HIV if you must know. Also I'm building my own boat.

Personal
• Location: Maryland, Montgomery County
• High School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: Greek
• Gender: Male
• Income Bracket: Not really sure what I qualify as, my parents just got separated and my mother (whom I live with) is unemployed... I guess lowest?
• Applied for Financial Aid: Yes

Other
• Extracurricular:
*President of NHS
*Student Academy of Science (10-12)
*Mathematics League (9-10)
*Environmental Club (10)
*Karen Noonan Environmental Education Program (2 night program where I learned the actual impact of human activity on the Chesapeake bay, wrote one of my essays on it)
*Montgomery County Teen Court Juror (11) (Was a juror in the rulings of minor and drug offenses of teenagers... conducted cross examinations and jury deliberations)
*Helped SGA with art and posters (9, 10)
*Building a 12' fishing boat (from four sheets of plywood)
*Worked for two years at the local diner as a busboy
*Research internship at the NIH... sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute... one of 23 students in Montgomery County chosen (only for MCPS students)
*Member of Immunology interest group at the NIH
*Attended Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series at the NIH (and met a Yale med school professor who was presenting)
*Seminar on Toxicology at George Washington University
*115 hours of community service
*Attended F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference 2006-2007 for creative writing (one of two students in my school for that year)

• Awards:
*National Merit Commended Scholar
*Rensselaer medalist
*AP Scholar with Distinction
*Maryland Distinguished Scholar Honorable Mention


APPLYING TO:
Yale (Restrictive Early Action)
Columbia
Bowdoin
Williams
Colby
University of Maryland - College Park

[bosoxnm3]

Yale, I don't think so. Columbia is probably slight reach as well. You're in at everywhere else.

[hmom5]

You need to take a hard look at the data in a school's common data set. If all of your stats are not solidly above the median, getting in will be exceptionally hard this year. The median SAT score at Dartmouth for the class of 2012 (less competitive than Yale and Columbia, about the same as Williams) was 2200, with a 740 math and 730 CR.

[ironmetal250]

>If all of your stats are not solidly above the median, getting in will be exceptionally hard this year.

Just wondering, why is that? The only thing that might not be at the levels of Columbia and Yale are my SAT scores, and I would think the SAT IIs or at least my GPA and AP tests would counteract that... would you recommend taking the SATs again?

[hmom5]

Nothing counteracts anything in college admissions. It isn't about having 2 out of three of the essential credentials. Those that are not recruited athletes, legacies and otherwise hooked have got to have it on every front. I believe you absolutely need to retake the SAT to be a viable candidate.

Study the numbers, they tell the whole story. This is the hardest year in history, it is said, to get into a top college. It's the largest graduating class in decades combined with global interest and new financial aid incentives.

All of the top schools must turn away thousands of applicants who have top credentials on every front. For students who fall below their target GPA and SAT levels, which can be said to be the college's 75th percentile numbers if you don't have a hook, admission this year will require something truly exceptional.

[ironmetal250]

Well, SATs are optional at Bowdoin... would my scores be better then sending no scores?

SAT Critical Reading: 650 - 740
SAT Math: 650 - 730
SAT Writing: 650 - 730

Here are the medians...

[hmom5]

Your scores are great for Bowdoin, absolutely send them.

As a side note, College Board numbers and those many places list old numbers. For the best read check the college's own web sites for numbers for the class of 2012.

[ironmetal250]

All right, thanks.
I really don't have time to take more SATs (90% of my time is taken up in my lab and doing college app stuff) and I don't think I'll improve much on Crit. Reading, which is what I need to improve on... I guess I'll plan on Bowdoin (which used to be my first choice for about a year) and hope for Columbia. The only reason I really wanted to go to Yale was because my parents kept thinking I was "settling" for Columbia...

[pb2002]

why not "hope" for bowdoin? it's a match i think, but not a shoo-in.

try not to get caught up in the rankings game, otherwise, unless you matriculate at harvard, you'll be ****ed off about rejection somewhere.

[pb2002]

you can't say "****ed" off?

hilarious.

[ironmetal250]

Bump, and thanks to those who have helped so far.

[ironmetal250]

Last bump....