Opinons, Opinions, Opinions. I want your Opinion!!!

Monkeystar · 02-02-2009, 07:50 PM

Hey CC! I just wanted some opinions/feedback on what you think my chances are for each college. I'm a senior btw. Well here we go:

Colleges Applied to:

Princeton
Harvard
Dartmouth
Columbia (College)
Cornell (A&S, Engineering)
U Penn (A&S)
Stanford
Cal Tech
MIT
Northwestern
Rice
Rutgers
Carnegie Mellon
Duke
U Chicago

Ethnicity: Asian

Career Interests: Aerospace Major w/ Film Minor. Maybe double major...

School Info: Our school is really competitive. 10-20% get in Ivy Leagues or near Ivy Leagures school each year

School Stats:
GPA: 3.83 Unweighted.
4.58 Weighted.

Rank: We don't rank, but I'm in the top 10%

Testing:
2200 SAT (780W, 670CR, 750M); yeah....
800 SAT II Math
790 SAT II Chemistry
760 SAT II Chinese
750 SAT II US History

AP Chemistry 5
AP US History 4
AP English 3 ; yeah..... bad testing day. I knew I should've gotten a 4.....

ECs
4 years Marching Band (we spend like 20+ hours per week)
4 years Jazz Band (this takes a lot of time too like 6 hours)
4 years Percussion Ensemble
2 years Spring Musical Pit
3 years NJ Science League
2 year Community Future Problem Solving
3 years Chess Club (for fun and recreation. Probably won't count much)
1 year Economics Club (Not really much. We do Virtual Stock Exchange and participate in some competitions. Just started though)

Community Service:
-I work as an English and Basketball teacher at my Chinese School. I also work as an event organizer for big events (~160 hours)

Awards:
-Spanish Honor Society
- Numerous Marching Band Awards (we win in States, All States and Nationals). [Both as a band and individual]
- 2nd in International Community Future Problem Solving
- Percussion Ensemble. 1st in a Percussion Festival
- Jazz Band. Won some awards at the Princeton Jazz Festival
- National Society of High School Students
- Published math paper in Mathematics Journal
* I'm speculating, but I'm pretty sure I got to 2nd round of the US Physics Exam

Leadership:
- Drum Major for Marching Band
- Drum Captain in Percussion Ensemble
- Section Leader and Soloist in Jazz Band
- Some out of school. I organize New Years Festival events and stuff at my Chinese School

Summer:
Freshman Year:
Took a math course over the summer

Sophomore Year:
Had an internship with a professor at GSU. Wrote a math paper that got published.

Junior Year:
Attended the Summer Science Program (if you don't know, pretty self-selective / intense program)
Went to Drum Major Academy

Additional Comments:
College Essays are really good, imo. People have given very positive feedback.
Teacher Recs should be very good.
Counselor Rec should be quite good.
I don't have that many leadership positions, but most of my clubs involve "group activity", so there's not really a leadership position cause everyone is a leader. =D
Interviews so far are very nice....

Midyear Reports:
Adv. Physics (Equivalent to Physics 101,102 and some 201) - A
AP Government - A
AP Calc AB - B (yeah... borderline of 89.4, but eek..)
AP Literature - C (yes.... I'm am EXTREMELY afraid of this. I know this will hurt. My teacher basically is very hard. This semester, noone got A's. A ton got B's and C's... and... I was unlucky and got a C. Though I'm border line too.... 79.4........ Should I write a letter or let my counselor write one??)
Adv Band - A
International Business - A
Gym - A

Your help would be much appreciated.

TTwhite · 02-02-2009, 07:55 PM

there's no telling with ivies. here are my guesses:

Princeton - high reach
Harvard - ' '
Dartmouth - reach
Columbia (College)
Cornell (A&S, Engineering) - high reach
U Penn (A&S) - reach
Stanford - very high reach
Cal Tech - reach (all those SAT2's will help tons here, i imagine)
MIT - reach
Northwestern - match
Rice - match
Rutgers - obvious in
Carnegie Mellon - match
Duke - slight reach
U Chicago - not sure

polisciphd · 02-02-2009, 07:58 PM

You'll be strongly considered by more than several.

LW Trojan · 02-02-2009, 08:00 PM

I feel your pain Monkeystar...my AP Lit teacher is hard on us too.

ruskie · 02-02-2009, 08:11 PM

reach for all except rugers.. I hope you applied to some safeties.. and no do not send in a letter explaining the C. It is just an excuse. Many people have hard teachers.

Monkeystar · 02-02-2009, 08:45 PM

thanks for the comments so far. Any more opinions on the letter to colleges?

clinegirl · 02-02-2009, 08:55 PM

DId you already apply? If not, then simply make a note on your application under the "anything else?" section. However, I don't think having a "hard" teacher is a good excuse. Try to think of reasons why you didn't do well (maybe an essay, a speech, rough time outside of school)..but whatever you do don't blame it on the teacher. Colleges like to see people taking responsibility for their grades. I hope this helps...

Virginiafan13 · 02-02-2009, 09:29 PM

I'm sorry but trying to chance ivy league prospects is close to impossible. It comes down to good and bad days with the other thousand's of students like you that deserve to get in. You need to nail the essay to have a shot and also show or do something that constitutes as special. I say you definitely have chicago, rice, rutgers, and penn. The others are mostly 50:50. Please chance back
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