Chance a Canadian

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>For JHU, Kenyon, USC, Amherst, Williams, Emerson, Colby, and Wesleyan </p>

<p>Asian Female in Canada applying as an English major </p>

<p>High School: Public, with one of the best IB programs in North America
Rank/ GPA: We don’t rank, but I have 2 Bs and six As this year. I’m taking IB diploma, took pre IB in grade 10
SAT: 740 CR, 650 M, 650 WR - 1390/2040
SAT Subject: Math 1 -690, Literature 750
Essays: If I can get away with a more literary/story-like style, should be strong.
Recs: Guidance counsellor, English teacher, Film/Creative Writing teacher. No clue how they are, but my guidance counsellor loves me and my F/CW teacher loves my writing, so I should be okay</p>

<p>EC/Awards</p>

<ul>
<li>Skiing - 11 years</li>
<li>Piano - 8 years</li>
<li>Cross country for 6 years, stopped in grade 10 because of injury</li>
<li>Photography - 11, 12 (I placed 4th in a contest, but it’s a pretty minor one, not sure if I should mention it)</li>
<li>Hockey - 9, 11, 12</li>
<li>President + founder of local Skating Club</li>
<li>2nd place in YWCA province-wide writing contest - essay published in 2nd most read local daily paper</li>
<li>Honourable youth mention in international poetry contest</li>
<li>Member of creative writing club at school</li>
<li>Peer tutoring/editing services - 9, 10, 11, 12</li>
<li>Published in New Shoots anthology </li>
<li>CTY writing course (level three) + Philosophy of the Mind summer course</li>
<li>Work part-time as secretary/editor for an educational consultant firm - 9,10,11,12</li>
<li>Volunteer in promotions for a language school in Spain - 12 </li>
<li>Writer for Youthink, a magazine written for and by teens</li>
<li>Founded a writing contest at my elementary school </li>
<li>Around 200 hours of community service, but it’s all over the place -storytelling festivals, the soup kitchen, envirothons…</li>
</ul>

<p>Additional info

  • Skipped a grade
  • Fluent in two languages, conversational in two.
  • Attended school in three countries.
  • Writing’s a huge part of my life - I’ve been writing stories since I was 7, I’m currently writing a nine-book series (have written 700+ pages so far), write about 15 hours/week during the school year (maybe around 25-30/week during the summer?), have taken writing courses/networked whenever offered the opportunity
  • Completely screwed up grades 9-10 - in grade 10, had an injury that ended up in me being temporarily wheelchair-bound; in grade 9, struggled with my new school after attending a school in England + a school for gifted kids. Makes for a strong upward trend, though - I went from a C+ average in grade 9 to being .5% away from an A average this year</p>

<p>Pretty skimpy, I know, but I’m curious about whether you guys think I have a shadow of a chance. Also, pretty much no safeties, those are in Canada.</p>

2

<p>Most of these school are very difficult to get into, but you have a strong overall profile and it wouldn’t surprise me if you got into some of them. You are definetly in at Emerson and I think with your strong writing awards/activities you may be in at Kenyon and possibly Colby. Unsure on the others. I would look at some other strong English schools like Rochester, Ct. College, Grinnell and Franklin & Marshall. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Thanks a lot, anyone else?</p>

4

<p>williams will be tough… they have really high SAT scores</p>

<p>however i can see you getting into all those other schools… especially if your essay/story is interesting and well written … IB always looks good… ECs… they only care about what you did in high school… unless u accomplished something significant before that (atleast thats what I am assuming)… having community service all over the place can be good… or bad… idk i think its good but my guidance councellor gave me the impression its better just to focus on a couple main things … anyways… with respect to the essay if the topic deals with your injury or switching schools you should be very careful not to make it too pathos or give too much of an excuse… (IMO i think it may be more advantageous for you to say something like you learned from it and you dont want to make any excuses as ppl have overcame worse, etc. and that might paint a picture of a very mature person) but u seem like quite the writer so i doubt u have any problems with ur essay watever the topic may be…upward trend is diffentely good… r u applying anywhere in canada by chance?</p>

5

<p>I feel bad contributing so little, but I agree completely with canada599</p>

<p>I’m also going to put Amherst on there (along with Williams) as the slightly reach schools, because of your standardized testing</p>

<p>I can’t see any problems with the other schools though…</p>

6

<p>Thanks, both. Hopefully I’ll do better on the SAT in January. </p>

<p>And Canada599, I talk about how I got over the mental aspects of the wheelchair, what I learned, etc., but I’ll work on making it more mature-sounding. I’m probably applying to UBC, Concordia, King’s, maybe Queen’s. Fingers crossed I end up going to the US, though. What about you?</p>

7

<p>Johr,
if you’re going to apply in Canada, why not try McGill? Schools like that are just as good as the “top universities” in America, and far cheaper.</p>

8

<p>I haven’t actually looked at Canadian universities much yet, so I left it off the list because I don’t know anything about it. I’m looking into McGill and UT and the rest after I’ve applied to the US.</p>

9

<p>Good chances at all those schools. Williams is a reach.</p>