Chance for UW Honors please?

Xiata
Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:05:54 +0000

So I did a chance thread WAY back, but now I have better SAT scores and am more focused on UW Honors. Seriously, I have to get in. And the only info I’ve really found is from 2005: the average GPA is 3.93 (!) and the average CR/M SAT is 1399.

My stuff:

GPA: 3.695 (…thanks to a certain-refused-to-round-up-English-teacher…)
SAT: 2050
Math: 640
Reading: 710
Writing: 700
Essay: 12
ACT*: 29
Math: 26
Reading: 32
English: 30
Science: 29
Essay: 9
*I probably won’t send my ACT scores.

AP:
US History: 5

SAT II:
US History: 690
Literature: 630

Course load:
Math: Algebra (B/D, long story, not counted in GPA, took in 7th grade), Geometry* (A/A), Algebra 2* (A/A), Precalc Honors (A/A), Calculus* (A), [AP Statistics (B+…89.9%)]

English: English 9 block (B/A, A/A), Honors English 10 (A/A), Honors English 11 (B+/B+ >:C), Creative Writing (A/A) [AP Lit (A)]

Social Studies: Washington State History (B-), World History (B/A-), AP US History (A-/A), [Honors Social Studies/Used to be AP Philosophy (A)], [AP Microeconomics (A-)]

Science: Physics 1 (B), Chemistry 1 (A), Biology (B+/A-), Ethics* (A/A), [Envi Sci* (A)]

Language: Chinese 1 (B-/B), Chinese 2 (B/B+), Chinese 3 (A/A), [AP Chinese 4 (A)]

Electives: Art (A-), Ceramics (A), Choir (A), Health (A-)


denotes classes that are offered as honors (or, for Calc and Envi Sci, AP) but I took them regular. Ethics has a star because, although there are no alternatives for that class, there are other AP/Honors science classes available I could have taken. I don’t like science. :P


I’m hoping the admissions people will my notice improvement…

ECs:
Varsity swim team, Varsity letter (9,10,11,12)
JV Water Polo (9)
JV Water Polo Starter (9)
Varsity Water Polo (10, 11, 12)
Varsity Water Polo Starter (11, 12)
Water Polo Captain (12)
SAVE (Students Against Violence Everywhere) club (9, 10, 11, 12)
Lifeguard (9,10)
Swim coach (9, 10)
Chinese teacher over the summer (volunteer) (11, 12)
Art classes (11, 12)
Writing classes (11, 12)

12 means I presume I’ll keep doing it this year.

Essays and the teacher req: Because the Honors program puts so much weight on essays and the req, I figured I’d say what I’ve written for them…

UW main essay: About overcoming a phobia, took 3 years
UW short answer: …most likely, when I went to my cousin’s bar mitzvah and I was the only Jewish person there
UW Honors essay 1 (“Good citizenship comes from good scholarship.” What does this mean to you?): Scholarship is a love of learning, not just the knowledge you get. It means you enjoy the process–not just appreciate it–more than the end. The same applies for citizenship.
UW Honors essay 2 (What do you wonder about, etc, that isn’t within your intended field of study? Would you be willing to stop all and learn it?): Learning foreign languages (my inteded majors are history and psychology or history and pol sci.)

I tried to make this as short and easy to read as possible but it is seriously very long now…but basically, I like numbers, but I’d actually RATHER you all compare me to someone you know who got in. The Honors college does a holistic approach…so yeah. I’ll chance you back if you need to.

PS: I can take the SAT IIs again if I really need to, and the ACT again, but I really don’t want to. Especially the ACT…I really hate that test…