Chance me at HYPSM type schools

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Please give me chances on Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, Boston College, and University of Richmond (my top choices right now) and EA (not ED yet) to some of the elite colleges. I understand that elite admissions processes can be weird at times, but I would like to know if I have a decent shot at HYPSM schools. Also any advice or help is welcome.</p>

<p>I plan on majoring in history and going on to a law degree in the future
Rising Senior
African-American Male from New Jersey</p>

<p>SAT: 2060 CR:640 M:750 W:670 (first time)
SAT II: French: 620 US Hist:710 Lit: 670 (plan to take Math II and French in the fall)</p>

<p>School
Private school, very small (188 kids total, Pre K-12) in Burlington, NJ
2005:1 kid to Brown; 2006: 1 kid to UPENN, 1 kid to Dartmouth; 2007: kid rejected from MIT</p>

<p>GPA: 4.22 (A+= 4.33) 1/25 kids in my class</p>

<p>8th Grade:
10th Grade Biology A+</p>

<p>Freshman Year:
Chemistry A+
English 9 A+
French III A+
Modern World History A+
Geometry A+
PhotoShop A+
Web Design A</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
British Literature A+
Journalism A
Algebra II A+
Precalculus A+
US History I A+
French IV A+
Drawing and Painting A</p>

<p>Junior Year:
AP Language A+
Honors Composition A
Journalism A
AP US History A-
French V A+
World Religions A+
Honors Judeo/Christian Ethics A
Digital Photography A
College and Career Prep A+</p>

<p>Would it be worthwhile for me to take a summer course online with BYU Independent Study in Russian History (an interest of mine)? Also, has anyone ever studied with this program?</p>

<p>Senior Year (Plans):
AP Psychology
Physics
AP Calculus
AP Biology
AP Lit
AP French (possible, but is this necessary to do? My counselor said it would look really bad if I didn’t take AP French, but I would prefer not to take it if I could</p>

<p>11 AP Classes offered at my school</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Co-Leader of Community Service Club at School (11th)
Student Ambassador for the school (9th, 10th 11th)
Burlington County Academic Tournament (9th, 11th)
School Newspaper and Yearbook Contributor (9th, 10th, 11th)
Math League (10th, 11th) Highest Math Scorer at School
Honor Council (10th, 11th)
Cross Country (9th, 10th)
Crew (9th)
Golf (11th)
School Plays (9th, 10th, 11th)
Class Secretary (9th)</p>

<p>Piano 2.5 years of study
Contributor to local teen section of newspaper (11th)
New Jersey Piano Auditions (11th)
Various piano playing at recitals and in school</p>

<p>In School Awards:
Ranking Student Award (9th, 10th)
Most Improved-Crew (9th)
French Award (8th, 10th)
Class Valedictorian (7th-11th)
Math/Science Award (9th)
Perfect Attendance since kindergarten</p>

<p>Outside School Awards
National French Award (8th)
Burlington County Teen Excellence Award (9th, 11th)
National Guild of Piano Teachers Award (10th, 11th)
Cum Laude Society (11th)
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards
National Honor Roll Inductee (11th)
Willingboro Township Youth Achievement Award (9th)</p>

<p>Summers:
American Legion Jersey Boys State (11th)
People to People Student Ambassador Trips to Australia and Europe (7th, 8th)
Trip to China with my family
Job at Six Flags</p>

<p>This Summer:
2 Week Law Internship
Possible Online Course
Possible Trip to Louisiana to help Hurricane Katrina victims (Will this help much since the travel costs could be a possible burden?)</p>

<p>All help is greatly appreciated!</p>

2

<p>You have impressive credentials, but nothing seems to set you apart from the thousands of other bright kids applying to the Ivy League schoools. And even though your minority status will help you, it still couldn’t hurt to bring up your test scores a bit, esp. the SAT II subject tests----- don’t get me wrong, a 710 in History isn’t <em>bad</em> per se, but if you got an A in all your history classes and you want to major in it, you should definitely aim for as close to a perfect score as possible. This is especially true for Yale, which I’m sure you know is reputed to have the best history dept. in the country. As for the rest, just try to get over 700 on them all. A 720+ would be even better, given the level of talent you’ll be going up against.</p>

<p>The law internship thing sounds great. Maybe they’ll write a good letter of recommendation for you? And if you can get a chance to do some pro bono work, that might provide interesting material for an application essay. But please make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons-- because you want to, not because it will look good on an application. Similarly, your trip to LA to help w/ hurricane reconstruction should be based upon a genuine desire to do good, not whether or not it will help you get into an Ivy League school. What’s your motivation here?</p>

<p>I think you’re basically in at BC and Richmond, and you probably stand a decent chance at Georgetown if you bring your test scores up. As for Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, who knows? Just try to concentrate on doing one or two things really, really well (think national recognition) in order to distinguish yourself from the scores of other talented applicants. Have you taken the national French exam yet? A nationally-ranked score would be a definite plus for the Ivy League.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Oh yes, in ninth grade, I took the national french exam and got 24th out of 720 something but it wasnt nationally ranked. by the time the test comes for next year, I will already be applying to most colleges
I’m really going to try to focus this summer on things that I really want to do instead of just being a college machine. This way, if I don’t get into my dream school, I’'ll still be able to look at my high school years as the best!
Do you know of any national writing awards? that is something that is shown throughout my applicatiom</p>

4

<p>Also, does anyone know where a good place to find averages of SAT scores of minority students to elite colleges?</p>

5

<p>Being African American helps a lot.</p>

6

<p>for the schools you want to go to: bad test scores. good GPA (although the 25 student in a class thing kinda puts your numerous A+s to doubt). bad ECs—i see little commitment and no leadership</p>

<p>reject by: harvard, yale, princeton, stanford, mit
in at: Georgetown, Boston College, and University of Richmond</p>

7

<p>Any constructive criticism or advice?
Who is this firefox anyway? Someone who was rejected by a top college and wants to tear everyone’s hopes down?</p>

8

<p>well, if you can’t handle criticism then don’t post a chances thread. if you came here looking for people to inflate your ego, you’ve come to the wrong place</p>

9

<p>Read the “firefox…” thread</p>

10

<p>If you looked at my first post, I asked for help for advice. something that can actually help me get better, not just ‘you’re terrible in these areas’
Did you notice how in the first response, herodotus actually gave me ideas on what I could do to become a better applicant?</p>

11

<p>BigSteve316, firefox is CC’s version of Oscar the Grouch. Fuzzy and affable, with a dependable and killer opinion. He’s That Guy.</p>

12

<p>you came here asking for chances. i told you you’d be rejected by some schools and accepted by others. my interpretation of your anger then is that you simply can’t handle reality and instead arrogantly expected everyone to tell you how great you are</p>

13

<p>Not quite, he applauded herodotus’ reply, which was nowhere near praise nor “telling him how great he is”.
He’s looking for constructive criticism, not just a yes/no answer.
I agree with what herodotus said: you have a shot, but it’d be nice if u brought ur sat to 2200+ and ur sat’s to 700+, of course, the higher the better.
But don’t retake just for 10, 20, or even 30 points: you’ll just look like a obsessed person who doesn’t understand college admissions.
That said, you should try to get strong EC’s, not just a bunch of them.
As of now, you’re the stereotypical “i’ve joined every club and organization i can” student.
Focus on a few, and put your all into them: get leadership positions if possible, contribute a lot, organize projects, etc. Then, in your application process, highlight these and go into depth as to why these EC’s make you stand out, and how they affected you as a student and, more importantly, as a person.
You should have a decent shot, not great, but not out of the running.</p>

14

<p>Take the BYU class, if you decide to you will like it. They have a great online program, I took Health with them. It’s easy to use and well put together.</p>

15

<p>You SAT scores could use some improvement… besides that you’re a pretty good candidate.</p>

16

<p>lol firefox is right so you might want to stop whining…I agree with what he said.
Reject by harvard, yale, princeton, stanford, and mit</p>

17

<p>THIS: “Possible Trip to Louisiana to help Hurricane Katrina victims (Will this help much since the travel costs could be a possible burden?)”</p>

<p>DOES NOT SUPPORT</p>

<p>THIS: "I’m really going to try to focus this summer on things that I really want to do instead of just being a college machine. "</p>

<p>I can not believe you said something so selfish. I would not advise that you waste your money traveling to Louisiana since your heart is clearly not in the right place.</p>

18

<p>With your great ECs, awards and GPA I think you have a good chance of getting in to BC, Univ. of Richmond, and maybe Georgetown (don’t know much about this one…), although you should probably try to improve you test scores. If you can get 700 or above in CR and Writing and decent scores on the SAT 2’s you take later, your chances for all of your choices, especially HYP will improve quite a bit. hope that helps :D</p>

19

<p>Actually, that message was posted after. I realized that I didn’t want to just do things for the college admissions office and wanted to do things in areas that I enjoyed, like French and piano. But thanks for the great help anyway padfoot and PK! Greatly appreciated!
Is there anyway besides just practicing the critical reading questions that I can get better? like math and writing have certain tricks that they reuse over again? is there any good book for cr or will most test prep books do?</p>

20

<p>Holy ■■■■■, you only have 188 kids in 14 grades?!? That’s like…15 people per class. I have three times that many in one grade!</p>