Chance Me for Miscellaneous Colleges

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Some stats.

Intended major: cognitive science.

GPA: 3.3 W, county doesn’t do unweighted. Freshman year, 3.6; sophomore year, 1.9; junior year, 4.0, all weighted.

SAT: 2350 (800 M, 790 CR, 760 W). Previously it was a 2210 (770 M, 730 CR, 710 W).

Essays: Common App is 10 and all others are pretty much 8s and 9s.

Recommendations: I imagine they are both in the 8-10 range. Counselor’s is a wild card.

Extracurriculars: theatre (big one), writing (big one), internship at local university concerning lost person motion (big one), self-study of intended major, music to some extent, a good deal of math and philosophy, other self-study.

Backstory: went to a magnet school in the midst of a plethora of psychological problems. My grades floundered and I was diagnosed with depression, for which I started taking medication. I transferred schools at the end of sophomore year and my performance, while still not up to par with those of other ivy league applicants, improved drastically. Just this year I was diagnosed with ADHD after my first semester senior grades dipped and am medicated for that now, too.

TL;DR: smart but tortured kid.

I’d like to be chanced for some of the colleges to which I applied. The first two will receive only my 2210 score due to late testing, and these are (both decisions come out tomorrow):

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Case Western Reserve University

The next few, hopefully, will receive the 2350:

University of Georgia
Johns Hopkins University
Lehigh University
Northwestern University
University of Virginia, from which I’ve already been deferred

And, lastly, the ivies:

Dartmouth College
Harvard College
Yale University

I also applied early decision to University of Pennsylvania but was rejected.

Thank you to those taking the time to chance me. As you can see, I’m aiming pretty damn high despite the fact that I’ve “underperformed” for most of my high school career.

2

I’m sure you’ll get into Miscellaneous College!

3

Hopefully I’ll get in somewhere else too. I heard Miscellaneous College doesn’t allow students to declare majors. I’m wondering why I applied there in the first place.

4

I’m going to give this thread a slight bump before I go to bed, lest it become buried.

5

Let us know how you do at RPI and CWRU. These results will have predictive value in terms of how your application is being received.

6

Sure thing. As I understand it I’m a bit of a wild card in the admissions process. I think I caused UVa some serious confusion.

7

no safeties? - yikes!

8

Quite honestly all the top 20 colleges including uva is a reach.

9

There are two reasons there are few, if any, safeties on my list. The first is that I simply don’t want to go to schools to which I don’t want to go. I know I deserve a very high quality education. The second is that very few schools in the country offer the cognitive science program, and, moreover, all are pretty hard to get in to.

Also, probabilistically speaking, fewer safeties are better, preferably just one or two. UGA is the closest to a safety on my list.

10

What makes you think you in your words “deserve a high quality education” any more than the next kid? I believe everyone deserves a high quality education be careful about how you come off because that just screams pretentious. Yes you might have worked hard and feel feel you deserve it, but so what? Colleges aren’t going to care if you feel you deserve a spot in their school. They might even reject you if that attitude came through in your application. Additionally you don’t have to go to a top 20 school. There are many schools outside of the top 20 which can offer a high quality education and there’s no shame in going to a non top 20 school.

11

Christ, where did I say or even imply any of those things? I’m not one to think that some kids are less deserving than me, nor that there’s some sort of stigma associated with going to a non-top school.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with my saying I deserve something. I have worked hard, I’ve dealt in these three short years with more than most would be able to fathom, and I’m not willing to accept any less than what I know I should have in terms of education. Should all ten colleges deny me, then still, so what? I’ll reapply next year.

Year after year I’ve been struck with the same thoughts of worthlessness, and now you’re telling me I’m “pretentious” because I actually have the drive to go out and take what I want? Is that really the kind of world we live in, where someone props himself up (and I should note NOT in such a way as to detract from others), and is immediately torn back down?

I’m starting to wonder why I even made an account here. I KNOW I’m not pretentious and I’m quite aware I’ve made a strong effort my entire life to accommodate everyone else, from family to friends to strangers. Nothing in any of my applications “screams pretentious,” and the fact that you believe you’re able to infer that from a few short words is quite upsetting.

12

@spiegel421: “Chance” threads tend to be risky territory. Interpret each reply individually for the value it has for you, if any.

For other posters, what’s a “top 20 school?” I’ve seen that term extended to multiple scores of colleges lately.

13

Hopefully you wrote some sort of statement explaining your low marks in sophomore year due to your depression. Otherwise, your chances are slim at the upper-tier schools you applied to.

14

Wait listed by CWRU. Rensselaer is holding out another week for my 2350.

15

So you unfortunately got waist-listed by CWRU, that should probably give you a grasp and understanding for your chances for all the colleges that are ‘harder’ to get in.

16

Your GPA is hurting your chance, particularly for those that do not count freshmen grades.

17

Regardless of where you end up, you’ll do wonderfully. Any college that doesn’t take note of your strength and endurance through such a hard period of your life is missing out. I’m rooting for you.

18

Thank you, @usopes.

Though not surprised, I’m still disappointed to say I was rejected within the past week from Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, and University of Georgia (which, I thought, was my safety).

I’m still waiting on University of Virginia, Lehigh, and the three ivies (from which I don’t expect any acceptances).

Through the beginning of April, I’ll try my best to keep my hopes up.

There are some positive things happening, too; Case Western, which wait listed me, has received my 2350 score and will consider it when deciding whether to offer me a spot. There are several rolling deadline colleges, Indiana University being one, to which I can still apply, and may after spring break should the circumstances become dire enough.

Additionally, I imagine UVa and Lehigh have received and taken into account my higher score. I can call them on Monday to confirm this.

19

Due to your low sophomore year grades, you should probably look into schools with a rolling deadline. Indiana is a great school. One thing to note: having a cognitive science major may be hard. Have you thought about finding a school in which you can minor in it? I wanted a quite obscure major, and talked to someone with the major who said that it makes no difference whether you minor or major in it, so long as you have some background. That might open your search up even more. Schools like Michigan State, Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, University of Alabama and University of Minnesota all have rolling admissions, and are top-tier universities. I wish you the best of luck in finding out from the other schools! You are obviously very bright and simply hit a couple bumps in the road, and you deserve the best education possible.

20

What is your home state?