Chance me: Stanford, MIT, Brown, Upenn, Harvard, Cambridge, JHU, N-western. THANKS! will chance back

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>MY SCHOOL
-private, college-prep boarding school established 100 years ago.
-academically rigorous, even the regular courses
-strict on taking any APs: do not allow AP classes until Junior year unless qualify for higher math class/do not allow more than 3 APs per year/do not offer advanced English at all
-took every AP or honors class at this school that I could
-school sends a mission statement, average scores & info about its academic rigor along with every application.</p>

<p>CLASSES
Req=required
Freshman: 3.94, 3.74 GPA
A (Req. English), A (Req. History), A (Chinese I), A- (Algebra II Honors), B (Biology I Honors)</p>

<p>-Taught self Pre-calc over summer to skip it-</p>

<p>Sophomore: 4.2, 3.9 GPA
A (Req. English), A (Req. History), A (Chinese II), A (AP Calculus AB)
A (Digital Photography- ½ Credit), B+ (Chemistry honors, got solid A throughout the whole year but ran out of time on final & got C. Final grade was 88.47…still can’t believe this happened!)</p>

<p>Junior (This marking period): 4.6, 4.0 GPA
A (Req. English), A (Chinese III), A+ (AP Biology), A (AP U.S.History), A+ (AP Calculus BC), A (Digital Photography Studio Honors- 1 Credit)</p>

<p>Senior classes:
AP Comp sci
AP Calculus 3 & Statistics (each done for 1 semester, this class typically has 7-9 students)
AP Physics (hardest class school offers)
AP Chinese (Getting permission to take 4 APs)
Req. English</p>

<p>STANDARDIZED TESTS
Best ACT w/writing (age taken) (subscore): 32 (15) (35E, 34M, 31S, 29R, 6W)- taking 2 more times, aiming for at least 34
SAT: 2000- Took when I was 14, will just keep sticking with ACT, not good with vocab
AP Calculus Exam: 5
MMPC (Michigan Math Prize Competition) Part 1: 23/40 where only 17/40 needed to be Top 1000 in Michigan & qualify to round 2, Part 2 scores not out yet<br>
PSAT sophomore/junior year: 98th percentile
PLAN freshman year: 99th percentile</p>

<p>CLUBS, WITH LEADERSHIP (all started in 9th grade unless noted otherwise)
-Newspaper: joined 10th grade & promoted to Associate Editor of photography later that year, made Editor in Chief in 11th grade, recieved a Columbian Gold Crown
-Gold Key (a club that works for admissions): President
-World Club: Co-founder & President (This was a club before, but it was vanished due to debt problems & leaving seniors so a couple of people & I decided to start it again)
-Michigan Youth in Government: Vice-President, probably President next year, running for Lt. Governer of the MYIG program in Lansing next year
-School’s arts & literature club that produces a magazine at the end of the year, recieved a Columbian Silver Crown): President
-School’s community service club: official photographer & member, hope to be President next year
-Resedential hall council: Club of 11 members of the over 100 boarders. It adds members through application admission at the end of 9th grade. Became Vice-President in 11th grade, probably President next year.</p>

<p>SPORTS (D2)
Varsity Cross Country:
10th grade: Started running in 10th grade & joined cross country for fun, made Varsity my first year, coming to the State championships as an alternate for my team. I set 6 personal records during the season & ended with a 21:23. </p>

<p>11th grade: Third best runner on the team, team was Regional champions,got team academic all-state. Ended with a 20:17 PR (a team record 1:14 PR)</p>

<p>12th grade: hope to be captain, make all-county, & get individual academic all-state. Hope to PR to 19:00 & be recruited for D3 e.g. MIT</p>

<p>Varsity Track & Field:
9th grade: Did sprinting, had no success (JV)</p>

<p>10th grade: Did long distance after doing xc (800, 4x800, 1600, 3200), made Varsity, all-region, all-county (the times to qualify for this were more competitive even than States, because our county is mainly D1), state qualifier, 4x800 team got 12th at states. PRs (½ mile: 2:28, mile: 5:39, 2 mile: 12:20). Set 11 personal records during the season & received the Most Improved Player
of 2013 Award.</p>

<p>11th grade: hope to become captain, drop times more, be recruited </p>

<p>COMMUNITY SERVICE
-In my school’s Community Service club
-have about 200 hours of community service at my library, started volunteering in 6th grade.
-did Girl scouts in middle school with a TON of community service & bronze award.</p>

<p>WORK:
-am a self-employed photographer where I charge about $100 per shoot, primarily senior pictures but also photos for christmas cards, modeling shoots, sports photos etc.
-tutor a faculty’s children in middle school
-will most likely get a job at Plum Market for part of the upcoming summer</p>

<p>AWARDS
-2 Scholastic gold keys, 3 silver keys, 3 honorable mentions in photography
-Writing award “for excellence in writing inside & outside of school”
-Journalism award
-Excellence in Photography award
-MMPC Top 1000 Award possibly Top 100
-Athletic awards e.g. MIP, all-county, all-region, academic all-state, 6 Varsity letters etc.
-Recieved one of three regional Merit-based scholarship awards to attend my high-school
-Columbian gold/silver crown in newspaper/magazine respectively</p>

<p>RECOMMENDATIONS
-Coach recommendation from varsity xc & track coach of three years (passion, dedication, love of the sport, hard-work, ambition, leadership abilities)
-Teacher recommendation from 10th grade english & math teachers (dedication, diligence, creativity, enthusiasm, excellence in field, improvement)
-Community service recommendation from a head librarian (commitment, enthusiasm, leadership)
-Internship recommendation from a Duke university professor (ease to grasp new concepts, reliability, sophisticated nature)
-Advisor recommendation (maturity, dedication, hard work, leadership)</p>

<p>SUMMERS
9th grade
-Week-long Photography course
-volunteered at library
-was the assistant director in a week-long non-profit play production
-Travelled in Ireland, Germany & France
-taught self pre-calc course</p>

<p>10th grade:
-boarded at Cambridge University for three weeks where I took an introductory Economics course, also did a week-long Global Leaders Programme
-did a two-week full-time informal internship at a cardiology office with a professor from Duke University
-wrote a full medical case-report which will be published in a medical journal soon
-Travelled in Germany, England
-volunteered at the library
-Taught myself basic Spanish with rosetta stone</p>

<p>Possible plans for 11th grade summer:
-Take a course at an American University
-Internship at a business psychologist’s office
-Work at plum market
-college visits</p>

<p>Past travels: Austria, Belgium, Portugal. </p>

<p>BACKGROUND
-50% Persian, 50% German
-moved to the States when I was very young, was bilingual at 2 years & still am
-None of my parents attended a college (in the US)</p>

<p>ESSAY IDEAS
-Strengths: dedication, improvement and ambition.
-Strongest passions: running, math, photography, but well-rounded.
-Non-academic pursuits: Since middle school I have had a goal every year to read 30 books and have accomplished that thus far. I post my photographs to Viewbug, the primary website for professional photographers, where they have received almost 100 awards and I was acknowledged as one of the 20% most popular photographers of 2013 . I post art guides on Snapguide where they have between 1,000 and 5,000 views.
-About what I’ve learned through the places I’ve travelled, how I’ve not just gone to tourist attractions but met the people living there
-About keeping my cultural identities in America, struggling to define home as I still spend my summers living in Germany
Big ideas: lots of leadership, academics are priority but passion in non-academic focusues (photography/running), internationally focused, hard-working, math-science person but creative in art and love english</p>

2

<p>You have great ec’s! You can really see your passion for running and photography through them.Your GPA is not bad, but is average for the schools. I hope you understand that despite what I say or anyone says Stanford, MIT, Harvard, and UPenn are reaches for everyone, no matter how qualified you are. With that said, these are what I think your chances are.
Stanford: High Reach
MIT: High Reach
Harvard:High Reach
UPenn: Mid-Reach
JHU: Low-Reach
Northwestern: Match
What is your intended major?</p>

3

<p>Id say you have a good shot at all those schools. Your GPA fits and shows that you can tackle a high caliber course load and your ECs are varied but still focused enough to show that you really have a passion. The only thing you should worry about is your ACT score. definitely try to bring it up to at least a 33 or 34. I think your best essay idea is the one cultural identity, make sure it talks about your character and is introspective. </p>

<p>My thread (chance pls): <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1610985-chances-for-vanderbilt-unc-nyu-uf-and-duke.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1610985-chances-for-vanderbilt-unc-nyu-uf-and-duke.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Impressive! Great EC’s and grades, just try to bring up your ACT. Ivies and similar are nearly always reaches, but you are certainly qualified.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for your answers- they are very helpful as I continue researching colleges! @heeeyitschin I don’t have a major set into stone yet but I am interested in Computer Science or Biology with a minor in economics. My family would like me to become a doctor and although I really like biology and english I could not see myself as a doctor. I want the possibility to have an impact on the world around me, not just the community, and I want the possibilty to excel in rank and make valuable discoveries (cliche I know). Plus doctors’ salaries are getting lower and lower and I fear the decrease in job opportunites as technology takes over more and more. Some people say that I should do research but there the income/effort ratio is not ideal. Some say they could really see me as a Lawyer but I would hate to spend every day arguing (although I have to admit, I am pretty good at it! I did Mock trial in MYIG and always got 5/5) plus history is very hard for me and I do not find it interesting. I think the world is trending toward being an entirely computer-based society and a career in that will give me many options and if I minor in business I have good chances of becoming a leader. Yet I will be taking comp sci for the first time next year and although it is supposedly math, language and logic based (things I like) I fear that I will be bad it or find it boring and I will need a change of plans. So yes I am not really focused yet! </p>

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<p>Great to see another Persian on the board. Your spirit is in the right place, but you are slightly misguided. Allow me to elaborate. </p>

<p>Your stats (save ACT Essay score) are excellent, no question about it. On paper, you stand a much greater than average chance of admission at all of the places you have listed. </p>

<p>However, I think this sums up your problem: “Gold Key (a club that works for admissions)”, are college admissions something you are passionate about, something you enjoy doing, something you want to do as a lifelong activity? </p>

<p>I would venture to say no. You have become a robot drone, like it or not. You need to be UNIQUE. Do some things that won’t directly benefit your College Admissions. </p>

7

<p>I’m persian too!
You have pretty chances, but for Stanford, MIT, and Brown it is always tough…
What do you want to study? Because if you want to study humanities at MIT, this is a HUGE bonus for you!</p>

<p>I think JHU, Northwestern, and Upenn you have VERY good chances, and I’m sure you’ll get into at least one of them.</p>

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<p>Yes… you have pretty chances-- sorry I meant to say pretty good</p>

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<p>@Mandalorian I think I was a little unclear about defining what the club does or why I like it (sorry). The club works with the admissions office at my current high school for families that are looking into coming to that high school. The people in the club were chosen for being leaders in thier grade, charismatic, mature and for showing enthusiasm and love for school. We basically are “the face of the school” for prospective families. On open house days, we roam the halls, give tours of the school, and invite families to come back to shadow us for a day. I have now become a President so I am in charge of chosing new members, organizing tours, bringing structure to open houses, and being the first face to prospective families. I actually love this job! It gives me lots of freedom, a voice to change things at the school, and even give an opinion on who I think would be good to admit to my school. I’ve surprisingly never done anything just to help my application except maybe taking the ACT (you would be surprised how much of an amateur I am to the whole process). I just like being over the top busy and setting goals to always do more and better (sometimes a bad thing). Freshman year I was actually an active member of over twenty clubs from the school’s gay-straight alliance to student council to quiz bowl (a time-turner was useful) just to be more known around the school and make friends! Every year I’ve dropped more until I only have the clubs left I truly love. For this resume, I’ve already narrowed down my EC list to just the clubs I’m a leader in, but do you think I should leave my ECs even more focused on the actual application to avoid seeming like a drone? Or just elaborate like I did here? That’s a really helpful remark, by the way, thanks a lot! I never thought someone would see it in that way and I’m glad you said it before an admission’s officer did. And oops I just checked my ACT writing it was a 9 (will try to get a higher score on the next one though).</p>

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<p>@bu2015jr I talked about my “plans” for majors (Comp sci or bio) in an earlier comment. Awesome that you’re persian too and thanks for the chance- I would be very happy with an acceptance from Upenn!</p>

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<p>Sorry! Completely missed it.
I’m sure you’ll get in to one of those schools :)-- where are you applying to for backup? I need some ideas!
If you have a chance, would you chance me back? Thanks!</p>

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<p>@bu2015 I will definitely! I only have one safety school right now (I know…so bad), it’s U of Michigan. I also need more safety schools!</p>

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<p>Stan-high reach
MIT-high reach
Harvard-reach-high reach
JHU-low reach
Northwestern-high match
UPenn-Wharton?If so , reach;otherwise high match</p>

<p>BTW, UMich cannot be treated as an absolute safety… The school is at least a low match, IMO. </p>

<p>COmments on my app?<a href=“URGENT HELP ! Am I really doomed to lose schooling or go to a community college? Will chance u back? - International Students - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/china/1609820-urgent-help-am-i-really-doomed-to-lose-schooling-or-go-to-a-community-college-will-chance-u-back-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>@bbff1234 I really respect umich and I would definitely see it as a match not safety if I were from anywhere but the thing is that everyone from my school pretty much has guaranteed acceptance there. Our school has a special connection with the school and basically upon admission if you are half-way decent you know you will be accepted at at least one good college (Umich). It’s kind of like a legacy thing but not. I’ve seen people from my school get in with Cs, SAT below 2000 and people that just really don’t care about school. But on the matter of safety school- do you have a couple suggestions? I do think I need some more!</p>

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<p>U of Michigan is not a safety school. Take a gander at the stats and qualifications of the deferred list- and realize that you need something else as a safety. Some of admissions is akin to darts at a dartboard- kids who look amazing on paper get rejected and deferred from every school on your list. </p>

<p>You have a good chance at many of them- but you need a true safety, and I don’t see any on there.</p>

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<p>I’m going to agree with Mandalorian. I mean, some of this stuff… really? With the exception of your photography ventures (which I think are great, that’s the kind of stuff they want to see), this is just going to come off to ad comms as yet another rich kid whose mommy and daddy paid for the classic “service trip to Belize” every summer and set you up for mock “internships”.</p>

<p>Some more tips:</p>

<p>Skipping Precal is setting you up for disaster. Do you really want to get a heads up on everyone else so bad that you’re willing to risk your math career? Precal is the hardest math I’ve ever taken (waaay harder than Calculus) and even with a teacher smart kids struggled. It’s a foundation class, don’t teach yourself.</p>

<p>DO NOT write an essay about your travels. Ad comms get a couple thousand every year, once again, they’ll roll their eyes at the good ol’ “service trip to Belize”. </p>

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<p>I was just wondering: how did you get the internship with the cardiologist at duke?
ur stats are good, gpa is a little low though</p>

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<p>@bassguitar thanks for your input, it’s sometimes harder to be blunt about things like that and I really appreciate your honest opinion. The thing is everything on that list is something I wanted to do, and none of that- not signing up for harder classes, taking the ACT, doing internships, travelling or summer programs was initiated by my parents (not having gone to an American college, they admit they know pretty much nothing about what gets you into good colleges- or what the ACT is, for that matter). It was my idea to not just stay in my families’ house but explore the other countries so near by and not just stay sheltered between Germany and the US. We go to Germany (to stay with family) in the summer anyway, and the places I’ve gone to are 4-10 hours (drive) away from my families’ house. We mostly stay in friends’ houses or hostels and really tried to get a feel for what it’s like to live there, which is why I’ve actually drawn more experiences from travelling than people with typical cookie cutter hotel and tourist attraction vacations. But I will take your advice not to write about this if it is a common theme. I agree with you, Pre-calc is hard, harder than Calc. The reason I did Precalc over the summer was not to get ahead of everyone else in my class but because our school is notorious for having a not-so-good pre-calc H teacher and as my algebra 2H teacher saw me as someone who could easily learn things fast and on my own, she offered me to do it over the summer. I did not skip it; I learned everything that was learned in the class, did every homework problem the students in the class did, making sure I understood it, and took their final at the end of the summer. When I went into AB I had a more solid foundation than almost everyone else did because I had practically one day ago finished Pre-calc while everyone else had had three months of not doing math intensely. The interns (done with family members) and summer programs were all done because I personally asked, emailed, or called the people myself to arrange them or sign up because I am truly interested in seeing how it would be like to work in that career or go to that school (Could I imagine going to school in England? How is it like actually working as a doctor, not just studying biology?). I think it’s sad that so many kids out there let their parents start building their application for them in ninth grade, dumping loads of money into scattered, non-personal programs and monitering their every move to hope that their kid has a chance at Ivys but I am really not one of them. The fact that an admission officer may think that of me kind of scares me and your comment will definitely help me in writing my app so the “me” really comes through and not just a list of things that someone else planned as a way to get into college. This list is just a compilation of what I’ve done and enjoyed doing the past few years and it is frustrating that so many people manufacture such a list to the extent that now this is a disadvantage.</p>

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<p>@sanjcollege he is a family friend.</p>

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<p>@decorative2 do you have any suggestions?</p>