Chance Me? Will Chance Back

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Boston Uni
MHC
Bryn Mawr
Occidental
Chapman
UPacific, Early Action
UCSD
UC Irvine
UC Davis
UCLA
UCSC
UCSB

3.5/4.0 GPA Unweighted, 3.6-3.7 Weighted.
My GPA is definitely weak, but I’m hoping admissions will consider the extreme upward trend in grades.
Tbh I was really lazy in my first two years, and only in Junior year did I finally wake up and become self-motivated. When I did, I ended up doing really well.
My HS is one of the best schools in the US, very competitive blah blah blah.

GPA in Fresh/Soph was 3.0. I literally failed H. Chem lol
Junior Year: I got 3.8 and 4.0 while taking AP Bio, AP Psych, Physics, CP Precalc, CPUSH, CPEnglish
Senior Year: 3.8 so far, but we’ll see. Really chill schedule though, I ended up dropping my hardest class.

SCORES
ACT Composite: 32
Eng: 35, Math:34, Reading: 31, Science: 28

SAT I:
First time: 2110
M 730, W 730, CR 650
Second time: 2140
M 770, W 690 CR 680

SAT II:
SAT Bio E: 770
SAT II Math: 790

AP Bio: 5
AP Psychology: 5
AP Chinese: 4 (I’m a disgrace lol)
AP Stats: haven’t taken it yet

EXTRACURRICULARS
Unpaid Internship for 8 weeks at a Stem Cell Company
Graduated from Guild Preparatory D for Piano, played for 10+ years. Planning on taking HS Diploma
Badminton JV for 2 years
60 hours of volunteering at a Summer Camp
Currently have a job at an after-school art class center
Editor for a Writing Club. I earn service hours based on each essay edited.
Communications/Events for a Business Club
Member of Biotechnology Club for 2 years
Member of GSA in sophomore year

AWARDS
California State Finalist for Siemens We Can Change the World Competition in 2011 (Middle School)
National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalist, applied to be a Finalist.
AP Scholar

My essays are pretty good according to peers, teachers, and my counselor. I put a lot of thought into them, make sure they’re honest and true to myself, and I heavily researched the colleges. I chose the failure topic, writing about how failing H. Chem actually led to an era of personal growth.
Recc letters should also be good, one of the teachers actually came up to me and said they’d be happy to write one for me.

Edit: Majoring in Bio/Pre-med for all colleges. Taiwanese American.

2

UCSC: Match
Univ of Pacific/UCSB/Chapman: High Match
UCI/UCD/Occidental: Low Reach
UCLA: Reach
Not sure about the others.

Great that you turned around your attitude and grades. SAT is very competitive, but GPA will hurt. The essays may give you the boost you need to make more of those schools a Match. Good Luck.

3

@Gumbymom thanks for your response! While I was hoping for more match schools, your assessments are more realistic than my estimations.

4

Boston Uni- idk
MHC- idk
Bryn Mawr- idk
Occidental- low reach
Chapman - high match
UPacific, Early Action- idk
UCSD- low reach/ high match
UC Irvine - high match
UC Davis- high match
UCLA- reach
UCSC- match
UCSB- high match

Bump those all down a tier if your essays and recs are excellent.

chance back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1724019-chances-for-wesleyan-colby-kenyon-will-chance-back.html

5

You know what your top choices are gonna do? They’re gonna throw your name into a hat and draw. More probably, you will be chosen because admissions decides the class of 2019 needs another Taiwanese, or another premed, or another bio student. Or if you are rejected, then they did not need another of those things. Because everyone at the top is equally qualified.

6

@chowling I actually don’t feel nearly as qualified as other candidates. I never thought about the Admissions process that way, but if so, then I guess I should stop unnecessarily stressing myself out about what extracurriculars I should’ve added as padding for my apps. Thanks for the response.

7

@avix215 thanks! I think SD is definitely a reach though :’(( and LA would be a high reach

8

Boston uni: match
UCLA: reach
UC irvine and Davis: match
UCSB: match
UCSC: match
And idk for the rest sorry :confused:

9

How much can you pay per year? That could (probably will with a 3.5 GPA) affect your admission chances for the private schools.

How many chemistry classes have you taken? What grades? I’m asking because, as you know, chem is very important for med school hopefuls.

10

@Dunboyne I’m not sure what you mean by “how many”, but I failed my second semester of Honors Chemistry with a D-. I went to summer school, made up the semester, and got a 102, the highest grade in the class. But ofc that’s nothing to be proud of, kids in summer school are generally really lazy. I tried taking AP Chemistry this year, then dropped the class because I had a C in the first two months. I wanted to give myself another chance to make up for it, but I still had a C and I was really scared that history would repeat itself.

11

Your GPA makes it difficult to assess. Plus, if you mentioned “Pre-med” anywhere, having a D- and (I’m assuming) a WP in chemistry, that might be a thorn in your side. SAT II is solid. You have some good things going for you, so you might be surprised.

UCSC: Likely to Low Match.
UCI: Low Match to High Match.
UCD/UCSB/UCSD: High Match to Reach.
UCLA: Reach to High Reach.

12

@dunboyne I’m not sure what you mean by WP, but dropping AP Chem will apparently not show up on my transcript.

13

@Dunboyne‌ (sorry, mobile CC is kinda glitchy so I split this) Thanks for the evaluation, I really appreciate it :slight_smile: