Chance strange case (VERY detailed)

Chance Me / Match Me!
#1

<p>Trying for UCLA, UCSD, BU, Georgetown, Cornell, Wash. U. in St. Louis, McGill University</p>

<p>Senior (Asian Male)
California Public High School</p>

<p>Sophomore Year Classes (1st and 2nd Semester)
AP Euro - A / A
H Chem - B / B
H Alg 2/Trig - C / B
H English - A / A
Spanish 2 - B / A</p>

<p>Junior Year Classes (1st and 2nd Semester)
AP USH - A /A
H Anatomy - A / A
Pre-Calc - A / A
AP Lang - A / A
Spanish 3 - A / A</p>

<p>TOTAL
GPA = 4.3 (Weighted) 3.7 (Unweighted)
Rank = Top 5% (46 out of 789)</p>

<p>TESTING
SAT I - 2200
ACT - 33</p>

<p>SAT II Lit - 750
SAT II World History - 800
SAT II Chemistry - 570
SAT II US History - 800
SAT II Math - 710
SAT II Biology - 750</p>

<p>AP Human Geography - 5
AP Euro - 5
AP Chemistry - 1
AP Lang - 4
AP Lit - 4
AP Environmental Science - 5
AP Psychology - 5
AP US History - 5
AP Bio - 4
AP Govt. - 5
AP Macro - 5
AP Micro - 5
AP World - 5</p>

<p>EXTRA-CURRICULARS
DECA <em>Club President</em>
Spanish Honor Society
National Honor Society
California Scholarship Federation
Varsity Tennis
Henry Mayo Hospital Volunteer
Feed the Children Volunteer
Habitat for Humanity Volunteer
(200+ hours of community service)
Job at Albertsons</p>

<p>AWARDS
National AP Scholar
VIA Star Business Competition Winner
Numerous Awards from District and State DECA conferences</p>

<p>Senior Year Classes
AP Art History
AP Physics
AP Calc B/C
AP Spanish
AP Lit
Honors Economics / AP Gov (one class)</p>

<p>Questions: </p>

<p>1) I know that I have one "C" and four "B" how bad is this?</p>

<p>2) Failed both AP Chem and SAT II Chem (there was no AP Chem class) how bad does this look?</p>

<p>3) I switched to regular Pre-Calculus because I failed the first two tests in Honors, again does this look bad too? </p>

<p>4) I self-studies TONS of AP's and passed all of them, will this be a positive factor?</p>

<p>Thanks ^^</p>

#2

<p>Welcome to CC! This is where the extraordinary are ordinary, where the competitive are the norm, and where the overachieving aren’t overachieving. Here, you’ll find some of the brightest young minds in the world; there’s SIEMENS finalists, international Olympiad competitors, music prodigies, and more. Yes, I’m exaggerating a little, but as you’ll find out if you go around reading the threads, not too much so.</p>

<p>Well, first of all, you are ORM (over-represented minority) from an over-represented state, so that diminishes your chances immediately. Your tests and academics generally leave something to be desired. Don’t get me wrong, a 2200/33 is impressive, but you have many factors working against you. Solid SAT II scores though.<br>
You don’t need to worry about AP Chem and SAT II Chem as long as you don’t report both scores. I don’t think colleges will see you switching to regular precalc either. As for self-studying a bunch of APs, it’s impressive, yes, especially given the 9 you’ve passed on your own, but unless you make it an essay (AND DO NOT DO THAT), the colleges won’t know for sure. I doubt it’d help you too much anyways.</p>

<p>So then…reach at Georgetown and Cornell, probably WUSTL too. Boston University is a safety to low, low-match for you and I don’t know enough about the others to give you a good chance. Any other CCers, feel free to correct me.</p>

#3

<p>Doesn’t the National AP Scholar award basically tell them that I self-studied a bunch?
I was bored Junior Year and self-studying gave me a goal to get this award, so I think they will look upon it positively no?</p>

#4

<p>Nope. Anyone with 8 APs of at least 4 each gets it. It doesn’t matter if you self-study 8 or 12. I didn’t self-study a single one (well, I guess depends on your operational definition of “self study”), but still got it thanks to the number of APs I took. Don’t think it means much. Somewhere around 13,000 students got it last year. As a guesstimate based off a sample of probably a dozen schools I know around the US, it’s probably close to 15,000 this year.</p>

#5

<p>UCLA - High Match
UCSD - Match
BU - Low Match
Georgetown - Mid Reach
Cornell - High Reach
Wash. U. in St. Louis - High Match
McGill University - Match</p>

#6

<p>Im the only one in my class who has passed 13 AP’s though, the second was our Val who did 8 (We were the only ones who got National AP Scholar), does it at least make me stand out against people in my school?</p>

#7

<p>Also, how will ED help me with schools where I am a “reach”</p>

#8

<p>Good for you. It’s no small feat, but stop obsessing over your APs. Seriously. It’s not going to get you into your reaches just by virtue of being there. It will make you stand out among other applicants from your school, but your competition is firstly among Asian Californians, then among Asians in the USA. If you were talking about being a SIEMENS finalist, then I’d be telling you how important it was.</p>

<p>Anyways, ED will help you, but don’t do it if you need financial aid. The reason that admit rate is higher is because people commit themselves, so the schools don’t need to worry about yield.</p>

#9

<p>@JustAnotherTry</p>

<p>Wash. U. in St. Louis - High Match
McGill University - Match</p>

<p>Im not well versed in the terminology, but what percentage does “Match” mean</p>

#10

<p>High Match - 40%
Match - 50-60%
Low Match - ~75%</p>

#11

<p>Wow, 50% chance seems like flipping a coin huh :slight_smile: I don’t know if I should be upset or not lol, low match makes me feel better though</p>

#12

<p>National AP scholar does mean something if you get after junior year compared to getting it after senior, im guessing the majority of those 15000 who received the award were graduating seniors</p>

#13

<p>@kash money</p>

<p>I got it after junior year, I dont think it matters much though :frowning: oh well at least I save a few bucks lol</p>

#14

<p>anyone else want to chance me? only have 2 so far :)</p>

#15