chances at various schools for a treehugger? :)

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Asian female in Washington state
Average high school (1,600 kids)
dreaded middle class </p>

<p>**Stats: **
GPA: 3.7 UW
Class rank: Top 10%
All honors/AP courses (10 APs by the end of senior year)
Sophomore: AP Chem (3)
Junior: APUSH, AP French, AP EnviSci, AP Bio (projected 4s/5s)
Senior: AP Physics C, AP Calc BC, APGov, AP EngLit, AP EngLanguage
SAT: 760CR/710M/720W- 2190 (one-sitting)
Retaking next fall to improve Writing and Math and get a higher superscore!
SATII: Just took MathIIC, USH, BioE (projected in 700s… should have studied more)
ACT: 32 (possible retake, not sure I want to sit through it again)</p>

<p>ECs:
Environmental Club (10-12th)
–Co-president next year
Honors Society (10-12th)
–President next year
Student Council (12th)
Youth Advisory for the City Parks Board (11th/12th)
Youth Partnership Advisory Committee (11th/12th)
Kids for Kyoto (11th/12th)
Research at the University of Washington lab in nanotechnology (9th)
250+ volunteer hours at the Pacific Science Center, educating kids and the occassional stupid adult on science-y issues (9th-12th)
Research project on reducing 1000 lbs of CO2 per classroom at school (11th/12th), taking the project throughout the entire school district
JV Tennis (9th-11th), hoping for Varsity next year
Math Club tutor (10th)
Bio-Chemistry tutor (11th)
Played piano for 11 years, but no really major awards because I’m just not that good
Chinese school (9th-12th)
Band (9th)</p>

<p>This summer-
Get a job teaching tennis to little kids
More volunteer work and internship at the Science Center
Summer Youth Forestry Internship
Summer program at Brown
Summer scholars thing at UW</p>

<p>Next year-
Independent project to teach elementary school students about global warming and conservation
Newspaper staff
Continuing research project on CO2 reduction</p>

<p>Awards-
standard stuff. National Honor Roll, probably one of those AP scholar things, National Merit commended probably. Our school doesn’t give out awards.</p>

<p>Subjective stuff:
Teacher recs- Will be really good (they looooove me, jk jk), from my bio teacher (she’s crazy, but we’re friends), and environmental science teacher (also a wacko, but the coolest teacher I know)
Counselor rec- probably a little impersonal, but good (my counselor told me to send her a mini-resume over the summer so she can write what I want her to write… haha what a deal)
Essays- hopefully will be good! they were good enough to get me to the finalist stage for TASP (i failed the interview though, maybe i just have a sucky personality… oh god) </p>

<p>My hooks?
I’m really into environmental studies and that’s probably what I’ll major in in college. I also really love teaching and I think my application will reflect this (work at science center, tutoring, coaching tennis). </p>

<p>Downfalls
GPA (i had a pretty bad sophomore year overall- struggled with an eating disorder, but obviously not going to mention that to colleges), SATs <em>which will hopefully increase</em>, probably could have stronger ECs. Overall I feel like I really stepped it up junior year, found something I looooove, and hopefully that’ll reflect in my applications (: Oh and being Asian, but I don’t think that’s really going to change within the next year.</p>

<p>**Schools? **I’m pretty sure I arranged them, more or less, from degrees of difficulty but a lot are tied.
Brown (top choice! and probably also the biggest reach)
Amherst (doesn’t offer really a major i’m super-interested in but i looooved this school so much when i visited)
Cornell
Pomona
Bowdoin
Northwestern
Claremont McKenna
USC
Whitman
Northeastern
Sewanee
University of Washington (in-state)</p>

<p>Do I even have a chance at any of these colleges? I know the competition will be fierce and I’m pretty worried about my chances. Also, I’m having trouble finding good safety schools to apply to that have majors I want to pursue (namely, environmental studies). I’m not looking for the prestige factor, but a school where I can fit in and be both happy and challenged academically. Any suggestions?</p>

<p>And thanks for taking the time to read this (:</p>

2

<p>Amherst is starting an environmental studies major. They’re already having a bunch of courses. They should definitely have one in place soon.</p>

3

<p>You’ll get into at least 50% of those schools. I would aim higher :slight_smile: Esp if you can get 2250 on the SAT.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the advice! </p>

<p>I didn’t know Amherst is starting environmental studies, that seriously was the best news I’ve heard all week! Do you think it’s in my favor then if I apply there?</p>

5

<p>It might be good to emphasize that on your application - for any new major, they’ll always want to know that people are interested. The major should be in place by Fall 2008, and many of the courses have already started for it.</p>

6

<p>Tree Hugger = University of California in Berkeley</p>

7

<p>I would mention the eating disorder, it shows that you are very strong and are able to overcome struggles.</p>

8

<p>I wouldn’t mention it. Every girl and their mom has had an eating disorder.</p>

9

<p>I’m not so sure about Berkeley, is the tree-hugging thing really true or just a stereotype from the 70’s? :slight_smile: Plus when I visited there, there were tons of weirdos hanging around. Then again I visited at 10 PM soo…</p>

10

<p>“Every girl and their mom has had an eating disorder.”</p>

<p>That’s not true … its a big accomplishment to overcome an eating disorder.</p>

11

<p>You definitely have a chance. </p>

<p>Have you thought about Reed? It seems to correlate with what you want in a college.</p>

12

<p>i’m surprised wesleyan isnt on your list- one of the most mentioned schools for tree huggers!</p>

<p>connecticut college has a phenomenal environmental studies department, has won various national awards for being eco-friendly, very passionate/activitist minded student body. recently added a mention of enviromental awareness in its offical mission statement.</p>

13

<p>“That’s not true … its a big accomplishment to overcome an eating disorder.”</p>

<p>No, it isn’t. And it certainly isn’t one that an admissions committee would like to hear about. I certainly would not look at a girl talking about her eating disorder in her college application in a positive light - unless she has done something positive, ie. started a successful eating disorder support group, feminist alliance, etc. Otherwise, I would consider it an actively bad idea.</p>

14

<p>and obviously you speak from experience unregistered???</p>

<p>-eating disorders have the highest mortality rates of any other mental illness.
-despite you say that “everyone” has an eating disorder, only 1% of women do. and 10% of those with eating disorders are men.
-40% never fully recover</p>

<p>(p.s. i definitely recommend to everyone do NOT mention any mental illness in your essays)</p>

15

<p>Yes, I do speak from experience. And that was extremely rude of you. </p>

<p>Far more than 1% of women have had eating disorders, depending on how you define it.</p>

16

<p>riiiight.</p>

<p>anyways original treehugger, good luck!!!</p>

17

<p>Do you often respond in that manner? Mature.</p>

18

<p>“(p.s. i definitely recommend to everyone do NOT mention any mental illness in your essays)”</p>

<p>why not?</p>

19

<p>to get back on topic, if I hadn’t gone to UChicago, Bard was verrry close second. they’re quite laid back (and tree hugging) there. it has a really personal feel and they’ve also been trying to expand their science program (which is why they gave me an AMAZING scholarship). it’s only downfall is its rural location, but NYC is only an hour and a half away so it’s not too terrible. personally, i think the admissions office would love you, and basically throw money at you.</p>

20

<p>thank you all for your suggestions, especially for recommending reed/wesleyan/bard, all of which were never really on my radar before. after doing a little online snooping i found i pretty much loooooove wesleyan, and really like reed and bard, and I’m definitely going to try and learn more about them.</p>

<p>to the people debating mental illnesses, I’m probably not going to mention the ED simply because I think it’s showing weakness, rather than overcoming an obstacle. Plus i wouldn’t really know what to talk about if I did mention it, it kind of just was the reason my GPA really dropped sophomore year.</p>