Chances of getting into Northwestern, Wash U at st. louis, or CMC?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>I’m going to be a highschool senior, class of 2011</p>

<p>So some schools I’d like to go to:
Northwestern
Washington U at St. Louis
CMC
Georgetown
Emory
UCLA
UC Berkeley
UCSD</p>

<p>Anyway, stats:
GPA: about a 3.8 out of a possible 4.7 weighted</p>

<p>Class rank: top 30% of a class of 60</p>

<p>SAT I: CR 800, M 770, W 790</p>

<p>SAT II: Math 2 800, Biology M 770, Chemistry 760, Total 2360</p>

<p>Classes taken/will be taken: AP Biology, AP Chinese, AP Chemistry, AP English lang&comp, AP US government, AP Physics B, AP Psychology, AP English Lit, AP Calc BC. I’m also in English, Math, and Chinese Honors classes. AP eng lang&comp + lit and AP calc are the honors courses.</p>

<p>ECs:
Swim Team Co-captain though I’ve been swimming since I was 6 (gr 12)
Lead vocalist of my band (gr 10,11,12)
Editor in Chief and founder of a school magazine (gr. 12)
Been to about 8 MUN conferences as a delegate (gr. 10, 11, 12)
Summer internship: Cancer research at a University Lab (gr. 12)
I write for the school newsletter as well. (gr. 11, 12)</p>

<p>Community Service: 200+ hours, built houses in the philippines and taiwan, did some volunteer work at a hospital ER and software company.</p>

<p>Reasonably good recs, Essays I’ll be completely fine.</p>

<p>I’m an Asian American male.</p>

<p>Our school is small, so people are really competitive, the gpa norm around here is 4.1-4.2 out of a possible 4.7 weighted. I have the highest SAT score: not sure if that will count for anything?</p>

<p>I did horrible in freshmen year which is why my GPA is so low, but I show a huge improvement in soph, and a slight dip in junior year. And I do wonder what a high SAT but low GPA will say about me, will it hurt?</p>

<p>So there you go, some questions I have on the side though:
Will the slight drop in junior year hurt me too much?
I’m debating between taking the AP psych or AP stats course in senior year because I can still switch classes in the first week of school, any advice?
Also, I chose AP physics B instead of C because the teacher who teaches C is mediocre, will colleges see this as not “taking advantages of the challenges your school has to offer?”</p>

<p>Thanks :)</p>

2

<p>UC schools have to have 90% of their colleges be CA residents, if you live in CA, then your chances are a lot better. </p>

<p>You will slaughter other UCSD applicants – consider it your HUGE safety.</p>

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<p>Also, apply ED to one/all of the schools if it’s okay. Make sure that one isn’t binding/restricted to that school. UCs don’t do that, fyi</p>

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<p>In at the UCs, and your stats outclass most of the applicants at the other schools your applying to as well. Solid shots.
For WUSTL, go visit, and make sure its on their record, or else they’ll waitlist you.</p>

<p>You know, you might just apply to one of the big names and see what happens if you’re at all interested.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/954601-hypsm-hopeful-chances.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/954601-hypsm-hopeful-chances.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>UCs don’t see what your GPA is senior year, but only the classes and for LA/SD/B you need to keep a UW 3.0 for second semester of senior year.</p>

<p>Hypothetically, you could take the hardest schedule imaginable senior year, get straight C’s first semester, get into a UC, then just get straight B’s second semester and still be okay. This would be a lot easier than trying first semester for a private school, but you have to be SURE you want to go to a UC as opposed to a private. I just finished senior year and a lot of my friends who only applied to UCs did this.</p>

6

<p>Hm, thanks for the feedback.</p>

<p>Could you guys chance me more on georgetown, NW, and CMC?</p>

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<p>NW probably not, my friend got into Cornell but denied from NW.
I want to say that your 3.8 puts you at a handicap, probably the same with Georgetown and CMC.</p>

<p>I don’t really know anything about washington/emory</p>

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<p>^^ my friend got the exact opposite, he got into NW but not into Cornell, and he had about a 3.8 unweighted gpa</p>

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<p>but the OP said he had a 3.8 W</p>

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<p>Tufts and Holy Cross are 2 good Boston area schools that are slightly easier to get into.</p>

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<p>@ Paperpencil</p>

<p>Humm in that case, then the OP seems to be closer to another friend of mine who had 3.9 weighted but 2300 sats. Though that guy was hella smart, but just a big big slacker in school. He ended up getting into Cal and WUSTL, but not Cornell</p>

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<p>@freezingbeast
K since you said “hella”, I know you are from nor cal.
Cal this year was a huge crap shoot, I know someone with a 3.9W (ap physics/chem/bc/bio/world/etc) with a 35 on the act, but still got denied from cal/la. </p>

<p>@fragtomorrow
you should list some of your other schools, since your stats are stellar and can easily open up your options a bit.</p>

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<p>I have the most experience with CMC but I think you have a chance at all of them. All of these schools are highly competitive so its hard to predict what the adcoms will be looking for and swayed by. CMC does like leadership and it seems that you have that. I think you could get into any or all but there are lots of highly qualified students out there so pick a couple of safeties as well.</p>

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<p>GAH. The thing is though, our graduating class is like 60 people. And most of the good colleges have a max quota of 2 or 3 students per year at our school. So even while many of the students would get in to those schools in a normal-sized high school, over here there’s a much lower chance. </p>

<p>So could you guys maybe chance again with that in mind? I should’ve emphasized my small class size more. Because a change in just one position in rank can take you down maybe 2 percentile of the class. I think that may me lower chances of getting in than if I were one of 300 students.</p>

<p>As for additional schools, I’m actually not too sure which ones I could take a look at. Cuz I don’t think I’m good enough for the Ivies, given my tiny class. Tufts I think I could look at. Could you suggest some schools? Some very tentative guesses as to what I may be doing: premed, journalism, bio chem. I’m really not sure yet D:</p>

<p>Thanks guys.</p>

15

<p>Whats your UW GPA? 3.8/4.7 is very low for people applying to top colleges. Great SAT + EC’s though.</p>

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<p>Your GPA is only one piece of the puzzle and if you have shown an upward trend since freshman year that should help. No one here can tell you how will turn out, teacher recs your essays and the specifics of what the school is looking for to create a good mix/balance within the class will undoubtedly figure into the decision. With your amazing SAT scores and solid EC’s you are a candidate for these schools. If you can boast 4’s and 5’s on your AP tests all the better but even if not I don’t think this takes you out of the running. The CC boards are loaded with reports of some students with lower GPA’s and test scores being admitted, while those with amazing scores are denied. I’ve seen that specifically with WashU and CMC, I haven’t really researched the others but would guess it is the same. You can check it out by reading posts from accepted and denied students if you search the college forums in March, April and May, especially April. Be sure to apply to some matches and some safeties but you will not get into any of those reach schools (that are reaches for everyone) if you don’t apply so pick your favorites go for it.</p>