Trying to avoid lazy genius label

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Exactly what the title says. Mediocre grades in some very challenging classes, decent test scores, interesting (if unspectacular) EC’s.</p>

<p>Asian male, midwest region.</p>

<p>8th grade (Yes, this is on my HS transcript)
Acl. Geometry A-/A</p>

<p>Summer before Freshman year
World History A+/A</p>

<p>Freshman year
Acl. English 1 A/A
Acl. Algebra 2 A/A-
Orchestra 1 A-/A
Acl. Bio A/A-
PE 1 A-/A
Spanish 2 A/A+
Gifted A (second semester only)</p>

<p>Summer before Sophomore year
Health A+ (one sememster)
Consumer Ed A (one semester)</p>

<p>Sophomore year
Acl. English 2 A/A-
Spanish 3 A/A
Gifted A/A- (second semester was independent study project
Trig/Calc A B-/B
Orchestra 2 A/A
PE 2 A/A+
Acl. Chem A-/B+</p>

<p>Junior year
Acl. English 3 A-/A (AP language and comp - this was the pilot year)
Spanish 4 B+/A-
AP Calc BC C+/B
AP Physics B B+/B+
AP US History A/A
Orchestra 2 A-/A
Weight training B/B-</p>

<p>Senior year courseload
AP Bio
AP Stats
AP Spanish
AP Macro/American Gov
AP Lit and Comp
Orchestra 2</p>

<p>Yes, steady decline in grades with a very slight boost at second semester of junior year.</p>

<p>GPA 3.76 (65/665 9.7%)
Weighted 4.73 (11/665 1.6%)</p>

<p>SAT superscore (2 sittings): 1550/2290
CR 750 Math 800 Writing 730</p>

<p>SAT II’s
Math Lvl 2 800
Lit 770
US History 760</p>

<p>ACT (took twice) got a 34 composite both times.</p>

<p>PSAT - 226 sophomore year, 228 junior year.</p>

<p>AP tests:
Lang and comp 5
Calc BC 5 (AB subscore 5)
US History 5
Physics B 3</p>

<p>I have won a few local awards for playing violin, I volunteer at a retirement home playing violin, held a part-time job my junior year (partly to blame for my poor grades - I worked with alzheimer’s and dementia patients), won a few writing contests, work at my mom’s office, and I’m also a camp counselor for junior high kids in the summer (no pay). NHS, Editor in chief of the paper, tri-m, orchestra officer, state medalist for math team soph year, played in a community musical over the summer, Relay for life capt., National merit semifinalist.</p>

<p>My grades show I’m not a strong math and science candidate at all, but my test scores say otherwise, which is why I’m afraid of the lazy genius label, which i’m not, because I’m not a genius. Anyway, would the part-time job be some excuse for poor grades junior year?</p>

<p>I’m looking at UChicago, Columbia, Amherst, Duke for possible reaches. ND, Georgetown as matches, U of Illinois for safety. Could stellar essays and interviews still qualify me as a candidate for those upper-echelon schools?</p>

2

<p>Despite your gpa being a bit low, you have great chances at all those schools. However, U of Illinois is not a safety at all. Kids with 36 ACTs or 4.0 UW gpa got rejected from there, so you can’t get in just by statistics and numbers.</p>

3

<p>Really, a great chance at some of the ivies/almost-ivies? I was convinced my multiple B’s and that C would knock me out contention.</p>

<p>I put U of I as a safety because I’m in-state.</p>

4

<p>If you come from a low income family and needed the job, then it’s justifiable. If you do not, you should have taken a less demanding course load. </p>

<p>UChicago: Maybe
Columbia: REJECT
Amherst: Unlikely
Duke: REJECT
ND: In
Georgetown: Maybe
U of Illinois: In</p>

5

<p>Are you applying for engineering or liberal arts at Duke and Columbia, because that could make the difference.</p>

<p>It’s mostly going to be how you present yourself and what you get across to an admissions officer. You’re in a pretty good situation, but not pulling a 4.0 at what I assume is an average midwestern public high school isn’t going to win you any prizes.</p>

6

<p>Middle-class, definitely applying to liberal arts. English or PoliSci major.</p>

7

<p>Columbia is most likely a rejection then.</p>

8

<p>applying to engineering would be better, you think?</p>

<p>I thought Fu school was more competitive</p>

9

<p>36’s and 4.0’s rejected from university of illinois? Who did they murder?</p>

10

<p>^ Yeah, I have a hard time believing that Illinois rejected 36’s and 4.0’s.</p>

11

<p>Pshaw. The only state unis which reject 36’s and 4.0’s are Michigan, Cal, UCLA and UVA. Or so I think.</p>

12

<p>I can’t imagine any states rejecting a 36, 4.0 due to their class size.</p>

13

<p>The Fu school is statistically less competitive meaning that they proportionally accept more kids, but it’s still hard. That said, it’s a considerably easier engineering program to get into than Berkeley or MIT. And I would imagine that it is harder to get into Pratt than into the Arts and Sciences school at Duke, considering that the combined admit rate is 21%.</p>

14

<p>Can anyone else chance me?</p>

15

<p>750/800/730 is a 2280, not 2290… (Hey, at least you get a bump)</p>

16

<p>:( how embarassing!</p>

<p>those 10 points won’t make a difference, but yeah, still embarassing :(</p>

17

<p>I think you need an explanation for getting a 5 on a BC calc test and not an A in the course. Did you not hand in homework, didn’t show your work when you could have. You said you are not a genius, but are you a little lazy?? If so, then own up to it and perhaps set your sights for colleges a little lower where folks who are bright but don’t enjoy working hard are happier.</p>

<p>Better to find a match for YOU than the “best” school.</p>

18

<p>That’s the problem - there was no homework grade. I struggled with the material, but the class was basically 75% tests, 25% quizzes, and I just couldn’t grasp the concepts so quickly. I basically went through the entire calc ABC curriculum again in the month of April right before the AP test and finally got a grasp of some of the concepts the second time around.</p>