What to 'y'all' think? (Small town texas kid seeks college chances)

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Gender/RACE: Male Caucasian
Location: Lockhart, Texas. It’s the kind of place where kids compete in rodeo and stock shows instead of quiz bowl, the town’s claim to fame is “barbeque capital of Texas!”.
High School: Public
High School Type: very poor school in a small Texas town with a high drop-out rate. It’s not that odd to see kids walking their goats across campus after school. The only graduate to go somewhere notable this year was a girl who got a full ride to west point. I only know of one kid in the past 10 years who went to an ivy (penn). </p>

<p>Courses:</p>

<p>GPA – Our school hasn’t released them yet (weird policy). My junior year report card has no grades below a 95. Most are 97-100.
Class Rank: top 10%
Class Size: 300</p>

<p>My classes have been all honors, next year schedule will be
AP Calculus (BC)
AP Literature
AP Biology
German III
Band
Educator Assistant
Comp Sci AP.</p>

<p>(seriously, this is the toughest I could do… =( )</p>

<p>Scores:
Soph PSAT 210 80 CR / 60 M / 70 W
Junior PSAT 220 80 CR / 65 M / 75 W
I have yet to take SAT, but I’ve been going to great lengths to ensure I good score. The PSAT I didn’t study for one bit, and I’ve actually formed a school sponsored SAT prep group and read through half a dozen books to create the curriculum. So with all the preparation I’m doing, fingers crossed I should be able to pull a 2300. </p>

<p>APs
Our school has no AP classes for underclassmen. And only a handful for juniors/seniors.
I had actual classes for
US Hist – 4 (>.<)
English Language – 5</p>

<p>Taken with no prior classes (just for kicks)
Chemistry – 2
Art History – 3
Literature – 4
U.S. Gov. – 5 (this really surprised me)
So distinguished AP scholar from taking 6 tests in a year, two with teaching.</p>

<p>Extracurricular:
-Band (1st chair bassoon for concert season - and previously sousaphone, baritone, bass drum, and now snare drum, for marching, also indoor winter drumline) (7 years)
-Founding member of school music club. (1 year)
-Computer Club (2 years)
-SAT prep group (1 year)
-UIL academics including science, literary criticism, journalism, current events, (4 years)
-UIL drama events including duet acting, group improv, extemporaneous speaking, humorous interp, poetry interp, and One Act Play, (4 years)
-German club (2 years)
free time:
-other instruments include viola, guitar, piano, and ukulele. =P
-writing

  • composing music (classical and experimental)
  • photography.
  • I organize and run a national online writing marathon with a friend
  • a member of the (for now small) international project ‘found a note’, which leaves anonymous encouraging notes all over the world. =D
  • planning on performing on the Austin youth slam poetry circuit this upcoming season
    -I’ve gotten administration clearance to found a school writers’ club at the start of this year. </p>

<p>Leadership positions:
Captain of the drum line, also member of Band Leadership Team
Co-captain of school improv troupe,
Founder and leader of LHS SAT prep group
To-be founder and leader of LHS writers’ club
VP of drama club (president position is reserved for seniors) ,
officer of Comp. Club and
officer of music club
Last summer selected to attend Texas farm bureau youth leadership camp</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work:
Key Club (100 hours)
Volunteered as counselor at local drama camp for children (100 hours)
Worked at a textbook publishing house Format, llc. last year as online content manager and web designer (300+ hours)</p>

<p>Honors and Awards:
Band – Marching band Advanced to regionals last year, top rated, Bassoon Solo this spring earned a top (div. I) rating.
Student of the year in Theatre, Freshman year.
Numerous UIL One Act Play Awards, including All-Star Cast
UIL Drama Awards – Medalist at many tournaments over the past 4 years, a slew of trophies and medals. This past year I went to regionals (level below state) in poetry interp.
UIL Academics – Similarly long list, this last year I medaled and went on to regionals on science, current events, and headline writing (journalism). At regionals I was 9th in headline writing.
AP Distinguished Scholar
National Merit Scholar (hopefully…<em>knock on wood</em>)
Honor Roll
Also, I attended the DUKE Talent Identification Program for 3 weeks doing 150 hours of college level work for 4 years, studying fantasy literature, sociology, old Norse mythology and language, and Psychology respectively. </p>

<p>Colleges of Interest:</p>

<p>ED: Columbia
Also Duke, Penn, U-Chicago, Boston, and what the hell, chance me for Harvard? </p>

<p>Possible Majors: Pol Sci, English, Music, or Creative Writing. Depends heavily on the school. </p>

<p>Basically, I figure my best angle is my having a very unique background coming from a small Texas town, combined with my surpassing limits of my school’s normal resources by doing things like learning a new instrument in band every year, taking AP tests just to challenge myself, and competing at a high level in virtually every possible UIL outlet (we don’t have a debate team, or I’d be doing that too). Also my interests seem broad I know, but I really can’t figure what to focus on and what to cut, I feel I’ve done significant things in technology, writing, music, and theatre all. </p>

<p>Hopefully all of this indicates to colleges that I’m an extremely ambitious, motivated, and passionate student, and that’s even in the face of the obstacles that come from my unique background (very little honors classes support, instructors in every class and extracurriculars being stretched to the limit and unable to go the extra mile for students like me, lack of arts classes) I’ve still been focused on constantly challenging myself and learning new things, accelerating myself even when there was no competition to pass up. </p>

<p><em>cheesey pitch</em>
I mean, if this is what I accomplish at one horse town high school, imagine what I can do at YOUR INCREDIBLY COLLEGE! Tired of New Englanders from prep schools? Inject your student body with the diversity and tenacity of a small texas town native, So don’t delay, accept today!</p>

<p>So, my chances? Other comments are welcome as well.</p>

<p>=] </p>

<p>thanks for your time.</p>

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<p>HAHAHA - love the pitch, honestly say that at your interview…just be less cheesy and more formal haha :P</p>

<p>Nice stats. The only factor that might pull you down is if you apply for financial aid. Keep up the great stats. What about your subject tests? taken/plan to take?</p>

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<p>As to financial aid: it’s not for sure, I’m in that sort of precarious mid-zone. And I thought most places were need-blind these days? </p>

<p>oh and le bump.</p>

4

<p>one more bump, then I’m getting some sleep.</p>

<p>Has using y’all in my title driven away all the helpful and kind CCers? =0
I was just trying to add in a little kitsch.</p>

5

<p>You talking about Boston U or Boston College?</p>

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<p>Columbia ED - low reach
Duke - reach
UPenn - high reach
Chicago - low reach
Harvard - high reach</p>

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<p>bump
thanks for the replies so far everyone</p>

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<p>back up to main page, you!</p>

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<p>I’d like to add to this list</p>

<p>NYU
Oberlin College
Davidson College</p>

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<p>Columbia ED - low reach
Duke - reach
UPenn - high reach
Chicago - low reach
Harvard - high reach</p>

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<p>I think some of the schools on your list won’t necessarily suit you if in fact you are creative and iconoclastic, as your original post suggests (albeit in a somewhat self-conscious gaming-the system sort of way). Chicago seems like an obvious choice; Columbia could work too–the others do not appear to fit your approach, though I may be reading stuff into your post that isn’t there. In any case, I imagine a well-prepared application should get you into both of them if your SATs work out all right.</p>

<p>Somehow Wesleyan and Swarthmore seem like schools you should look into–from the later additions to your list (all of which probably would accept you) it appears you have some interest in liberal arts colleges, and the two I just named have the quirkiness you might be looking for. I imagine you would also have the quirkiness they are looking for. </p>

<p>You don’t seem to have much preference regarding location–metropolis versus small town–or school size. And of course small towns vary tremendously anyway–the one you describe as being your hometown probably has little in common with the affluent and rather sophisticated small-town setting of Davidson or (though I have not personally visited) Oberlin. Probably fit of the school vis-a-vis your interests and goals is more important than actual location, but even so it is something you might want to think about.</p>

<p>One other thing comes to mind–you do have an impressive list of achievements, but some of them, like the publishing job and the drama camp, sound a lot more sophisticated and privileged than the high school you attend would suggest you would likely to have access to. It is going to be a challenge to present yourself as an achiever from a cultural wasteland–not saying that isn’t the case, just that it’s a fine line you’ve drawn, and your school has apparently given you excellent drama-competition opportunities, for example, so there must be faculty and administrators who are really trying to make the academic experience quite enriching and varied. One other point, for example, that struck me: most high schools even in affluent suburban areas do not offer German; I know there are parts of Texas with German-heritage populations, so that might explain how you have the opportunity to take German in a high school where people walk their goats across campus.</p>

<p>Final point, and there is not much you can do about this–lots of people take the SAT twice, and colleges look at the higher score. By not having taken the test at all in your junior year you have sort of boxed yourself into a corner in an excess of caution or manipulation–you pretty much have to do well on the first senior-year test. CR seems to be your strength; CW is surprisingly low (you would be amazed how many people who can’t write their way out of a paper bag get 800 on it), and the math needs to come up as close to 700 as possible–and isn’t it somewhat unusual to be taking BC Calc if math is a weakness? Given your AP experience and your highly varied list of achievements I don’t know if schools will give you as much leeway in your SAT scores as they might for some applicants from high schools of the kind you describe coming from. So really do some serious prep this summer and make a serious effort to do well on all three sections.</p>

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<p>bump
(probably going to revise and re-post this in ~a week)</p>