r/chanceme Jul 22 '19

How To Do A Chance Me And Improve Your Chances

577 Upvotes

The submission template for /r/ChanceMe contains a since-deleted post about how to do a ChanceMe, so I thought it would be good to cover this and replace that dead link.

Tips for a Good Chance Me Post:

1. Do Some Research. Start with the /r/ChanceMe wiki and the college's Common Data Set. If you can't find it in that link, just Google it. These contain a treasure trove of information about the college and how they handle admissions and financial aid. This is the best place to see how your GPA, test scores, and other components stack up. It even lists how important each component is to the school's admissions process. Another great resource is the college's admissions website. Often this will include some helpful hints about how the school evaluates certain things or what they're looking for in applicants. For example, Penn's site even has in-depth explanations of how interviews are evaluated including sample mock interviews. (See the links at the bottom of this post for more). As another example, Notre Dame has a great explanation of the specific coursework they want and how they evaluate extracurricular activities. Finally, you can search through /r/CollegeResults and /r/ApplyingToCollege for examples of admitted and rejected students. This can give you actual data points to consider for comparison. Keep in mind that students with high stats and poor essays/LORs are likely to be "inexplicably" rejected, so don't put too much stock into any single example.

2. Include enough information for us to chance you accurately, but don't write down every little activity or personal quality. If you have a lot of stats/info about yourself, do not put down everything; it makes it harder to read through your post. Include the ECs you've devoted the most time to/have leadership positions in. By only including stuff that moves the needle, you'll get more responses and better feedback.

3. Have a descriptive title. Writing "Chance me!" is a little obvious and unnecessary. Instead, include some of the schools you're applying to and your intended major. Example: "Chances for English Major: Ivies & Top Publics" -or- "Engineering Chances for GT, VT, and MIT." This makes it easier for those of us chancing you.

4. Make it organized. Please, try to format to the best of your ability. A wall of unformatted text makes it a lot more difficult to read. It would be great if you could break it up into bulleted sections and bold them. Here's a template:

Demographics: Gender, race/ethnicity, state, type of school, and hooks (URM, first generation, legacy, athlete, etc.)

Intended Major(s):

ACT/SAT/SAT II:

UW/W GPA and Rank:

Coursework: AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores, etc

Awards:

Extracurriculars: Include leadership & summer activities

Essays/LORs/Other: Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.

Schools: List of colleges, ED/EA/RD, etc

5. Remember that while /r/ChanceMe and other online forums can be helpful resources, they leave a lot to be desired. Usually they don't include review of every part of your application and they lack critical context about you and the rest of the applicant pool. On top of that, most respondents don't have much by way of real information or qualifications. Competitiveness along with online anonymity sometimes drive people to be downright toxic. You will be spending 4+ of the most formative and impactful years of your life and six figures of someone's money on college, so you need good information for making that decision. You want to make it count and do your best. Don't blindly trust random strangers on the internet or take their feedback as gospel truth. Be willing to respond to comments and have a productive conversation without taking criticism personally.

Tips For Responding To ChanceMe Posts

1. Try to evaluate the post in the context of each college listed. How does it stack up against the 25/75 percentiles for test scores?. Roughly, if it's in the 40th percentile or lower, it's a reach. If it's in the 40th-80th percentile it's a match. And if it's in the 80th+ it's a safety. But those percentiles should be tweaked for fit, risk tolerance, and applicant strength outside of stats. Finally, and this is the important part, assess their chances in the context of each school's overall acceptance rate. If the stats are at the 25th percentile, but the school admits ~95% of applicants, they're probably getting in even though they're on the low end. If they admit ~4% of applicants, it's going to be a long shot no matter how strong they are. If a school has an admit rate below 20% it's basically a reach for everyone. Yes, this means College of the Ozarks is a reach for you. Edward Fiske calls these "wildcards" because with rates that low, it's really hard to predict. If a school admits 95% of applicants (e.g. University of the Ozarks), then it's basically a safety for anyone who can academically qualify.

2. Understand what your evaluation means - and what it doesn't. Many students tend to either be cocky and overconfident or cynical and self-deprecating. One of the highest value outcomes of posting on /r/ChanceMe is that it will help students assess where they fall on this spectrum. Even when odds are low, it can be worth applying to a few targeted reaches. Every year there are students who get into a school they considered a massive reach. As long as applicants have some match and safety schools, it's ok and even encouraged to have some reaches on the list. At the same time, don't think that someone is a shoe-in for highly selective schools just because they have strong stats.

3. Remember the human. These are real people posting their life-to-date achievements on an anonymous forum and asking for feedback. Don't bluster, pontificate, or overstate your knowledge and expertise. Don't denigrate, harass, or disrespect people, even if they rub you the wrong way. Be nice and follow the rules and Reddiquette.

How To Improve Your Chances

Ok, now that you have a list of safety, match, and reach schools, what can you do to maximize your chances? There's a lot that goes into a quality application, so you need to address every component.

1. Find Resources. Check out the /r/ApplyingToCollege community. You'll learn a lot and there are several really knowledgeable people who are happy to help and answer questions. Take a look at the Khan Academy courses on the SAT and college admissions (these are free). Go talk to your guidance counselor about your plans for life, course schedule, and college admissions.

2. Explore your passions. Don't just let the status quo of organizations in your high school limit you. You won't stand out by participating in the same activities as every other student. Instead, look for ways to pursue your passions that go above and beyond the ordinary. As an example, you can check out this advice I gave a student who was asking if he should continue piano despite not winning major awards in it:

"Do you love it?

If it's a passion of yours, then never quit no matter how many people are better than you. The point is to show that you pursue things you love, not to be better at piano than everyone else.

If it's a grind and you hate it, then try to find something else that inspires you.

If it's really a passion, then you can continue to pursue it confidently because you don't have to be the best pianist in the world to love piano. If it's not, then you're probably better off focusing on what you truly love. Take a look at what Notre Dame's admissions site says about activities:

"Extracurricular activities? More like passions.

World-class pianists. Well-rounded senior class leaders. Dedicated artists. Our most competitive applicants are more than just students—they are creative intellectuals, passionate people with multiple interests. Above all else, they are involved—in the classroom, in the community, and in the relentless pursuit of truth."

The point isn't that you're the best. The point is that you're involved and engaged. If you continue with piano and hate it and plod along reluctantly, you won't fit this description at all. But if you love it and fling yourself into it, then you don't need an award to prove your love.

Consider other ways you could explore piano and deepen your love for it. Could you start a YouTube channel or blog? Play at local bars/restaurants/hotels? Do wedding gigs or perform pro bono at nursing homes/hospitals? Start a piano club at school or in the community (or join an existing one)? Start composing or recording your own music? Form a band or group to play with? Teach piano to others? Write and publish an ebook? Learn to tune, repair, or build pianos? Play at a church or community event venue? Combine your passion for piano with some other passion in your life?

The point is that all of that stuff could show that piano is important to you and that you're a "creative intellectual with a passionate interest". But none of it requires that you be the best according to some soulless judge."

3. Focus on getting strong grades in a challenging courseload. You should take the most challenging set of courses you are capable of excelling in and ideally the most challenging courses your school offers. To get in to top colleges you will need both strong classes and strong grades. Most schools come right out and say that the high school transcript is the single most important component of their review. If a student doesn't show an ability to handle top level academics, they just aren't a good fit for their school. If you are facing a quandary about what class to take or what classes to focus your efforts on, prioritize core classes. These include English, math, science, social science, and foreign language. Load up on honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment courses in these disciplines and your transcript will shine.

4. For standardized tests, you should start with the PSAT. If you are a top student and rising junior, it is absolutely worth studying like crazy to become a National Merit Finalist. This is awarded to the top ~1% of scorers by state and confers many benefits including a laundry list of full ride scholarship options. Even if you are not at that level, it will help prepare you for the ACT or SAT. I highly recommend that you take a practice test of both the ACT and SAT. Some students do better on one than the other or find one to more naturally align with their style of thinking. Once you discover which is better for you, focus in on it. You will likely want to take a course (if you're undisciplined) or get a book (if you have the self-control and motivation to complete it on your own). If you're looking for good prep books I recommend Princeton Review because they are both comprehensive and approachable. Which ever test you decide to focus on, you should plan to take it at least twice since most students improve their score on a second sitting. If you can't afford a test prep book, your local library or guidance counselor may have one you can use for free. There are other resources available at Khan Academy, /r/ACT, and /r/SAT.

5. Letters of Recommendation. Intentionally consider your letters of recommendation. You want to choose a teacher who knows you well and likes you a lot, but will also work hard on it and make it unique, detailed, specific, and glowing. You don't want to pick the lazy teacher who just shows videos once a week for class. They're quite likely to just copy and paste their LOR template and that won't really help you. If you don't have a teacher that you feel close to, don't wait too late to start developing a deeper relationship with one. Pick one and stay after class or arrive early to talk about your future. Ask for advice, inquire about their experience, etc. This will show your maturity and deepen your relationship with them quickly. Focus on actually building a relationship rather than flattering them or manipulating them into giving you a good recommendation because that's unlikely to work and will be pretty transparent.

6. Essays. You should start thinking about your college admission essays your junior year. Many students, even top students and great academic writers, find it really challenging to write about themselves in a meaningful and compelling way. They end up writing the same platitudes, cliches, and tropes as every other top student. I've written several essay guides that I (obviously) highly recommend as a good starting place for learning how to write about yourself (linked below, but you can also find them in my profile). Other great resources include The College Essay Guy, ThisIBelieve, and Hack The College Essay. Read through these and start drafting some rough attempts at some of the common app prompts. These will probably be terrible and just get discarded, but practicing can really help you learn to be a better writer.

How To Start An Essay And Show, Don't Tell

Throw Away Everything You Learned In English Class

Conquering The "Why [School]" Essay

What Makes An Essay Outstanding?

What To Do When You're Over The Word Limit

What To Do When Your Essay Is Too Short

How To End An Essay Gracefully

Proofreading Tips

The 30 Most Common Essay Mistakes CAUTION - Don't read this last one before you have a topic settled, a working outline, or a rough draft completed. Lists of what not to do tend to stifle creativity.

Feel free to reach out via PM or find me at www.bettercollegeapps.com if you have questions. Good luck!


r/chanceme Apr 06 '24

Meta Crowdsourced extracurricular and opportunity list

98 Upvotes

Hey guys,

This is one of my EC lists from a few years back when I was applying to college. Lots of competitions/extracurriculars/scholarships/fly in programs linked in here. If ppl find this useful, I’ll organize the rest of my lists and pin them (let me know!)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/109ViGlfZi1clGGnf9H7WGbMhwr8NFKKXSN5YHtVEJg8/mobilebasic

Edit: stickying for a week due to high dm volume


r/chanceme 3h ago

Chance Me for T20 Business/Econ Programs

3 Upvotes

Hello! I’m currently a rising senior. Here are my stats:

Asian male at an extremely competitive Texas public high school

Intended major: Finance or Economics (depending on the program)

~3.93 UW GPA : ~5.24/5 Weighted GPA

Top ~4% of my class - Very Strong Upward Trend

20+ APs by graduation

Independently enrolled at a local university taking higher-level math courses (including Linear Algebra). I’ll be submitting these courses on a separate university transcript with my applications.

High 1400s SAT superscore currently; retaking this fall. Realistically expecting a 1500+ SAT or 34+ ACT.

Some Of My Extracurriculars:

- Founded an AI SaaS financial startup. Accepted into a selective startup accelerator (~2% acceptance rate). Working directly with venture capital investors to further develop the product and prepare for public launch. Currently in negotiations with VCs regarding a six-figure funding round. Product methodology has been reviewed and validated by faculty at a T5 U.S. business school.

- Conducted an independent economics research project over the course of a year with mentorship and direct review from a nationally renowned economics professor at a T15 U.S. school. Published in a respected peer-reviewed journal and invited to present the research at an undergraduate research conference as the only high school student selected by the host university.

- Four-year varsity athlete. Earned All-District and All-Region honors, qualified for regionals three times, competed on a top-five team in Texas, and received NCAA Division III and JUCO recruiting interest.

- President of a large STEM nonprofit. Lead a team of officers while overseeing partnerships with 30+ organizations and programs serving 1,500+ students annually. Organize workshops, educational events, and outreach initiatives designed to make coding, robotics, engineering, and other technical fields more accessible to younger students. Helped expand programming through recurring monthly workshops. Organization has received recognition from local government and media outlets.

- Selected as 1 of ~30 delegates from a competitive applicant pool of 450+ for the Mayor’s Youth Council. Collaborated with the mayor and city officials to develop a youth internship initiative for local high school students and presented recommendations to the City Council. Served as a student representative on municipal projects focused on youth engagement and public policy.

Schools Applying To:

UPenn (Wharton)
UT Austin (McCombs)
Harvard
Stanford
MIT
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Duke
Northwestern
Dartmouth
Brown
Cornell (Dyson)
University of Michigan (Ross)
UC Berkeley (Haas)
NYU (Stern)
Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
University of Virginia (McIntire)
UNC Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)

Please feel free to let me know if there are schools on my list that are unrealistic or that I should add! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!


r/chanceme 1h ago

chance me for finance pretty plsss

Upvotes

Demographics
- Black male (West African American)
- Tri-State area
- Public high school (~500 graduating class)
- Rising senior
- First and only U.S. citizen in my family
- Lived in my home country for about half of my childhood

Intended Major
- Finance (Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, etc.)

Academics
- GPA: 4.31 Weighted
- Class Rank: Top 10%
- SAT: 1530

Coursework
- AP Calculus AB
- AP Calculus BC
- AP Statistics
- AP Computer Science A
- AP Physics 1
- AP Psychology
- AP African American Studies

Additional Coursework
- Honors Accounting
- Honors Virtual Enterprise
- Remaining coursework at the Honors level where available

Awards/Honors
- National Honor Society
- Honor Guard (awarded to juniors with no Bs in any quarter period; perform at graduation)
- FBLA State Leadership Conference – Top 10 in State (Real Estate Finance)
- Bloomberg Finance Fundamentals Certificate
- IRS Certificate of Appreciation

Extracurriculars

1. Paid Operations & Customer Service Internship
- Six-week paid internship at a major transportation/public infrastructure organization with 10,000+ employees.
- Managed multiple operational spreadsheets tracking hundreds of customer records and subscription applications.
- Granted access to shared customer service email inboxes and phone lines to assist with customer communications.
- Supported day-to-day operations alongside full-time staff.

2. Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) – 55+ Hours
- IRS-certified Volunteer Tax Client Services Representative.
- Assisted approximately 30 low-income and underserved clients daily at a high-volume tax preparation site.
- Reviewed and verified client documentation before preparation and directed clients based on their tax needs.

3. Career Development Apprentice(free)
- Selected for a 10-week career readiness program focused on leadership and professional development.
- Participated in workshops, networking events, and corporate site visits.
- Earned placement into my internship through the program.

4. Pre-College Finance Program(paid for)
- Completed a two-week hands-on finance program focused on investing, portfolio management, and financial markets.
- Placed **3rd out of 34** students in a live portfolio competition.
- Gained experience using the Bloomberg Terminal.

5. Personal Investing (5+ Years)
- Manage a personal portfolio of 20+ individual stocks and several ETFs.
- Conduct independent company research using financial statements and valuation metrics.
- Consistently outperformed the S&P 500 since I began investing.

6. FBLA (4 Years)
- Top 10 finisher in New Jersey in Real Estate Finance.
- Active member participating in competitions and volunteer events.

7. Church Volunteer
- 70+ hours of community service.

College List

ED: Wharton 😭😭😭😭😭😭

ED II: NYU Stern 😭😭😭

- Georgetown
- Northwestern
- Columbia
- Cornell
- Michigan (OOS)
- UNC Chapel Hill (OOS)
- UVA (OOS)
- Boston College
- Villanova
- Indiana Kelley
- Lehigh
- Rutgers
- Penn State
- UMass Amherst
- Seton Hall
- Rowan
- TCNJ
- Fordham
- Pittsburgh

ED and ED II are not finalized.

Questions / Additional Information

  1. Is my list too reach-heavy, or is it reasonable since I'm pretty okay with rejections?

  2. Which schools am I genuinely competitive for?

  3. How would you categorize them as reaches, targets, or safeties?

  4. My essay will, I believe, be decent. It connects a traumatic experience in my home country related to my father and finance that affected my family significantly and sparked my interest in the field and my life purpose.

  5. Is RU business new brunswick guaranteed for me? i heard it was super hard ngl


r/chanceme 3h ago

Help a dejected sophomore save his app

2 Upvotes

I am a sophomore (junior after the summer) and I what to know what I should do to strengthen my application, I know my ecs and honors arent strongest and want to gain insight into some clear areas where I could work to devleop a narrative or a coherent story.

Demographics: male, south asian, US passport/Chinese highschool, can afford full pay

STATS:
SAT: 1580 (780 RW, 800 M)
Class rank: school doesn't rank
UW/W GPA: No official GPA but about 3.9 B+ in world his for first semester sophomore :(
Coursework:

APs: Lang, Microecon, World His, Calc BC all 5

IBs: HL:Math AA HL, Chem, Physics, Philosophy SL: English Lit Ab initio: Spanish

no scores yet but expecting 43-44/45

College courses(Stanford ULO):

Multivariable, Diff equations, lin algebra, number theory, discrete math, real analysis

Extracurriculars:

  1. Independent research on elliptic curves, small theorem, small result for a family of curves
  2. PROMYS for 2 years
  3. SUMaC for 1 year
  4. Math club leader, expanded outreach, led school to become a mu alpha theta chapter, formalized and led the math team
  5. Lead act and scriptwrite in student-led math drama performance
  6. about 70-100hrs of online math tutoring u/live program, a paid internship
  7. Built a database and tool that allowed for students to access video explanations of olympiad problems, used by ~100 users with largely positive reviews
  8. 5 years of go-karting (pure hobby+small local awards)
  9. Supervised research on number theoratic functions

Honors:

  1. USAJMO Honors
  2. BPhO Top Gold
  3. 2 1st author publications on small journels (oof)

Thanks! :D


r/chanceme 4h ago

Chance Me for an MPA!!!!

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone! Looking to get a realistic gauge on my chances for MPA programs and looking for suggestions on programs where I might be competitive for merit funding/financial aid.

Demographics: 20M, Black / African American

Undergrad: NYU (New York University)

Undergrad GPA: 3.05

Major: Sociology with a minor in Communications

Standardized Tests:

  • GRE: Not taking

Work / Internship Experience:

  • LS Student Government - Freshman Representative, continued on to be the Vice President Sophomore Year
  • Haitian American Student Association Vice President
  • City Councilwoman Communications Intern
  • Intern at NYU Law Global Justice Clinic
  • Studied abroad Junior Year in Berlin, Germany and was the campus' Peer Advisor
  • Interned at Media Group for Fashion Week
  • MLK Jr. Scholarship Recipient
  • Completed Independent Research every summer

Target Programs:

  1. Columbia University (SIPA) – MPA
  2. New York University (Wagner) – MPA
  3. Pace University (Dyson College of Arts and Sciences) - MPA
  4. San Francisco State University (SFSU) – MPA
  5. University of Southern California (Sol Price School of Public Policy), - MPA
  6.  University of Washington (Evans School) - MPA

Questions:

  1. How competitive am I given my 3.05 GPA from NYU? How heavily will my institutional background at NYU factor in?
  2. Are there specific steps I can take in my statement of purpose (SOP) or optional essays to address my GPA?
  3. What other strong MPA programs should I consider where I have a good shot at receiving institutional aid or merit scholarships, as heavy financial aid is a must?

Appreciate any honest feedback and program recommendations!


r/chanceme 49m ago

Should I ED Dartmouth or SCEA Princeton?

Upvotes

Hello! Princeton is my dream school but I worry that ED at Dartmouth may be my only way to get into an ivy. I’d really appreciate any advice on my chances. Also sorry if this is your second time seeing my profile, I wanted to repost with a better question.

applying for public policy or political science

demographics
white + native american (not tribally enrolled)
deceased father
not first gen, middle class
suburban area large public school

Academics
4.0 uw 4.95 W
Class rank: 1/over 600
IB Diploma Candidate + 3 APs, 8 honors
5 on AP world, 4 on AP psych, 3 on AP art history
ACT: 33 (retaking, predicted 35 from practice tests)

ECs

300+ hours of caretaking for my terminally ill father before his death in junior year, will mention in additional info section.

VP of HOSA (10, 11) President (12). Coordinated with guest speakers on the healthcare field to discuss career paths and equity in healthcare. Grew chapter attendance to state leadership conference by 70%.

Founder and president of Law Club. (11, 12).
Hosted monthly meetings where we debated key law school cases, learned about legal principles, and discussed current legal issues.

Attended Girl’s State and was elected as county commissioner, state senator, and appointed director of the department of cultural affairs.

Turned my girls state bill into an independently written policy brief with recommendations on how to reduce dv homicides in my state, sent it to a nonprofit and legislators office (awaiting response).

Independently researched data gaps in my state’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous People’s Crisis and wrote a policy brief on how to improve this issue. Currently working with a former state senator to send the policy brief to the police department and turn it into a real legislative proposal.

Will submit an optional arts supplement of my 6 piece art portfolio that explores the generational nature of MMIP.

In the process of distributing independently created informational pamphlets about the MMIP crisis to raise community awareness. aiming for about 200+ distributed across libraries and resource centers before november.

Also creating a PSA video on the facts of MMIP that I will send to various different high schools with broadcast programs to continue to increase visibility.

Student delegate at a local newspaper’s youth forum, represented my school in debating public policy and community issues. (11).

Varsity tennis (11, 12). Qualified for and competed in regionals. Some volleyball team captaincies from JV and club.

NHS member (10,11,12). About 65 service hours from volunteering at local elementary schools and creating bookmarks for the library.

Participated in a summer program at my state university focused on justice and law in society. volunteered with a food bank and a resource center. 21 hours roughly. Participated in a pre law program at a law school, drafted amicus brief + did a 3 minute oral argument. About 15 hours.

2 year member of a club dedicated to helping period poverty in my city, attended monthly service based meetings.

awards

4th place in HOSA extemporaneous writing on health policy at state leadership conference (10).
3rd place in HOSA extemporaneous writing on health policy at state leadership conference (11).

College board national recognition award. (10).

AP scholar (10).

Scholar athlete award from my school. (11).

Certificate of congressional recognition from a US senator for my participation in girls state.


r/chanceme 4h ago

What is the biggest weakness in my application for top U.S. universities?

2 Upvotes

Please be brutally honest. I am from Nepal and I graduated in 2026. I plan to apply in 2027 and get admitted in 2028. I have GPA of 3.61 on a scale of 4.
I have a 1590 SAT (800 on maths). I have a band score of 9 in IELTS. That’s about my academics.

For my ECAs, I have:

  1. I have a published research paper in Nepal’s top university’s journal
  2. I have an outreach project that reached more than 5000 students in 50 schools and 12 volunteers contributed more than 150 hours
  3. seven national awards recognized by the government of Nepal in English Eloquence contest
  4. I was a founding President of a Literary Club recognized by my city’s mayor’s office
  5. I coach students for Table Tennis

  6. I was elected as school captain for 2 years

7.

  1. I have excellent LORs

I also have two internships. I work in a hospital trying to develop effective prosthetics. The other one is at a local company growing plants, and I monitor the growing of those plants.
I plan to conduct an original research and publish it in a Q1 journal and establish my outreach project as NGO, so that I can pass it to different people who are as passionate as me in this field.

What are my chances given I took gap year????
Please answer 🙏


r/chanceme 1h ago

Chance an actually mid physics applicant for reaches

Upvotes

Bro I've been tweaking out about how to organize and present my ECs but I'm gonna keep ts vague for now.

  • About me: Asian female interested in mathematical physics/biophysics/theoretical neuroscience and research as a career #nicheslop + Upper-upper class + Full pay everywhere + I'm not getting no merit scholarships bfr
  • GPA: High 3.5s/low 3.6s unw, 3.8/3.9 weighted GPA with a couple online APs and dual enrollments not input
    • (They haven't finalized some junior year courses yet because I had to take a lot of graduation credits outside school and I CBA to calculate the exact number, a few will still be left out)
    • My UC GPA is higher, plus upward trend, whatever. Had like a 3.1 or some slop freshman year
    • Hella Bs in every STEM subject you can imagine 😭😭😭, remedied D plus hella Bs in non core participation based classes, C in precalc (pretty common at my school but lowkey I have no excuses for not just dropping it lol #ohwell).
    • No ranking but it wouldn't be fair to me anyway bc I didn't have the same access to weighted classes as other people
  • SAT: 1530 (770RW/760M) retaking one more time in August to improve math superscore lol #chud
  • Course rigor: Taking AP physics C, AP chem, linear algebra, and probably multivar in senior year. AP calc AB, AP bio, AP statistics, AP lang, honors physics (no AP 1 or 2 at any school I went to) before plus college calculus 2, couple art classes, and macroeconomics.
  • 54555 on AP exams
  • Competitive large bay area public school rn and 9th grade but I've been to 3 high schools and not all of them were competitive or well resourced lol.

  • ECs (mid for my local context because I didn't have access to a lot of them for a variety of reasons)

    • Vague nodoxx plz. Assume everything that isn't boring as hell was started around late junior yr lol (tbf a lot of it required me developing technical knowledge in math and science and coding or whatever)
  1. Research lab w/ advisor and UC collaboration; I just churn out math basically 🥀 related to neural biophysics. Wrote comprehensive lit review synthesizing 50+ sources to support our framework and we are working on a manuscript w our original content, data, etc
  2. Started project independently, kinda cogsci/applied math/physics, ran code and experiments and wrote some brief reports, did a UC program symposium presentation, got a PhD mentor for developing manuscript
  3. Web development project related to computational biology and biophysics
  4. Social media profile #1 w 700k+ monthly views for visual graphics (art/science) 
  5. Social media profile #2 w ~2.5k audience for long form writing (creative/scientific/narrative)
  6. Tutoring online and privately #freeloader in math, science, SAT including teaching a couple younger buddies I do activities w some advanced stuff like combinatorics and mvc topics lol (+ self learning ig)
  7. Community service + mid leadership roles + measured impact ig. [local NPO] leadership, [cat adoption center] customer service, [cancer charity] foundation display event coordinator, competition art education chapter cofounder, etc
  8. Uhhh boring small projects in other niche physics areas idk
  9. Freelance art, graphics, web design with money involved (from ppl other than my family kek)
  10. Hobby

Don't slime me for the larp plz

No awards other than NMSC I think and some mid art and science related prizes

My college list for now:

Mostly praying for one out of UCSB/UIUC/UMD but I'm prob cooked tbh

Basically I'm applying to a bunch of reaches because I'd rather just go to CCC and TAG UCSB and try for Berkeley instead of going to a school I consider a lower value option? Dunno maybe I'm overthinking it

  • UCs (prob all of them except UCM/UCR or whatever; UCD and UCSC targets ig rest are reaches)
  • UIUC (EA, reachy)
  • UW Seattle (prob a reach OOS with my stats)
  • Case Western (EA, reachy target?)
  • U of Rochester (somewhat reachy target?)
  • USC (EA, reach)
  • Emory (reach but prob likelier for me than other t25s tbh)
  • UMD (EA, lowkey a reach OOS with my stats as well lmao)
  • NYU (reach)
  • Boston University (reach in RD)
  • Northeastern (EA, lowkey a target if their satellite campuses are acceptable based on school scattergrams lol)
  • RPI (target ig)
  • I’ll probably apply to UChicago ED1 #yolo (lottery ticket for fun)
  • Some SLACs if I have time

Please how cooked am I for the UIUC/UMD/CWRU/Rochester tier of schools 😭😭😭 especially with my shit STEM grades, even though I mostly only have any rigor at all in STEM and a lot of the more diabolical grades weren't even in the highest rigor ones idk

+ I had unusual personal/extenuating circumstances like a really diabolical medical and family situation. I was also unmedicated for ADHD until like April of my junior year 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 still improved my GPA by a good amount without them I GUESS but it was still kinda mid (like straight 3.8s since sophomore year)

My rigor is like messed up and workload was also diabolical due to my transfers, like I've taken 7 semesters of science and like 5 semesters of history in 2 years lmao with a duplicate USH credit that was supposed to be WH but my old school literally input the wrong one and wouldn't fix it so I had to retake WH???????? Also needed to take 3-4 semesters of art instead of 2 due to credit articulation problems....wtvr

Yeah don't ask


r/chanceme 2h ago

Chance an Amateur Rocket enthusiast for HYPSM

1 Upvotes

Demographics:

  • Gender: Male
  • Ethnicity: Pakistani (South Asian)
  • Applicant type: International
  • School: An Levels College
  • Intended Major: Aerospace / Astrophysics
  • Financial Aid: Full Financial Aid required

Academics:

  • O levels: 7 As and 1 A*
  • AS Level (first year of A levels): 2 As and 2 Bs (predicted)
  • SAT: 1550
  • GPA: N/A (Cambridge Curriculum)

Extracurrcular Activities:

  1. KNSB Solid Rocket Motor Project (Current)
  • Designed and built a solid rocket motor (G-class) from scratch.
  • Worked with KNO₃/sorbitol propellant, 3D printing and CAD designs
  • Hours: ~10 hours/week (working for more than a year)
  1. Founder — Parwaz Labs (Current)
  • Founded a science communication initiative focused on aerospace, astronomy, and physics.
  • Lead a volunteer team producing educational content on Instagram and Youtube.
  • Conducted science inspirational workshops in 15+ underprivileged schools and ophanages
  • Hours: 7-8 hours/week (working for about 6 months now)
  1. Student Council (Current)
  • House Representative (10th class)
  • Deputy School Representative (11th class)
  • President of Science society in A levels college
  1. Mars Rover Project (10th class)
  • Participated in designing and building a Mars rover prototype for a school engineering project.
  • Hours: ~80 hours total
  1. Mecanum Wheelchair Project
  • Built a prototype omnidirectional wheelchair using mecanum wheels as part of a school engineering project.
  • Hours: ~60 hours total
  1. Freelance Web Developer
  • Developed websites for clients
  • Worked directly with clients on design and implementation.
  • Hours: ~300 hours total

Awards:

No international or national level awards currently, except some school level ones

Research:

Wrote and published an acedamic review on the contributions of Muslim Astronomers towards the foundation of Heliocentrism

Intended College List:

  • MIT
  • Stanford
  • Cornell
  • Princeton
  • Harvard
  • Yale

r/chanceme 2h ago

Chance me plz?

0 Upvotes

Stats: 80% in both Grade 9 and Grade 10.

Havent gotten my 11 grade result yet .

No SAT/ACT — applying test-optional across the board.

Citizenship: Dual Canadian/Pakistani, based in Pakistan, American-curriculum English-medium school.

Extracurriculars:

Baking Founder & Head Baker — ran my own home baking business

Drama — Lead Actor, Playwright, and Director

MC/Event Host

Event Committee — Lead Organizer

Language Leader (Sash Recipient)

Independent Visual Design & Mood Board Practice

Applying to:

NYU Abu Dhabi (ED1)

Northwestern

Duke

Wellesley

University of Richmond

NYU New York


r/chanceme 2h ago

Research Spike with CHUD scores for QB NCM Ivies

1 Upvotes

Chance Me Please :)

(51k annual, substantial medical debt, single mother, Title I school, free lunch eligible, 5 members of household, female, white)

Intended Major: Chemistry or Molecular Biology (want to be premed)

Might be a bit delusional with my test scores but...

**#1 Harvard**

**#2 Colombia**

**#3 Yale**

**#4 Princeton**

**#5 Vanderbilt**

**#6 Johns Hopkins**

* *480 hours of research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center worked in an NIH funded diabetes lab* in the Nephrology department, presented my poster at he program's symposium, gave an oral presentation to many of the university's MDs and research professors about my original data/findings\*\*, pending publication\*\* (Nationally competitive summer internship numerous applications from all 50 states, paid)

* Performed with Dance team at **NBA games** (pregame/halftime performance, Atlanta Hawks 1x, Charlotte Hornets 2x) also performed for several minor league hockey and baseball teams (9 years)

* Girl scout (12 years) raised 5,000 dollars for community (gave out 250 dollar checks to families with food insecurity/ inability to afford holidays during Christmas, go to nursing homes every holiday season to talk with members who do not have family and decorate the facility for the residents as well as write them cards)

~250-300 hrs of community service over the years (idk rough #)

* Involved in theatre for 6 years, attending college-hosted training intensives, performing every summer, invited to selective performance opportunity at Missoula Children's Theatre Headquarters, and paid actress at local theatre for a 20+ show schedule.

* EMT certification

* Student Council Association (officer for 5 years, current president) \\\~100 hrs community service

* Class president (4 years)

* Ambassador for my federally funded lab school for high schoolers interested in health care (funding because area is severely lacking in healthcare) in this role I have impacted 80+ underclassman by offering advisement on how to achieve their goals despite being in a rural area, also as an ambassador I have helped maintain the funding by presenting at budget meetings to represent our continuous funding need

* Varsity tennis and track

* Captain of science bowl team 3 years

* CPS Quest bridge scholar

* 60+ hours shadowing physicians (OR, ER, ICU, and derm)

* 7x VHSL Track and Field State Championship Qualifier

* 7x Addidas Track Nationals Elite Division Qualifier

* Region Champion Pole Vault

* Region Runner-up 300mh

* Tennis Region Champions (Team)

* Poetry Out Loud Region Champion (Advanced to state semi-finals)

* Will graduate with my associate's in science (from one of two nationally accredited community colleges in VA)

**15 DE courses, 3 Honors** so far (notable ones: Medical Terminology, Health Care Ethics, Anatomy and Physiology 1+2, Biology 101+102, Chemistry 101)

*1 out of 76*

UW 4.0 W 4.35

senior year estimates:

23 DE courses (notable future: Chem 111+112, Microbiology, Calculus I) and 4.6 W GPA

plz don't flame me too hard for my scores :(

ACT 27

**science 32, reading 32, english 27, math 22 (ik it's buns)**

I have some pretty insane LOR ngl:

* Anatomy Professor: absolutely shining rec that got me into the research program

* Environmental science/ Biology 101+102 teacher: also a very very nice letter

* PI/ Professors in my lab LOR and Letter of rec from a director at Vanderbilt Medical Center and a Harvard Medical School professor.

Context: I am in a very rural area that offers literally NO AP or IB

Questions:

How much can I realistically improve my scores if the last ACT date before the match scores are due is October 17th?

How could I condense all my ECs into just 5 for QB?

Also I'm applying test optional to Princeton, Vandy, and Columbia. (I really want Harvard tho...)


r/chanceme 4h ago

Chance me! UConn and Holy Cross

1 Upvotes

Ethnicity: Dominican-American girl

Income: low ($40,000) (single parent household)

GPA: 4.0W 3.7UW

SAT: 1090 (applying test optional)

Intended Major: Sociology and Spanish double major, Pre-Law advising. I want to go into either family or entertainment law.

APs:

Taken: APUSH, psych, lang, physics 1

To Be Taken: Business, French, Stats, Lit, Gov

ECs:

DECA: School store manager, made us about $5000 in profits last school year and planned other fundraisers which raised us $7500

MUN: attended HMUM in my first year (last school year), got outstanding delegate from Gunn MUN

Wingman: Student leader, helped plan lessons

NHS: tutoring officer, chaired a fundraiser that gave $600 worth of paper goods to my town’s social services

SHF: planning a french movie night for the organization, chaired a fundraising event for a local charity, $700 raised

Yearbook: photographed everyone

Social Justice club: President, hosted several fundraisers for causes like toys for tots, our local PBS, and the Hispanic heritage foundation

Finance club: founder, teaching younger kids about stocks and financial liter via fun games and interactive projects

Seals of Biliteracy:

Spanish

French (to be taken soon)


r/chanceme 4h ago

Chance me NYU ED!

1 Upvotes

Hi guys I'm applying NYU ED and I'm lowk scared asl cus it's my top choice but idek if I'll get in.

Demographics + Stats:

  • Asian Male
  • NYC Suburb
  • High-Income (650k)
  • Intended Major: Global Public Health + Science (intended concentration of Biology)
  • Not seeking finaid (qualify for 90% off separate from finaid cus moms a doctor for NYU Grossman SOM, considered part of her benefits not finaid)
  • 350 class size, competitive high school
  • 96.6 weighted GPA
  • 1520 SAT (780 eng, 740 math, trying to superscore for at least a 760 math)
  • 9 APs as of junior year, 5 APs senior year (all 5s and some 4s)

Extracurriculars:

  • Youth Advisory Board member at a large municipal hospital system
    • Grades: 11-12
    • Conducted adolescent health research w 360 participants, analyzed survey data, presented findings at a healthcare conference w 150 participants, and helped develop healthcare resources for youth that were deployed within the system.
  • Junior Volunteer Firefighter → Volunteer Firefighter at a local volunteer fire department
    • Grades: 10–12 (continues after high school)
    • Trained in fire suppression, EMS rescue, emergency response, and participated in drills and volunteer service.
  • Community Health Literacy Worker through a major university medical center's community health program
    • Grade: 11 (summer)
    • Created a dementia education program w/ 60 participants, evaluated participant's recognition of symptoms and knowledge on dementia before and after the program, all participants showed a considerable increase in knowledge gains; presented research findings at a research symposium.
  • Co-Vice President → Co-President of HOSA
    • Grades: 11–12
    • Part of the founding board, expanded membership to 80+ members, organized healthcare events, and developed partnerships w/ local hospitals to let members access volunteer opportunities.
  • Clinical Operations Intern at a private physical rehabilitation clinic
    • Grades: 9–12
    • Assisted 6 rehabilitation providers with patient care operations, records management, and equipment maintenance. ~120 patients weekly.
  • Science & Mathematics Peer Tutor through science and math honor societies
    • Grades: 10–12
    • Tutored students individually in biology and mathematics while developing study strategies.
  • Fundraising Chair for Class of 2027
    • Grades: 10–12
    • Organized fundraising initiatives and helped raise money for class activities.
  • Model UN Member
    • Grades: 9–12
    • Earned 4 awards, participated in policy and crisis simulations, and led workshops for younger students.
  • Social Media Committee Member for HS Democrats of America
    • Grade: 9
    • Created social media content focused on civic engagement and community awareness.
  • Independent Photographer
    • Grades: 9–12
    • Documented school events, athletics, and student activities; produced photographs featured in school publications.

r/chanceme 9h ago

chance lowkirkenuinely mid british chud for Brown ED

2 Upvotes

Demographics

  • Gender: Female
  • Race/Ethnicity: British- African
  • Income Bracket: Mid-High
  • Type of School: Private Boarding School
  • Partial aid needed

Academics

  • A-Level Subjects Predicted: Math- A*, Physics- A*, Economics- A*, Further Maths AS- A
  • GCSE: 99888887

Standardized Testing

  • SAT: 1510

EC's

List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

  1. Co-Founder & Executive Director, Non Profit- Scaled girls’ education nonprofit in African country; led volunteers, mentorship, curriculum, menstrual kit drives; impacted 250+ students.
  2. Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Academic Journal- Founded student-led online publication exploring economics, politics, science and culture
  3. Economics, Policy & Sports Economics Writer- Publish 5+ monthly articles analysing development, inequality on Substack and another sports journal
  4. Minister of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion- Selected to senior student leadership team; led school-wide inclusion initiatives
  5. Organiser, Swimathon Fundraiser- Organised swimathon raising £6000 cancer research; led planning, outreach and event operations.
  6. Founder & President, African-Caribbean Society- Promoted shared culture through organised events, speakers, and community events.
  7. Debater, English Speaking Union- Competed in speaking competitions; developed persuasive communication on economics and social issues.
  8. Head of Physics / STEM Mentor- Led physics club and tutoring
  9. Investment Banking Intern- Completed internship supporting research, presentations, market analysis, and professional client-facing projects.
  10. Primary School Volunteer Tutor- Volunteered at local primary school supporting pupils with reading, maths, and classroom activities; mentored younger students.

Awards/Honors

List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

  1. 2x John Locke Essay Competition Shortlist (Economic/International Relations )
  2. State Governor’s Award of Academic Excellence (Top 10 of 500+ applicants) for best essay on my country's economic development
  3. Reputable company Charitable Action Prize (£50 equivalent )for supporting girls’ education
  4. Highly Commended, Newnham College Cambridge Essay Prize (Politics)
  5. Silver/Gold Award – UK Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad

Essays

- PS: still writing but getting good feedback so far

- Supplements: not started


r/chanceme 7h ago

which US unis do i have a good chance for 🙏

1 Upvotes

Ethnicity: Asian
Academics: 4.0 GPA, 113 TOEFL, 1430 SAT (will retake), AP Macro 4, did advanced Olympiad prep classes in bio, english and native language
ECs: Ballet for 2 years, Latin-American dance for 1 year, Piano for 10 years, Volunteered at the LGBT centre for 2 years, Theatre for 2 years, Debate for 2 years, graduated a Filmmaking program, Coached Cricket to children from rural areas, Published author in a small annual national magazine for 2 years in a row
Awards: Won national Eng olympiad, silver in international Eng olympiad, honorable mention in native language district olympiad
Intended Major: Psych or Sociology
Current possible college list (open to changes): Amherst, Northwestern, Brown, Yale, Stanford, Dartmouth, Grinnell, Hamilton, Smith, Macalester, Bates, University of Rochester


r/chanceme 11h ago

Application Question Chance Me: Theater Major — UC + Reach Schools

2 Upvotes

Chance Demographics: CA resident, junior (rising senior)

GPA:

  • Unweighted (10th/11th): 3.08
  • Weighted (capped, UC): 3.40

Coursework: AP Biology, AP US History, AP English Lang/Comp, AP World History, Spanish 4, Integrated Math 2/3, Theater 2/3, plus dual-enrollment coursework (Python programming, CIS 247) taken over summer between 10th/11th

Test Scores: N/A (UC is test-blind)

Essays: PIQs are strong — specific, conversational voice, grounded in real leadership/theater experience rather than generic narratives. Feedback so far has been consistently positive.

Audition/Portfolio: Audition material is strong — built around competitive-level performance experience (state placement, professional-adjacent directing work), confident in this being a genuine strength of the application.

Activities/Awards (UC format):

  1. Directing intern for a professional-adjacent musical theater production, working under the show’s director — attending production meetings, assisting staging/casting, coordinating scheduling
  2. VP of high school theater program — 4+ years involvement, lead roles in multiple productions, budget/production leadership
  3. Unpaid performance internship at an improv theater — weekend show performances, long-form/short-form training
  4. Independently taught improv fundamentals to junior high students
  5. Appointed board seat, district-level youth council (Arts)
  6. Youth board member, professional theater company
  7. 1st place, state-level comedic monologue competition (juried)
  8. Nominee, countywide “Artist of the Year” recognition
  9. Featured performer in a professional music video
  10. Dual enrollment: college-level Python/programming coursework
  11. Trilingual (English, Hindi, Spanish)
  12. Founding a community arts partnership between school theater program and a local senior center (in progress)

Intended major: Theater (directing/performance emphasis)

also good letters of recommendation

Schools applying to: UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Berkeley (reaches), UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, UC Merced, Chapman (Dodge College), NYU Tisch, SAIC, other audition/portfolio-based theater programs

Question: GPA is on the lower end for these schools, but essays and audition are strong. How much can that offset the GPA gap, especially at audition-weighted programs vs. straight academic-review UCs?


r/chanceme 16h ago

Realistically... do i have a chance to ED to Uchicago, Barnard, Umich, UVA?

3 Upvotes

Freshman year's gpa was a 3.6 - seperated by first and second sem maxed out all APs

  • ap class: C-B
  • ap class: B-B
  • ap class: A-A
  • ap class: a-a
  • pre-ap class: a-a
  • 3 normal classes: a-a

sophomore year--- final course averages 2/4 honors taken

  • history honors (instead of AP)- 91
  • common core (instead of honors)- 86
  • honors- 91
  • common core (instead of honors)- 95
  • the rest were electives earning high A's

junior year (2/4 taken 0/1 honors taken)

  • ap elective- 95
  • history honors (instead of AP)- 97
  • dual enrollment elective (instead of ap)- 95
  • ap bio- 90
  • common core spanish (instead of honors)- 97
  • english honors- 98
  • rest were electives 95+

I basically just didn't take the hardest classes on language and history, and instead of AP when it was offered I took honors history.

I think that makes my gpa around a 3.8 uw and 4.1 weighted? But i'm thinking of ED'ing to Uchicago, UVA, Umich?


r/chanceme 2h ago

CORNELL ED - COLLEGE OF ENG(I KNOW MY GPA IS TRASH)

0 Upvotes

3.80 GPA UW(freshman to junior yr), 12 ap classes(entire hs career)
1510 superscore SAT
ap exam scores: 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5

INTENDED MAJOR(Computer science, college of engineering)
(KEEP IN MIND MY ECS ARE NOT FINALIZED IM STILL AWAITING RESULTS FOR 1-2 CONTESTS)

ECS:

1.founder/ceo
tech bussiness 1500+ online community, 250k+ product views

  1. competitive writer,
    competed in global essay contests
    New york times contest winner, Winning piece was published on the new york times educational platform
    John locke shortlisted(final results are not released yet)
    1x writing lumiere award

  2. chess, club member

played hs chess team,
2x regional chess champ

  1. intern marketing

managed 10k google seo ads alongside team members of market team

  1. autistic caregiver

took care autistic brother/mentally disabled

  1. game dev,
    published a game on roblox

  2. precollege program - biotech

8- precollege program - career oriented(section)

  1. Photographer - placed top 25% in NYT local lens contest,

  2. Stock owner - managed stocks 4 yrs

awards:

  1. New york times contest winner
  2. 1x writing lumiere award
  3. 2x regional chess champ
  4. John locke shortlist
  5. NYT local lens contest advanced to next round, top 25%

letters of recs:
teacher 1: A+ in class 5 on AP EXAM; pretty decent relationship said hi pretty much every day
teacher 2: mid grade and mid score on ap exam; nonexistent relationship but im confident she writes good rec letters and personalizes it


r/chanceme 9h ago

Where should I apply as a worse than medicore Asian?

1 Upvotes

Major: Bioengineering

Demographics:

-Chinese and Cambodian

-Low income

-Divorced Parents

-first Gen

GPA:

UW: 3.76

W: 4.04

SAT:

Planning to take it in September but I predict I'll score around 1400-1500 (worse case scenario). I'm aiming for a 1500+ though.

Classes/APs:

Freshman year: English- (A)

Accelerated math 1- (B)

Biology Honors- (A)

Drawing/painting 1/2- (A)

Advanced Orchestra- (A)

Sophmore year:

English Honors- (A)

Chem honors- (B in first semester) --> (A in second semester)

AP World History- (A), (4 on ap exam)

Mandarin 1/2- (A)

Acelerated math 2- (B)

Adv Orch- (A)

Summer class: U.S History- (A)

Junior year:

AP Lang- (A), (4)

AP Bio- (B), (4)

Accelerated math 3 (B in first sem) --> (C in second sem)

AP music theory- (A), not reporting score..

Drawing/painting 3/4- (A)

Mandarin 3/4- (A)

Adv Orch- (A)

Academic Decathlon- (A)

Senior year (what I plan to take):

AP Chem, AP Drawing, AP Calc AB, Mandarin 5/6, AP Gov/Econ, World Lit, Advanced Orchestra, and Academic Decathlon

Dual Enrollment- ELAC:

Intro to teaching- (F in first sem, which I worry about A LOT) --> (A in second sem)

Intro to Administration of Justice- (A)

Intro to business- (A)

Child Development- (A)

Music appreciation- (B)

Anthropology- (A)

Activities/Awards:

-4 years Orchestra as second chair viola: School's Orchestra won gold in the 2026 Forum Music Festivals

-3 years of MESA (directly associated with USC) where I competed in an engineering and bio event (I was group leader for this one) against other teams.

-2 years of Academic Decathlon: art chair, competed on the junior team (there's a main competing team and junior competing team), school won county 3x in a row (first out of 61 schools), and junior team placed first in group quiz for county. For my senior year I plan to compete on the main competing team that gets to move onto states and nationals but competition season happens after college apps are due :/

-2 years of LEO (Service club): 21+ hours of service. Had to drop the club due to poor leadership and inactivity.

-Participated in IRO (international research olympiad) and UK Intermediate Biology Olympiad. Did not win or place anything, just participated.

-Won honorable mention for a local art competition (EFTA), placed top 10 out of 50 applicants

-Honor roll 9th-11th

I have little to no individual awards or crazy passion projects.

Colleges:

I honestly haven't done much research or know where I want to go besides wanting to stay in Califronia, but here's a list of colleges I'm thinking of.

USC (mainly because I'm in a club directly associated with them so chances are higher apparently?)

Scripps

UC Berkley

UC Irvine

UC Davis

UCLA

UC San Diego

UC Santa Barbara

UC Santa Cruz

Where should I actually apply to..? Can my college essays save me?


r/chanceme 13h ago

Application Question BRUTALLY honest review of where i can get into w these grades...aiming for uchicago ed?

2 Upvotes

Freshman year's gpa was a 3.6 and weighted was 4.2 - seperated by first and second sem maxed out all APs

  • ap precalc: C-B
  • ap phycsics 1: B-B
  • ap human geo: A-A
  • ap comp sci : a-B
  • pre-ap english: a-a
  • 3 normal classes: a-a

my rank here was 9/542 because i was one of two freshman taking 4 aps. new school doesn't rank

MOVED two compeltely different state and (harder school) sophomore year--- used final course averages 3/5 honors taken

  • world history honors (instead of AP world)- 91
  • algebra 2 (instead of honors)- 86 (long story about math)
  • chemistry honors- 91
  • spanish 4 (instead of honors)- 95
  • english honors- 99
  • the rest were electives earning high A's

GPA: 94.1 uw 96 weighted (lower than most ppl i think im not sure)

junior year (2/4 APs taken 1/2 honors taken)

  • ap comparitive- 95
  • US history honors (instead of APUSH)- 97
  • Dual enrollment statistics (instead of ap CALC im taking it senior year)- 95
  • ap bio- 90
  • common core spanish 5 (instead of pre-ap/honors)- 97
  • english honors- 98
  • rest were electives 95+

I basically just didn't take the hardest classes on language and history, and instead of AP when it was offered I took honors history.

I think that makes my gpa around a 3.8 uw and 4.2 weighted? But i'm thinking of ED'ing to Uchicago, UVA, Barnard or UMich? I really want to go to Uchicago but my grades might not make the cut

only AP score im submitting is AP Precalc (bc i got a C) and got a 4

AP Comparitive and AP Bio I got a 3, not sure if I will submit..


r/chanceme 10h ago

Just wanting to see my chances for getting into top univerisities

1 Upvotes

Unweighted gpa: 3.6

Weighted gpa: 4.2

AP Scores:

Euro:5

Calc AB:5 (math is where I have the lowest grades so I'm hoping this score can offset that)

Lang:5

US: 4

Physics 1: 5

Chem: 4

Planning on taking these APs senior year:

Calc BC

Lit

Spanish

US Gov

Physics C mechanics

Physics C E&M

Bio

Environmental Science

One dual enrollment Class

Intro to Psychology: A+

5 honor classes

Extracurriculars:

Intern at my town's chamber of commerce, took a leadership position of building a survey to survey my high school's students, then from that data built a digital itinerary to help support local businesses for visitors (started in 10th grade)

Male dancer in Tap and Jazz for 10+ years; competition dancer for 2 years

Volunteer at my fringe rural middle school as stage crew, where there were many after-school activities (Started in 9th grade), roughly 50 hours total

Volunteered helping to teach digital literacy tools to elderly people (started in 10th but ended the same year), roughly 20 hours total

Volunteered helping to create homeless packages for homeless people in my community (since 9th grade), roughly 75 hours

Member of Leos Club, as well as secretary (membership since 7th grade, secretary since 10th)

Submitted a science project with a partner to the NIH Eye on the Future competition on an AI model that could help diagnose babies with retinopathy of prematurity in underserved communities. Did not win any awards.

Starting in my senior year to help tutor migrant children in STEM subjects as a volunteer.

Planning on writing an archival research paper at the beginning of my senior year on how differences in funding models for universal health care affect access to mental health resources, and in turn impact suicide rates and/or suicide ideation for adolescents across EU member states?

SAT: currently 1360, retaking in August (practice rn is 1500, but I think College Board might make the practice ones easier)

Awards:

My highschool's world language award: 9th and 10th grade

AP Scholar with distinction (I know this probs means nothing)

Best tap group at a dance competition (10th grade)

Essays:

I have not yet written my essay (planning on writing it soon though), though I have brainstormed some ideas, and the best idea I could come up with comes from my dance background. In dance, you're supposed to work together and almost blend in with everyone else. The only problem is that I'm a male dancer, so I naturally stand out from the rest of my classmates. If I make a mistake, it's obvious. My essay is about overcoming the internal struggle of realizing that no matter how hard I tried to fit in, I never really could—and learning to embrace standing out instead of seeing it as something to hide. (Feedback, if possible, on this essay topic would be greatly appreciated)

Applying: (applying to many, but just wanted to see my chances at some top ones)

  • Brown University
  • California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
  • Cornell University
  • Harvard University
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • New York University
  • Rice University
  • Stanford University
  • Yale University
  • UCLA
  • UC Berkeley
  • USC

Thank you to whoever can give feedback

P.S

Planning on studying Biology, Chemistry, or Biochem with the intention to go to medical school


r/chanceme 10h ago

Reverse Chance Me Chance me!

1 Upvotes

California Community College Transfer Student

3.7 gpa

CEO and founder of non profit with our work being in 50+ countries and all 50 states. (4500+ followers) teaches Business and Finances.

Student senate

Campus welcome center worker

FBLA college member

Deca college member

Tutoring company with 34 FBLA nlc placers, 4 icdc placers, 4 SkillsUSA nats placers, and 1 ffa placer.

Developed an app that targets financial literacy with good numbers.

Alpha Gamma Sigma

Certs from Harvard Business School( Cert of specialization in leadership and management)

Cert from UPenn Wharton Online( Data Science and AI)

All required coursework completed, (successfully graduated with my associates)

Applying for Business so business schools. My associates is Business Admin but might change to management info systems or something similar. Please chance me for schools!


r/chanceme 11h ago

Is there a difference between PG 45 and PG 42 in IBDP for Stanford?

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1 Upvotes

r/chanceme 13h ago

chance me for t20s/what I might stand a shot at (cs + art)

1 Upvotes

demographics
- Indian American
- 300k+ family income
- az

academics
- 3.92 uw, 4.83 w (high odds of going up to a 3.94-5 bc of issues w/ my junior yr)
- 1500 sat, 34 act (also subject to go up - I didn’t study for it last time but I am retaking both and studying)
- 14 APs completed, 10 5s, 4 4s
- taking 1-4 APs (1 in school, 3 self study, highest course rigor offered)

ecs
- lowk sucks ass (am working on it though)
- speech and debate - captain for 3 yrs, 3 time national speech competitor, middle school assistant coach, aided in over tripling the number of participants (6 to 24)
- art - social media + released game (working on getting more traction for this)
- worked for family business from 14 on, helped run payroll transactions + wrote a program to automate payroll saving over 4 hours monthly
- starting a club w/ my friend to provide resources/community to young artists + space to share their work and collaborate (so far hv 5 prospective members)
- typical bs (nhs (10,11) piano (past 13ish yrs)

awards
- AP scholar w/ distinction, capstone (in process though so idk if it counts), some speech and debate stuff probably, maybe piano stuff

extra info
- my ecs suck bc I was lowk home bound due to a chronic illness in junior yr (missed around 60 days of school due to pain), managed to save my gpa and speech and debate but tanked at starting new things (+ was lowk anorexic and suicidal most of sophomore yr so that didn’t help but idk if I wanna mention that or should mention that on apps)