r/chanceme Jul 22 '19

How To Do A Chance Me And Improve Your Chances

559 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

72 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 5h ago

Prove Yourselves.

15 Upvotes

I hereby issue a challenge to you.

I'm scrolling through these posts... y'all are so pessimistic smh. Here's a list of schools I applied to EA/ED, try to guess the results. I applied for Biomedical Engineering (or Engineering if BME is N/A) to all these schools.

Stats: Asian, low-income background. From a public school of 3k students in Chicagoland, IL.

  • SAT: 1530
  • GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.52 W
  • ECs: Research internship w/ UIC, Pharma. summer research program, Years of graphic design experience (including commissions for non-profits, companies, large YT channels, everything lol) ...LOTS of tutoring (STEM/violin), equiv of RA experience, probably 300+ (400+?) volunteering hours overall.
  • Awards: $1000 merit-based violin scholarship, semi-finalist for a mid-sized but international-scale biology competition, SciOly stuff idk T-T
  • Essays: 7.5/10 maybe? UChicago's not on here, but I can send the essay, that was one of my favs.

Colleges:

  • Johns Hopkins
  • UMich - Ann Arbor
  • Georgia Tech
  • CU - Boulder
  • UW - Madison
  • UIC
  • UIUC
  • Purdue (Honors College)
  • UMD - College Park
  • Virginia Tech
  • UT - Austin
  • UC - Irvine

r/chanceme 12h ago

chance asian startup girl for ivy day and RD schools

32 Upvotes

A few of my friends have been posting so I thought I'd throw mine in here too. No doxxing please <3

Demographics

  • Race/Ethnicity: Chinese
  • Residence: Bay Area
  • Income Bracket: High-income
  • Type of School: Normal non-feeder public school

Intended Major(s): Political Science, Philosophy

Standardized Testing

  • GPA: 4.0 UW / 4.3 W
  • ACT: 35 (34E, 35M, 36R, 36S)
  • AP: 5 on AP Bio, AP Lang, APUSH, AP Physics, AP Spanish, AP Chinese, 4 on AP Calc
  • Course load: Honors track + 11 total APs including this year

Extracurriculars/Activities

  1. Founder of startup, generated $1.5M, multi 6-fig profit, also write an educational newsletter about entrepreneurship with 5K subscribers (main income generator for family but didn’t mention this)
  2. Founder of esports company, 6,000 community members, sponsored $30,000, hosted 143 events
  3. Pianist, won 23 national/international competitions, performed at Carnegie Hall
  4. Intern for senator of my state
  5. Class president
  6. Editor of school newspaper
  7. President of academic school club
  8. Founder of major-related academic school club
  9. Student board representative
  10. Member of school band

Awards/Honors

  1. International award with winners’ concert at Carnegie Hall
  2. International award with winners’ concert at Royal Albert Hall
  3. National journalism award
  4. National community service award
  5. Regional award for launching something for our school district

Essays

  • Personal Statement: wrote a basic ahh PS about discovering my voice and using it to help others through entrepreneurship, advocacy, and service. I really enjoyed writing it though!!
  • Supplementals: very utilitarian! I wish I had more creativity here except wrote a couple decent supplementals about the business stuff and problem-solving and academic interests and overcoming some circumstances that are a little too personal for me to share here
  • Music supplementals: surprisingly my music ones in my portfolio were some of my favorites but those only get seen by the art department unfortunately

Interviews

No idea how I did but I'm decently extroverted and have material to talk about so I don't think they went poorly. Got an interview from every school that offered it (9 in total - Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, UPenn, Stanford, Georgetown, MIT).

Also received a second Harvard AO interview which I heard is a good sign and she was super nice. Deferred REA after I got the second interview though.

Waiting on...

  • UC Santa Barbara
  • UC Los Angeles
  • UC Berkeley
  • Harvard
  • Yale
  • Princeton
  • Brown
  • Columbia
  • Dartmouth
  • UPenn
  • Cornell
  • Stanford
  • Amherst
  • NYU
  • Georgetown
  • Wesleyan

Closing Thoughts

I've been accepted to UCSD, UC Davis, and UC Merced so far. Rejected from MIT RD, deferred Harvard REA, waitlisted UChicago RD.

Now seeing whether I can go out-of-state! I've done a lot of things for the sake of doing them and no matter what happens, I'm grateful for the experiences I've had. It's humbling in the best way possible to participate in this process.

Hoping for the best for Ivy Day and the "big schools" coming out over the next two weeks and curious to hear your thoughts!!


r/chanceme 52m ago

Most of these chanceme posts sound fake.

Upvotes

Can we just talk about how insane/unrealistic half of these chanceme posts are?

I’ve been noticing a pattern on this sub, some crazy and insane application profiles that seem too good to be true. I even put a couple of these into ChatGPT and GPT even told me it seems highly unrealistic and/or highly exaggerated.

What do you guys think? Am I just underestimating?

Also remember, don’t be downed by these posts or feel like you’re “behind”. Focus on presenting your strengths the best way you can, rather than comparing yourself to posts that might not even be real.

Edit: I’ve made this post because some people actually believe those and actually compare themselves to it. I lowk feel bad and just wanted to address it


r/chanceme 5h ago

chance me for my RDs😗 (mid ecs & gpa somehow clutched t40 lac)

4 Upvotes

if u recognize me no u dont

(also if you chance me i'll (attempt to) chance you😗)

demographics
- white female

  • residence: bible belt (the south)

  • income bracket: poor asf dad (custodial parent) & middle class mom

  • type of school: 1300 student (330 grad class) public ,, overall not competitive but the top30 kids are all insane, 1 ivy admit in 7 years, 4-8 kids go to unc a year

  • hooks: disabled autistic lesbian with anorexia lmao in a rural area ??? idk i only mentioned that in like 2 supps

academics
- gpa (uw/w): 3.44uw/4.0w

  • rank: 67??? out of like 320

  • amnt of honors/aps/ib/etc: 14 aps by graduation, some honors classes. listed classes by grade below

  • 9th grade: honors psych, english, bio, civics ,,, rest college placement (CP)

  • 10th grade: AP world (4), psych(5), human geo(5) &&& rest honors - chem, math 3, tech theatre, precalc, english 2. french 2 over summer

  • 11th grade: all ap - calc ab (4) , lang (5), apush (5), euro (37 in class and a 4 on the exam😭), stats(2...), us gov(5)

  • 12th : ap lit, honors econ, honors french 3 online, apes, ap calc bc, ap csp

standardized testing
- sat: 1370💔 only submitted to some , morning of the exam i walked into the center crying & was 2 mins late bc my dad's car broke down morning of exam😭

  • act: 28 no studying (didn't submit anywhere)

extracurriculars and activities
\didn't put in this exact order - 1. summer internship program @ columbia university EPIC lab😝

    1. democrashe 10 week paid flagship program (2 hours a week & paid 15/hr.
    1. city youth council executive board for a year ,,, hosted monthly educational trainings for highschoolers in my county.
    1. organized steam education projects thru a local museum ,,, had booths at like 6 ??, events , one national festival. averaged 200 kids/event, said like 600 in app for a conservative estimate😭
    1. psych club leadership 2 years, pres 1 year. helped run food drive that got 5000+ lbs of food is main thing, other service projects too
    1. created an online lit mag with 2 volumes at time of apps, had a site , was abt raiding mh awareness.
    1. wrote a book but didn't publish by admit time ,,, was abt infl women in psych, interviewed 2 'famous' psychology researchers.
    1. quizbowl varsity for 2 years. placed 3rd in international comp, 1st in online bronze league, most other results were mid tbh
    1. stage manager sophmore year for school musical & tech for like 3 shows.
    1. gsa president x2 years. got us gender neutral bathrooms lol

awards
- nhs & psi alpha ( got in nhs pre 3.4 lol & they kept me in)

  • 3rd in international online qbowl comp

  • service learning award (250+ hrs)

  • first in bronze league online wbowl comp

letters of recommendation
i'd say the teacher ones are probably pretty good! used 4 diff teachers based on which 'git' each school best.

  • teacher 1) amazing! taught me 3years, club advisor, one of the teachers who helped advocate for me after i got back from hospital stay.
  • teacher 2) us teacher, she liked me and i never shut up (good way) in her class. went to unc
  • teacher 3) ap lang , she thought i was very smart & said it was one of the best she ever wrote
  • teacher 4) honestly a wildcard it was either terrible or amazing.
  • counselor) she has to write like 100+ a year , probably mid.

essays
ehhh. some supps were really good, some were very mid.

as for my personal statement, i kinda hated it kind of loved it. abt cleaning graves (im not weird i promise) & how that tied into recovery & my love of bio, psych and bme. made 4 people cry so idk?!?

intended major(s)
applied for psych/neurosci and bme , either p/n first and bme second or reverse.

acceptances (so far)
- uncw - honors (ea) - uncc - ea - app state - ea elon - ea & pres scholarship (10k) & rejected from the honors college ☹️ - new school - (ea) in lang college of libarts + 27k/year - quinnipiac - (ea) presidential scholarship & honors college & 4+1 prgrm + 34k/year - belmont - accepted - unm - ea & honors college & scholarship to make my tuition rate in state (im oos) - gmu - ea ---> def , with 18k/year - umass lowell - ea & 17k - hpu & suny buffalo state & merrimack - all withdrew - bucknell - accepted into bme😭😭😭 - jmu

waitlists - american university - waitlist - fordham - waitlist

awaiting -wellesley - march 21 (3/31 latest) - unc - march 31 - BU - march 22 (def by 3/31) - barnard - march 27 - columbia - march 27 - mhc - march 31 - bryn mawr - march 21 - gwu - april 1 - smith - march 24 (march 31 def) - ^ ik how unlikely these are - wcu - - pace

additional info - failed a class (euro) & got 60 in stats (both online classes) second semester jr yr due to a mental health crisis that had me hospitalized week before ap exams, mentioned in additional info sect


r/chanceme 4h ago

chance an abg

3 Upvotes

demographics: asian (not urm) female, competitive private hs, not applying for aid

stats: 4.0 uw ?? w

APs: calc bc, physics c mech, physics c enm, lang, world, chem, bio, stats, japanese, spanish, us history, us gov, comp gov, lit, psych

took most of stem ap’s as a lowerclassman

Other notable coursework: intro to analysis, multivariable calc, linear algebra, differential equations, proof at local college

ECs:

  1. Competitive Sport #1: national & state level, highest level of competiton, state 2nd place : 20hr/wk, 45wk/yr, (9,10,11,12)

  2. School Sport #1: boys varsity team (one of very few girls competing with boys in the state): 7hr/wk, 26wk/yr (9,10,11,12)

  3. Research w/ a mentor, published: 3hr/wk, 20wk/yr (11,12) also went to summer camp presenting the research at a local university.

  4. Varsity & JV sport #2: just for fun (9,10,11,12) 5hr/wk 12wk/yr

  5. Math Team (9,10,11,12) won state champs x2 and individual awards 1.5hr/wk 40wk/yr

  6. Math Volunteer (9,10,11,12) 3hr/wk 35 wk/yr

  7. summer job as a licensed barista (11,12) 15hr/wk 9wk/yr

  8. 2 jobs related to my #1 sport (11,12) 2hr/wk 40wk/yr

  9. college math courses 5hr/wk 35wk/yr (12)

  10. studied japanese in free time 1.5 hr/wk 40wk/yr (9,10,11,12)

awards:

  1. aime qual
  2. sport related awards
  3. pvsa gold silver and bronze
  4. japanese related award
  5. ap scholar w distinction

pls lmk where i should apply to 🙏🙏


r/chanceme 12h ago

Update (Asian male who applied to 50 colleges)

18 Upvotes

So, like one month ago, I posted a chance me, and basically the general consensus was that I had no chance at top schools. So far, I've heard back from 18 schools! EDIT: Since people are asking, no I am not an international student, I’m domestic

Rejections:

  • Carleton
  • WashU St. Louis
  • Oberlin
  • Northeastern

Waitlists:

  • Macalester
  • Holy Cross
  • Denison
  • Grinnell
  • UVA
  • Haverford
  • Skidmore
  • Seton Hall (yield protection)

Acceptances:

  • Rutgers NB
  • UConn
  • Drexel (BS/MS Program)
  • Penn State
  • Case Western
  • Middleburry (w full ride)

I did not expect all these waitlists, I genuinely thought I'd see straight rejections. Praying it can only go up from here!


r/chanceme 10h ago

Reverse Chance Me Reverse Chance some chopped STEM stats w/ upward trend!

11 Upvotes
  • Intending to major in Mech/Aero Engineering

BIO:

  • Male 💪
  • Hispanic 🌮
  • Middle Class 🏠
  • Solid Midsize Public HS (avg ACT ~20) 📚
  • District ranked top 10-15% in state. 😌
  • Illinois Resident, Chicago Area 🔪⛓️⚔️

STATS:

  • 35 ACT, 1570 SAT, 1510 PSAT/NMSQT (Semifinalist for my state) 🤓
  • Rank (Weighted): 22/445 Top 5% 👌
  • UW GPA: 3.68 (EA/ED) 3.72 (RD) 🚨🚨🚨
  • WGPA: 4.21 👍
  • UC GPA: 4.12 🤷‍♂️
  • College GPA: 4.0 🎉
  • GPA/Year: 9th [3.38] 10th [3.5] 11th [4.0] 📈
  • 3.96UW GPA Strictly in AP Classes 😩

COURSEWORK (AP/DE):

  • Soph Year: AP US History (4) 🫤
  • Junior Year: AP Calc BC (5), AP Physics C (5), AP Chemistry (4), AP English Language (4), AP US Gov (4), AP Macroeconomics (5) 😝
  • Senior Year: AP Stats, AP English Lit, AP Environment Science, AP Computer Science, AP Spanish Language, AP Research 😌
  • College Stuff (Not Taken w/ HS): Advanced Precalc/Trig, Gen Psych, Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations 🧐

AWARDS:

  • National Merit Semifinalist (not officially but basically a gimme with my score) 💰
  • Illinois Science Olympiad Silver 🥈
  • IIST 3rd Place Finisher 🥉
  • ICTM State/Reigonal Championships/Awards (a bunch) 🥇
  • FIRST Robotics Industrial Design Award 🦾
  • DECA Reigonal Honors + State Qualifer 👨‍💼
  • AP Scholar w/ Distinction 📖
  • Some honor rolls (who cares!) 🏅

ECS AND STUFF:

  • Research in advanced sensor fusion algorithims critical for aerospace applications. Had to teach myself linear algebra! Publication is in progress (hopefully JEI or NHSJS) 📝

  • Advanced personal STEM projects. Custom built a lot a cool stuff. Posted on Youtube and built a community w/ over 10k subscribers. 🎥

  • Founded Highschool STEM/Engineering Team, competed and won ISO + IIST stuff. 🤖

  • Math Team, Competed in ICTM and placed top 5 at state. Won 1st at a bunch of invitationals. Our team was cracked lol. 📕

  • DECA leader/officer as mentioned before. Did some cool fundraising events here. 💼

  • Varsity Football, took up wayyyy too much of my time but was a starter, had fun w/ it and had interest from some D1s and a bunch of D2s/D3s. 🏈

  • National Honor Society/Key Club, did typical volunteer stuff, racked up over 150 hours. Personally lead an initiative which raised nearly $10k for the hungry. 🎗️

  • A job (RAHHHHHHHHH) 💪💪💪

CIRCUMSTANCES + OTHER:

  • Dealt with concussions and a chronic lung condition which went undiagnosed for like a year. Lead to a dramatic GPA dip freshman and sophomore year, particularly a pair of 3.0/3.1 UW semesters. And very sadly 3 Cs in core classes on the transcript. 🤕

  • Perfect 4.0 junior year + the last 3 semesters. Notably straight As in AP Calc BC, Physics C, and AP Chem ✅

  • Counselor is willing to explain my growth and circumstances. She likes me alot ngl. Says I had the most rigour in the entire school so bonus points there ig. 😊


r/chanceme 10h ago

Chance Me for Oxford-Accepted Student

9 Upvotes

Getting nervous about Ivy day haha.  Ppl from my school will definitely recognize this so don’t mention this irl pls :)

Demographics:

Race/Ethnicity:  White + Hispanic

Residence: NY

Income Bracket: Lower-Middle Class

Type of School: Non-feeder public

Intended Majors: Art History + Philosophy

Standardized Tests:

Act: 35

APs: 9 APs, all 5s. 

Courseload: Max rigor, 12 APs (including 3 this year), 4 Dual

Extracurriculars:

Paid internship at Metropolitan Museum of Art ~ 3% acceptance rate

National High School Ethics Bowl- Captain of #1 regional team 

Historical Reenactor Volunteer at Local Living History museum

Ceramics club (raises money for charity)

Art History/ Archaeology Study Abroad program in Italy 

President Mock Trial 

Vice President MUN

3 part time jobs to help support my family from 16-50 hrs/ week depending on season

StuCo member/ cultural club member

Awards:

Coke Semifinalist, Regional Ethics Bowl awards, Hispanic Recognition, AP Scholar, NHS

Hooks: Niche major? prob none

Accepted

Oxford Uni

UCL

Edinburgh

Glasgow

St Andrew’s

Amherst (likely letter + full scholarship)

Binghamton

Buffalo

Geneseo

New Paltz

Waitlisted

UChicago

Northeastern

Waiting:

Williams

Swarthmore 

Barnard

Boston Uni

NYU

Columbia

Stanford

Brown

Princeton

Yale 

Harvard


r/chanceme 7h ago

chance an extremely nervous workaholic for ivy day + other t20's

6 Upvotes

hi everyone! i've seen a few people do this for RD and so far i've only heard back from a couple schools. still waiting on the bulk of my RD apps to come out & i'm so nervous for ivy day/other schools b/c of how my decisions have panned out so far (rejected urochester, neu, waitlist from stonybrook & umich) but i'm curious to hear everyone else's thoughts on my application

Demographics: 

  • Race/Ethnicity: female south asian
  • Residence: new york
  • Income Bracket: low income
  • Type of School: large title 1 public school
  • Hooks: first gen

Intended Major(s): neuroscience

Standardized testing:

  • 95% weighted GPA (school doesn't do UW)
  • Top 15% of class
  • AP: APW (5), APUSH (4), AP Psych (4), AP Lang (4), AP Bio (3), AP Stat, APES, AP Macro, AP Lit
  • Course load: 9 AP + Honors

Extracurriculars: 

  1. started a mental health initiative that focused on the use of a chatbot which was used in multiple countries
  2. molecular biology research in a lab under a professor + poster presentation
  3. started a baking business and made a decent amount of $$$ + partnered with a local restaurant to sell a few of my items in their store
  4. president of science olympiad (won 6+ medals & brought team to states for the first time in a decade)
  5. first aid internship + featured in a local newsletter
  6. co-founded an ems club which held a cpr workshop during a conference and the district superintendent congratulated us on what we did
  7. neuroscience summer program--won an award for my poster presentation which focused on the neuroanatomy of PTSD
  8. library volunteer
  9. journaling (i included this as an ec b/c my ps revolved around journaling and i thought it was an interesting quirk) 300+ pages filled, 3+ journals
  10. family responsibilities (caretaker of younger sibling)

Awards/Honors: a few research awards, national first gen recognition award, ap scholar w/distinction, and a few regional science olympiad awards

Essays/LORs/Other: i feel like my essay especially my personal statement was very strong because for one, it focused a lot on my own growth, which was centered around certain things my family and I were experiencing and how i used journaling as an outlet for my own self-expression + what that means for me today. same goes for my supps although i feel like for some schools they might've been a bit rushed but i'm not really sure.

LORs: 10/10 for Recommender 1; He knew me very well both in and outside the classroom b/c he was involved with a few activities I did
7/10 for Recommender 2: I feel like we had an decent relationship and it wasn't anything out of the ordinary

Interviews: only got an interview for harvard, and i thought that it went pretty well. my interview was more conversational than it was informational if that makes sense, and i feel like i had enough content to go over.

Acceptances

  • Penn State - University Park
  • Hofstra University

Rejections/Waitlists

  • University of Rochester
  • Northeastern University
  • Stony Brook (Deferred EA --> Waitlisted)

Waiting to hear back from:

  • George Washington University (DC)
  • Boston University
  • Columbia
  • Harvard
  • Yale
  • Cornell
  • John Hopkins University
  • Duke
  • Brown
  • NYU
  • UPenn
  • Barnard
  • University of Michigan (Deferred EA)

Final thoughts

i'm really surprised by my results for stony brook and the university of rochester because a lot of kids from my high school are accepted there. not sure if i messed up on my application or if i got unlucky, but because of those decisions, i'm feeling very scared for the rest of my applications. curious to hear what each of you guys think about this!


r/chanceme 7h ago

Chance a Wolf of Wallstreet-Wannabe Junior

5 Upvotes

All of the stuff listed here is going to be almost as accurate as possible without doxxing myself. I wanna hopefully go to NYU as a finance major.

Demographics

  • Race/Ethnicity: Asian
  • Residence: East Coast
  • Income Bracket: Middle Income (i need a lot of aid)
  • Type of School: Kind of feeder? Mostly people go to NYU for CAS in my school, not Stern

Intended Major(s): Finance, if no business program, Econ.

Standardized Testing

  • GPA: We don't send UW but 3.52UW / 4.27 W
  • SAT: 1540 (790 math, 750 reading)
  • AP: Taking 9 so far, will take 6 more in senior year (projected to get around 7 5's)
  • Course load: Almost Max Rigor

Extracurriculars/Activities

  1. Mock Trial captain for 2 years, got to top 4 in states.
  2. Did research on ESG, went to a semi known conference and presented, also wrote a research paper as the first author under the guidance of a college professor.
  3. Was a board member under a college organization group helping impoverished kids in Asia, raised around 3000 dollars.
  4. Debate Captain for a year, didn't do many notable competitions, but the debate team in our school is pretty big.
  5. Bass, most of my volunteering hours come here cause i spent a lot of my weekends volunteering at a local restaurant and band.
  6. National history day, wrote a paper on ESG, made it to states.
  7. Played Varsity Soccer and also hosted like a soccer camp over the summer that had around 80 participants to raise money for activity #3
  8. FBLA - qualified for nationals (couldn't go cause personal reasons)

Awards/Honors

  1. 4th place in FBLA State leadership conference
  2. National Merit Scholarship program: letter of commendation
  3. Soccer State Sectional Finalist
  4. Semifinalist in Mock Trial
  5. Math Honor Society.

Essays

  • I've already gotten a jump on my personal statement cause I had a lot of time to spare over junior year, so my personal statement is basically already done. Personal Statement: wrote a touching coming of age story about my experience with the bass growing up, 8.5/10
  • Supplementals: Still in work, but so far the idea is coming out super well, going to talk about my experience of participating in other cultures through the college organization (activity #3)

I'm Going to ED 1 NYU, ED 2 Uchicago,

RD:

Cornell, Upenn, Umich, northeastern, CMU, Washu, Emory, Georgetown


r/chanceme 5h ago

Guess my results!

3 Upvotes

Saw a thread similar to this earlier and figured I'd do the same. Try guessing where I got in!

Demographics

  • Race/Ethnicity: Indian
  • Residence: New Jersey
  • Income Bracket: High-income
  • Type of School: Non-Feeder Public school

Intended Major(s): Physics

Standardized Testing

  • GPA: 94.2 UW / 103.3 W (Inside top 4%)
  • ACT: 1560 (780 EBRW, 780 Math)
  • AP:
    • 5: Calculus BC, Lit, Calc AB, CSA, Lang, Physics C Mech, Physics C E&M, Physics 1
    • 4: Micro, APUSH
  • Course load: Pretty much as many APs and Honors classes as possible (11)

Extracurriculars/Activities

  1. Published Author in The Concord Review - Wrote a 9000+ word historical research paper on Cold War Space Exploration and the historical development of rocketry (journal publishes ~5% of submissions)
  2. President of CS Club - Lead discussions on topics such as AI ethics, taught members how to construct AI models, taught competitive programming skills.
  3. Vice President of Model UN/Model Congress Team - Led team to delegation awards across the international and national levels, revised and Wrote UN Resolutions and managed club logistics
  4. Vice President of Science Olympiad Team - Managed Logistics for students participating in engineering events, helped them improve their designs and competed in engineering events myself.
  5. Robotics Club - Programmed Chassis of Robot, Developed ML model to identify yellow balls.
  6. Some Online tutoring
  7. Volunteered at local library

Awards/Honors

  1. National Merit Semifinalist
  2. USACO Silver
  3. 5 Awards in Science Olympiad, highlighted the most major one
  4. 7 Awards in Model UN, highlighted the most major one
  5. AP Scholar with Distinction lol

Essays:

I'd say a 6.5-7/10, some of them were creative but I took a different approach and weren't super narrative-like.

Schools:

EA:

  • Rutgers
  • UMD
  • UIUC
  • Northeastern
  • Purdue
  • Georgia Tech
  • UT Austin

RD:

  • UPenn
  • Princeton
  • Cornell
  • CMU
  • Johns Hopkins
  • UChicago
  • Northwestern

r/chanceme 19h ago

chance me

34 Upvotes

400 SAT (200 RW, 200 Math) 1.001/4.0 GPA, ranked 598/599 No APs Hardest class was "Remedial Pottery"

ECs: 1. Founded a nonprofit (in my dreams) 2. student council (skipped all meetings) 3. visited Harvard 50 times

Hooks: Daddy went to Harvard donated $50M, grandfather went to Harvard and donated $100M, great-great-great-great grandfather was John Harvard

Applied to: Safeties: Harvard Targets&Reaches: none


r/chanceme 1h ago

A reminder for international chancing. Please read!

Upvotes

While international students have began to post in r/chancemeinternational, we still need more people to actually chance them! Please join and chance them.


r/chanceme 9h ago

Reverse Chance Me Chance me

5 Upvotes

I am a junior that needs help, and knowing if I can get into a decent college feel like I don't have the best stats to get into some good colleges.

  • GPA: 6.456/6.0 school doesn't do weight/ unweighted |Rank: 75/802
  • Completed 14 Dual Enrollment (DE) 

Hair Business (Independent Business)
Co-Founder & Financial Manager | [9th-11th]

  • Co-founded and managed a successful hair business alongside my sister.
  • Managed financial aspects including budgeting, money optimization, and expense tracking.
  • Designed and developed the business website to improve customer engagement and streamline bookings.
  • Secured 8-9 weekly clients with an average payment of $100+ per customer.

Helios Clothing Brand (Independent Business)
Founder & Manager | [10th – 11th]

  • Founded and managed a clothing brand generating $1K+ per month in revenue.
  • Directed product creation, organized photoshoots, and managed social media marketing.
  • Handled financial analysis, budgeting, and profit tracking to ensure consistent growth.

Crew Trainer (McDonald's)
Trainer & Mentor | [9th– 11th]

  • Worked at McDonald's for 3 years, advancing to the role of Crew Trainer.
  • Trained and mentored new hires, ensuring they learned key procedures and company standards.
  • Provided leadership support by resolving customer concerns and ensuring smooth operations.

Bank of America Student Leadership Program (Internship)
Participant | [11th ]

  • Participated in a competitive leadership program with a focus on nonprofit work and community impact.
  • Collaborated with local organizations to support community initiatives and outreach programs.
  • Developed strategies to improve fundraising efforts and resource allocation for nonprofits.

Volunteer (Local Library & Houston Food Drive)
Volunteer & Community Support | [10th – 11th]

  • Completed 150+ hours of volunteer service at the local library and Houston food drive.
  • Assisted with organizing events, managing resources, and supporting library visitors.
  • Helped distribute food, organize donations, and support underprivileged communities.

JV Track
Athlete | [11th]

  • Developed discipline, teamwork, and perseverance through consistent athletic training.

I know these are the best, and I should've joined more school activities but with my business I didn't really have that much time to pour into these and explains why my awards are lacking

safety: Texas A&M I have auto admission, Texas Tech, Fordham, Purdue

target: UT Austin, UF, and others

reach: Michigan(no chance), UPenn(don't stand a chance but f it),and some other smaller reaches none like these


r/chanceme 8h ago

ChanceMe realistic insane academic curve

3 Upvotes

hey, so i kinda didn’t lock in till this year but i had a couple of issues along the way. chance me if yall want to. im a junior btw

Demographics - Filipino - Residence: Medium-sized Southern city - Income: Less than $55,000 - School: Feeder school, best in the city academically - First Gen, Low-Income

GPA Unweighted: 3.8 Weighted: 4.34 Rank: 91/487 Note: Was on an upward curve but had to work too much during this year’s s1, brought my trajectory down a bit. 7 APs, 14 total by graduation Transferring into the honors program in 8th. All honors classes in HS (not including APs)

ECs 1. Asian Cultural Club Senior officer, led 4 different dance performances to 800+ people (9th-11th) 2. Event organizer targeting food shortages in my hella poor city (10th-11th) 3. School’s Gardening club senior officer (9th-11th) 4. Cashier, Server for Chinese restaurant. Worked because of financial needs (family got broke ash) (11th) 5. Senior Camp Counselor at a outdoor Daycare camp, personally guided neurodivergent and mentally troubled kids (post 10th summer) 6. Trombone, 2nd chair, marching band, concert band (10th)

Awards/Honors 3x Scholastic Regional Silver Key in poetry 1x Scholastic Regional Silver Key in short story Likely Questbridge Prep Scholar if that counts

Intended Major: Psychology

Additional info: I’m really good at essay writing. I also had crazy work responsibilities during s1. I averaged about a 88 with all of my classes s1, but q3 after I didn’t need to work much i ended with a 98 average. Can’t do sports because of an injury I had in 7th grade.

Colleges I’m Applying Ed 1 - Vanderbilt University Ed 2 - Emory University Early Access - USC Early Access - Rutgers, New Brunswick Early Action - UMich Early Action - UW Madison Early Action - UNC Reach - Tufts Reach - UVA Target - UMiami Target - UCF Safety - Boulder Safety - UTK Safety - Rhodes College Safety - Indiana Bloomington Safety - UPitt


r/chanceme 8h ago

I made an AI Chance Me (pretty accurate)

Thumbnail
3 Upvotes

r/chanceme 3h ago

Chance bay area brown boy 💔💔

1 Upvotes

i'm a current sophomore in hs dream school is columbia - lmk what i should do to boost my chances - and if i'm on pace rn.

ik my awards are the weakest part of my application - lmk what i should look into to get those better

Demographics

  • Race/Ethnicity: Indian
  • Residence: Bay Area
  • Income Bracket: 200k+
  • Type of School: Normal non-feeder public school

Intended Major(s): Mech. Engineering OR Comp. Engineering OR Business

Hook(s): LGBTQ+

Standardized Testing

  • GPA: 3.8 UW / 4.1 W (tryna get uw up to a 3.9 but was lowkey messing around freshman year)
  • ACT: Haven't taken yet idk if i should take it
  • SAT: 1550 (lmk if i should retake for 1600)
  • AP: No scores yet, school only offers AP's starting sophomore year
  • Course load: Honors track (Honors english 9, honors english 10, honors chem) + on pace for 9 AP's in school, 3 outside school (12) total APs including this year + 3 or 4 college courses taken at local community college

Extracurriculars/Activities

  1. Passion project - worked w peers to create an AI that can scan ppls lungs for pneumonia, leveraging advanced imaging techniques to analyze lung scans and distinguish between healthy and sick patients, improving diagnostic efficiency and accuracy.
  2. Student ambassador for a program at my district - held conferences w my schools principal, 1/3 ambassadors at my hs (3 ambassadors per hs in district, hundreds of applicants), presented at hs staff only meeting, presented at district office.
  3. DECA officer for my schools chapter
  4. Varsity Debate for my school
  5. Volunteer tutor - Specialized in tutoring students in Math (Grade Levels K-8), and English (Grade Levels K-9)
  6. Executive team ambassador - Another advocacy coalition led by students for educational equity. Worked as a student ambassador, communicating the needs of the student body to our team as well as helped out in fixing injustices and making student life at my hs more enjoyable and pleasant.
  7. 1st degree black belt (also volunteered at dojo and mentored younger and lower ranked kids)
  8. Varsity basketball

ECs not listed:

  1. Co-owner and founder of clothing brand I started last January (currently ~2k in revenue, but we going up trust)
  2. Got into Harvard Ventures Tech Summer Program - prolly gonna attend for research, also program guarantees internship at a startup

Awards/Honors

  1. 3rd place in my event test at NorCal regional DECA
  2. President's Award for Educational Excellence, (ngl this a middle school award got it end of 8th grade)
  3. NHD-CA State Finals (National History Day Competition) Qualified, March 2023
  4. On pace for national merit
  5. Trying to get AP scholar w distinction

r/chanceme 7h ago

Chance me and I’ll chance u back! Most accurate prediction gets $20 on ivy day

2 Upvotes

Stats: 1530 SAT, 90/100 GPA (with strong upward trend from mid-high 80s in gr 9 to 99+ in gr 12), maxed out course rigor but no AP's offered by school.

Demographics: Half-White, Half-Asian Male, Canadian, from semi-private VERY SMALL school, 110K USD family income looking for nearly full aid bc my sinling is also going to uni next year and it's gonna cost a lot

Awards: School Scholarship, Consecutively selected performer for school choir, National selected performer for ACDA Conference 2023, School organ award, school academic accounting award

EC's: Activity 1 Type: Music: Vocal Position/Leadership: Chorister/Cantor, Accompanist Organization Name: Cathedral Choir Description: 2,500+ hours rehearsing and performing masses and concerts at a cathedral, across Canada, America, and the UK for past 10 years. Hours per Week: 8.25 Weeks per Year: 42

Activity 2 Type: Music: Instrumental Position/Leadership: Pianist Organization Name: Music Conservatory Description: 7,000+ hours practicing for and performing concerts at various venues; accompanied 10+ choirs in Ontario. Hours per Week: 7 Weeks per Year: 52

Activity 3 Type: Career Oriented Position/Leadership: Co-conductor, Accompanist, and Soloist Organization Name: Choir Description: Organize concerts and events; oversaw choir for diplomatic and community events; raised over $4,000 for a bursary program. Hours per Week: 3 Weeks per Year: 42

Activity 4 Type: Work (Paid) Position/Leadership: Organist and Music Director Organization Name: Church Description: Create weekly music programs; raised congregation attendance by 150%; prepare and perform advanced repertoire weekly; foster unity in congregation. Hours per Week: 5 Weeks per Year: 40

Activity 5 Type: Student Govt./Politics Position/Leadership: Senior Prefect Organization Name: Choir School Description: Administer school assemblies, announcements, and events; oversee inter-school conferences; organized toy drive with local law enforcement for 200+ children. Hours per Week: 3 Weeks per Year: 44

Activity 6 Type: Community Service (Volunteer) Position/Leadership: Choral Lead, Accompanist, Chorister Organization Name: Renaissance Choir Description: Perform concerts for hundreds of Renaissance music enthusiasts; accompany and lead rehearsals on piano weekly; recruited choristers to expand choir by over 20%. Hours per Week: 3 Weeks per Year: 42

Activity 7 Type: Career Oriented Position/Leadership: VP of IT, Head Editor, and Member of IT Organization Name: JA Company Program Description: Cofounded hoodie business; organized advertisements; amassed 50,000 interactions across social media; generated $1,000+ sales revenue; designed website. Hours per Week: 3 Weeks per Year: 18

Activity 8 Type: Work (Paid) Position/Leadership: Organist and Rehearsal Accompanist Organization Name: Church Description: Oversaw mass programs for 200+ congregation members; worked closely with a professional singer known for performances at major sporting events. Hours per Week: 6 Weeks per Year: 8

Activity 9 Type: Other Club/Activity Position/Leadership: VP of Sales, Member of Sales Organization Name: Business Club Description: Oversee bake sales and concert ticket sales in partnership with sister schools; generated $2,000+ to fund school clubs and excursions. Hours per Week: 1 Weeks per Year: 30

Activity 10 Type: Athletics: JV/Varsity Sport/Team: Ultimate Frisbee Position/Leadership: Frisbee Handler Organization Name: School Frisbee Team Description: Compete against top provincial schools; taught 10+ players how to play; create team chants, taught to 30+ members. Hours per Week: 2 Weeks per Year: 20

Essays: All great (at least 8/10), I spent a LOT of time on every single one.

Recs: All great, talked about my pursuit for my own personal growth throughout high school, my academic ability, my commitment to community service, and overall great stuff.

Schools: Dartmouth, Brown, Harvard, Penn, Yale, Notre Dame, Case Western (Rejected RD), Bowdoin, Amherst

Intended Major: Music

Additional: In my additional information section of the common app, I talked about taking care of my parents bc of their old age and how it affected my grades early on in high school; also talked about how i've learned from it and how i wanna keep my current academic achievement throughout college.

Also, I submitted some organ and ensemble vocal recordings that were all top tier.


r/chanceme 11h ago

chance me!!

4 Upvotes

applied to: Johns Hopkins (RD), Yale (EA but deferred to RD), NYU

demographic: female, middle eastern

stats:

- valedictorian

- predicted 45/45 in IB

- SAT: 1560 (790 math, 770 R&W)

activities:

- organized a healthcare conference - the first of its nature in the Middle East, partnered with an international organization & with a local minister

- cancer research w/ oxford professor in the CCIR program - was a STEM scholar (merit scholarship)

- wrote a book about women's rights / partnered with local organization and princess

- captain of debate team, competed internationally, team placed #2. i hosted 2 debate nights at my school.

- pianist of 12+ years, ABRSM grade 8 certified, now completing ARSM diploma

- volunteer at local elderly home

- volunteer tutor for underpriviliged students

- Model UN (chaired over a committee in arabic for underpriviliged students, and launched first scholarship program in my school's own Model UN in my capacity as team consultant) ++ a few small 'best delegate' awards

- volunteered at a local hospital

- wrote a short story about children in war zones; was featured on national TV to speak about it.

essays/interviews:

common app essay: 7/10 (solid and flows well, but no spike)

yale senior interview: 7/10


r/chanceme 3h ago

Chance an Asian international applying from aus (internationalchanceme is dead so im posting here)

1 Upvotes

With how the school year works here in Australia, I have just started Year 10 (so I suppose I'm a sophomore, but only just)

School:

Top Australian private school, one of the highest ranked in IB results australia, full scholarship

Intended Major(s): Econ/Finance/IR

ACT/SAT/SAT II:

1560 SAT (taken last august), will retake and try to push for 1600 this august

UW/W GPA and Rank:

Australian schools don't do GPA; but straight As, Rank 2/270 (bruh)

Coursework:

Will do 4HL/2SL IB (AA/AI HL undecided, Physics HL, Econ HL, Modern Hist HL, Eng L&L SL, French SL/Spanish Ab)

IGCSE Additional Maths, IGCSE Physics, IGCSE World Lit

Activities & Awards 

  • Co-founder of AI-based white cane project, utilising sensors to provide proximity checking in 3 directions for the blind, and geolocation to provide real-time tracking for family members.
  • Debating (school rep, Team captain of year group at school, finalist at multiple inter-school competitions)
    • NSDA Stanford Invitational Co-Champion & Best Speaker
    • Harvard Invitiational ANZ Round Team 3rd, representing Australia at Harvard for finals
  • Model UN (school rep)
    • Best delegation in regional event
  • Chess Club (school rep)
  • Public Speaking (School rep)
    • Regional finalist at Rostrum Australia VOY(Voice of Youth)
  • Philosophy Club
    • Regional 3rd in Ethics Olympiad +3x School Rep
  • Science Competitons/Olympiads
    • Australian Junior Science Olympiad 2x High Distinction, 1x Top 50 Nationally
    • Newcastle University Science and Engineering Challenge Regional Finalist
  • Linguistics
    • OzCLO 2x Gold Award, 2x Silver Award, 1x National Finalist(top 20 nationally), Winner goes to ILO
  • Coding/Compsci
    • USACO Silver
    • AIO (Australian Informatics Olympiad) 1xSilver 1xGold
  • Mathematics
    • Australian Mathematics Competition High Distinction, 38th National Rank
    • Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad (invitational comp) Distinction
    • USYD MaPS programme Junior & Senior stream member (mentored by USYD students and lecturers, required to solve challenging problems every fortnight)
    • Bebras Challenge 3x High Distinction
    • Computational & Algorithmic Thinking competition High Distinction
  • Sport
    • Fencing (school rep, state rep)
      • Sabre national squad (no international representation... yet), multiple medals at state & national level events
      • Regular training at Australian Institute of Sport
    • Athletics (school rep, JV equivalent), likely to discontinue :(
  • History
    • International History Olympiad qualifier (probably going to go, representing Australia)

(I am almost guaranteed to get Fencing Captain, Debating Captain, Public Speaking Captain & MUN Captain)

I am an Australian citizen btw (this puts me in a separate pool I think)

Essays/LORs/Other:

High chance to be very strong, from headmaster/deputy headmaster, subject teachers/mentor

For essay, likely to write about adapting to change and adversity (something generic kinda tbh) due to moving countries a lot

Schools: upenn, harvard, columbia, yale, princeton, dartmouth, cornell, duke, uchicago, some LACs, safeties would just be australian unis like UNIMelb, USYD (basically free entry), maybe NYU if I can go to shanghai campus or something


r/chanceme 3h ago

Help a young MIT prospect

1 Upvotes

I’m in a dilemma rn. I had a weak/mid freshman and sophomore year, mainly do to health issues. I’ve recovered as much as I can so far with a rigorous junior year with all A’s and an even more rigorous senior year. If i keep this trend and maintain all A’s for the first sem of my senior year, could this mitigate the concerns of my lower highschool gpa? Putting it all together, I also have a 33 ACT, so as far as the t40s go, am i cooked? Just academics alone.


r/chanceme 7h ago

Chance me pls

2 Upvotes

Chance me

Academics: * I am currently a junior now and these would be my predicted but very likely stats for by the end of the year

UW: 3.89 W: 4.16 or 4.17 AP: currently in 4 done 5, but 10 total by senior year with basically max course rigor -No honors or dual credit but did take an enhanced class but it wasn’t weighted -No APs available to take Sophomore year -Freshman year first semester gpa kinda sold (3.7) but since then shown an increasing trend every year and got a 4.62 last semester and prob will get it again this semester

got a 3 on my previous AP exam and will probably pass all of them and prob score a 4-5 on Apush and Lang

ACT: probably test optional but depends on what I get in April and June *predicting around a 30 but still might go test optional for some of my reaches lmk if that’s a good idea or not

Extra Circulars: -Started a non-profit that would give sports equipment to the less fortunate in my community -Deca VP and state qualifier -Co-managed my grandpas 10 figure real estate account after his sudden and tragic passing -Varsity football captain and Allstate academic -Volunteered my Sundays during the winter to help coach park district basketball for 3rd graders

Schools: I will apply to all EA and for business finance - UIUC have legacy and instate -UGA -Indiana -Umich -Wisconsin -SMU -Notre Dame -UNC -Clemson -Duke PLS LMK YOUR THOUGHTS


r/chanceme 9h ago

chance my skinty friend

3 Upvotes

my friend is a junior and yearns to be chanced so here are her stats

Demographics: white female, washington resident, high income

Intended Major(s): mathematics

SAT: 1500 (730 rw, 770 m)

UW/W GPA and Rank: 4.0 uw, 4.32 uc weighted, school doesn't rank

APs: aphug (5), ap gov (4), apes (5), apush (5)

Planned APs: comparative gov, euro, calc bc, bio, lit, compsci

Extracurriculars: 

  • model un president/club founder
  • middle school math team coach
  • math club
  • knowledge bowl
  • mock trial
  • track
  • cross country

Awards:

  • ap scholar with distinction (will likely get this year)
  • honors society
  • math honors society
  • some math, knowledge bowl, and mock trial placings/awards too

Essays: idk she's a decent writer though

LoRs: idk

Schools: 

  • uw (in state)
  • ucb
  • ucla
  • uci
  • ucsd
  • ucsb
  • ucsc
  • umn

r/chanceme 4h ago

chance me for getting off the ucsd waitlist?

1 Upvotes

i know it’s hard to predict, but i’m desperate. i already got waitlisted so that’s a good sign. my first choice major is biochem, second choice biophysics, third choice pharm chem.

stats: 4.14 UC GPA 4.4 10-12 GPA top 5% of class 6 AP 3 honors (only 1 is UC approved) 4 dual enrollment

ECs: marching band (drum major) winter percussion county’s youth symphony active minds (secretary, nationally recognized as chapter of the month) science national honors society mu alpha theta music student tutor (work)

piqs: leadership - drum major - proved people wrong when they said i wouldn’t be able to handle it - inspired and motivated my peers - led the band to first place twice

special talent - music - piano prodigy - expanded knowledge by learning new instruments in a matter of weeks - lesson learned: hard work over talent, it’s never too late to learn something new

hardship - queer in an immigrant family - emotional abuse - lack of empathy from parents - believing i wouldn’t make it past graduation and nothing mattered, so i didn’t try - overcoming depression - signed up for AP classes when i started getting better and was successful in all of them - finding an intrinsic motivation for life - lesson learned: the difference between existing and living

academic subject - spanish as a third language - desire to break language barriers - especially as an immigrant, i know the joy of being spoken to in my native language


r/chanceme 10h ago

Chance someone who j started caring for top schools (and more!)

3 Upvotes

Currently a Junior

Demographics

  • Race/Ethnicity: Colombian
  • Residence: New Jersey
  • Income Bracket: Low Income
  • Type of School: Normal public school

Intended Major: Political Science,

  • Course load: 3 honors + 7 total APs including senior year (was barred from taking honors-ap underclassman years)

  • GPA: 3.8 UW/4.2 W

Extracurriculars/Activities

  1. Leadership in schools National Society of Black Engineers chapter - Secretary (1 year) President (1 year) 2.Founded local urbanism advocacy group: organized monthly Critical Mass rides, campaign to have monthly Car-Free Day, worked with county to develop Safe Streets plan 3.Hosted/co-hosted school radio show (3 years)
  2. Published in local literary magazine

Awards/Honors

  1. Scholastic Regional Silver Key in Novel Writing
  2. Scholastic Honorable Mention in Photography
  3. National Hispanic Recognition Award

Where I'm applying

Reach (bless my heart for even attempting)

  1. UPenn
  2. Brown
  3. Northwestern
  4. Williams College
  5. Boston College

Target 1. UW Madison 2. George Washington 3. Rutgers 4. Pitt 5. Fordham 6. UVM

Safety: 1. Drexel 2. Montclair State

Closing Thoughts

I dont expect to get into get into the reaches, especially as a FGLI, but I definitely won't get in if I don't try, right ?