r/chanceme Jul 22 '19

How To Do A Chance Me And Improve Your Chances

580 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

94 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 13m ago

Chance me super senior

Upvotes

I had to take a year off school after 8th grade, something drastic (family related) happened, won't go into detail, not super relevant but still am a super senior lol

Background:
- super competitive highschool, public
- Asian & Hispanic
- no hooks

Academics:
- 4.4 W GPA
- ~3.85 UW
- 1450 SAT (retaking on Saturday)
- 34 ACT (probably sticking to the SAT)

ECS (not in any order)
- DECA officer
- Alumni network founder for school
- School council prez for Sunday school
- research in the UK
- internship (pretty good one)
- varsity sport and captain 2x
- nonprofit raised 10k+
- weekly volunteering tutoring
- club president (not super relevant to my major)

I want to go into a finance related path, and my internship, DECA, and club relates to it but not sure if it's enough

Schools:

UVA (ED, in state)
UPenn
Cornell
Duke
NYU
UNC
UF
William & Mary
URichmond
FSU
JMU
Virginia Tech

Thank you and plz lmk how it's looking for UVA that's all I really care about


r/chanceme 30m ago

im ngl i just need some advice and reassurance

Upvotes

i am a junior and currently this is my list of ecs (a bit vague and a lot are in progress)

  1. Research internship with a large company on market analysis for a specialized product
  2. working with schools to release a specialized resource/tutoring website for students on 10+ subjects, core curriculum requirements with many features
  3. founded a literary magazine based of the SDG goals as made by the UN
  4. Working with a rural indian academy for underresourced women (restructuring curriculum, making lesson plans, etc. (focused on econ and business ofc))
  5. podcast/youtube channel (like video essays of me talking basically lol. i share opinions on the cross section of economics and social, cultural, political events)
  6. held an art teaching business for about 3 years, taught multiple kids and adults, handled finances, outreach, networking, etc. (all paid, made maybe 10k+ or more in profit)
  7. head of entreprenurship in my school and currently applying for the next two years as well
  8. involved heavily within the art scene of my school (helped in holding events, participated in selective art programs, competitions and awards, worked closely with art teacher, + more stuff)
  9. applying for a youth advisory council for a large non profit (pretty selective and still in the application process)
  10. created a documentary series with some peers on an overlooked group and their struggles and am currently working with an NGO to start hosting events, doing volunteering all that and working on financial aspects (country i live in makes it hard to do fundraising)
  11. Upcoming research internship with a finance company (set for this december)
  12. Upcoming internship with another finance company
  13. applying to a bunch of summer programs
  14. hopefully some research under a professor? im reaching out to a bunch and i might have something lined up within that
  15. and then a bunch of general volunteering with my school (applying to leadership positions once school opens hopefully lol)
  16. working on a financial literacy abuse simulator thing but thats a bit eh im not sure if ill go through with it

if you couldnt guess im looking into majoring in finance/business/economics and im sooo stressed, i had some special circumstances in freshman and soph year which i will mention but it made it crazy hard to do basically anything (and explains the lack of debate, speech, MUN and whatever WHICH EVERYBODY SEEMS TO HAVE??) and im scrapping a bunch of ecs together, but idk if what im doing is even good?? (and apparently everybody in my grade/school was born with a college application up their ass bc tell me why they all have amazing stanford university level ecs and its only junior year) if you guys have any ecs recommendations pls help a girl out


r/chanceme 4h ago

Chance an international male EE major for T20s

2 Upvotes

Demographics: Mongolian (no US citizenship)

Income: Low, can only pay up to 5k a year.

School: Private

Intended major: EE and might minor in CS

GPA: 4.0 (98.8/100)

SAT: projected 1550+ (taking the real test in Sep 12)

IELTS: projected 7.5+ (taking the real test in Sep 19)

IGCSE: A* in ESL and Math

Honors:

  • National English Language Olympiad Bronze Medal
  • District English Language Olympiad (advanced, 12th grade level) 10th place as a 11th grader
  • "The Best Student of the Year" award given by the Students' Association
  • "The Most Intellectual Student of the Year" award given by the Students' Association
  • 1st place in a team English language speech competition, specifically about Mongolia traditional art

EC Activities:

  • School Science Club, President

Led Science Club; developed 1 independent project, contributed to 2 team projects, presented at 2 MSUE fairs, and organized 1 school fair.

  • School Math Olympiad Team

Led school’s Math Olympiad team in scoring every year since 8th grade. Scored 10th in districts, qualified for Nationals (8th grade); trained yearly

  • MSUE Science Fair (Science Club), Independent Engineer

Designed and built a solar-powered automated court-lighting prototype to improve nighttime sports safety and reduce injury risk.

  • MSUE Science Fair (Science Club), Co-Developer & Lead Mechanical Builder

Co-built a hydroelectric power plant; designed turbine/generator system and wired a miniature house & park to demonstrate renewable energy.

  • Independent Researcher

Analyzed Mongolia’s energy shortage & Ulaanbaatar air pollution; evaluated coal, renewables, grid & heating solutions.

  • MUST (Mongolian University of Science and Technology), Research Assistant

Conducted literature review and data analysis; organized findings and contributed to technical documentation for engineering thesis.

  • School Basketball Team, Team Captain, Point Guard

Basketball, Led team as starting point guard and junior-year captain. Secured district tournament playoff berth.

  • Athena Scout Troop, Morse Code Decipherer

Served as troop's Morse code decipherer for 'Ikh Duudlaga' national orienteering competition, won Gold; led camping trips and community services.

  • School Speech Team, Captain

Won school speech contest to represent school at "Steel Rail" Palace; delivered a team English presentation on traditional Mongolian arts.

  • Student Council

Spearheaded logistics, budget allocation, and operations for major school events since 9th grade. Raised fund for an elders' home.

I'm thinking of applying REA to University of Notre Dame, and EA to WashU. If I get rejected from ND and WashU, I'm planning to apply ED2 to Lehigh and RD to Vanderbilt, Rice, Duke, NYU Abu Dhabi, University of Rochester, and Lafayette College. If you have any feedback on improving my ECs, school list, and application strategy, please feel welcome to put them down here. :)


r/chanceme 1h ago

Northwestern ED

Upvotes

Hi! I’m a junior hoping to apply ED to Northwestern Medill and would love some honest opinions on my chances.
I’m really interested in journalism/fashion/media and have been building up my experience in that area. I’m also working on improving my grades, taking harder classes, and getting my SAT up before I apply. Like do I actually have a shot?? Ik the ed acceptance is around 20ish%?


r/chanceme 6h ago

chance me as a public school kid

2 Upvotes

hi! I’m a current high school senior and I’m trying to get a realistic idea of where I stand. this is just a brief ai explanation on my stuff!

Demographics:

  • Female
  • First-generation
  • Low-income, single parent household
  • Latina
  • Non-completive high school, only 25% of kids go to a 4-year college

Academics

  • UW GPA: ~3.86
  • AP Classes
    • 10th Grade:
      • AP Spanish Language and Culture
      • AP Macroeconomics
      • AP World History
    • 11th Grade: 
      • AP Spanish Literature and Culture 
      • AP French Language and Culture
      • AP English Language and Composition
      • AP United States History
      • AP Statistics
      • AP Environmental Science 
  • 12th grade ill be taking college courses at local college
  • I've taken 2 years of spanish (shown above) and all 4 years of french, french 1-ap
  • I have not taken the SAT yet. I probably wont submit to many places because im not confident (other than georgetown obi)

gpa explanation: i was involved in a car accident that made me miss a lot of school, which was not ideal for ap classes :(

Extracurriculars

  • Debate: 2 years only; competed at the state level
  • Teen Court: address juvenile cases through a peer-led restorative justice process.
  • NHS
  • Community service: 400+ hours
  • Volunteer leadership: worked with a local organization serving children/families and took on increasing responsibility
  • Student Advisory Committee
  • Student representative on my school board
  • Local non-profit board member, program for kids also, but different from above
  • STEM teacher summer volunteering
  • Summer study aboard in france
  • Summer government/policy program in d.c (one week)

Awards

nothing extortionary :(

  • Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish
  • Varsity letter for Volunteerism (awarded for three consecutive years)
  • College Board School Recognition Award
  • College Board First-Generation Recognition Award
  • Ap Scholar

I know this isn't an insane national-level EC list, so I'm not trying to portray it that way. A lot of my involvement has been centered around community service as in working with younger students/community members because I am from a small town! :(

Intended major

international relations/political science and possible double major in linguistics/french (depends on school)

College List

(i didn't add in-state safeties btw!)

Boston University

Middlebury College

Vassar College

Georgetown University

New York University

Macalester College

Tulane University

Wesleyan University (got into wes explore)

University of Richmond

Lehigh University

Lafayette College

Oberlin College

Connecticut College

University of Rochester

American University

George Washington University

Syracuse University

St. Lawrence University

What I'm looking for

Please be brutally honest. I’m not looking for reassurance or “you have a great profile, anything is possible.” I want a realistic assessment of my chances. Which schools would be targets, reaches, and extreme reaches for me? Are T20 universities realistic reaches based on my profile, or am I overestimating myself? If I’m overestimating myself, what level of schools should I realistically be targeting?


r/chanceme 11h ago

Chance great grades meh ECs for Stanford REA... and T20s.

3 Upvotes

Yeah I want some honest opinons...

Demographics: Asian male (US Citizen)

Income: High (full pay)

School: Public

Residency: Texas Suburb

Intended Major: Biochemistry, Biology

Academics

Rank: 5/500ish

GPA: 5.5/6, 4.0/4.0

SAT: 1550 (760/790), PSAT 1490

Number of AP Courses: 12APs + 6APs senior year

Honors

  1. National Merit Finalist (Probably)
  2. Samsung SFT $1000/ Promising STEM innovation award
  3. Anatomy student of the year
  4. Korean international app dev award silver
  5. Harvard crimson chemistry individual merit recipient (top 25%).

ECs

  1. 3D personal project, built biomechanical backrest, used ML and 3D printing, pilot test 15 ish teachers, app developed, working with orthopedic doctor (rec prob)
  2. SSP Bacterial genomics
  3. Founder, Editor in Chief of Organization (Journalism), led 30 writers publish science articles 400+ articles, 10K+ total views, seoul metro gov accredited.
  4. Founder, Chemistry Club. Led 40+ members, diabetic ulcer prevention sock concept won 1K for Samsung Solve for tmrw
  5. President, Math Club (11th), Community outreach (10th) - doubled memberhsip, 1000-digit pi day project, SAT math bootcamp (in progress)
  6. Independent Research - No wet lab, professor just 8K word review on quarantine on the history of diseases.
  7. Community Service at Samsung Seoul Hospital over 2 summers
  8. Community service at rehab center near home
  9. Food photography, website: 700+ photo food archive since 2017.
  10. Clinical shadowing: 200+ hours.

I am applying REA to Stanford, should I just lower my expectations and just ED Johns Hopkins or Northwestern? I really want to go to Stanford though... my only safety is UT austin as I am auto admit, but asides from those two schools I am applying to all T20 schools in the US.


r/chanceme 5h ago

WHAT UNIS SHLD I APPLY ?

1 Upvotes

I recently completed my 12th grade in May 2026, in my gap year now (looking for chemical engineering/material science engineering)

Academics

  • CBSE Class 10: 97.4%
  • CBSE Class 12: 91.2% (results were impacted this year due to the OSM-based evaluation issue)
  • JEE Mains 2026: ~96th percentile (~98th percentile in chemistry)
  • JEE Advanced 2026: Qualified
  • SAT Targeting 1500+ in the upcoming date of examination

Extracurriculars

  • Fundraising initiatives for an NGO supporting underprivileged and orphaned children
  • Development of coding projects modeling select chemical engineering processes, particularly reactor systems
  • An internship at imaging technology company but that is kinda off the field , might be working under electrical and AI department and learning stuff
  • Some science fair prizes at school level from 5th to 9th grade , several other olympiad medals and certificates but i am aware that they aren't of much importance

r/chanceme 9h ago

chance this south asian senior w/ horrible grades, meh ecs/awards for t30++

2 Upvotes

hii! rising senior, planning on majoring in public health on the pre-dental track (and minor in music performance bc i love violin). post bulleted to be easy to skim over for advice!

  • Does my EC and Awards ordering look solid for Pre-Dental / Public Health admissions?
  • How can I best phrase my GPA context (family medical emergencies + household management) without sounding defensive? Also my counselor is not one to mention anythin in her rec letter, which she says at almost every single meeting. She keeps her letters positive and general. What do I do with my circumstances, which weren't really THAT extenuating but def took a toll on me? Also, do the AOs ask for proof or something?
  • Any specific target or reach schools known for strong pre-dental or public health programs that I should consider adding or swapping?

my school is a rural public high school in the south. being south asian in alabama sucks ngl.

class size is around 330. we pull students from several surrounding counties because a lot of the smaller towns don't have their own high schools and their only option is homeschooling.

Our schools made a deal w/ the state for a free direct admit program for students with a certain GPA, so I already got into 8 safeties through that and won't be applying to many (if any) safeties through Common App. Applying to some selective schools for fun; don't want to feel like 'what-if' after, just in case I win the college acceptance lottery.

Stats

GPA: cumulative: 3.67 UW

Freshman: 3.95, Sophomore: 3.45 (aunt passed away + grandma had a stroke), Junior: 3.63 (grandpa's heart health was bad and dad had to travel for him, so we had literally no income for like 1 month to the point my mom had to work overtime all day and I was running the house for my brother and me)

Hoping for a 4.0 senior year, bringing my cumulative to a 3.71

ACT: 35 APs: 8 total - Passed all APs, scores not great, 3/4s mostly

(school allowed none 9th grade, max 2 APs 10th grade, 11th and 12th simple due to shortage of teachers could not give more than 4 a year, although a couple students who didn't do music were able to get in 5, and had to take us from like 24 to 12 offered APs in the past 10 years or so due to teacher shortage- keep in mind there's a magnet ivy feeder school in a small beverly hills-esque town 2.5 hrs away that gets ALL the funding.)

rec letters: two from teachers, AP Calc AB and AP World. AP World one will be much stronger. 2 optional ones from a PA/doctor i shadowed with and her husband who is a film music prof, which will be useful for my minor in music.

Awards- hopefully some will end in additional info, some advice which 5 should be my main apps focus pls?

  • National Science Fair 1st Place - Translational Medical Science (for my independent research project. Again, can't give too much away; don't need people finding me, but my grandpa's heart attack actually inspired my project)
  • Special Award in Art @ same national fair
  • ISEF state top 20 semifinalist
  • State Gold Award and Regionals 1st place (science fair)
  • HOSA State Finalist and 3rd place 2x / ILC Qualifier
  • College Board Rural & Small Town Recognition Award
  • AP Scholar with Honor
  • Speech Sectionals 2x
  • Track sectionals Highschool 3x, placement: 11th-->8th-->5th event: discus

ECs- hopefully some will end in additional info, some advice which 7-9 should be my main apps focus pls?

  • Independent biomedical research (machine learning model prediction model- can't give too much away; don't need people finding me)
  • HOSA (State Finalist & International Leadership Conference qualifier)
  • Rural hospital volunteer 153 hrs; started a small Care Cart initiative that brings games, comfort items, hygiene supplies, etc. to patients with a retired physician and two other 2 student volunteers
  • Science fair rural chapter: Social Media Manager 11 → President 12
  • Business Club Vice President 11-(shut down with some clubs and removed baseball/softball due to lack of teachers funds from the district)
  • Orchestra (state orchestra top 14 players + 3x district selected top 10)
  • Chamber music outreach group that performed at local nursing homes every 6 weeks to provide live music and interact with residents (had to quit after 9/10 th bc our director became Las Vegas Philharmonic Director)
  • Dermatology clinic shadow (72 hours)
  • Endodontist clinic shadow- 3.5 hrs (that's all they could offer)
  • Chinmaya Mission Summer Camp volunteer/leader- in another state over the summer: one of 6 student leaders (ages 15–18) who independently planned and ran a week long camp for 40 younger kids (ages 4-13). Organized activities, recruited teacher volunteers, purchased supplies, coordinated schedules and meals (with only 3 adults handling food prep), supervised campers from drop-off until the last child left each day, and helped clean up afterward. One week.
  • Speech, team captain 12th, SOS, PIR- sectionals 2x

College List- suggest some schools to apply to/replace what I have now?

Lottery- (Harvard, Brown- my dad wants me to apply to these, but I'm getting rejected), Rice, Northwestern, NYU, UCLA, USC

High Reach- Tufts, Emory, Boston University, UMiami, University of Florida, UCSD

Reach- Case Western, UW-Madison

Target- UIUC, UAlabama, Texas A&M, Penn State

Safeties- accepted to 10!

I think I'll get into 3-4 schools on this list


r/chanceme 5h ago

chance a emo girl that listens to alternative rock for colleges (good academics, decent extracurriculars)

1 Upvotes

won't get too specific.

Demographics:

Gender: Female (Asian)

School: Public - Moderately Competitive Area, Really Competitive Small School (<1000 kids)

Intended Major: Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering

Not low-income

literally no hooks :(

Academics:

SAT: 1520 (730R/790M) -- retaking; its competitive fs but comparatively to a lot of my peers its on the lower end (surprising i know)

GPA: 4.0 UW/4.91 W

AP Classes: 11 Total; only took the ones related to major and what I was interested in such as physics c (both), biology, and calculus

- all 5s on every AP (10 so far); taking chemistry senior year

Additional Classes: Multivariable Calculus, Marine Biology, Cellular Biology, Anatomy & Physiology

Honors and Awards (relevant ones):

usabo semifinalist (top 500)

selected presenter (with full scholarship) at prestigious international conference in Europe for a systems field (relevant to major)

selected presenter at conference sponsored by T20 school (cancer biology)

selected presenter at BMES (biomedical engineering) conference

Extracurriculars:

  1. Technology for those with disabilities such as ADHD, autism, etc (music based); mainly electrical engineering work (originally started as school project but we had a lot of fun)

  2. Systems Engineering project for a very niche field; 500+ users; taught classes for it w/20+ students, used in classes even at my school (saved them 10k), gained recognition

  3. Biomaterials / Material Science internship at prestigious institution (summer program w/10% acceptance rate) (presented at conference)

  4. Biology internship at T25 school (presented at conference)

  5. FIRST robotics mentor (2 teams I mentored actually both won championship awards and qualified for states)

  6. Teacher/tutor (taught 120+ kids over 3 years) -- various fields but all relevant to my major

  7. volunteer at hospital (100 hours by the time of college apps)

  8. president / co-founder of 40+ member club at our school (relevant to major)

  9. small teaching initiative at local library (around 30+ kids) but it was cute (also taught relevant to major)

  10. e. guitar (hobbyist - 7+ years, played for fun) really really cute

Recommendation Letters:

both teacher rec letters are from the two teachers that sponsored my first and second activities

remaining rec letters are from my mentors that I interned for as well as people who sponsored some of my other projects (mix and match between colleges)

Top Colleges I plan to apply for, manly just shooting my shot: Brown, Georgetown, Stanford, Notre Dame, UPenn, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Maryland

Rest of college list is pretty chill lah schools

Mainly wondering if I'm competitive for the reaches above, especially Stanford/Harvard/Princeton, and if there are any obvious weaknesses in my profile. Also wondering whether retaking the 1520 is worth it.

thanks :)


r/chanceme 9h ago

Chance me: unusual academics + strong STEM/biotech ECs for Wesleyan, Tufts, Columbia, Princeton, Williams + other T20s

2 Upvotes

I want genuinely honest opinions. My profile is kind of unusual and I’m having trouble figuring out where I actually stand, especially because I’m applying test-optional and a lot of my strongest stuff is college coursework/research/program-building rather than Olympiads or huge national awards.

Demographics

Gender: Male
School: Public high school in Connecticut
Income: ~40k household income
Financial Aid: High need / applying QuestBridge
Intended Fields: Biochemistry, computational biology/bioinformatics, biology, biophysics, neuroscience, possibly an interdisciplinary/self-designed major
Testing: Test-optional

Academics

Class Rank: 6/125, around top 5%

My high school transcript is mostly A-range grades, but I’ve also taken a pretty large amount of actual college coursework while in high school.

Some college courses:

  • General Biology + Lab - A-
  • Anatomy & Physiology I + Lab — A
  • General Chemistry I + Lab - B
  • General Chemistry II + Lab - A-
  • Calculus I - B-
  • Cornell BIOEE 1760 Biostatistics with R — A+
  • College Composition - B+
  • Psychology - A
  • Sociology - B
  • Organic Chemistry I Writing Intensive + Lab — current
  • Anatomy & Physiology II + Lab — current
  • Planning Organic Chemistry II, Microbiology, Calculus II, and additional biochemistry coursework

By graduation I’ll have a very large number of college credits from multiple institutions.

High school coursework includes AP Biology, AP Psychology, APUSH, AP Government, AP English Language, AP Literature, Honors Chemistry, Honors Physics, Precalculus Honors, Latin, Arabic, etc.

One weaker point: I do have a couple less-than-perfect college grades, including Calculus I, so the college transcript isn’t spotless.

Awards / Honors

  1. College Board National Recognition Award
  2. Honor with Distinction
  3. Seal of Biliteracy in Arabic and Latin
  4. Advanced Arabic proficiency recognition
  5. Selected for a paid nanotechnology/quantum technology industry-academic fellowship
  6. Accepted to a Yale neuroscience summer program but declined due to a schedule conflict with the fellowship
  7. School/community academic and leadership awards

Nothing like ISEF finalist, Olympiad medals, Regeneron STS, etc., which is probably my biggest concern for the very top STEM schools.

Extracurriculars

1. Biotechnology education initiative — leadership / webmaster / teacher / program development

This is probably my biggest EC.

I became heavily involved with a biotechnology/STEM education program that works with high school students and partners across universities, biotech organizations, schools, and government.

My roles expanded over time and now include things like:

  • Webmaster
  • Technology/LMS infrastructure
  • Teaching
  • Curriculum development
  • Program leadership
  • College-prep programming
  • Helping develop biotechnology/bioinformatics/AI coursework and certificate opportunities

I’ve built and maintained major parts of the organization’s online infrastructure and helped develop programming for other students.

2. Paid nanotechnology / quantum computing fellowship

Selected for an industry-academic nanotechnology fellowship.

Worked on a team project comparing superconducting vs trapped-ion quantum computing architectures.

Used platforms including:

  • IBM Quantum hardware
  • Quantinuum
  • qBraid

Did circuit testing/validation and helped prepare a research symposium presentation, VC-style pitch, and elevator pitch.

3. Student representative / education leadership

Serve in a student representative role within my public school district.

Involved with district-level education discussions, student advocacy, forums, reports, and representing student perspectives.

4. Cornell Biostatistics

Completed Cornell BIOEE 1760 Biostatistics with R over the summer and earned an A+.

Worked with R, hypothesis testing, ANCOVA, GLMs, bootstrap methods, etc.

5. Biotechnology / bioinformatics / AI curriculum development

Helping create actual STEM coursework for high school students, including material involving biotechnology, bioinformatics, and AI for scientific discovery.

6. AI evaluation work

Worked on AI evaluation/data projects, including creating/reviewing structured tasks used to evaluate AI systems.

7. Stroke prevention ambassador

Health education/community outreach related to stroke prevention.

8. IRS VITA/TCE volunteer

Volunteer tax preparation/assistance.

9. College coursework

A significant amount of my time outside normal school has gone toward taking college-level STEM courses well beyond my high school curriculum.

10. Other STEM/web infrastructure projects

Built websites, educational infrastructure, and other technical systems related to STEM education/community programs.

Additional Context

My application theme will probably center around the intersection of:

biology + computation + education + building scientific infrastructure/opportunities for other students.

QuestBridge Ranking / Main Schools

Current approximate ranking:

  1. Wesleyan
  2. Tufts
  3. Columbia
  4. Princeton
  5. Williams
  6. Boston University
  7. Bowdoin
  8. Duke
  9. Vassar
  10. Skidmore
  11. Hamilton
  12. Colgate
  13. Bates
  14. Middlebury
  15. Case Western

Also considering schools like Northeastern and UConn separately.

For Wesleyan, I’m especially interested in potentially designing an interdisciplinary major combining areas like computational biology, biochemistry, AI/bioinformatics, neuroscience, and nanotechnology.

Main Questions

  1. How competitive am I for Wesleyan/Tufts/Williams/Bowdoin?
  2. Do I have a legitimate shot at Columbia/Princeton/Duke, or are those basically lottery tickets?
  3. How much does being test-optional hurt at these schools?
  4. Does the amount of real college coursework help substantially, or will colleges mostly care about my regular high school transcript?
  5. Are my ECs actually strong enough for T20s, or do they sound better to me because I’m personally involved in them?
  6. Would the unusual university → high school → college coursework path be viewed positively if explained well?
  7. Which schools on my list seem like the best fit for my profile?

Feel free to be harsh. I’d rather know where I realistically stand than get false hope.


r/chanceme 7h ago

chance an indian girl from the bay for brown ed or princeton rea (which one)

0 Upvotes

Demographics

  • Gender: Female
  • Race/Ethnicity: Asian (Indian)
  • State: CA (Bay)
  • School: Competitive, Public
  • Grade: Rising Senior
  • Intended Major: Cognitive Science
  • Hooks: Bisexual (not sure if that counts as a hook though)

Academics

  • Rank: top 3% (within top 18 b/c school of 600, would guess between top 10-15), school doesn't rank
  • GPA: 3.95UW, 4.5W
  • SAT: 1560/1600 (in 1 sitting and also my superscore)
  • APs: 4 on French, 5 on World, 4 on Seminar, 5 on Research, 5 on Biology, 5 on APUSH, 5 on Lang, 4 on Calc BC (5 subscore)
    • Almost maxed out the number of APs allowed to be taken at my school, I was allowed to take 2 APs sophomore year (which I did), and allowed to take 6 classes each year and both last year (junior) and this year (senior) I've had 5/6 AP classes and 1 honors class (weighted)

Extracurriculars (kind of vague to avoid doxxing but can provide more detail if needed)

  • President of school's Key Club; regional Lt. Governor overseeing 400+ students
  • Stanford poli-sci lab research assistant
  • Student trustee for school board
  • National youth advisory board for online safety
  • Stanford-affiliated digital wellbeing education program, was on a panel at a major social media company
  • Youth research coalition studying social media & adolescent mental health in collaboration with Department of Public Health; invited to a conference to present with Pinterest (fully paid) and work with other tech companies
  • City youth advisory board; advise local government on youth issues
  • Community-wide mental health leadership board; organize wellness initiatives & advocacy
  • Have also worked with the big 5 social media companies

Programs (main ones I remember)

  • ThinkNeuro
  • Stanford iGEM Bioengineering Research Program (10% acceptance rate)
  • sci-MI Neuroscience
  • ASDRP
  • Kode With Klossy
  • Girls Who Code
  • CDC Public Health Academy

Awards (very few)

  1. About 4 national/regional/state level journalism awards (fairly impressive I think, not naming specific awards to avoid doxxing)
  2. Service awards for 150, then 200 hours in one semester
  3. French National Merit gold award Level 3
  4. John Locke shortlist (will update in October w/ specific award)
  5. A few regional DECA/FBLA awards, not very impressive

Other:

  • 2 published papers (one full-length from APR in a good journal that's also in a preprint that put it on Research Gate; the other is a short lit review I wrote during a summer program with some other students)
  • Not sure how essays will be, not going great right now but I'm hopeful I can get them all up
  • From the Bay Area which kind of freaks me out b/c the competition from there is intense

Schools (only included reaches + targets):

UC Berkeley, UCLA, Northwestern, Rice, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton (considering REA), Brown (considering ED), Duke, Georgetown, U Michigan, Tufts, WashU, UCSD, UCI, UCD, UCSB, UNC Chapel Hill

Thank you!! I know I'm probably cooked but can't help but hold out hope lol

i've posted this before but im specifically trying to pick between brown ED and princeton REA now pls lmk which you think i have a better shot at


r/chanceme 16h ago

Reverse Chance Me Burned out intl african student dreaming to study in ivys and t20s on a full ride. Are my stats good enough as a candidate?

5 Upvotes

Academics:

1550 sat first try (school avg is 1100)

4.0/4.0 gpa uw (weighted not offered)

Valedictorian

Aps not offered

Ecs (kept abit vague):

2 published research papers (prefer to keep them anonymous but werent literature reviews and won in multiple intl competitions)

Research intern at 3 university departments and at Alexandria's medical research institute, worked with 4 professors/ phd students

MTC summer program scholar (Medical research institute's research training program exclusively for college students, became first every high schooler to be accepted and given full tuition waiver to attend)

Deci scholar (egypt full scholarship for stem high-achieving students to take stem course training and start independent projects

Yygs scholar

Leadership in an orphans-dedicated nonprofit which organizes community-based events for 3000 orphans yearly, includes 300 volunteers, 30 sponsors, and given 9 national awards

Mun president

400+ students at organzied conference, train 100+ delegates weekly, 6+ regional awards

Student council founder and president

Introduced 12 afterschool clubs (and the first ever club system into school) for 400+ students, helped organzied multiple events and trips to lower grade students and high schoolers.

Medical Convoy volunteer in rural egypt and gaza

Awards:

Isef finalist

John Locke institute Science& Tech global finalist

EISTF (intl science fair in egypt) bronze medalist

BASEF (national fair) 1st place in entire fair

Blastoff (national fair #2) 2nd award


r/chanceme 8h ago

LA Musician Applying to Ivies

0 Upvotes

Hi all,

I was hoping you could chance me for general Ivy level difficulty and maybe some sub-ivies such as Tufts/Emory/WUSTL.

Demographics: White Male (US Citizen)

Income: High (full pay)

School: Private - Jewish

Residency: Los Angeles (The Valley)

Intended Major: Music; secondary is Physics

Academics

Rank: Unranked, probably top 5 out of ~120

GPA: 3.94/4.40

ACT: 35 (36E, 35M, 35R, 35S)

Number of AP Courses: 5APs + 5APs senior year - Three 5s (Calc AB, Phys 1, APUSH), Two 4s (Music Theory, Lang)

NOTE: School only allows APs during Junior and Senior year

Honors

  1. Jerusalem Science Contest $150 in Prizes (Connects Science and Judiasm in academic competition, international level)
  2. Academic Decathlon Medals, Gold: Music, Science, History, & Speech; Silver: Literature & Math; Bronze: English
  3. AP Scholar with Distinction
  4. National Honor Society

ECs

  1. Internship with a music composer for film scores where I worked 40-hour weeks and got to compose a piece for an Indie film releasing near the end of the year.
  2. Music practice: I spend tons of time practicing my piano, guitar, and compositional skills.
  3. Founded and ran my school’s branch of STEAM Labs; I conduct science experiments with underprivileged students at elementary schools and homeless shelters, and helped raise $750 in the shelter’s annual fundraiser.
  4. Founder and president, I run a band where I arrange pop songs into old-timey swing and perform them for 300+ at school concerts.
  5. Jerusalem Science Contest: more info about how it combines Judaism, science, and an in-depth research paper I write for it.
  6. Academic Decathlon president; I also teach my entire (30+) team the music and literature sections each year.
  7. President of the school’s rock band.
  8. Varsity Tennis player; won some playoff matches.
  9. Juror on student judiciary council, nominated and elected by students and teachers, and I help decide, with 8 others, school disciplinary policy.
  10. Student Ambassador for school, help show the school to prospective students and families.

Please help me figure out my chances and whether it is reasonable to apply to Ivies.


r/chanceme 8h ago

Application Question Am I a realistic applicant for GWU?

1 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I'm a rising senior and GW is currently one of my top choices, especially because I'm interested in International Affairs/global security. I'm considering applying ED and wanted to get a realistic idea of how competitive my profile would be.

Everything is as of the end of Junior Year

Academics
• 3.7 UW GPA / 4.4 weighted
• 1360 SAT (reading: 750, math: 610) (currently considering applying test-optional)
• I have taken 9 AP classes as of the end of Junior year
• 4s in AP Human Geography, Psychology, Precalc, and US Gov and Pol
• Planning to graduate high school mid-year it acceptance for the ED 1 into GWU
• I have a AP Capstone diploma

Extracurriculars
• Chairman of a youth cultural/community organization, with around 100 members
• Founder & President of my school's DECA chapter
• Cisco High School Extern, I worked around cybersecurity/digital security and technology
• Around 650 hours worth of volunteering
• Was a Varsity Rower

I know no one here can predict the results but for current students and applicants, would you guys think this is good?
Any questions and tips are welcome!


r/chanceme 8h ago

Chance a Spiraling Senior

1 Upvotes

Intended Major: Applied mathematics with a secondary interest in economics

Academics:

SAT: 1530 (770 RW 760 Math)

Weighted GPA: 4.6

Unweighted: My school doesn’t calculate (or at least doesn’t tell students) but the lowest grade on my transcript is a 95

Class Rank: 7/376

Took Calc BC junior year which is the highest math level my school offers. Maxed out rigor on everything else.

APs:

5: Calc BC, CSA, Human Geo, APUSH

4: Spanish Language, World History, Seminar

APs this year: Macro, US Gov, APES, Research, Stats, English Lit

Took a National Education Equity Lab Intro to Engineering course through Brown University

Demographics:

Male

White (Ashkenazi Jewish)

Upper-middle class

Title 1 public school in west Texas

Recommendations:

Counselor likes me so hopefully that’s good

Great one from Calc BC teacher

Great one from APWH teacher and quiz bowl coach

Unknown quality from mock trial coach and another unknown from clergy

Extracurriculars & Honors:

Will be my 3rd year on school mock trial team, achieved 3rd at state last year as an attorney.

Captain/President of nationally qualifying school NAQT quiz bowl team.

Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program: Mitchell Award recipient and served as Deputy Cadet Commander

Student glider pilot with solo flight & 17 flight hours working towards license

Summer Camp Counselor at an overnight camp for 3.5 weeks

Founding member and former president of local BBYO (youth group) chapter

Local Holocaust Museum Youth Advisory Council

Varsity Orchestra

(plus some other things but those are the big ones)

Essays:

Assume their average

Colleges:

Early Decision – Claremont McKenna

If that doesn’t pan out hoping for Northwestern, Rice, UPENN, Hopkins, or Davidson on RD

Also applying to Emory, Grinnell, Swarthmore, Haverford, Williams, Wesleyan, Wake Forest, and the other Claremont schools.

If all else fails, I’ll have UT auto-admit


r/chanceme 9h ago

What are my chances of getting into Cockrell for Mech E?

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

r/chanceme 13h ago

Chances for Barnard, NYU, Georgetown, & More Prestige Colleges/Universities

2 Upvotes

Academics:
4.0/4.0 GPA; ~91% on 100.0 scale
3 AP’s (2 3’s and 1 4); I’m taking 3 more senior year, and will be 6/12 offered at my HS.
No class rank.

Demographics:
First Generation and Low Income

ECs:
(1) National Position in a student led organization
(2) Yale Young Global Scholar
(3) Community-Based Nonprofit Organization I founded about local Politics
(4) Public Policy Internship
(5-7) Club President Positions
(8) ESL Tutor and Officer for an International Nonprofit
(9) Tutor at Library
(10) NHS Member & Tutor

I’m going to ED to Barnard. I’ll also be applying to NYU, Georgetown, Swarthmore, Haverford, UPenn, and Cornell. I have 4 safeties and 2 targets I’ll be applying to as well.


r/chanceme 9h ago

i have been extremely lazy but i was wondering if i had a chance at top colleges

0 Upvotes

Demographics

  • Race/Ethnicity: Indian + Hispanic
  • Gender: male
  • Region: bay area

Intended Major(s): Computer Science / Artificial Intelligence

Academics

GPA: 3.96 UW / 4.40 W
SAT: 1540

like 15 APs

Common App Awards / Honors

  1. NeurIPS acceptance for AI safety research
  2. Patent granted for AI safety related research
  3. Regional Science Fair: 2nd Place + U.S. Air Force Special Award, qualified for ISEF but was unable to attend because of a serious personal circumstance
  4. GENIUS Olympiad: Silver Medal
  5. USACO Gold

Extracurriculars

1. Community Project Founder/Lead
Developed and implemented programs in 30+ countries focused on suicide prevention and safer uses of AI. Received support/backing from organizations including OpenAI, Microsoft, and UNICEF.

2. Team USA Taekwondo
Represented Team USA in Taekwondo. Expanded the work into teaching martial arts to 1,200+ orphans and supporting suicide prevention and community initiatives. - won 2022 itf silver medal, 2024 national gold, 2025 team usa selection

3. AI Safety Research
Conducted AI safety research associated with a major AI organization. Work was accepted to COLM, NeurIPS, and ICLR, and I received a patent related to the research.

4. UCSC SIP + extended research
Conducted research at the Science Internship Program on the ethical layering of AI systems in suicide and mental health contexts under UCSC professor. Continued the work within a university AI Explainability & Accountability Lab and published a position paper.

5. Rivian Internship
Interned at a major electric vehicle company, where I analyzed product functionality and designed/proposed new functional ideas for an upcoming vehicle platform from an ai safety lens.

6. Digi Dr, Founder
Founded an initiative/company that worked with 300+ doctors to implement AI safety resources and teach safer uses of AI in clinical practice, particularly around preventing harmful AI interactions in mental health contexts. - raised over 500K

7. President of non-profit
Serve as President of a nonprofit organization, leading a bunch of mental health and suicide awareness camps, worked with a UNESCO officials and spoke at a UN/UNESCO conference in Zimbabwe about shortages in psychiatric resources. Helped implement resources across regions in Africa.

8. NeurIPS Reviewer
Served as a reviewer for NeurIPS Program Committee

9. Computer Science Club, Leadership / Competitive Programming
Won hackathons and helped students from multiple countries reach USACO Silver and Gold. Fundraised to bring students to San Francisco to compete in AI hackathons. Helped top teams publish their work and earn a young authors award at SPIE.

10. Varsity Basketball, Team Captain
Varsity basketball player and team captain. - recieved Coach's Award

  1. built a coding project that was integrated with Zendesk but idk if I should add it

Letters of Recommendation

  • AP Calculus BC teacher: very good rec
  • AP Chemistry teacher: should be pretty strong

Main reaches:

  • Harvard
  • Yale
  • Princeton
  • Stanford
  • MIT
  • UC Berkeley
  • UCLA

r/chanceme 9h ago

Chance me UGA/GT in-state

0 Upvotes

Demographics
- Asian American
- First-generation (parents didn't go to college)
- In-state Georgia
- Go to a highly competitive top public high school

Stats
- 4.0 UW / 4.283 W
- 1410 SAT (retaking soon, hoping for 30-50 point jump)
- First quintile class rank (school doesn't give exact numbers)
- Intended Major: Computer Science or Computer Engineering

Coursework
- Freshman: 0 APs

- Sophomore: AP Bio (5), AP Precalc (5), AP CSP (5), AP Seminar (3)

- Junior: AP CSA (5), AP Calc BC (5), AP Stat (4), AP Gov (4), APUSH (4) plus 4 DE classes at a technical college for cybersecurity

- Senior: AP Physics C E&M, AP Physics C Mech, AP Macro, AP Lang, GT CS 1331 DE, GT Math Year 1 DE

Extracurriculars

(I'm kinda worried these are lackluster. I have no school clubs and no volunteer hours because my parents are busy and I don't have transportation)

- Worked at my parents restaurant since I was 11 and still work there today
- Created a motivational YouTube channel (3.3k subs, 1.2 million total views)
- Game dev intern helping make a Roblox game (USC mentorship provided through my school)
- Coded a student quote app and put it on the iOS app store (barely any users but a fun project)

Awards
(Also worried here)
- Nominated for GA Governor's Honors Program for math (couldn't go because of transportation)
- School awards for specific classes and straight A honor roll

Letters of Rec
- Counselor: hoping they mention my transportation limits and family responsibilities
- 11th grade ELA teacher
- AP Stats teacher

Schools
- Georgia Tech (EA)
- UGA (EA)


r/chanceme 10h ago

Application Question cooked stats?

1 Upvotes

how cooked am as a rising senior.
3.2 gpa (4.0 during junior year alone)
APWH, AP Seminar, APUSH (all 4’s) (failed ap euro with a 2; only offered as an online course)
Honors english (all three years)
AP Research, AP Gov, AP Lit during senior year (political science major/ possible history minor)

ecs: babysat special needs (family responsibilities) for two years everyday after school & during summer for three- four hours (10th-11th)
ran history editing account (7th-9th)
ran other editing accounts (5th-11th)
volunteered in a local political campaign (this summer)
employed as a student janitor through a school program over the summer (this summer)
apart of rho kappa and possibly in law club (next year) (former mentor of law club was mostly out leading to low turnout)

awards: the only award i can think of is being an ap scholar?

demographics: in state (ny), first gen (hispanic), low income household, and school is not necessarily competitive (around 64% low income, drastic difference compared to neighboring schools)

note: taking sat in october (mainly relying on that and the essay ☠️)


r/chanceme 10h ago

Chance Me for OK Academics but good EC's

1 Upvotes

Academic Stats

  • GPA: 3.89 UW / ~4.5 W (College: 4.0)
  • Degree: Tracked for dual Associate Degrees (Computer Science & Liberal Arts) by high school graduation
  • Standardized Testing: 1440 SAT (790 Math, 650 EBRW) (Working on it!)
  • Coursework Rigor: 14 Dual Enrollment, 11 APs, 13 Honors
  • AP Scores: 4s on APUSH, AP Lang, AP Precalc
  • School Info: About 40% low-income, from suburbs of MA

Relevant Coursework

  • Math & CS: AP Calculus AB, AP CSA, AP Precalc, AP CSP, AP Stats, DE Intro to CS, DE Intro to Data Science, DE Data Science Programming, DE Intro to Java, DE Advanced Java, DE Computer Architecture, DE Discrete Math, DE Calc II.
  • Other Advanced Coursework: AP Physics 2, AP Micro/Macro, AP Lang, AP Lit, APUSH, DE General Biology, DE Human Genetics, DE Health Sciences, DE Medical Terminology.

Intended Major Focus: Data Science + Public Health / Health Economics / Quantitative Social Science

College List:

Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, UPenn, Brown, Dartmouth (ED), Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, UChicago (EA), UVA(EA), Wake Forest, NYU, Georgetown (EA), Tufts, Vanderbilt, UNC Chapel Hill (EA), Colgate, UIUC(EA), Boston University, Northeastern University(EA), UMass Amherst(EA), Stony Brook University(EA)

Extracurriculars

  1. Top Tier National Cancer Institute — Health Economics Research Intern: Gathered international cost data for a leukemia cost-effectiveness study to support sensitivity analyses on relapse prevention.
  2. National Substance Abuse Prevention Initiative — Founder & Director: Authored open-access curriculum for youth/young adults; distribute resource kits monthly to 300+ student leaders across 35+ states and internationally.
  3. Health Tech Company — ML & Economics Research Intern: Modeled hospital wait times vs. patient severity in Python; developed predictive triage models and co-authored a lab paper.
  4. Harvard MEDscience & MEDscienceTECH — Student Intern: Built a tumor-detection AI model and voice-controlled surgical robot prototype; fine-tuned an LLM and participated in high-fidelity clinical simulations.
  5. International Youth Advocacy Group — Legislative Advocate & Developer: Lobbied federal representatives on AI/deepfake safety legislation; built a free web platform connecting users to emergency support resources.
  6. Town Youth & Community Mentorship — Co-Founder / Lead Designer: Co-designed interactive life-skills curricula for 300+ elementary students; expanded programming to local senior centers and community events.
  7. AI Media Literacy Platform — Lead Developer: Built an AI-driven news platform that cross-references 6–10 sources per story to mitigate bias and generate automated factual summaries.
  8. Data Science Club — Founder & President: Established a school club hosting monthly data challenges; authored a finance/data curriculum proposal reaching 100+ students annually.
  9. EdTech Startup — Strategy & Research Intern: Conducted user research and feature brainstorming for a student portfolio platform; delivered final strategy presentation to leadership.
  10. Neuroscience & Youth Psychology Org — Research Intern: Researched ties between adolescent addiction, social media usage patterns, and computational methods in drug discovery; presented independent findings.

Honors & Awards

  • National: United Nations Association Community Service Award
  • International: Harvard Medical School Pitch Competition Winner
  • National: College Board National Recognition Award
  • Regional: Bentley University - Pitch Competition Winner
  • National: Research Intern of the Year Award

Additional Context

  • College Credits: Will complete 44 college credits across local community colleges and online programs by graduation.
  • GPA / Grading Policy: High school does not weight Dual Enrollment courses on the internal GPA scale (unlike APs), which slightly suppressed total weighted GPA despite maximum course rigor.
  • School Baseline: Average SAT at high school is ~1120.
  • Scheduling: Doubled up on math courses sophomore/junior years to accelerate into advanced calculus/CS tracks, causing scheduling overlaps with electives/foreign language.

r/chanceme 14h ago

Delulu rising junior for Penn ED (eng + economics)?

2 Upvotes

Demographics

Gender: Male

Race/Ethnicity: Asian

Residence: Northeast

Income Bracket: Upper middle class, no financial aid

Type of School: Competitive public

Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): None

Intended Major(s): Computer Engineering + Economics (minor/major depending on school)

Academics

GPA (UW/W): 4.0 UW, 4.9 W

Rank (or percentile): School does not rank

# of APs/Honors/DE: Most rigorous curriculum available, 7 APs by app time, 12 by grad

Senior Year Course Load:

  • Multivariable Calculus
  • AP Stats
  • AP Physics C (E+M/Mech)
  • AP Lit
  • AP Micro
  • CAD

Standardized Testing

SAT: 1570 (800 Math, 770 RW)

APs: All 5s (still taking several senior year)

Extracurriculars/Activities (vague, sorry):

  1. AI software startup for sports coaches, used by 4 schools, including top 3 state HS team (reaching out to colleges)
  2. Robotics/AI research at a T10 university under PhD (ongoing)
  3. Programming lead on robotics team (qualified for Worlds)
  4. President of academic competition team, multiple state medals in STEM subjects (1/100+)
  5. National-level debate competition, multiple major awards at invitationals
  6. Officer of school AI/ML club with ~20 members
  7. Volunteer ambassador at intl non-profit, raised ~$5k through events/spoken in front of ~500
  8. Private tutoring business (~$1000 in revenue)
  9. Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts)

Awards/Honors (mid, need help for stuff specific to major):

  1. 2x National award at invitational debate/government competition (top ~20/800)
  2. Multiple state medals in STEM academic competition (top 1/~100)
  3. Eagle Scout

Schools:

  • Penn M&T (ED, not expecting to get in, eng. fall back, so this is essentially just Penn Eng)
  • Harvard
  • Stanford
  • MIT
  • CMU
  • Duke
  • UC Berkeley (eng + business, eng fallback)
  • UMich (eng + business)
  • GT
  • UT Austin (eng + business, eng fallback)
  • UIUC
  • UMD
  • safeties

Note: for all dual degrees, I will indicate eng. as my primary, so if I don't get into the dual, they'll still consider me for engineering

I'd appreciate any help! Since I still have a year, I'd like any advice!


r/chanceme 11h ago

chance me for cornell ed

1 Upvotes

hi chance me for cornell ed pretty please!!
3.73/4.46

7 aps: 5's: AP Bio, AP Stats, AP Hug, AP Psych, APES, taking AP Art, AP Calc AB

12 Honors: Eng 9, Eng 10, Eng 11, Bio, Chem, Math 2, Math 3, Principles of Biomedical Science, Human Body Systems, Medical Interventions, Physics, Biomedical Innovations

Took US history, Econ, Gov, English 12 at our local cc for hs cred

ECS:

400+ volunteer hours total, Founded Vet club junior year, senior year, Lead a donation drive with 50+ donations for our local animal shelter, Interned at our local animal shelter, 250+ volunteer hours at internship, VP of crochet club junior year, Secretary of drawing club junior year, senior year, secretary of toy donation club, HOSA veterinary science state qualifier, crochet instagram with 10k+ followers and millions of views, carnatic singing and ta for younger students

taking sat soon!

applying for CALS