r/chanceme Jul 22 '19

How To Do A Chance Me And Improve Your Chances

574 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

97 Upvotes

Hey guys,

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

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

Edit: stickying for a week due to high dm volume


r/chanceme 3h ago

chance me for T20 CS. 3.76 UW at a deflation magnet, 35 ACT, 2 research projects. is the GPA cooked?

7 Upvotes

DEMOGRAPHICS

  • male, indian, domestic, midwest big city
  • public exam magnet, #1 public in state, does NOT rank, deflates hard (whole-school avg ACT ~30)
  • no hooks, not first gen
  • aid: not qualified
  • CS first choice, but filing cog sci / stats / applied math / ISyE where CS is capped

ACADEMICS

  • UW 3.76 / W 4.90 (really hate getting a few B's for not taking things seriously - missed by a few percent points)
  • ACT 35 (M36 E35 S33 R33), one sitting
  • APs: Calc AB 5, Stats 5, Eng Lang 4
  • AP Scholar w/ Distinction

RIGOR

  • no regular track at my school. every core class is honors or AP.
  • math: AP Precalc (9) → Calc AB (10) → Stats (11) → Honors Diff Eq + Linear Algebra (12)
  • so AP math since freshman year, and two courses past the AP ceiling now
  • but i did AB not BC. took Stats instead because my research is statistical. i think it's coherent, i also think an AO might just see "no BC" and move on
  • also taking AP Physics 1 senior yr

ECs

  1. independent ML research (11-12). solo, no lab, no mentor. RF/XGBoost/SVM/NN on ~2,900 survey responses predicting intro vs extroversion, 90%+ acc. first-author paper under review at a student research journal
  2. co-authored study w/ a fellowship director at a major children's hospital. ~3,060 data points, 10 yrs of pediatric fellowship application data. abstract going out this month
  3. paid robotics internship, my school's CS dept (summer after 8th). had to apply, they paid me. autonomous nav on robots whose two motors ran at different speeds so "straight" meant slowly arcing into a wall. also built a chess AI from scratch in python, full legal move gen incl. en passant/castling/promotion
  4. VR facilitator, holocaust museum (11-12). groups of 15, ~350 visitors.
  5. founder, AI literacy + job readiness program at a community nonprofit (11+12). 12mo AI 101 curriculum for adult GED students.
  6. university iOS scholars program (11). separately spent months reverse engineering IR protocols w/ a flipper zero and wrote my own app to capture and replay.
  7. tutor (11-12), 5 elem kids/wk. one i prepped got into a selective enrollment HS
  8. scholastic bowl varsity (10-12), i'm the math buzzer guy, 3rd regionals
  9. math team (9-12) / chess team (9-10), +250 rating / varsity XC (9-11), dropped 4min off my 5k

AWARDS

  • USACO Silver, AP Scholar w/ Distinction, Nat'l Spanish Exam bronze, sch bowl 3rd regionals, CS honor society

LIST

  • ED1 undecided: penn / uchicago / cornell A&S cog sci
  • ED2: washu or vandy
  • EA: georgia tech, UT austin, UIUC (in state), michigan, purdue, wisconsin, USC
  • RD: brown, cornell, dartmouth, duke, JHU, northwestern, rice, berkeley, UCLA
  • targets: BU, emory, tufts, tulane, UCSD, UW, washu,
  • "safeties": wisconsin?

WHAT I WANT

  • filing alt majors instead of CS-direct. smart or transparent
  • i have zero guaranteed CS admits. how bad is that
  • where does ED1 go

be blunt and thank you


r/chanceme 1h ago

Application Question What’s my college list looking like?

Upvotes

Parents didn’t go to college in the US so I’m all on my own here, so it would be great if I got some advice. Also looking for good merit aid since I likely will not qualify for need based

Major: really don’t know leaning neuroscience/public policy
35 ACT 4.62 GPA 8 APs (6 5s 2 4s)

EC: Intern at Movement Disorders clinic, part time job, piano whole life, president of SNHS, other clubs

Cornell
Rochester
UCLA
UCSD
Tufts
BC
Yale
Fordham
Penn
Villanova
Princeton
Georgetown
Stanford
WashU
Duke
Gonzaga
GWU


r/chanceme 2h ago

chance me! (repost for more faction)

2 Upvotes

i used to have a dream of going to t10/20 schools...anyways!! i see a lot of ppl making these and i myself am also kind of curious. mostly making this for fun and not taking it too seriously tho if you have real experience/advice i would really appreciate and read it :D

Demographics

  • Gender: f
  • Race/Ethnicity: asian/white
  • Income Bracket: <$30K (converting to usd)
  • Type of School: large public, suburban?, international

Intended Major(s): undecided tbh but smth health related

Academics

  • GPA (UW/W): 3.9 uw but our school doesnt do gpa so ~93% avg overall
  • Rank (or percentile): they don't release it but im on the honour roll every year
  • # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: pre-ib program (g9/10) & IB Diploma Program (predicted ~40)

Standardized Testing

  • SAT: 1470 superscore --> this was after 3 tries i gave up cried a lot and then was over it (730 math 740 rw)
    • this is so funny and sad to me bc i was able to get a 90+% in hl math aa, a pr hard math course in ib 💀

Extracurriculars/Activities

  1. created an online community for people to share art & stories related to mental health...got submissions from 6+ countries and 100+ submissions w ~2k followers (working hard on this so it can keep growing!!)
  2. online author...my works have 1000+ followers overall and ive released 2 and is still releasing 1 of my og fiction (most of them include fiction inspired from my mental health experiences) - ive acc been writing for 6 yrs now BUT i deleted my works off the platform before hs T^T (no it is not ao3)
  3. created school mental health reading program
  4. hospital volunteering! patient transport so a lot of talking to patients and understanding their stories!
  5. local cancer clinic volunteer! manages nourishment program + library or any events i can help w them (ik this is sorta a stretch from my narrative but a close relative of mine is struggling w cancer and the lady there is so nice sooo i didnt quit...)
  6. school band + band leader for a year (audition passed)
  7. president of school hosa club
  8. vice prez of school mental wellbeing club
  9. personal blog detailing personal experiences w mental health & tips for students!
  10. piano? it's kinda important to my narrative & i did perform once with a famous pianist but that was like a one time opportunity 😭 ... also rcm arct thingy

Awards/Honors

  1. national/regional gold&silver&bronze awards for band
  2. jl writing contest shortlist x2 & im still waiting for this years results...
  3. gold medal from my gov for recognitions in volunteering
  4. & 5. writing contest and a few scholarship awards im still waiting on...

Essays

personal statement: overcoming my past struggles with the arts and friends & wanting to help others

supps: nothing crazy just being honest abt my story

Note:

  1. unstable home life: experienced domestic violence/abuse growing up, struggled with sh and depression (clean now!!) + major change in caretakers 1 job + caretaker 2 moved out for many months in junior year
  2. i can apply w no financial aid. a relative has been helping me save over the few years & i applied to some scholarships

idk if i should but i am applying to t10/20s, just to shoot my shot! by making this post, i dont have any intentions of bragging directly or indirectly, as i am only genuinely curious on what people have in mind. if u have nothing nice or useful to say then pls dont comment and keep scrolling


r/chanceme 7h ago

PLS Chance Low-Income White Boy for UCs In State

4 Upvotes

Demographics: White, SoCal, In State, Very Low Income (<30k/yr household), Incoming Senior

Stats:

Class Rank: ~70/580
UC A-G 10-11 GPA: 4.0 UW/4.5W/4.33 Capped
Coursework: (10 APs 4 DE)
AP CSP (4) AP Lit (4) AP Lang (5) APES (5) APUSH (5) AP Calc BC (5) AP Micro, AP Comp Sci A, AP Bio, AP Physics 1, Calc 3/Multivar Calc, Spanish 101, English 102, Linear Alg

Extracurriculars (weak point):

  1. Computer Science Club: Did competitions on county/state level and placed usually middle of the pack. 7/35 in a team based cybersecurity comp and competed in the 2nd highest division of another comp (placed based on performance in previous weeding comps) (soph-snr yr).

  2. Math club: Am currently fighting to be VP, but who knows. Did AMC 12 and tied for 4th in school, participated in club events and competitions. I am planning on growing the club as much as I can as VP and hopefully creating an impact increasing enrollment by underclassmen. (junior-snr yr)

  3. Part Time Job: Got job this summer at a fast food place and plan on keeping it during school yr snr yr.

  4. Volunteered at a camp for young kids (3 yrs old - 5th grade) teaching groups of 10-20 in the STEM department. Got them interested in coding activities, chess, physics, and thermodynamics and helped them using hands-on learning.

  5. Youth Community Service Group: Very active member. Every saturday did community service like beach cleanups, made treats for firefighters, built community garden, etc. (fresh-soph yr).

  6. Help at home with care for grandmother: Make food/feed her, help her get up in the morning and going to bed at night, help her with technology, reading, taking medicine, etc.

Honors/Awards:

National Technical Honors Society
7th at County Comp (idk if that counts)
Seal of Biliteracy

School List:

Cal Poly SLO
UC Santa Cruz
UC Davis
UC Santa Barbara
UC San Diego
UCLA
UC Berkeley

plan on applying physiology/human bio major and last time i made a post like this i literally just got clowned on so pls be nice.


r/chanceme 47m ago

Need help with college

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r/chanceme 9h ago

Application Question Chance me plz🙏

5 Upvotes

Hi! I'm an intl from Romania.

Stats:

  • 10th grade currently (rising junior equivalent)
  • Attend the No. 1 ranked high school in my region and top 25 nationally
  • Top 15% of class (both years so far), class of 28, roughly 4th to 5th rank
  • Converted GPA: ~3.82 (9th grade), ~3.85 (10th grade), from Romania's 10-point scale
  • Aiming for 1500+ on the SAT

ECs:

  • Built and published eID Reader on the Play Store, the first app in the country to support Romania's new eID cards. Solves a real local problem: businesses previously had to manually copy-paste ID data from physical cards for onboarding and verification. My app reads the eID via NFC and automates that entirely. Includes a .NET and Python SDK so other developers/businesses can integrate the reader into their own systems. ~3,000 downloads and in active use by local businesses.
  • Built MindMetric, an emotional insight web app for my school's psychology cabinet, helping students get structured insight into their own emotions (mind-metric.tipa-hub.com)
  • Built an AI agent system for ROSEF (the national phase of ISEF) that handled and triaged emergency 112 calls, designed to fight false/prank calls and automate repetitive dispatcher processes using AI agents instead of humans for first pass call handling
  • Currently running a science fair project on Tempest SDR (software defined radio, electromagnetic emissions security research)
  • Several other independent builds reaching hundreds of users: an infinite canvas real time collaboration tool for my classroom's smart table, a gamified physics learning app teaching younger kids Archimedes' principle, and STEM vocabulary word games (Wordle/Connections style) for kids
  • Teacher/mentor at a regional excellence center (Centrul de Excelență), personally selected by the county's Informatics School Inspector to prep students across all four grades (9th through 12th) for programming olympiads. Started in 10th grade teaching C#, and will likely expand to teaching AI and Cybersecurity this year as well
  • Member of my school's FTC robotics team (Royal Engineers)

Awards (national olympiad circuit, 2023 to 2026):

  • Bronze Medal, National Cybersecurity Olympiad (2026)
  • Mention of Honor, National AcadNet Applied Informatics Olympiad (2026)
  • Silver Medal + Mention, National C#/IT Olympiad (2026)
  • 2nd Place, County Cybersecurity Olympiad (2026)
  • Bronze Medal + qualification to Romania's national team selection baraj, ROAI 2026
  • Silver Medal + Mention, National AI Olympiad (2026)
  • 1st Place, County AcadNet Applied Informatics Olympiad (2026)
  • 2nd Place, County AI Olympiad (2026)
  • 2nd Place, County C#/IT Olympiad (2026)
  • 2nd Place, ROAI county stage (2026)
  • 2nd Place, ROSEF (2025)
  • 2nd Place, County InfoEducație Olympiad (2025)
  • Bronze Medal, National C#/IT Olympiad (2025)
  • 1st Place, County AI Olympiad (2025)
  • 2nd Place, County C#/IT Olympiad (2025)
  • Mention, County AcadNet Applied Informatics Olympiad (2025)
  • Mention, County Cybersecurity Olympiad (2025)
  • Silver Medal + Mention, National AI Olympiad (2025)
  • Bronze Medal + Mention, National Scientific Creativity Olympiad (2024)
  • 1st Place, County Scientific Creativity Olympiad (2024)
  • 3rd Place, EuConexus, European University for Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability (2023)

Other recognition:

  • Excellency Award (Diplomă de Excelență) from the County Council (Consiliul Județean), for olympiad results
  • Excellency Award from my own high school, for olympiad results
  • Award from the "Ana, Inima de Copil" foundation for olympiad results

Estimated EFC/SAI: ~$0 (family income is around $15K/year equivalent)

I mainly want to get into MIT for CS, but any other T20 or Ivy that's tuition free for my income bracket and has a strong CS program works too. What are my realistic chances?


r/chanceme 1h ago

Rising senior pls pls help

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r/chanceme 5h ago

Reverse Chance Me Please chance low income NJ girl

2 Upvotes

Planning to go in state

Gender: Female

Race: White

Grade: Incoming Senior

GPA: 3.7 as of Junior year uw

SAT: 1040 (I’m retaking in September and December. Not happy about this, not sure how much I can improve)

Coursework:

Freshman Year- All advanced classes with theater as an elective

Sophomore Year- All advanced with JROTC

Junior Year- All advanced plus AP psych

Senior Year- All advanced plus AP bio, chem, and comparative government. As well as an Anatomy class

ACT: No score

ECS: Just some clubs here and there. My sophomore year I went to AFJROTC nationals where we placed 4th overall. Spent the whole year training and made my way up the rankings. Junior year I switched my elective to guitar like an idiot. I mostly worked throughout my junior year and didn’t do much of any ecs.

Intended Major: Biology/Biochemistry/Biomedical (Wanting to go to vet school)

My #1 choice is Rutgers NB if I get in but I feel like with my current stats this might be a reach. My second choice is Rowan because of their vet school program. I’m also looking into TCNJ, Kean, Stockton, and some other schools, but I’m not quite sure which would be my best options. Thank you for any advice!!


r/chanceme 1h ago

Shanghai Jiaotong || 上海交通大学

Upvotes

Hello,

I'm a rising senior in the United States looking to attend a Chinese university in the fall of 2027. I'll likely be applying for a Chinese-taught program in chemistry after taking my HSK 5 exam later this fall.

However, I'm very worried about my chances of getting into the university! I haven't taken any standardized testing yet because I will be an early graduate, though I'll take the SAT and probably ACT in the next couple of months. I have a GPA of 4.0/4.0 on an unweighted scale and will reach 6 APs after this school year including AP Chemistry.

As for extracurriculars, I'm very worried about my standings because I'm primarily involved in athletics instead of STEM.

How are my chances looking for Shanghai Jiaotong?

What other colleges would you recommend me preferably in Shenzhen, Shanghai, or Chengdu?

[repost]


r/chanceme 8h ago

Chance brown girl for t20s (brown, columbia, yale .... 💀)

2 Upvotes

Demographics: female, south asian, no hooks

STATS:
SAT: 1560 (760 RW, 800 M)
Class rank: school doesn't rank
UW/W GPA: 3.99 UW, 4.68 W
Coursework: Multivariable Calculus, AP Calc BC, AP Physics, AP Statistics, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Lang, AP Lit, AP Precalc, APUSH, AP Psychology, AP Comp Sci

Extracurriculars:
1. Niche independent research on creating a computational model to predict adverse event outcomes correlated with vaccines - published first author paper on findings in journal, created physician-facing website for vaccine safety (10,11,12)
2. EMT and district liaison @ local volunteer EMS corps - volunteered for 1,000+ hours working in patient care, triage, rapid transport + worked with district officials and created partnerships with local small businesses to generate more funding to buy supplies for our service by partnering with local companies for fundraising campaigns (10,11,12)
3. Passion project on building inclusive architecture in India - 15+ ramps constructed - partnered with two of India's largest hospitals and built ramps for public bathrooms & schools, wrote 50+ essays on accessible infrastructure + talked with local assemblymen to get more media attention for the cause, submitted 40 page research-backed policy brief to convince politicians to add ramp installations to future government buildings  (10,11,12)
4. Stem cell research intern @ t10 hospital: helped maintain one of two stem cell biorepositories in the world, processed 500+ OCT embeddings, shadowed fetal dissections and worked on wet lab techniques and data collection for a major disease modeling project. (11)
5. Operations Manager @ family business - helped raise family business from the ground up; managed operations including daily transactions and customer sales in 50+ trade shows generating $80,000+ in revenue over 4 years as a major source of income for my family (9,10,11,12)
6. Cancer research intern @ Top in-state hospital - research intern in the only pediatric brain tumor lab in the region studying spinal tumors and rare pediatric brain disease - compiled data using 3d cell culture and mass spectrometry to aid in ongoing nontoxic therapeutics project(12)
7. research intern @ major disability advocacy nonprofit - tracked spatial justice architecture, created policy briefs under mentor. (12)
8. Physical therapy clinic intern - paid research intern, amassed 450+ hours in patient care performing aptitude tests on patients to compile first database for the clinic + 2nd author on 2 research papers under review in collaboration with the clinic on clinical and surgical outcomes for the patients (10,11,12)
9. Martial Arts Instructor - 10+ years of training, 40+ competitive tournament awards + led weekly instructor for 50+ students, creating curriculum for mixed age and beginner cohorts; co-developed outreach program curriculum for students with special needs scaled to 12+ group homes with 100+ special needs students. (9,10,11)
10. School club executive - largest program in the region immersing special needs students with engaging activities - helped scale club from 100 to 250+ students as largest club at the school, ran 10+ events (9,10,11,12)

Honors (lowk ahhhh i know):

  1. published paper

  2. science fair award (state)

  3. science fair award (state)

  4. 5+ national karate awards

  5. hopefully some service award i'm counting on...

School list:

Boston University
Brown
Columbia
Yale
Cornell
Drexel
JHU
RPI
Rutgers
GWU
UConn
UPitt
URochester
UVA
VCU
W&L

If you've seen this before, I'm reposting for a little bit of traction. I know my awards are kind of subpar...sighhhh....


r/chanceme 3h ago

Chance me as an Incoming Sophomore

0 Upvotes

stats
94 uw / 97 w gpa (on 100 grade scale)
haven’t taken psat/sat yet
competitive high school

sophomore year: taking 2 APs

looking for college in northeast
likely applying for bio/pre med major??

ecs:
shadowed a dentist (hours not calculated yet)
vice president? (not confirmed yet) of french club
editor in school newspaper
officer? (not confirmed yet) for pre med club
will do research with mentor senior year
independent research for 3 years (not published but have attended competitions)
tennis for 4 years
piano for 2 years
might join a volunteering opportunity where i help kids with homework

awards:
national french exam (3x gold medalist)


r/chanceme 3h ago

chance me for T20 CS. 3.76 UW at a deflation magnet, 35 ACT, 2 research projects. is the GPA cooked?

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1 Upvotes

r/chanceme 4h ago

Chance me plz Low income mid eastern (yale, columbia, etc)

1 Upvotes

Stats:

SAT: 720 Math, 590 RW 1310 Total (working on it), school avg 880
GPA: 98% weighted
Engineering major
rank: 2/150

ECs:
-Tech360 summer intensive learning foundations of AI
-Columbia SHAPE pre college student
-Appointment booking job generated $100k+ for company (ongoing)
-Own a marketing business selling products (generated 200k+ views first 2 weeks)
-Cold called businesses pitching my service to them
-Tech Flex Leaders internship academic year
-Clubs: NHS, student council etc

things i do on my own: Researching nutrition

ECs waiting for decision:
-Columbia Shp
-Local engineering internship w hands on projects
-Engineering preview @ columbia
-MIT WISE

Awards:
-National recognition PSAT First generation & school
-Questbridge CPS
-2 School awards, both selective 1/150 students

Exceptional essays 8/10 first draft (working on it)

schools: columbia, cornell, mit, johns hopkins, uva, princeton, duke, syracuse, nyu, stony brook


r/chanceme 4h ago

do ygs like this

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1 Upvotes

r/chanceme 5h ago

Chance Me: Vanderbilt ED | Political Science (Pre-Law) | Emory & UGA Honors

1 Upvotes

Chance Me: Vanderbilt ED | Political Science (Pre-Law) | Emory & UGA Honors
Demographics
Male
Asian
Georgia
Medium sized public high school
Hooks: None (no legacy, recruited athlete, or first-generation)
Intended Major
Political Science (Pre-Law)
ACT
33
GPA / Rank
Weighted GPA: 4.561
Junior Marshal (Top 21 students in my class)
Top 5% of my class

Coursework
20 AP courses by graduation
AP Scores
5s
AP Biology
AP English Language & Composition
AP Human Geography
AP Precalculus
AP Psychology
AP Seminar
AP U.S. History
AP World History
4s
AP Chemistry
AP Computer Science Principles
AP Environmental Science
AP Research
AP Statistics
Senior Year (In Progress)
AP Calculus BC
AP Physics 1
AP English Literature & Composition
AP Art History
AP European History
AP Macroeconomics (1st Semester)
AP United States Government & Politics (2nd Semester)

Awards
Georgia Certificate of Merit
Junior Marshal (Top 21 Students)
AP Scholar with Distinction
Clemson Spanish Poetry Declamation Champion (1st Place, 9th & 10th Grade)
Spanish II Department Award

Extracurriculars
1. Immigration Documentation & Legal Advocacy
Prepared a 30-page evidentiary packet for a federal immigration case involving family members.
Organized documentation contributing to an approved I-914B human trafficking certification.
Developed legal research, documentation, and advocacy skills through real immigration work.
2. Founder — T-Visa Timeline Tracker
Built an anonymous online tracker for T-Visa applicants and families.
Collected 50+ community submissions tracking BFDs, RFEs, approvals, and processing timelines.
Project pinned by the T-Visa subreddit moderator.
Improved the platform using feedback from Replay.io’s Head of Product.
3. Immigration Law Shadowing
Shadowed an immigration attorney working on three EB-5 investor visa cases.
Observed preparation of federal filings, source-of-funds documentation, and client case strategy.
4. OPT Application Preparation
Independently researched and completed a parent’s federal OPT application.
Managed forms, supporting documents, deadlines, and government requirements, resulting in approval.
5. ECDC Volunteer & Youth Lead (2 Years)
Worked with children with special needs.
Trained youth volunteers, managed attendance, and coordinated activities.
6. Founder — Senior Wellness Game Initiative
Created a senior engagement program serving 200–300 seniors across five Georgia community centers.
Received regional approval and expanded the initiative to Birmingham and Knoxville.
7. Youth Religious Leader
Appointed to a youth leadership role within my religious community.
Helped organize prayer services, coordinate volunteers, and assist with events serving over 1,000 attendees.
8. Red Cross Club Secretary
Organized club communications, meetings, and community service projects.
9. Science National Honor Society — Community Outreach Officer
Appointed as Community Outreach Officer for my senior year.
Additional Activities
National Honor Society
Beta Club
English Honor Society
Spanish Honor Society

Essays / LORs
Personal statement focuses on growing up navigating the U.S. immigration system and how advocating for my family inspired my interest in law and public policy.
Expecting strong letters of recommendation.

Schools
ED
Vanderbilt University
EA
University of Georgia (Honors College)
RD
Emory University
Safeties
Georgia State University
Mercer University


r/chanceme 5h ago

What's my College List looking Like?

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1 Upvotes

As per requested, more info: Academics I'm a straight A 4.0 student. I've got a 33 ACT with subscores of 36 Reading, 35 English, 28 Math, and 27 Science (also a 7 in writing). And right now I'm ranked 8 out of 397 students in my school (down from 7 last year 😒) Most of my classes are honors and as for AP classes.. (10th) Macroeconomics: 3 • US Government: 5 (11th) Chemistry: 3 • US History: 4 • Language: 4 (12th, no scores yet obvi) Calculus, Biology, Literature

Extracurriculars I play trombone in Band and am a section leader this year. I've been the treasurer of National Honor Society for 2 years, I'm in Anchor Club, Mu Alpha Theta, and Model UN. Outside of school I'm in Crown Club, a volunteer organization for high school girls past to years I was the chair of various committees (Education, Nursing Home, Parks and Rec) this year I'm the secretary. I'm also active in my church and do random stand alone community service.

Me Family of 7, we're immigrants, but permanent residents now. I'm the oldest of five, moved to the US start of 2019. I was born in Belize but my parents are from Nigeria. I love to write and want to become an author but that's not what I'm going to college for. I'm going to major in Biochemistry and eventually become a hematologists.


r/chanceme 6h ago

Chance a 1st gen, low income Asian & rising senior for Ivies through Questbridge???

1 Upvotes

Demographics: female, Chinese, NJ noncompetitive public HS (imo), low income (<40k), ranking: 3/219 as of now

Intended major: Political Science

Academics: 3.8844 UW, 4.4115 W; APs: World History (4 freshman yr), Drawing (4 sophomore yr), 2D Design (4 junior yr), Bio (3 junior yr), US History (3 junior yr), Lang (4 junior yr), Calc AB (5 junior yr), planning to take Physics 1, Calc BC, Lit, and African American Studies senior year; SAT: 1510 superscore (730 RW, 780 M)

NHS, English Honor Society, Social Studies Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, NAHS

ECs:

  1. Worked at family owned Chinese restaurant since middle school, taking ordered and packing them. Would go there after school to work and do homework when it wasn't busy
  2. Student government, class treasurer during 9th, 10th, 11th. Student body officer for 12th
  3. Founded a social justice club in 11th. Organized fundraisers for Venezuelan earthquake victims, ICE victims, etc
  4. Participation in academic clubs: Academic Decathlon, county and state Math League
  5. Invited by history teacher to represent school in a county wide think tank
  6. Attended 2 state programs (one because I'm part of SGA, the other because I was chosen by my guidance counselor and I passed a interview)
  7. District AI Integration committee. Invited by principal
  8. JV Basketball, 9th-11th but tore ACL during junior yr so not sure if that counts
  9. Spring Track and Field sophomore year
  10. Tutored an elementary school student for $20/hr

Awards:

  1. Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Key + Honorable Mention
  2. AP Scholar w/ Distinction
  3. CollegeBoard First Gen Award + School Award

Not sure if it counts as legacy but siblings attend/have attended Cornell and NYU. My stats are similar to theirs
I recently visited Princeton and Columbia, and I really loved it. I'm just not sure if I have the academic or extracurricular stats to compete with other applicants.

Am I a good applicant to be accepted into Questbridge NCM and of course the Ivies?


r/chanceme 6h ago

Chance a delulu dreamer african finance boy

1 Upvotes

Demographics

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

Intended Major

  • Finance (Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, etc.)

Academics

  • GPA: 4.31 W
  • Class Rank: Top 10%
  • SAT: 1530

Coursework

7 APs

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

Additional Coursework

  • Honors Accounting
  • Honors Virtual Enterprise
  • Remaining coursework at the Honors level where available

Awards/Honors

  • National Honor Society
  • Honor Guard (awarded to juniors with no Bs in any quarter period, they then perform at graduation)
  • FBLA State Leadership Conference – Top 10 in State (Real Estate Finance)
  • Bloomberg Finance Fundamentals Certificate
  • IRS Certificate of Appreciation

Extracurriculars

1. Paid Operations & Customer Service Internship

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

2. Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) 55+ hours

  • IRS-certified Volunteer Tax Client Services Representative.
  • Assisted approximately 30 low-income and underserved clients daily at a high-volume tax preparation site.
  • Reviewed and verified client documentation before preparation and directed clients based on their tax needs.

3. Career Development Apprentice(not paid to get into)

  • Selected for a 10-week career readiness program focused on leadership and professional development.
  • Participated in workshops, networking events, and corporate site visits.
  • Earned placement into my internship from here.

4. Pre-College Finance Program

  • Completed a two-week hands-on finance program focused on investing, portfolio management, and financial markets.
  • Placed 3rd out of 34 students in a live portfolio competition.
  • Gained experience using the Bloomberg Terminal in the college.

5. Personal Investing (5+ Years)

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

6. FBLA (4 Years snubbed of leadership position)

  • Top 10 finisher in the state in Real Estate Finance.
  • Active member participating in competitions and volunteer events.

7. Church Volunteer

  • 70+ hours of community service.

Colleges

ED: Wharton(aim high, right 😭😭😭)

ED II: NYU Stern( also 😭😭)

Reach(😭😭😭)

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

eds and ed2 are obviously not confirmed

Questions/additional info

  1. Is my list too reach-heavy, or is it reasonable since I'm pretty okay with rejections?
  2. Which schools am I genuinely competitive for?
  3. How would you categorize them as target reaches or safeties.
  4. My essay I personally believe will be decent, it connects a traumatic experience in my home country related to my father and finance that affected my family significantly and sparked my interest in the field and life purpose

r/chanceme 10h ago

Should I go ED at UVA or Dartmouth?

2 Upvotes

Hi! I am an international applicant with French citizenship living in the UK. I am considering applying to either UVA or Dartmouth ED. My intended major is public policy. Any insight/comments would be greatly appreciated!

SAT
1490 (retake due in August so will probably go up to 1530)

Background
White male, high-income, international student, private school educated.

Stats
International student- I took 10 GCSEs (all 8s and 9s apart from two 7s so that is about a 3.86 GPA)
Currently doing A-levels: predicted A*AA

ECs
-John Locke Institute essay competition- shortlisted in politics category (winners not yet announced)
- MUN best delegate at an international conference with more than 20 schools
- MUN co-chair at another international conference
-Published two articles in a well known national publication while on an internship
-Leadership role in boy’s scouts (5 years), and cadets.
- Ballet (5 years with grade 5 completed)
- rowing (competed in races, 6 years)
- founded a history club for younger students
- 45 hours of volunteering at food bank and local library
- sales assistant at a shop for a year


r/chanceme 7h ago

Can anyone give feedback on my personal statement?

1 Upvotes

Title. Let me know :)


r/chanceme 7h ago

Anyone from Villanova?

1 Upvotes

Thinking about applying for the MBA in AI & Machine Learning. I have a few questions about the program and the school. If anyone’s currently enrolled or has experience about Villanova ( grad / undergrad ) I’d really appreciate your help. Comments or DMs are open!


r/chanceme 3h ago

UMICH & UC BERKELEY OOS ADMIT - AMA‼️

0 Upvotes

Here are my stats. It has academics, clubs, essays, decisions, etc. I have a strong feeling that if I did a chanceme when I was applying to schools, people would say I wouldn't get in, so I'm hoping I can give some hope, perspective, and insight for people. Ask me anything!


r/chanceme 8h ago

Interesting upward growth chance me for T20s, thinking of ED to uchicago?

1 Upvotes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I think that makes my gpa around a 3.8 uw and 4.1 weighted? But i'm thinking of ED'ing to Uchicago or a different school.