Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

I am a junior at a public high school in New Hampshire. I'm very curious about my chances at colleges- how selective I should look at, most importantly.

I've been told that I'm a strange student by a number of sources- that I don't do particularly well in grades but excel in so many other areas that I might have a shot at top schools, or something of the sort. They feel like lies or mistakes to me, but upon reaching this forum, I've decided to ask for the opinions of those who are used to the process.

First, the bad news: My grades are awful. My freshman year I had a 2.2 GPA out of 4.33... that implies around a C+ average in my courses for that year. My sophomore year, I had a GPA of about 3.4. This year, I believe I have a GPA of about 3.33. By the time I leave high school, I believe my GPA should be around a 3, maybe a little higher?... This would be around a B to a B+.

Here is a list of positive attributes about my school career, in no particular order:
-I have acted in school plays and musicals for four years, often scoring lead roles
-I have been taking French for 5 years
-I took Japanese for 2 years
-I have been playing guitar for 11 years
-I have been playing piano for 9 years
-I write music, which has attracted the interest of several other artists and a company interested in buying the music. I also created an "official" CD out of the music.
-I've been singing for 5 years
-I have volunteered to do school computer repair, but this seems hardly sufficient for volunteer work. Thus, last year I was a member of my school's environmental club, leading me to eventually spend an entire month doing 240 man-hours of environmental conservation work.
-I've been a computer programmer for many years, largely beginning when I attended college courses for (as well as a computer math course!!) at 11 years old
-I repair computers locally and am basically already trained to be an effective technician
-I design and program computer games, which have been downloaded several hundred thousand times across the world. A game I made in early 8th grade got over 150,000 downloads only according to the statistics from download.com!
-I have been an established cartoonist in my school newspaper.
-I'm an established online cartoonist, at one point with a viewer base of 2000 readers.
-The focus of the online cartoons were on characters that attracted the attention of big-time game developer (though they're not actually that good...) Hasbro Interactive, which nearly and almost certainly developed a professional video game based on my designs and concepts. It's unfortunate that they hit snags from the president of their company that ended the production, though... I fear there will be no advantage to putting this on a college application.
-I'm on my school's Math Team- 2nd year, now.
-I'm on my school's Student Council
-I'm in my school's Honors Choir
-I'm in my school's Marching/Concert Band

Senior year, I hope to be (for College Applications or not) Drum Major of my school band, President of my school Band, President of my Honors Choir, Vice-President of my school's Drama Club, a Captain of the Math Team, and President of my class of 2004. I already am almost the certain of my future positions as Drum Major, President of Band, and Vice-President of Drama, but the others are up for grabs.

In my school, there are 4 AP classes in total- US History, English, French, and Spanish. By the end of my high school career, I will have taken everything but Spanish.

I have taken SATs and PSATs before (SATs were long ago, though). I'm going to take them again very soon, as well. My PROJECTED score by some standardized test that I took a year ago is a 1470 on the SATs. I don't know how accurate those are supposed to be, but at least it's a better estimation than none.

And finally, my father, grandfather, half-sister, and great uncle attended Yale University. This is also where I hope to attend.

Please, anyone that can give me an estimation of how I look to College Admissions (especially those such as Yale), I would be extremely grateful for your words and advice. I have no idea if my application sounds laughable or quite solid to selective schools.

By You have NO chance on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 03:05 am: Edit

Yale? With a B average? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Seriously forget college go into standup comedy! Yale with a B average...hahaha kids these days

By . on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 03:11 am: Edit

Ignore him. I think you have a pretty good shot. If you have a good essay explaining your circumstances, that may help.

BTW, what was that game you created? I'd like to give it a shot if it's still up.

By Ibd (Ibd) on Wednesday, December 18, 2002 - 12:50 am: Edit

DON"T listen to that person who told you you didnt' stand a chance. My cousin's asian, he scored a 1200 on sat i, three fives and one four on AP exams, number four at a non competitive high school, and a 670 on writing, but he plays the piano very well (went to juilliard), and he got into yale! so it's not just scores or grades, it has a lot to do with talent. DON'T GIVE UP!

By harvarddad on Wednesday, December 18, 2002 - 02:07 pm: Edit

I'm rapidly becoming convinced that the admissions process at the top colleges is so arbitrary and capricious, it's possible for almost anybody to get in. I think every senior in America should apply to Harvard, Yale and Princeton (it would serve those admissions people right).

It helps to try to improve your grades. Some schools ignore Grade 9 and they like to see an upward trend.

Your EC's are good, and I recommend that you try to go with a "killer" EC - pick ONE thing in which you can accomplish something truly exceptional in the next 12 months. If someone other than a friend or relative PAYS you for what you do, that proves it has value.

The Yale legacy could help.

It's like the Lotto: "Hey, you never know."

By John on Wednesday, December 18, 2002 - 03:34 pm: Edit

To admin: I am simply trying to raise the legitimacy of these boards when I point out that some messages like these, are quite simply, fake. These folks who take their time to reply should know that they are wasting their time with "imaginary" applicants.

By noway on Wednesday, December 18, 2002 - 04:57 pm: Edit

I doubt this is true. Download.com does not list software developed by '8th graders', as stated in its own rules and regulations. The other claims in these stats are unlikely. Don't be fooled!

By BenSpinSpace on Thursday, December 19, 2002 - 12:00 am: Edit

Thank you all for the advice, either way...

You know, for people who would doubt my existence as a student, I'm a little amazed that you think that someone would invent a student like myself- because despite any accomplishments that I have listed, I assure you that my human faults should more than justify that I'm no superman.

I wasn't aware that download.com had any problem with age limitations, but I can definitely assure you that looking at the success of other such games on the site was a chief reason for me to actually go through the grueling process of registering it (which seemed to take forever!). However, the free host for the bandwidth became a pay site, and therefore the download became unavailable and was scrapped. If you choose to disbelieve my claims about my games, that's perfectly fine- because that's what I would surely do if I were in your situation, too.

Now assuming that I'm a real person (which I know that I am), I'd like to point out that like just about any student, I would like to attend the best school possible. I'm looking for all options, and being a legacy at Yale, it seems like my best shot. I know that a B average seems terrible to a school accepting all-A applicants, but it has been a curiosity of mine of if I could stand a chance of getting in, because of the legacy information, my other strong points, some killer recommendations, a good interview, good SAT scores... the list could go on and on of possibilities to prove myself beyond my grades. However, I don't know- is there simply a cutoff? "No students of this grade-point-average unless they're rich or famous." Since I'm assuming there is none... well, that's why I was asking- to find out opinions on my chances of getting in to a school like this.

By False on Thursday, December 19, 2002 - 01:39 am: Edit

Hello Dameon86. If you're so keen on the fact that you submitted to download.com, then why haven't you TOLD us exactly what "game" this is? Why haven't you told us what your "lead roles" were that you "scored in scool plays"? Just which were the companies that were attracted to your "original" CD? And what was the name of that CD? We have seen enough of your deceits on these discussion boards, time and time again.

By bump on Thursday, December 19, 2002 - 03:35 pm: Edit

bump