amplifiar842

Guys. I PROMISE there is no way to predict whether or not you will get into a given school based on your profile. Everywhere you apply it is going to be a crap shoot. I had a cousin get into Princeton but not Clemson.
By general statistics, I should NOT have gotten into Davidson. But here I am.

My SATs were generally on track...
CR 680 / MT 650 / WR 700
My best SAT IIs were decent overall...
Spanish 660 / Math I 710 / Literature 690 / US History 680

My recommendations were probably quite good, as I was close to both teachers that I asked, and both are very intelligent, articulate individuals.

My curriculum was difficult -- 10 APs (the max a person can take at my school) and all Honors offered at my school, including one AP that was not offered officially at my school, plus three College of Charleston classes "for fun."

Extracurriculars/honors were solid -- school service leader, four year active leader in Youth in Government, captain and four year member of Speech & Debate, self-instructional language programs in four foreign languages, many writing awards, among lots of others items of interest.

My essay was excellent. Following high school, I submitted it in the Newsweek "My Turn" essay contest and it won 4th place out of 10,000 entries, and I won lots of scholarship $$ -- the essay was set.

So...from the above, it all sounds pretty good.

Guess what.

Un-weighted, I had a C+ GPA. Davidson material? I think not. Class rank? Not anywhere near the top quarter. Just BARELY in the top half of my class, and that was only when my grade was WEIGHTED to a B, as a result of all my AP courses.
So, I comprise part of the 2% of Davidson students (that's around 34 students out of 1700) not in the top quarter of their high school class. Which means I'm probably one of eight students in my entire class (8/482) to not be in the top quarter of my graduating class.

So, that in mind, remember: in spite of all the good qualities of my application, the odds were HORRIBLY against me.

My grades and rank, if anything in particular, probably broke my application at several of the schools to which I applied. Harvard (the above, plus legacy status): wait-listed. Georgetown: denied. University of Pennsylvania: wait-listed. Davidson, Emory, New York University, etc. probably should have said the same. But they didn't. I got in, in spite of dismal scores, by comparison. No one could have predicted I would have made it.

Last year, 2,300 valedictorians applied to Harvard ... for just over 1,000 spots. And obviously Harvard is going to be looking for more than just top grades. Whether or not the valedictorians deserved Harvard, the odds were still against them.

In short: you cannot possibly tell whether or not you will get into a school on the basis of any part of your profile alone or even your entire profile holistically. As painful as it may be, you just have to wait for that fateful March 31st.

Zetesis

Thank you for this candid post. I've always wondered about "chances" threads, mainly because the people doing the "chancing" have no input into the admissions decisions and, as you point out, the ultimate criteria for admission aren't always quantifiable in terms of GPA, SATs, and the like. Search this Davidson forum and you'll come across some reports in years past of some pretty strong students who weren't admitted. Scary, but it's reality.

ColdWind

I think that you were reasonable in applying to Davidson College. Can't comment on your relative who had applied to Princeton & Clemson because there is no applicant info. However, it is important to note that certain programs of study at state schools are much more difficult regarding admissions than the other programs at that school.
Many selective colleges & universities place a high value on the demonstrated interest of the applicant. Also, many rolling admissions schools waitlist Ivy type candidates who applied late & accept moderately qualified early appliers.
Chances threads can only be as good as the info. offered. Without reading an applicant's entire admissions file, including essays & teacher recs, any prediction is just an educated guess.
But, I think that you should have been admitted to Davidson College based on your info. posted in this thread. Certainly your SATs & ECs were strong, and your GPA suggested that you would be a near sure matriculant if accepted as you were unlikely to be accepted at a Top 15 National University or at a higher ranked LAC.
My son was accepted to his reach school & denied by his safety. The reach was a perfect match in several areas, while the safety was a most selective LAC in which he had little interest. College admissions folks are very sharp at doing what they do.

HighlandMom

"Chances threads can only be as good as the info. offered. Without reading an applicant's entire admissions file, including essays & teacher recs, any prediction is just an educated guess."

Agreed. Also an interview can be used to a student's advantage to show the student's mindset, attitude, etc. as well as enthusiasm for the school.

zackr13

what school did you go to school in charleston? i live there and am a senior now in HS?
like you i am hoping on the rigor of my schedule and my recs along with my essays. my grades weren't great, my SATs were but overall a 3.45 gpa.

amplifiar842

You never know! Sometimes things just work out!

I went to Porter-Gaud...yeah...uniforms! How about you? :-)

fireflyscout

And then on the flip side -
a student with SAT 2250, top 5% class rank (only received 4 Bs in high school), AP Scholar with Distinction (later AP National Scholar), All State choir, outstanding ECs, etc.

was waitlisted by Davidson.

amplifiar842

It happens...my friend and I both applied hoping that we'd end up here together if I didn't actually get into Harvard...she had the better credentials by far and wasn't even waitlisted....