quintamonious

Chance me for my dream schools please (you only have to say the hardest one to get into that you think I could make it in to). Thanks (and I'll chance back)!

HYP
Dartmouth
Claremont McKenna
Pomona
Amherst
Columbia
Cornell
UPenn
JHU

SAT I (breakdown): 2250 2nd try (CR 700 M 790 W 760 Essay: 12) I feel like I didn't do so well so might retake. (School avg: 1964)

SAT II:
Math IIC: 780;
Retaking USH until above 750

Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.85 Weighted: 4.2

Classes (including self taught and summer courses):

9th Grade
1. French 1
2. Java Programming
3. Biology
4. Geometry Enriched
5. PE 9
6. Literature and Writing

10th Grade
1. French 2
2. AP Computer Science AB (Test not offered but my school still uses AB curriculum)
3. Honors Chemistry
4. Algebra 2/Trig
5. PE 10 Wt. Training
6. Literature and Writing
7. World History
8. Self Taught - PreCalc (Beginning of 2nd Sem - mid April)
9. Self Taught - Calculus BC (mid April - mid June)
10. MV Calculus @ Harvard SSP
11. Political Philosophy @ Harvard SSP

11th Grade
1. French 3
2. International Business
3. Honors Physics
4. AP Statistics
5. 3D Design 1 (Art Class)
6. American Lit
7. AP US History
8. Self Taught - Linear Algebra (December - June)
9. Self Taught - Differential Equations (December - May)
10. Self Taught - AP Physics B (March - May)
11. Data Mining and Analysis @ Stanford
12. Technology Entrepreneurship @ Stanford

12th Grade (Next year)
1. Honors French 4
2. Engineering Techonology
3. AP Physics C: Mechanics
4. AP English Literature
5. AP US Government
6. Economics
7. Self Taught - AP Physic C: Electricity and Magnetism


Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 20 Percentile ( 1st Decile: GPA 4.0 - 3.97, 2nd Decile: 3.96 - 3.83)

AP (place score in parenthesis):
Comp Sci (5) Calc BC (TBD) Stats (TBD) Phys B (TBD) USH (TBD)

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
3 Nominations for Outstanding Performance for Prosecution Pretrial at County level (I only did the prosecution speech once)
2nd Place Physics project at County level science fair
2 school awards (1 PTSA award, 1 for being the best World Hist Student in the school), Expecting to get AP Scholar w/Distinction by the end of Jr. year, Nat. AP Scholar by end of Sr. year
Honorable Mention in State Business competition for VC presentations
2nd Place for county wide business plan competition
10th Place National French Competition (National Level)
Entering STS and Siemens this up coming year

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Mock Trial (CoCaptain, Lead Pretrial) (Basically the reason I didn't completely fail the essay on SAT)
GSA (Secretary Sophomore year -> President)
NHS Member
Link Crew
Science Fair (3 time participant, 1 time winner)
Mentorship nonprofit (National Director of Membership, I improve the quality of each branch's mentorship and help make the experience more homogeneous as a whole, also recruit/set up new branches)
Student rep for Stanford ESP

Volunteer/Community service:
200+ Hrs. (NHS Activities + YMCA Volunteer Position + Working with therapy dogs)

Summer Activities:

Freshman -> Sophomore summer
ID Tech Camps (iPhone programming, never really used it)

Sophomore -> Junior summer
Harvard Summer School
1. Multivariable Calculus - A minus (Really helped in further math classes and understanding physics, might write essay on this class)
2. Intro to Political Philosophy - B plus (Didn't really help that much)

Junior -> Senior summer
Stanford Summer Classes
1. Stats 202: Data Mining
2. Engr 145: Technology Entrepreneurship
Work on Mentorship nonprofit [A LOT OF WORK]
(setting up new branches, training new branch leaders)
Student Rep to Stanford ESP

Other

State (if domestic applicant):CA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White/Caucasian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: +$200,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Pres44

Dartmouth. You sound to be on track with them, I have spoken with their admissions office recently and you seem to meet qualifications.

pd2013

This is awkward...why am I content with my 2210 and interested in similar schools........................................... ................
But anyway, if you couldn't tell already I think you have an excellent chance at any of those schools with your stats. Columbia I would say!

Chance me, pretty please?

businesslover

If you are a semifinalist at siemens and intel and bump the sat up to a 2300. You should be in at all except HYP. Maybe even on of the HYP group if you use an ED with an amazing essay

Chance me
Chance for Great Business Schools Updated. Will chance back.

julieeeeee

Penn or Dartmouth. I agree that you should retake the SAT again and work more heavily on reading. Have you tried straight up vocab memorization? After I got my sentence completion error to zero, my reading score just shot up.

ifailedhighsch

I think you really have a shot at Dartmouth and Cornell
I think your SAT is ok, retake it if you feel it is necessary but according to some of the people I know that ended up at Harvard and Yale, 2100+ is fine, especially if everything else backs it up.

Best of luck!!
and thanks for chancing me

beavisionary

Penn or Dartmouth seem like a really strong shot for you. Crack down on the CR for your SAT and that would help if you take it 1 more time. As for SAT II's are there any other tests you can take instead of just retaking USH too many times? Your Siemens and Intel stuff are helpful...what are you pursuing in grad school?

Penn or Dartmouth seem like a really strong shot for you. Crack down on the CR for your SAT and that would help if you take it 1 more time. As for SAT II's are there any other tests you can take instead of just retaking USH too many times? Your Siemens and Intel stuff are helpful...what are you pursuing in grad school?

Chance me?
Strong stats...except low test scores!? Chance me for Columbia, Pomona and MORE!

quintamonious

Thanks all!
@julieeeeee vocab mem doesn't work for me. My brain is really bad at memorizing things like definitions and formulas. (Funny story, on my MV calc final I literally forgot, stokes formula and all the other integral formulas relating to vector fields but I could derive them on the spot through intuition based on the relationship between the different parts of math and I ended up getting an A on the final XD) I am going to work on the actual reading part which I usually get a fair amount of stuff wrong in.

@beavisionary Thanks for the idea of other SAT IIs but I already have. I got really close to 750 on SAT 2 USH and I only took it once. So I am going to be dedicated and study until I can get 750+ (Usually I do fairly well on retakes. My original SAT I was 2000, and then I did very minimal studying and got a bump of 250 pts so I figure if I study more then I should get a big enough score jump to make a difference)

Also I should let you all know I plan to double Major in Math-Philosophy and minor in either English Language, History or French. Then I plan to go to Law school and become a law professor (hopefully at one of big 14 law schools) I want to specialize in constitutional law and criminal prosecution. All the while, I plan to stay on board with the nonprofit start up I am a part of and possibly be on the board of directors once it grows to that level (right now it's just some HS and college students getting some help from teachers and admins at the different branches we operate)

Cynosuree

Your test scores/GPA are okay, they definitely will not give you an advantage over anyone at these top schools, however your awards/ECs seem to be impressive, so that will definitely boost your chances. If you have great essays/recommendations, I'm sure you'll have a decent chance at getting into JHU/Cornell/LACs... however, like for the overwhelming majority of people, they are still reaches.

amgirl3838

Dartmouth and Cornell would be viable options for you. UPenn is a bit of a reach along with Columbia. Stats are very good, however applicants to these types of schools are so competitive that it is not a sure thing for anyone. I'm surprised that you're not going to apply to Stanford as it seems you have a done a lot with them.

dblazer

^Dartmouth's slightly tougher than Penn CAS

The concern here is gpa/class rank. A 3.85 UW is not a very strong gpa applying to such top schools and top 20% is, without any context, appears to be a little weak in light of the fact that many top colleges suggest that top 10% is the threshold you want to hit at the very least. Now your school has a pretty high SAT average so I'm assuming that it's quite competitive. Could you provide more information as to what institutions your school normally sends kids to in the top decile or 2nd decile?

Otherwise, ECs are fair though not outstanding; I see that you are a member of GSA and homosexuality is actually a bit of a hook at these top institutions as they're trying to increase diversity so if that applies, it might be something to note. (Honestly, if there was any difficulty you have had to overcome, it's something to elaborate on in essays).

I would still need more info on the context of your school to better assess your gpa/class rank because as I said, in most public schools, top 20% is weak. So I'd feel uncomfortable chancing.

phloppy95

Columbia and Dartmouth are probably reach schools. Any ECs to set you apart??

quintamonious

@Dblazer

*Dartmouth is ....
My school is very competitive. We usually have 30+ Valedictorians (4.0 UW GPA) and a few Salutatorians who make up the entire 1st Decile. That being said a lot of the 4.0 students at my school don't wind up at ivy league institutions because they have no good ECs. In context of my school, my GPA is only ehh, but if rank was holistic I would be ranked much higher. The students who do get into ivy leagues usually do so because of some competition or extra curricular activity. (I am hoping the mentorship start up I am a part of will be that one distinguishing excellence)

As for GSA, I'm not actually gay. A majority of people in my school's GSA are not gay. Last year we only had 2 officers our out of 5 who were part of the LGBT community. Most people join because we do a lot of activist activities on campus and it is a way to be involved in a new civil rights movement.

dblazer

Huh, interesting

I still feel uncomfortable endorsing your chances at the top institutions because the gpa/class rank, an important academic indicator, is, well, eh. Because of it, schools like HYP, Columbia look to be fairly significant reaches. On the other hand, schools like Cornell and JHU look attainable with Penn and Dartmouth chances being in between HYP and JHU/Cornell chances. Not as familiar with the rest.

roelrdz11

I think you have a pretty good shot at Cornell and Dartmouth! There are really only two things holding you back, GPA and Rank. You got great scores and, judging by your school's avg. SAT, you are going to a tough school! You're EC's are impressive to say the least. However Columbia and UPenn are slight reaches