Chance a junior for Ivies + Duke, Stanford, NYU, UMich for PoliSci [3.94 UW, 1570 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
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21

It’s the state flagship so more affordable.

Don’t worry about others. Worry about you. You’ll go in with advanced credit, a serious attitude so you’ll take more advantage of the opportunities - and you’ll be the star…vs. just one of many. There’s a lot to be said for that - especially given your future desires.

If you wanted other schools budget wise that are the same- like OOS - forget the acceptance rates - most any flagship are similar. You can read, for example, on the Alabama thread how people are so proud of what their kids are doing there, the opportunities and more than 1500 Illinoisans go. Not saying it’s for you - but it’d be $20K, etc. a year.

So many flagships OOS for you - including top Honors like KU, ASU - if deadlines allow - would be wonderful.

So you’re looking at things the wrong way.

You need to be glass half full.

The name on your resume is not relevant. What you do with your time there is.

My daughter is voluntarily at College of Charleston…turning down W&L, Florida, UGA Honors, U of SC Honors, UMD, Ammercian, etc. She just interned in the fall at arguably the top think tank in America - they normally take a Northwestern or Gtown, etc. but she hustled.

The point - you can get from anywhere to anywhere - so you are looking at the wrong things.

UIUC or other another flagship - if you want smaller - a Truman State or wherever - they have resources to support you - financially, academically and otherwise.

You can be a star - if you decide to be a star instead of insulting the place that wants to give you that opportunity!!

It’s about you, not the name!!! I promise. But I’m back to - it’s about you. Do you want to shine or wallow in pity if you end up at the flagship.

Seems to me you should be super fortunate for any collegiate experience!!! Everyone seems to have this entitlement. And that’s said…this is one of my small possible hiccups in your life…if you don’t get into the others. One of many to come…so learn to adapt.
Best of luck.

22

Why aren’t you taking calc BC as a senior? What have your AP scores been so far? What other science is available besides APES? Your rigor is fine but those super reaches on your list may wonder the same, especially unhooked.

23

Withdrawn.

24

Agree that high AP Scores would be helpful, of course.

I’d offer, though, that the context of intended major and related ECs is important to consider - OP seems to have relevant poli-sci related experience showing interest/impact in that area which may be more important than higher level STEM rigor at this point (OP, as a non STEM applicant already has AP Bio, AP Chem, and AP Physics 1. Calc AB + AP Stats is probably more relevant to the desired course of future study than Calc BC). In our experience from a public high school, that was sufficient STEM rigor for strong non STEM-applicants (inclusive of high reach colleges). Of course, the OP’s high reaches are just that - very small chance of being accepted for anyone. But I don’t know that a lack of STEM rigor is an issue in this case?

25

I am wondering if you are familiar with the terms “target” or “match”. I am asking because some of the logic you are using seems to suggest you believe that if Illinois is your only “safety”, the rest of your list must be “reaches”.

But this logic seems to be excluding what are usually called targets or matches, colleges that are not as high-probability as safeties but are not as low-probability as reaches. Which are often the most important colleges on a list in that one of them ends up making the offer the applicant eventually decides to accept.

A well-chosen list of targets/matches is therefore very helpful to maximizing your chances of being very excited about where you go to college. More or less automatically, it will address your concern about feeling like you did not get a good college admissions return on your work in high school. But more important than that, if you invest the time in carefully choosing your list of targets/matches, it becomes a very personal process, where you have very specific reasons for why each school is on that list. And then it becomes exciting when THAT effort to carefully choose these targets/matches also pays off.

Of course in an ideal world, your safety/likely is exciting too. But even if it is less so, there is usually no reason a kid with good numbers can’t at least have a robust list of exciting targets/matches.

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26

Your profile is very strong, but very similar to many other ambitious suburban students. The ivies and other top schools look to build a well-rounded class. So its a crap-shoot on whether or not the admissions team will be interested in you.

The factors which can tip things in your favor are: Early decision app, legacy, athlete, development, faculty child, and first generation status. Apart from Early app, these are known as “hooks”.

Since your parents stated that money is not an issue, why not pick a top choice and apply early? That increases your chances by a lot. Also consider having an ED2 option. The RD round is the most competitive.

27

I am self studying calc BC and will take the test this year. As it is not a school course, I did not add it

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28

I’ve taken every ap science in my school, the only one left nex year is APES. I got a 3 on physics (not reporting) and a 4 on bio. I am confident i can do better with the courses this year because I am a lot better at them.

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29

I know of targets and matches, but I will not apply to any. My parents have no intentions of paying tuition for schools that have no name branding. I understand what everyone is saying about my list, but I have no intention of changing it, and I recognize I may get rejected from everything but my safety, and I am okay with that. I just wanted to know what my chances would be when I apply to these colleges, so that I can know what I’m up against, and what I lack so that I can try and fix it

30

If BC calc is not offered, then no issue at all! And it appears you have definitely maxed out sciences. Good luck! You are in the running for sure. But so are about half the 50-60k apps these reach schools each get. And none of us have any insight into how your school places, how your LOR may be, or how your essays will come across. All of that matters too.

Edit: if you are reach-or -bust (As you say your parents won’t pay for others), then definitely have an ED and an ED2. Make sure you dive deep into the school to see what fits you best. Brown and Penn are fairly different schools(I see you mentioned them for ED).

31

thank you! I was considering applying ED to either Penn or Brown. Any thoughts?

32

If you’re ok with this then you’re fine, but please make sure your parents understand this as well. I’m saying this because I have known parents like yours, and they grossly overestimated their very bright and well accomplished (but unhooked) child’s chances at the most selective schools. So they should know this upfront, and if they’re also ok with it then it’s all fine.

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33

Both are great choices. Brown has nice policies to keep your GPA up. At Penn it sounds like College of Arts & Sciences would make the most sense.

Make sure you package your ED application in a cohesive manner. If your parents have the money, consider a college consultant to help put together your essays. Need to have a meaningful narrative throughout your app.

If your ED1 application is deferred or denied, do you have an ED2 plan? If not why not? There are plenty of brand name schools that offer ED2 (UChicago, Emory, WashU, Hopkins, etc). Your chances of getting into a top college during the RD round is very low.

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34

IMO, anyone considering an ED application should really visit the schools. Have you visited any of the schools on your list?

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35

“In keeping with the spirit of the Open Curriculum, Brown does not compute students’ grade point averages.”

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36

Of course, calculating GPA is an elementary school math problem, and premed and prelaw students are probably calculating it themselves using the AMCAS and LSAC methods.

37

Was fully aware but thanks. My kid went to Brown.

Was responding to the claim Brown has policies designed to keep GPAs up, they don’t because they don’t provide GPAs. Thanks again.

38

I’m going to visit all of the east coast ones during my spring break!

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39

Why is the chance of getting in RD low?

40

Note that applying Early Decision does not necessarily increase admission chances at every school offering that plan, and particularly not at the most selective schools. Brown, for example, explicitly states on its website:

“Please do not assume that your admission chances are improved by applying under the Early Decision plan. The Board of Admission makes the same decisions under Early Decision that it would under the Regular Decision plan.”

Harvard’s early plan, Restrictive Early Action (REA), is also perceived at times to offer an ED-like boost for applicants, but Harvard claims otherwise:

“Harvard does not offer an advantage to students who apply early… For any individual student, the final decision likely would be comparable whether the student applies Restrictive Early Action or Regular Decision.”

OP: Published statistics often show a higher acceptance percentage for ED/REA vs. Regular Decision for many schools, but this can often be attributed to the high number of “hooked” applicants in the ED pool - recruited athletes, children of major donors, legacies, etc. - who are unusually likely to be admitted. To be sure, there are certain schools where ED does appear to give a meaningful boost, including NYU and Duke. But many others don’t appear on your current list. UChicago and (especially) Tulane would be good candidates for an ED boost.

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