Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Private Boarding
Other special factors: First generation, URM, Elite Private Feeder School (Exeter/Andover/Deerfield)
Cost Constraints / Budget
Can pay like 10k ish
Intended Major(s)
Economics & either CS, Math, or Data Science
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
GPA: 3.77 cumulative, without freshman yr is 3.87. Freshman year grades tanked due to very close classmate’s death. I think this is pretty explainable?
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.77 cumulative, without freshman yr is 3.87. Freshman year grades tanked due to very close classmate’s death, leading me to get a 3.3 in that grading period. I think this is pretty explainable?
Weighted HS GPA: no weighted
Class Rank: top 30% w/ freshman yr, top 15-20% w/o. Here, top 30% is generally considered Ivy-tier.
ACT/SAT Scores: 1560 (780M/780RW)
List your HS coursework
English: AP Lit & AP Lang, school only has one track.
Math: Abstract Math, Multivariable, Differential Equations, Calculus BC
Science: College-Level Genetics, Regular Chemistry, Regular Physics, AP CS
History and social studies: APUSH, Mediterranean History Field Course (College Major Equivalency), History of Race
Language other than English: French 3/4
Visual or performing arts: Photography, Choir
Other academic courses: College-Level Economics
Awards (anyone have ideas for strongest 5?)
Fellowship Attendee, 0.5% acceptance rate out of 20,000+ (Int’l)
Economics Competition T10/4000+ competitors, 2nd in written exam portion. (Int’l)
AIME Qualifier x4, DHR x3, HR x1 (Nat’l)
Business Competition T1/1200 (Int’l)
Business Competition T10/2900 total participants (Int’l)
Congressional App Challenge Winner (Nat’l)
Chemistry Competition T1 Nationally T2 Internationally out of 700+ (Int’l)
School Award for best English essay of the year. (School)
Extracurriculars
Diagnostics Initiative Founder & President. First-authored 4 stakeholder reports; all published on [INT’L GOVERNING BODY] site and cited during adoption. Built an AI-powered web application that diagnoses [DISEASE] and helps affected individuals [PERFORM RELATED TASK] via real-time CNN inference. Recognized by Congress & featured in the House of Representatives. Now leading new chapters across 4 continents.
Deal Partner @ $70MM AUM Venture Capital Firm. Identified and referred early-stage founders and earned 10% carry on each investment.
Panelist Board @ $500M AUM Venture Capital Firm. Reviewed video pitches alongside managing partners. Evaluating ~12 startups monthly and meeting 50+ founders annually.
Portfolio Company Mentor @ $300MM AUM early-stage Venture Capital Firm. 5% equity stake of firm’s carried interest in startups supported.
Quantitative Research Lab Founder. First-author on two peer-reviewed papers, good journals for the field. Developed highly novel volatility models. Built and mentored a 15-member team.
HYPSM RA, History-related project. Listed as Contributor to final output.
Blog Founder & Editor‑in‑Chief. Finance/Econ Topics, publication count of 300+ in‑depth articles, drove 800K+ likes. Featured by Google.
Cryptocurrency Research Publication. First Author, pioneered first DeFi-vs-bank study. 2 citations as of now.
Founder of Finance Club #1 @ School. 120+ Members, 3 guest speakers.
Head of Finance Club #2 @ School. 150+ members, 1 guest speaker.
Essays/LORs/Other
Essays: 8-9/10, I am quite the strong writer imo.
LORs:
English Teacher: 9.5/10, says I was one of the strongest writers he has ever seen. Won school award for best essay written that year under his guidance.
Biology Teacher: 8-8.5/10, only person in class with an A, quite engaged, went to extra help sessions.
Counselor: 9/10, great relationship with her.
Schools (reaches only)
Yale REA (did a program for minorities/first-gens that significantly boosts REA acceptance rates)
Harvard (do I have a chance REA? I prefer Harvard to Yale)
Princeton
MIT
Stanford
Columbia
University of Pennsylvania
UChicago
Georgetown
You attend an elite private feeder prep school. The college counselor at your prep school surely has a good handle on how students like you do in terms of admission to this long list of reach schools.
Your counselor can also explain how they will explain your freshman year grades.
Are all the schools on your list affordable per their NPC estimates? If you haven’t run those with your parents, do that now as you are building your list. Do you have at least one affordable highly likely school on the list?
I agree with thumper that your counselor should write about your dip in grades. Based on what you’ve presented, I would not recommend you mention anything about that.
If you can afford $10k ish per year why are you applying to target schools that cost $90k per year? Are there no affordable schools in view? It seems you are relying (expecting?) on some charitable good fortune to come your way.
Financial aid is not a matter of “good fortune”, it’s a matter of the institution’s policies which can be known in advanced through a Net price calculator. For many students, elite privates like Harvard are among the cheapest options.
I’ll repeat what I said the last time you asked: For the OP, IArguably your school has the best college counseling office in the nation, with all sorts of data on past applicants. They are well-versed on guiding students to build an appropriate college list. These resources can answer your questions better than anonymous people on the Internet, even if any of these people has experience with your school.
For respondents other than the OP, responses should be directed at the OP rather than having sidebar conversations
It seems to me that this is the biggest question you are asking in your post (which school to choose for REA). I can’t chance you for these schools, but in general, any time a student is clear that they prefer one school over another, I think it’s better to try to maximize chances for the preferred school, rather than the second choice school.
So I would suggest that you talk to your counselor about whether they think applying REA vs RD would benefit you in Harvard admissions. They know you and your school much better than we do, so they should have some insight here. I do not know if REA at Harvard would be likely to have any benefit, but if they think it would based on their experience, I’d go for that.
Agree. Nothing to add since your last post. The facts remain that: 1) you have strong qualifications; 2) the schools you listed are reaches for any unhooked applicant; and 3) the guidance department at your elite boarding school will be your best source of advice.
You’re quoting the chance of any applicant getting into Yale. I evpect the chance for this applicant to get into Yale or Harvard would best be surmised by a college counselor at the school that the student is attending.
Understood but the admissions rate remains the same. Thousands of high achieving kids get rejected by Ivies. He has no greater chance than many others.
No actually the admissions rate does not remain the same for all applicants. Not all applicants will be equally qualified. Some students apply and are not qualified which lowers the overall acceptance rate. Others apply and while they may be well-qualified, they are less competitive than other applicants. That is why it is best for the student to consult the school’s college counselors as the counselors are better equipped to assess how competive the student is in relation to their peers.
My kid was a Harvard/Yale cross admit. Of the kids they knew who were cross admits most knew exactly which one they wanted to attend. Meaning other than both being Ivies they are very different schools and campus feel. We though used on to match the others aid so that was very helpful. If you LOVE Harvard then go for it.