Private high school (about 30-40 students per grade level)
White male, senior
Recruited athlete (edit: got offers from columbia, dartmouth, and yale, committed columbia)
Legacy
My mother is a fourth generation Yale graduate and her family has a lot of pull with higher educational institutions
My father attended Dartmouth for both undergrad and business school
Cost Constraints / Budget
*N/A
Intended Major(s)
Political science, economics
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.42
Weighted HS GPA: N/A
Class Rank: 33/35
ACT/SAT Scores: 1540 SAT, 760 math 780 english
AP Exam scores: French lang (5), Biology (3), World (3), Statistics (4)
** HS coursework**
No APs or IBs offered at my school
English: English I, English II, English III, Introduction to Journalism
Math: Honors pathway (up to high honors offered). Algebra II Honors, Geometry Honors, Precalculus Honors, Calculus Honors
Science: Biology, Chemistry Honors, Biology II Advanced Honors
History and social studies: World history I, World history II, World History III, Economics and legal history
Language other than English: French I, French II, French III, French IV
Visual or performing arts: Photography I (9), Photography II (10)
Awards
Lacrosse national finalist 1 year, state finalist 2 years, MVP
Cross country state finalist 3 years
AP Scholar with Honor
Club lacrosse state championship winner 3x, runner up nationally
Extracurriculars
Interned with government official for a few days (member of my family)
Volunteer at homeless shelter 100+ hours (11, 12)
Varsity lacrosse (9, 10, 11, 12) captain from junior year
Club lacrosse since I was 5 years old, captain of my current team for two years now
Varsity Cross country (9, 10, 11, 12) co-captain from sophomore year
Varsity Soccer (11, 12)
Pre-college summer program in corporate and international law
Summer camp counselor (10, 11)
Part time lacrosse coach to elementary schoolers (11,12)
Essays/LORs/Other
LORS: School Lacrosse Coach (8/10), Club Lacrosse Coach (10/10, I’ve known him for most of my life), Economics and legal history teacher
Personal Statement Essay: 7.5/10, talked about familial issues (parental addiction, parent facing federal fraud charges)
Schools
Please chance for UCLA, USC, Columbia, Yale, Dartmouth, CUNY and CUNY Albany + match me
I think they mean committed athletically. But the post still doesn’t make sense because a recruited Ivy athlete typically commits in exchange for an ED/REA application. Anyone athletically committted wouldn’t need a chance me/match me thread. Unless rejected/deferred from Columbia, which is possible but unlikely for a recruited athlete.
Exactly. Columbia ED comes out on 12/18, I believe. So there’s not much need for chancing until after those results, assuming the OP ED to Columbia as a recruit.
I’m going to go with this as well, which likely required an ED app. I hope you cleared with your coach to use non-academic LoRs in your application, because well, that is not what Columbia wants.
Columbia requires two teacher recommendations. These recommendations must come from teachers who taught you in academic disciplines. For applicants to Columbia Engineering, one of the teacher recommendations must come from a math or science teacher.
If Columbia doesn’t work out, or we are misunderstanding your post, please get two core teacher LoRs for the rest of your apps (electives and coaches won’t fulfill the criteria at many schools.)
I am confused about OPs post. I also understood them to be a recruit. OP did you not receive a likely letter?
I think those teachers might be ok? It is still History and Social Science…. Is that not correct? I am unsure about the extra letters. Might not play well at some schools.
Some schools would consider Econ and legal history as electives. Worth asking the schools in the list. OP should definitely count the coach LoRs as extras, and send those to the schools that allow.
I will add myself to the list of people confused about where you stand with Columbia.
But I will just note if you are not actually given an offer from Columbia, and no other college is still recruiting you, it sounds to me like either you will need to be content with one of the CUNYs (which is fine), or you will likely need to look at some other colleges for your RD applications.
I am sorry to say I agree with @NiceUnparticularMan While both of these schools like legacy students, legacy are expected to have stats that meet, if not exceed, the ones that are average for the school.
If you are not happy with your fall back options, I’d suggest a PG year (following a string SR year) and casting a wider athletic net to find full coach support.
I cannot fathom paying for a private school and then relying on the advice of total strangers on the internet, vs. your college counselor who knows you, knows the school curriculum, knows where you stand vs. other students applying to the same schools, etc.