Chance me for Harvard/other Ivies!

Chance Me / Match Me
1

SAT I: 1590
SAT II: 800 (Math 2), 790 (Physics), 800 (World History)
ACT: 35
Class Rank: 1st
APs: all 5s

Gender: Male
Race: Caucasian (Greek)
State: MA (just about 15 min away from Harvard!)
Notable things: first generation, dad went to Harvard for undergrad and law school, speak Greek fluently, know 3 programming languages: Java, C++, and C#

Took the hardest classes possible each year (school doesn’t allow APs until junior year), got all As. Accelerated is highest level school offers besides AP, wellness is mandatory for all four years. School forces you to take biology in 9th, physics in 10th, and chem in 11th, must have a years’ prior experience to take APs for Phys and Chem

Freshman:

English Accelerated
Geometry Accelerated
World History Accelerated
Biology Accelerated
French 2 Accelerated
Latin 1 ACC
Freshman Seminar
Wellness

Sophomore:

English 10 ACC
Precalculus BC ACC
World and America ACC
Physics ACC
French 3 ACC
Symphonic Band ACC
Latin 2 ACC
Wellness

Junior:

AP Language and Composition
AP Calculus BC
AP US History
Chemistry ACC
French 4 ACC
Symphonic Band ACC
Latin 3 ACC
Wellness

Senior:

AP Literature and Compositon
AP Physics
AP Chemistry
AP US Government
AP French Language
AP Computer Science
Latin 4 ACC (no AP :frowning:
Wellness

ECs:

Captain of varsity baseball team
Play 3 instruments: piano, guitar, and oboe
All state band player, have performed in Carnegie and toured across Europe
Play jazz gigs weekly
President of CS and Math club
Quiz Bowl
Make video games, one currently is on Steam

Summer:
Assistant to Directors at a medium size summer camp
Intern with various tech companies
Taken classes at Harvard

Recs:

Calc and CS Teacher: 10/10, said best student in 20 years of teaching
US Gov Teacher: 10/10, really close with him, know him more as a friend than teacher

Intended major: Mathematics

Colleges: all the Ivies (especially Harvard), MIT, UChicago, Stanford, Caltech (plus numerous safety schools)

2

Just a question, why do you want to apply to ALL the ivies? I wouldn’t suggest doing that unless you truly love all the ivy league colleges.

Other than that,
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2095312-generic-chance-answer-for-super-selective-colleges.html

3

You have the stats to be competitive everywhere but that isn’t enough for the most selective colleges.

Saying you want to apply to all the ivies is a red flag to me. Dartmouth couldn’t be any more different than lets say, UPenn. You need to be able to clearly articulate why you are a good fit for certain schools. No one is a good fit for all of the Ivies, and they aren’t a good fit for all students.

Also, just to clarify, for college admissions purposes, you are not first generation. That refers to if you are the first in your family to go to college. You are a Harvard legacy which will give you a boost there.

4

Stats are pretty good. However, since you are doing mathematics, I was wondering if you have any awards in math, such as AIME qualification or USAMO? Given that your major is semi-competitive, as many people get in for math and then transfer to CS, you will need something to have you stand out from the crowd.

5

“Notable things: first generation, dad went to Harvard for undergrad and law school” That’s a new one. Never heard of a first gen legacy…

6

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2095312-generic-chance-answer-for-super-selective-colleges-p1.html

7

Note that, from your tentative list, a Princeton Review sampling, “Great Schools for Mathematics Majors,” includes MIT, UChicago, Caltech and Harvard. With respect to your academic interests, these schools in particular seem to make sense.