Hi! I’m a rising senior and I just wanted to get an idea of my chances for a Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Penn (Wharton), Duke, UChicago, Northwestern, University of Notre Dame, and UNC Chapel Hill.
ECs
President and founder of Girl Up chapter at my school
Secretary and publicist of JSA chapter
VP of Chinese Student Association
Treasurer of Cum Laude Society
Volunteer leader at local Chinese school
DECA state finalist (3x)
Member of Multicultural Day Planning Committee (essentially like a big performance)
Scores
2390 SAT I (790 writing)
800 Math 2, 800 Lit, 770 Spanish
AP
5: Micro/Macro, Lang, European History
4: Spanish Lang & Culture
Work Experience
Kumon Learning Center: 1.5 years (beginning of sophomore year - middle of junior year)
Private Tutoring: all of junior year, tutoring in English and World History
GPA
4.0 unweighted, 7.0 weighted
I’m an Asian female and I plan to major in finance/economics. I’m still trying to decide between applying to Princeton or Harvard early.
I’ve never heard of a 7.0 weighted GPA, but you are obviously a top candidate.
In for sure at UNC and probably also at Notre Dame. The others are all low reaches to reaches, but only because they are the top of the top schools and not really predictable. It would not shock me if you got into ALL of those schools as your stats are outstanding and astounding. You will not be shut out of all of them.
Are you an American? Harder if you are foreign, especially if you need financial aid.
Thanks!
I’m an American, I live in NJ haha. My school does weighted GPA kind of weird - a 7.0 essentially means getting all As and only taking AP/Honors classes.
Standardized testing and grades are on point, though I’m surprised that you haven’t taken more AP exams. ECs are about average, and lack of high level awards could hurt slightly when we’re talking about HYPSM. I would still say your chances for HYPSM are better than most, and good luck on your applications.
Your ECs are on the generic side (lack of major awards, or anything spectacular definitely hurts for HYP) and you don’t really have many APs. a 7.0 GPA sounds amazing on paper, but its your approximate school rank that actually matters, but I am guessing its near the top, so it can only help. Your SAT definitely is fantastic (congratulations!), but it is a well known fact that SATs are only for screening purposes and hardly matter after a certain point. I think you would need to focus on your essay would need to be a masterpiece, to set you apart from a plethora of other applicants.
Harvard, Yale, Princeton- High Reaches, Reach/High Match for where you apply EA
Dartmouth, Penn (Wharton) Duke, UChicago-Reaches, but definitely possible
Northwestern-Match
University of Notre Dame, and UNC Chapel Hill-Safeties
Also, even if you get rejected (Let’s hope this does not happen), always remember that HYP admissions are way too random to be sad about: for all you know, it may have been a mistake.
How rigorous is your school? It’s a little weird that you have the max GPA possible despite only having 5 exams. Class rank?
Your SAT and SAT2 are fantastic but ECs are about average for an ivy applicant. Any volunteer work done? (other than tutoring?) Overall looks good, I’d say Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Wharton, Uchicago, Duke - high reach. Nu, duke - low to mid reach. Notre Dame -match UNC - low match/safety
Great test scores but keep in mind for the class of 2018 Brown rejected 76% of all perfect ACT scorers and the number are pretty similar across the top schools so you need much more than just high scores these days. I also am wondering how your weighted gpa is so high with just 5 AP exams. What is your approximate rank in class? Since you come from a super-competitive state, I would imagine if you applied to Harvard or Princeton early, you most likely would be looking at a deferral. Do something meaningful this summer and your chances will improve somewhat.
I’m valedictorian of my class, and the reason I have so few APs is because my school doesn’t let you take any AP classes until junior year (with the exception of the first half of APUSH sophomore year). However, class rank is a little tricky in that we have 7 valedictorians due to the way they calculate GPA.
To make up for your ECs, your essays will need to be fantastic. As others have said, your class rank and SAT will keep you in contention. I see you as a good match at Chicago and Duke, despite one poster’s comment that you’re a reach there. But Chicago needs to know you’re genuinely intellectually curious and not just another standard overachiever - esp because you’re Asian. It’s this narrative you need to sell to Chicago and likewise to HYPSM.
How good are your faculty recs going to be? Your faculty recs and your essays are going to carry the day.
Essays I’m still working on - having some trouble tying some of my ideas together for my commonapp essay.
My recs should be good, I’m getting one from my English teacher (who I know pretty well and asked for a summer program rec as well) and my Spanish teacher (who seems to like me as well).
Yale - reach
Princeton - reach
Dartmouth - low reach/reach
Penn (Wharton) - low reach/reach
Duke - reach
UChicago - reach
Northwestern - high match
Notre Dame - match
UNC Chapel Hill - low match/safety, even though you’re out of state I think you’ll get in pretty easily