Chance Me For Ivies, Top Schools please!

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Here are the stats:

State: Nebraska
HS Ranking (US News): Unranked, but an IB school, average ACT score of 29, widely considered the most competitive school in the area
Student Rank: 25/589
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.149
Summer School before every high school year

Clubs/Activities/Extracurriculars/Leadership etc.:
Marching Band 9th-12th
Concert Band 9th-12th
Jazz Band 9th-12th
Show Choir Band 9th-12th
National Honors Society 11th-12th
Cross Country 12th
Spanish Club 9th-10th
Diversity Club 9th-10th
Chemistry Club 10th
Running Club (temporary club during 11th grade)
HOSA 10th
University of Nebraska-Omaha Honor Band 10th-11th
Private Trombone Lessons 4th-12th
Omaha Area Youth Orchestra 8th-10th (separate Brass Ensemble in 10th, section leader 10th)
All-State Orchestra 11th
School Pit Orchestra 11th
Peer Tutoring 10th-12th
Tech Team Producer at High School Church Service 10th-12th
Diversity/Leadership Training 10th-11th
Shift Leader at local food bank fireworks stand 9th-11th

Volunteer/Community Service:
Autism Walk Volunteer 10th
After Prom Volunteer 9th-11th
Kids Against Hunger 9th
regular biweekly food pantry volunteering 9th-12th

ACT: Composite 35, English 35, Reading 35, Math 35, Science 36

9th Grade Schedule:
American History
Biology
Concert Band/Marching Band
English 9
Honors Spanish 2
Honors Algebra 2
Gym Class
Intro to Computer Science

10th Grade Schedule:
AP Human Geography
AP Statistics
Chemistry
English 10
Honors Spanish 3
Marching Band/Wind Ensemble
Zoology
Debate 1

11th Grade Schedule:
AP Biology
English 11
Honors Spanish 4/Spanish 5
Honors Precalculus
Marching Band/Wind Ensemble
Physics
Psychology
AP Psychology

Predicted 12 Grade Schedule
Marching Band/Wind Ensemble
AP Physics 1
AP Lang and Comp
AP Calc AB
US Gov
Law Studies
Accounting 1
AP Macroeconomics
Intro to Engineering Design 1

Thanks a ton for combing through this wall of text and I totally understand if the results aren’t totally positive!

2

I agree and disagree with the above advice. While you do not really hold any leadership positions, your ECs seem to be heavily involved with music. However, as you do not strike me as a music major, those clubs/activities may not pay off. Over all, though, I think you have decent chances at top schools. Just make sure to be genuine in your essays!

3

Your ACT is competitive; your weighted GPA (given the 4.0 unweighted) seems a little low, I’m having some trouble with that. Your ECs show a lot of volunteer activity, but not a lot of demonstrated leadership. I don’t see any “hooks” such as URM or D-1 athlete; although geographic diversity might be in your favor.

I would say that your chances are like those of many similarly situated students – very low. Most if not all of the Ivies have an acceptance rate of around 7% (Yale’s was 6.3% this year, for example).

4

I’m considering finding some more focused activities and leadership opportunities before I apply. Thanks for the input!

5

To the extent that you can find those leadership opportunities among activities that you already have been engaged in for several years, that would be the best situation. Good luck!

6

Definitely competitive. Consistency in music EC’s. Course rigor can’t we judged without school’s course opportunities.
BUT THE ACT IS TOO LOW!!!
No Chance.

Kidding, you have above average chances at schools that “match” with you (good fit).
GL

7

What are your safeties?

8

What possible major and which Ivies- and why those?

An ACT of 35 is not too low.

The ECs don’t show a lot of vol work- note that only the food pantry is a regular, ongoing activity in the community (and maybe the tech Team- but what’s the relationship between the church and hs?) And most of those clubs are one or two years only.

Is this a hs that limits when and how many AP you can take?
Are you good enough to send a music performance sample?