Chance Me For Top Colleges

Chance Me / Match Me
1

I am currently a junior looking at Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Yale, USC (Southern California), and a few other schools.I would appreciate any insight.

Objective:
PSAT: 1450, possible national merit
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.85
Weighted GPA: 4.67, kid got into Harvard last year from my school with a 4.70
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/300ish
AP (place score in parenthesis): Only allowed to take Euro sophomore year, (4)
Junior Year Course Load: 5 AP, 1 Honors class
Senior Year Course Load: All AP
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): A few awards for crew, large scholarship in my state, Gold 2 years in a row in state latin competition, selected for prestigious environmental program, a fishing award, likely more things in some of my ECs

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
I did the length of time that I will have been doing things for when I apply to colleges
Varsity Rowing, 3 years
Latin Club (President) 3 years
Competitive Powerlifting, 3 years
Teaching Assistant, 3 years
River Surveys for an environmental agency, 2 years
Fishing, 14 years, 2 competitively
NHS, 2 years
MUN, 2 years
Varsity Football, 1 year
Maybe will go into Latin Honors Society

Job/Work Experience: Paid Teacher’s Assistant
Volunteer/Community service: 80 hours teaching, get some for doing environmental work too, 110ish total
Summer Activities: A few camps, training for athletic things

Teacher Rec #1: Latin Teacher, I have leadership and do really well but there are a couple kids doing better in the class
Teacher Rec #2: idk, really quiet and bad at presenting so teachers cant really speak to my personality which may be a major issue
Counselor Rec: general, got a new counselor this year

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?:
Intended Major: marine biology/ecology/environmental science/premed, somewhere in this area
State (if domestic applicant): somewhere in the northeast
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: not low, not high
Hooks (URM, first generation college, Questbridge, etc.): Nope

Strengths: Academic schedule, weird ECs, can write a strong essay, good test taker, rank
Weaknesses: Recommendations (Help), freshman year I did pretty much nothing, really quiet/not a good speaker

2

Do you intend to continue rowing in college ? If so, consider adding Dartmouth College to your list.

While I think that you will be admitted to at least some of your target schools, Eckerd College in St. Pete, Florida may be an interesting safety for you based on your academic interests.

3

bump

4

You’re an excellent student, and seem very dedicated. But for schools like these, you need to differentiate yourself – what makes you different from all the other people who do these same activities? Why should they take you over those other people? In your essays, you should be able to explain why the things you do in high school are so important to you, and how you plan to continue these activities to make a difference in college. Good luck, you’re a great candidate for all these schools :slight_smile:

Side note, speaking as a current high school senior, are you sure about all APs senior year? Sounds like hell. I got into Columbia with only 4 this year, so I definitely wouldn’t say that’s necessary. But hey, go for it if you’re interested in the courses, but don’t underestimate the crushing power of senioritis haha

5

write really interesting essays, apply broadly, and you should get in somewhere good. but i really want to emphasize the first – they want intelligent AND interesting people.

6

you have a pretty good chance

7

Study for your SATs and get above1500 which will help chances.