Hi,
I go to a highly selective high school in New York City where 1/4 of the class usually goes to an ivy. The average GPA is reported to be a 92.
profile: white female
economic status: high-middle class
intended major: chemical biology or biochem
no legacy, parents went to very mediocre colleges
GPA: 96.6 (3.94 unweighted)
ACT: 36
PSAT: 1510
Subject tests: Bio M 800, planning to take Math 2, USH, Chem and maybe Lit
APs: my school does not allow APs before junior year, but will most likely be taking Chem, Bio, Spanish, USH
Extracurriculars:
Class president for the last 4 years (planned events, directed community service initiatives)
Classically trained opera singer (and musical theater) at intensive, audition-in precollege program in NYC, have won a few awards
member of chorus at my school and the more selective one as well (will be section leader next year)
Applied to SIMONS and most likely applying to some other research programs this summer, also went to biotech summer program after freshman year
Works in a nanoscience orgo-based research lab, did some of my own research
Works in a well-known hospital under a world-renowned doctor, published review paper under him
member of science research at my school
Vice President of a chapter of a project that raises money for women in stem in 3rd world countries
freshman advisor, also a mentor for writing papers
some other music-related community service activities
If “highly selective high school” = the brick prison, you’re in pretty good shape. Make sure to submit abstracts on your research papers and recommendations from your mentors.
For Harvard, Princeton, and Yale (and MIT, Stanford, Caltech, and a few other schools), most of the students that they accept have stats that look a lot like yours. Most of the students that they reject also have stats that look a lot like yours.
Apply to HYP. Also apply and pay a lot of attention to safeties and matches. You should make an effort to have two safeties that you know that you will get into and you know that you can afford and that you would be okay attending.
And don’t forget “… went to very mediocre colleges” is very much compatible with “high-middle class”.
Between your GC, Naviance and your own awareness of the students in the last 2-3 years who have been admitted to those schools you should have a better sense of your odds than anybody here.
Naviance won’t include her outstanding ECs so it will not be reliable since colleges & universities consider more than just grades & standardized test scores. (OP has a top ACT score & a near 4.0 unweighted GPA.)
“Class president for the last 4 years (planned events, directed community service initiatives)”
Are you a sophomore or junior? Because 4 years would include middle school, so that wouldn’t be relevant for colleges. Or do you think you’ll be class president all four years? As others have said you’re an excellent applicant but HYP is a really a crapshoot even for a high school that sends a lot of kids to ivies. I’d pick one and apply scea so you can at least show some demonstrated interest. Good luck!
@Publisher, that’s why I included input from the GC & from seeing how other students from the OP’s school have done. Ime, students at schools with a high % of students going to tippy-tops have better info as to their comparative odds available to them within their school environment than what CCers can provide. OPs package will be considered in the context of both the school and the others applying in the same admissions round.
OP, following on from the above, there is no good answer for you. You know that you are competitive for these schools. You should have some idea as to where you stand in your class, and how your stats & ECs compare. But after that, it is down to what you put forward- and how the AdComms feel you fit with the class that they are building (I love the way the MIT dean put it: they are building a perfect class- not the perfect class). There are people who get into all 3- but most don’t. Why does one candidate get H but not Y / P but not H / Y but not S etc? that is something of a black box, with variability from year to year, and there is genuinely no point in trying to figure it out. Work on doing you as best you can, knowing that you if you build a good college list you will have good choices come April of Senior year.
ps, I know a recent college grad who wishes she had been able to keep a sense of perspective in HS. Like you she was in an academically competitive school, she knew she was somewhere near the very top of her class (she ended up graduating first in her class), but she spent spring of senior year absolutely miserable b/c she was on the wait-list for her 1st choice school. She was so embarrassed and felt such a failure for being wait-listed that she wouldn’t tell anybody what her college plans were. When she didn’t clear the wait-list by graduation she declared for her (distant) 2nd choice: Princeton. Now, you can read that as super-privileged, and think you would be thrilled to have that as a second choice - but that’s not how it seemed to her at the time. Everybody knew her 1st choice, and now they knew that she didn’t get it. In the kind of pond you are swimming in that can feel devastating at 17. Fast forward 4 years and she can laugh about it- but she is also sad that she had bought into the prestige thing so heavily that her memory of spring of senior year is so unhappy. Side point is, even super high achievers get rejections (and the one that broke her heart was not an Ivy). It is not a referendum on you.
Don’t write your application like you wrote your post above. Your post reeks of privilege. Depending on how you write your application you may just seem like a well-off student who attends a very competitive high school who has the resources to participate in all these extracurriculars. You may just seem like someone who is very competitive, who has a lot of help from her school, parents, etc. You seem too interested in resume building and in getting into a top school and–if anything–this will be your downfall.
You have the academics and you have the extracurriculars, but you need to work on the packaging. Instead of listing all these things, try to simplify your application. 3 or 4 things is much better than 10. Your things can be class president, singing, and research. Try to sound interested in these things (as I hope you are). Focusing on a few things that interest you will take the attention off your privilege and onto you. Try not to look you have been planning your whole life to get into college. Try to look like you do these things because they interest you, not because they look good on a resume. Also, try to weed out the less significant things, e.g. being in a chorus. The less significant things weigh your application down.
Also, consider other good schools like Stanford, Chicago, MIT, etc. Don’t be too set on HYP–they are good schools, but other schools offer a lot good too, and may be better for expanding your horizons beyond your privileged NYC bubble.