I’ve wanted to go to my Harvard for my entire life as long as I can remember. I really hope that I can get in. Please chance me for Harvard and other places.
ME:
Gunna be a senior
Samoan-American from NYC
Double legacy at Yale
Go to well-known competitive private high school
STATS:
2370 SAT (800 M, 780 W, 790 CR)
4.0 UW GPA
Really rigorous schedule, more than 17 APs (I got a 4 on BC freshman year. options???)
ECs:
Volunteer at church locally several times per year
Served homeless for class at school
Received award from Carter Foundation for preserving electoral security in Samoa
Participated in local Halloween for younger children
Raised 2 million talas (~$700k) for hurricane relief saving almost 1100 lives
COLLEGES:
Harvard (obviously)
Brown
Yale (ewwwk)
Stanford
Berkeley (like it, but I’m worried about a different “element” of people. thoughts?)
Penn (safety)
Ivy leagues are not a safety for anyone. However, you have a good shot at the colleges on your list. Berkeley is tough out of state, your stats are stellar though. Good luck to you!
Wait, wait, wait. When you say “Penn” as a safety, do you mean state or UPenn? If you mean UPenn, you need to reevaluate your list ASAP and take the pretentious attitude down a notch. The Ivies are reaches for everyone, no matter how much you think you are a “special snowflake.”
Your grades and SATs are great. You need 2 Subject tests for all of these schools, which you don’t have and sort of need to get chanced.
Your ECs are seemingly ambiguous. Let’s evaluate them:
Volunteer at church locally several times per year - Weak EC. Everyone probably does this.
Served homeless for class at school. - No clue what this means. Again, doesn’t seem very special.
Received award from Carter Foundation for preserving electoral security in Samoa. - What role did you play in this? Did you lead the whole effort? Is this a national award? Is it some award they give to everyone? It seems strange that someone 17 years old would have such a prominent role in politics. Makes me question if this worded in a way that makes it sound better than it is.
Participated in local Halloween for younger children - Not an EC.
Raised 2 million talas (~$700k) for hurricane relief saving almost 1100 lives - Again, what role did you have in this? How did you do it? Did you do it all? Did you work with a non-profit? How do you know how many lives it saved?
COLLEGES:
Harvard - Reach
Brown - Reach
Yale - Reach
Stanford - Reach
Berkeley - (what do you mean different element of people? Being afraid of people different than you is a huge red flags to colleges that you won’t be a good fit. I’d rework that attitude.) High Match
Penn (if UPenn) - Reach
(If State) - Safety.
Not sure if being Samoan is considered Asian or a URM. If it’s Asian, it’s just going to be that much harder. If it’s a URM, you have a better chance at all of them except Berk (which doesn’t account for race), but not a ton.
Find some more targets and safeties. Penn isn’t a safety.
Since when is penn a safety or anybody? Especially not somebody with such few extra’s!
But anways, I have to kinda agree with jaze. How can a 17 year old have such an impact on international politics? That’s amazing if it’s true.
However, I feel as if it’s something like your parents were heavily involved. Almost as if they started and initiated the program that raised 700k and put your name in along with it. If it seems as if this is true, low likelihood at acceptance at any of these schools including your “safety”.
Try and specify in your application that that is not true. But remember, you won an award so everything is easily researchable!
Harvard -reach
Brown - reach
Yale - reach (double legacy)
Stanford - reach
Berkeley - high match, low reach ( out of state is difficult)
Penn - reach
Lol, “Penn (safety)”… First, since when is participating in Halloween an EC? Secondly, worrying about a different “element” of people is just about the worst attitude you can have about a place. Also, Please elaborate on how exactly you raised 700k for hurricane victims. If you work for a non-profit that raised 700k, then that’s ENTIRELY different than you actually raising 700k yourself. Lastly, make sure to sound less pretentious in your essays.
Anyways, Ivy admissions are a crapshoot so don’t count on getting into any of them, because they reject a ton of applicants just like you every single year (colleges like to brag about how many 4.0’s or perfect SAT applicants they reject).
Harvard - reach
Brown - reach
Yale - low to mid reach since double legacy
Stanford - reach
Berkeley - high match
Penn - reach (NOT A SAFETY!!)
Try apply to some real safety schools also.
Sorry if that was overly-critical, but you really need to impress these extremely competitive colleges. The worst way you can present yourself to these places is to come across as pretentious, so be sure to sound sincere and genuine in your application.
They’re all reaches, including Penn. Your extracurriculars are difficult, if not impossible, to verify (how do we know that your parents didn’t raise all that money, or even worse, how do we know that your parents didn’t just donate the money in your name?"). In addition, your volunteer work is generic and unoriginal. Let’s be honest here, who HASN’T volunteered at a church and helped out local children? The only things here that might boost your chances a little are your GPA and SAT scores, except at the colleges that you’re applying to, practically everyone has a 4.0 and a 2400.
You have a really good shot at all the schools. However, I’ll echo the concerns of all the other posters. If by Penn you are referring to UPenn, it isn’t a safety. If your parents played a huge role in your ECs, it will not help at all. If you did all the ECs by yourself (with 0 help from your parents, etc.), then make sure that you have proper proof for that because not every other teenager raises $700k.
Your profile name indicates you are kind of too much into harvard…
All your schools except UCLA are reaches, and UCLA is low reach/high match but considering you would be a full pay student it would increase your chance a bit.