Chances at Brown, Reed, UW-Madison, etc.

btotheg
Sun, 16 May 2010 18:44:14 +0000

The only desirable statistic I see in you is your 3.96 GPA. Sadly, colleges look for more things than just this. You 26 is not strong enough to be your backbone. You also cannot expect to jump 7-10 points. That is an extreme jump of points, but if you can actual do it, congratulations. But I think you are aiming to high. You do not truly stand out as a student at almost all of these schools. You should consider rearranging your list, because I can already tell you that you are a high reach for 90% of them. But here’s my list

Wisconsin-Reach (High-Match if In-State)
Brown-High reach
Reed-High reach
St. Olaf-No idea
Princeton-High reach
UChicago-High reach
UCBerkeley-High reach
Columbia-High reach
UMich-High reach
Dartmouth-High Reach
Virginia-High Reach
Notre Dame-High reach
Williams-I dont know
Harvard-High reach
UMiami-low reach
WUSTL-High reach

I’m not trying to be rude by any means, but I believe you are overestimating yourself. a 3.96 is great, but with nothing to back it up (lots of volunteer work, 30+ ACT, involvement in the community) you have virtually no chance at these schools.

I know a person who was declined from University of Illinois (not NEARLY as prestigious as some of these schools) with a 4.96 GPA, 29 ACT, and basically no extra curricular activities or volunteer work.

Ultimately, recreate a list of schools. Personally, I believe you should look into:
Boston University
NYU
Iowa
Indiana
Minnesota
Mizzou
and other schools with similar statistics.