I’m an incoming senior. I was born in Croatia and my parents immigrated from there to Missouri in 1999. During my freshmen year my grades were;
A
C
B
A
B
A
B
I took AP Human Geography and I scored a 4 on it. My sophomore year my grades were;
A+
A
A
A+
A+
A
A
I joined a few clubs and I earned over 70 hours of community service. I took AP European history and I scored a 5.
The summer before junior year, I volunteered in Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia for a one week program. I was thinking about using my experience of volunteering there and being from that area for my admissions essay, since it is different and I can relate to it. I also volunteered at a children’s hospital that summer and I took some classes at a nearby university. I took the SAT my junior year and I scored a 2280. I plan on retaking it this year to score at least a 2320, just to be safe. My ACT score was a 32. My grades were straight A’s. I also took all IB classes which was an extreme challenge. I scored 6’s and 7’s on all my exams. I had over 90 community service hours. I am vice president and I have 2 leadership roles in after school clubs. I played tennis for my school also this year. This summer, I volunteered a lot in and around my city. I took economics and business classes at the same university as well. I also had a summer job at the mall, which kept me busy.
My senior year which is this year, I am aiming at getting straight A’s. I am also taking all IB classes again, aiming for the IB diploma. I am aiming to get 100 community service hours, become class president, become president and vice president of 2 clubs, keep playing tennis, and tutor after school. During winter break, I might be going back to Europe to volunteer again around Croatia.
I am really aiming for Harvard and Princeton, but preferably, Harvard. I would like to major in Economics. My weighted GPA will be a 4.3 and my unweighted GPA will be a 3.8.
Please tell me, how good are my chances of getting into Harvard or Princeton? Thank you for the help!
There is a chances thread for you to post this.
Just know that everyone’s chances are bad at Harvard, Princeton and Yale.
Yale and Harvard already released their essay prompts, so if I were you, I would get started on those immediately.
My impression is that you are trying to hard. There’s too much “aiming”.
"I took the SAT my junior year and I scored a 2280. I plan on retaking it this year to score at least a 2320, just to be safe. My ACT score was a 32." There is really no difference between a 2320 and a 2280. Not worth the effort. Don't send the ACT score.
"I am vice president and I have 2 leadership roles in after school clubs. I am aiming to get 100 community service hours, become class president, become president and vice president of 2 clubs, keep playing tennis, and tutor after school." What clubs? What are your interests, and how do they relate to what you want to do? Do they matter to you at all, or does it just matter that you have leadership roles? Your community service hours (160 so far) are ok, but nothing exceptional, especially given the IBD CAS requirement.
"My senior year which is this year, I am aiming at getting straight A's." Presumably most kids who are applying to HYP are planning on this.
"I am also taking all IB classes again, aiming for the IB diploma." Why not just say you are in an IBD program? Is the diploma all that matters? @MITer94, presumably IBD will satisfy any curricular rigor questions; but I don't get any sense of courses that matter to the OP, just racking up accomplishments. It's the 6's and 7's plus IBD which seem important (and the A's and A+'s sophomore year), not the actual courses.
"The summer before junior year, I volunteered in Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia for a one week program. I was thinking about using my experience of volunteering there and being from that area for my admissions essay, since it is different and I can relate to it." Writing about an overseas service experience is a common - almost cliche - essay topic, and if I were on an adcom I would wonder how much a impact a 1 week program could have.
I just don’t get any sense of passion or intrinsic zest for any of your activities. You sound like someone going through the motions - methodically building up clubs and progressing to leadership roles, building up community service hour by hour (a 1 week volunteer program is going to have a pretty limited impact, in my opinion) and carefully calculating step by step what you think looks like an HYP-caliber set of credentials. You even list your grades without mentioning you courses - was learning important, or is it just the grades that matter?
I may be completely wrong, but that’s the way your post comes off to me. You’re obviously bright and qualified, but I don’t get the sense of a person as much as of a robot following an algorithm that you think will lead the way to HYP (another “aiming” there). If that’s the way you come across to adcoms, then I don’t think your chances will be very good, even though you are clearly qualified.
This would be better in the “chance me” thread but I’ll bite.
I hate to say it but applicants I know with similar credentials to yours did not fare well at HYPS last year. They ended up at excellent places such as Amherst, Wesleyan and Middleburry, but not Harvard. This includes people with credentials equivalent to yours but who had awards in several subjects, were the star in the school musical, president of the well known a cappella group and president of the honor council (this is ONE person with all of these).
It’s not impossible for you to get into these schools but, especially if you are a Caucasian female, the competition is tougher than you think. You need to weave a compelling story or in some other way convince Harvard and Princeton that you are different from the other thousands of applicants they received with similar credentials.
oh I forgot to mention my classes:
Freshmen year;
PE - A
Advanced English 1- C
Honors algebra 1 - B
Theatre 1- A
Ap human geograpy - B. (I scored a 4)
Honors german 1- A
Advanced Biology- B
I’m very concerned if freshmen year will affect me.
Sophomore year;
Honors geometry- A+
Ap european history- A (I scored a 5)
German 2 advanced- A+
Advanced physics- A
Advanced Chemistry- A
Advanced Algebra 2- A+
Honors English- A
Junior year:
IB pre calculus: A
IB German: A+
IB english: A
IB U. S history: A
IB biology: A
IB physics: A-
Theatre 2: A+
Senior year:
IB English: A+
IB German: A+
IB Cal: A
IB Biology: A
IB US History: A
IB TOK: A
Theatre 3: A
I took 4 college classes at 2 universities which gave me 4 extra credits.
It’s nearly impossible for us to chance you because the schools you listed are just so competitive.
I wish you the best of luck come application time. Hope for the best, but expect a rejection as nearly 95% of applicants get rejected at the 3 schools you mentioned.
