Chances at Selective Universities?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>Hi, I’m wondering what some knowledgable opinions are on my chances at admissions at several top universities: Tufts, Columbia, Bowdoin, BU(2nd safety school), Harvard, Brown, Bard, Northeastern(My safety school, most likely), Dartmouth</p>

<p>I am a 17 year old Junior in a Florida High School, my cumulative gpa weighted is about 4.3(will be 4.4 or so by time I graduate), and my cumulative unweighted is 3.8 and will be 3.89 or so by time I graduate. My GPA would be much higher (3.97 unweighted, 4.4/5 weighted), yet I was suspended for a silly reason when I was a freshman right before the crucial exam period, and almost all of my grades dropped from As to Bs(And my one B class, English, dropped to a C). I have read several letters from admissions directors about disciplinary action and from what I understand a well-written essay about what was gained/learned from the experience and how it contributed to my maturity is much more important than the action itself and that the suspension most likely won’t have a negative affect if a well-written essay is accompanying. The suspension was not for academic integrity issues which is good because I know academic integrity issues would most definitely hinder chances at college admission. I do feel I can write a well-written essay as this event did cause me to open my eyes and start getting serious about my studies, which can be seen in my sophomore and junior grades. I have straight As this year(4.8 weighted gpa)</p>

<p>I played freshman football as a freshman and have been on the rowing team at my high school semester 1 of sophomore year and all year my junior year, I will not continue rowing my senior year I want to try something new, and am probably going to try out for the golf team, if I don’t get on the team I’ll probably just volunteer a lot more than I do.</p>

<p>I wasn’t able to continue on the rowing team semester 2 of sophomore year because I was an exchange student to Portugal, I lived with a host family and went to the local high school for 6 months; I became fluent in Portuguese. I did continue rowing in Portugal but on a recreational and not a competitive level. My experience as an exchange student will give me a strong base for my common app essay, I just will need to write a well-done personalized(creatively make it not sound like everyone else’s) essay.</p>

<p>As far as languages go, that is probably what I’m going to major in, I had 2 years of Spanish yet stopped pursuing Spanish as I knew I would be going to Portugal and began self-study of Portuguese. </p>

<p>This year I’m in 4 AP Classes(English Lang, Studio Art, Psychology, Government) and 3 Honors, before this year I only had one AP class(Human Geography) in freshman year and that is due to the fact I couldn’t take any AP Classes sophomore year as I knew I wouldn’t be in the country to take the exam. Next year I will have 4 APs(World History, Euro History, Art History, English Lit), 2 Honors(Physics, Pre-Calc), and Study Hall. I am currently in the top 6% of my class as of the end of Semester 1 Junior year at #31 in 490 something students, yet i am working extremely hard with a rigourous course load this year and next year to push that number as low as it can go(I would be in the top 5 yet the second semester of my freshman year ruined it), I’m estimating I’ll be anywhere from 18-25 by the time I graduate and 22-27 maybe by the end of this year, as a lot of kids in the top 31 are starting to slack off about school and or drop out(sad truth). I was 42 in my class at the start of Junior year but after one semester of straight As in 4 AP classes I already became 31st. </p>

<p>When I graduate I’ll have the following classes under my belt:</p>

<p>9 Social Sciences: AP Human Geography, Honors Economics(.5), AP Government(.5), Honors American History, AP World, AP Euro, AP Art History, Spanish 1&2, AP Psychology
4 English: 2 AP, 2 Honors
5 Maths: All Honors: Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, Analysis of Functions, Pre-Calculus
4 Sciences: All Honors: Biology, Chemistry, Marine Science, Physics</p>

<p>I received a 4 on my AP Human Geography exam freshman year, These are what I feel confident in getting on my exams this year and predictions for my exam grades next year:</p>

<p>Lang 4
Studio Art 4-5
Psych 5
Gov 5</p>

<p>Lit 4
Euro 5
World 4-5
Art Hist. 5</p>

<p>I’ve only taken the SAT one time I got an 1850, yet I have been self studying and learned/worked a lot on argumentative essays in AP Lang and feel confident I can bring my score up to a 2050 composite at the minimum, yet my goal is 2100. </p>

<p>I recently started volunteering at the boys and girls club in my town and and I’m involved in the Young Democrats club. I have explored art throughout High School and while I am not applying to art school or planning to even minor in fine arts I feel like it is important to me and will play a role in my application(maybe attaching a portfolio which to my understanding colleges may or may not look at and it most likely won’t help me get in but can’t affect me negatively). </p>

<p>I would like to hear some knowledgable opinions on what my chances are at any of these Universities/Colleges. I know I am intelligent enough, and have a very strong drive to succeed, I feel I would thrive at one of these top universities. </p>

<p>Right now I’m thinking my chances of getting in from greatest to least from the schools above are: Northeastern, BU, Bard, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, Tufts, Brown, Columbia, Harvard</p>

2

<p>Very low chances for tufts, brown, columbia, dartmouth, and harvard. If you have a gpa in the 3.8 range, you need an SAT score of above 2300 to be considered a viable candidate. Your ECs are also seriously lacking. Even if you write about it, the suspension does not help your application either. Your course schedule also does not seem rigorous enough (no math beyond precalc, few APs). There schools can take their pick of 3.9-4.0, 2300, extraordinary EC students with no disciplinary action. I doubt you will make it to the Ivies. </p>

<p>The only thing that might help is if you are a URM or low income student, but even then, your ECs are seriously lacking. </p>

<p>I would caution against submitting a porfolio unless your work is at a professional level (won awards). If you submit mediocre work, the supplement will hurt your application instead of helping it.
I think you can consider bowdoin, boston university, bard, and northeastern reasonable high matches/reaches, though. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Your list is off, Dartmouth, for example, is quite a bit tougher to get into than Bowdoin or Tufts.</p>

<p>With a 2100 and not being top of class, Harvard, Columbia, Dartmouth and Brown are probably too big of a reach. If you’re a URM, low income and/or first gen, small chance. Tufts and Bowdoin are more realistic reaes. The others should be no problem with the 2100.</p>

4

<p>I am URM(Hispanic), my mother graduated with bachelors degree but my father never graduated college. </p>

<p>I forgot to mention I’m also in National Art Honors society yet it is not something I am really involved with(As it isn’t the most active club), I have won several awards for art and participated in 2 art shows this year. </p>

<p>From my understand the lack of APs my sophomore year are understandable as I was an exchange student and it was not possible to take the exam, I’ll graduate with 9 AP Classes. (Out of maybe 18 that are available at my school, many of which would be wasteful to me as I’ve already taken the honors version before it was available to take the AP, i.e. chem, bio, amc. history, economics)</p>

<p>What more could I do in the next 6 months before application deadlines in order to enhance my chances(besides improving my SAT)? Especially on the EC side of things? Crew is an 18+ hour a week commitment so I am/was seriously hindered with opportunities to participate in much else.</p>

5

<p>You should definitely submit a portfolio then. Even if you have taken the honors version, only taking 9 APs in a school that offers 18 is a huge blow to your application, because you have a 3.8 gpa without taking a rigorous courseload. Try getting recruited for crew if you’re good enough?</p>

6

<p>I think Bowdoin and Bard are most likely matches, the rest I’d rather not speculate on.</p>