Hi everyone, I am writing this for my friend and this is continued off another thread because no one responded, so sorry.
Anyways my friends wants to know if he would get into the following schools:
-University of Chicago (early-nonbinding)
-Stanford (early)
-Dartmouth
-Duke
-Princeton
-University of Pennsylvania
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2350: Reading 800, Math 800, Writing 750
SAT II: Math 2 800, Chemistry 800, World History 800, Spanish 800
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): unknown I think like 3.7+? (bad freshman year, amazing after that)
Weighted GPA: 4.28 (4.58 for UC and ELC)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 25%?
AP (place score in parentheses): AB Calc 5, AP Chem 5, AP lit 5, APUSH 5, AP Stats 4, APCS 5, AP Spanish Lang 5, 1 more idk
Senior Year Course Load: 6 AP classes all hardest level (AP lit, AP Stats, etc.)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist, Siemens Semifinalist, Local Science fair winner, National AP Scholar,
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Science Club (president), dance club (Secretary), Class office, Track (9,10,12)
Job/Work Experience: Burger King in Summer
Volunteer/Community service: - a few here and there
Summer Activities: Worked on Science Research
Teacher Recommendation: good?
Counselor Rec: good (known for fact)
Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
State (if domestic applicant): CA
School Type: Very good, competitive public school, ~300+ kids in class
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate): a lot
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
What makes your friend stand out from the thousands upon thousands of other applicants to top schools, especially as an Asian from CA (which I asked about in your previous thread)? Siemens Semifinalist is impressive but won’t carry an application.
Good EC’s + Solid Test Scores + High GPA trend (he even got a C+ in freshman year 1st semester) but then got all a’s after that.
Test scores and GPA get you in the door, but that’s it.
I question the premise that his ECs are good by UChicago standards.
I’m not too familiar with the Siemens competition, but unless being a semifinalist is very prestigious (and I’m not ruling this out), your friend’s research is a lot more impressive than it seems at a glance, or he’s a recruited athlete, his chances are the same as those of any other high-stat applicant.
But none of that makes him stand out. His ECs are fairly generic and his scores are about on par with all of these schools. Not having a 4.0 hurts him further. So if he nails the essays he has a chance, but they’re all still a reach.
Well yes @BabylonBabylon but from his school people who have gotten either the Intel STS or Siemens always went somewhere amazing and they didn’t always have better stats then him. @NotVerySmart Being a Siemens semifinalist is very impressive (~300 people in nation) each year mostly seniors.
He had to have had a team win which is less impressive since adcoms don’t know who contributed what to the project. Nevertheless, a nice award.
Sorry guys I really appreciate your responses but my friend says he actually wants to know whether he stands a chance at getting into the college, instead of people just talking about his EC’s. So could you guys actually chance him?
You can’t apply to both Chicago and Stanford early. Stanford has restrictive early action meaning you can’t apply to any other private schools early.
Top 25% is not very good, I think Siemens is very prestigious, but an overwhelming majority of the admitted class was in the top 10%, and without a hook (URM, being an athlete), it will be tough, especially since he is nowhere near the top 10%, and because he is Asian. However, Stanford doesn’t look at freshman grades (don’t know about other schools) so that might be a plus.
Even if his GPA was a 4.0 unweighted, all of those schools would be reaches, just because of how competitive those schools are. Having a 3.7 means a bigger reach. Does he have a reason for bad grades freshman year?
It’s not to say he won’t get in, it’s just that admissions to these schools are far from a guarantee for basically anyone and that your friend should not expect (but he can hope) to get into any one of those schools, given the competition.
I’m still not quite sure how admissions officers would view the Siemens semifinalist status. Most people here probably know that better than me. All I can say is that being one of 300 semifinalists when the competition has about 1600 entrants is certainly an accomplishment, but at a glance it doesn’t seem like a sure-fire ticket to an extremely selective college.
I’m always reluctant to use the evidence of “students from an applicant’s school got into X and Y even with lower scores” because this information provides a tiny sample size and a lot of factors involved (ECs, essays, demonstrated interest, recommendations) can’t be conveyed in brief.
Given the above, I’m going to reiterate what I said earlier, under the assumption that the Siemens is about as impressive as making it to the state spelling bee (or something similar). Your friend has above-average stats, below-average extracurriculars, and just the one major award. I’d say the acceptance rate of the schools you listed is a fair estimate of his chances.
If the Siemens is a lot more prestigious than I think, that might change everything, but for the time being that’s my $0.02.
Guys sorry he is actually somewhere within 15-20% of his class.
i know i already posted on your older thread, but i’m sure that if your friend is a good writer, he will have a better chance at these schools that what people are saying. and i don’t see how his extra curriculars are “below average.” he has a good number of ECs and leadership positions in all of them. he is qualified for all of these schools. while no one can say for sure where he will and will not get in, but i am 100% sure that somewhere amazing will accept him and he will end up happy wherever he chooses to go.
His essays will be important at UChicago, they are really looking for fit and to see that the student “understands” them. He has high test scores, which they like there. Agree that he can’t apply early to Stanford and UChicago without violating the Stanford SCEA rules.
He will obviously get a look at all these schools with those test scores. I would say that Stanford is a high reach (because you have to be frigging amazing to get into Stanford – he is very strong, but not sure “frigging amazing” is there… possible, but not obvious). Princeton, Penn, and Chicago are regular reaches. Dartmouth & Duke - low reaches. He needs a few lower ranked schools. He might be like one of my kids, who got in everyplace she applied, including her reaches – but she would have had some good choices in April even if that hadn’t happened. My other didn’t get into any of her reaches. You just have to have a balanced list.
What level was he/she Siemens semifinalist? I’m assuming national
I have to agree that Siemens seminfinalist is very impressive and the highlight of the app, but cannot guarantee anything on its own. Stanford doesn’t look at Freshman year so that will probably be good. Definitely don’t be discouraged from applying to these colleges, but your friend should be at least prepared to get into none of these schools.
Test scores are just about perfect, no need to worry about those, definitely a strength. Finally, depth is definitely more important than breadth, and I’d argue your friend has depth with Siemens, but it would be nicer if your friend had a few more leaderships in clubs he is passionate about (if he WON Siemens, that’s a different story). My confidence in your friend’s chances drops significantly if the Siemens award isn’t national. Good luck!
Predictions:
-University of Chicago (early-nonbinding) - deferred → waitlist
-Stanford (early) - rejected
-Dartmouth - accept/waitlist
-Duke - waitlist
-Princeton - waitlist/reject
-University of Pennsylvania - accept/waitlist
I’d bet on getting into at least one of these schools, but getting into none is also a very real possibility for anyone.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1810951-chance-me-columbia-ed-p1.html
Look at my post#928 to get an idea of where Siemens rates. Again though, a team win is not as prized as an individual win and you can only compete as an individual senior year.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/302001-list-of-top-prestigious-awards-p62.html
@BabylonBabylon @NotVerySmart @Falcon1 @rdeng2614 @whiterwalt7 @intparent I am personally curious, do you all think he would get into Dartmouth if he applied early?
I think he has a pretty good shot at Dartmouth early.
Note that Dartmouth, Penn, and Duke have favorable admissions rates for early applicants (over 20%). That seems the best bet.