Chances for Stanford, JHU, Ivies, CMU, UFMichigan, UC Berkley, UFChicago

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hi I’m a rising junior interested in attending the colleges listed above. Those are my tier one choices, my backups would probably be Penn State or University of Delaware because I have legacy there. I’m interested in majoring in Finance or Political Science. I need help figuring out what I need to add to my application in the next years to make me eligible to get into these colleges. Thanks!

Ethnicity: First generation Chinese immigrant
Gender: Female

GPA: UW= 4.0 W=4.24
Class Rank: 3/384
Slightly competitive public high school, many graduates are accepted into Ivy Leagues though
SAT: 1540/1600
SAT Math II: 800
SAT Biology: 760
SAT Spanish: 710 (should I submit this score?)
ACT: 34

Note: The reason I can take AP math classes as a freshman/sophomore is because I did a few off-campus studies to skip a math course

Freshman:
Honors Bio
Honors Chem
AP Calculus AB
Honors English
Honors US History
Honors Spanish

Straight A’s

Sophomore:
Honors Physics
Computer Programming
AP Calculus BC
Honors Statistics
Honors US History
Honors English
Honors Spanish

Straight A’s again, recommended for AP Courses, all of which I will be taking this year

EC:

Athletics:
Varsity Field Hockey, Co-Captain
Travel Field Hockey Club, qualified for tournament team (only elite players, plays at national tourneys)
Volunteer Coach for local field hockey youth league
Track and Field, qualified for districts

Violin:
Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, First Violinist
Level Eight Violinist
Placed Fourth in Regional Concerto Competition

Clubs:
Environmental Education Club (gives school tours of local wildlife park, raise environmental awareness)
Model UN, Vice President
Future Business Leaders of America
Math Club, Vice President
School Newspaper Editor

Announcements Reporter (My school has students do the morning announcements)

Student Council:
Vice President Two Years in A Row
Planned fundraiser for school trip
Managed to help get a local sponsor for school technology fund

Writing:
Had personal essay and poetry featured in small publications
Scholastic Art and Writing Awards - Flash Fiction Gold Medal, Poetry Honorable Mention
Some smaller awards, mainly for poetry

Volunteer and Internships:
Library Volunteer
Soup Kitchen Volunteer
Intern at local newspaper, helped write some small articles
Co-created a non-profit, small online/local business which sells posters, stickers, and prints that are self-designed and hand-drawn, all profits go to charity

Was awarded Student Athlete Award sophomore year

So, what do you guys think my chances are of getting into those colleges? Obviously junior year will allow me to build my resume. My top choice would be Stanford, so should I apply early admission? Thanks in advance!

2

UF Chicago? UF Michigan?

3

Stanford has REA, which is good in that you do not have to go if you get in, but not so good in that I do not believe it improves your chances that much (someone correct me on this if I’m wrong, I don’t know too many specifics about Stanford). So it probably isn’t 100% necessary to apply early but if you want to know whether you have been accepted before submitting regular apps, you probably should do REA.

I can’t imagine there being any students who are much more qualified than you; however (and you probably know this) it is Stanford. Which means that even if you are an amazing candidate in every possible way, you still probably won’t get in. So there are no guarantees but you have as good a shot as just about anyone else, other than maybe recruited athletes or URMs with the same accolades (of which there are very few).

As far as the other schools… Michigan and UC Berkeley aren’t quite as tough to get into as the others because they are so large, and are very numbers-driven from what I understand, so I would be surprised if you weren’t accepted at both. One thing to keep in mind though is that UC schools give zero financial aid to out of state students, so if you aren’t a California resident expect to be paying $60,000 per year, whether your annual family income is $1,000,000 or $0. As far as the other schools it’s basically a crapshoot, you could get into any of them but you could also get rejected it’s pretty much impossible to predict.

Purely out of curiosity what math classes are you taking the next two years now that you’ve finished BC Calculus? Multivariable calc? Dual enrollment of some sort at a local college?

Overall don’t worry about your chances too much because there isn’t really much you can do at this point to improve as far as I can tell. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be on the right track. Good luck!

4

I don’t do chances, but keep in mind that RD for UChicago was 2% this year. So even with your stellar stats, if you don’t have a good narrative that shows you are a good fit for Chicago, your odds are pretty low.

Also, your list contains schools that are very, very different - for example, Dartmouth is very different from Hopkins and Columbia is very different from Brown, etc. Take some time to think about where you will not only reach your potential, but also be happy and thrive.

5

Your academic achievements are excellent, and your ECs are impressive in their scope. Based on numbers alone, you should have a very good shot at UCB and UM. You might also want to put Vanderbilt and Wash U on your wish list, since they have a reputation for giving comparatively more weight to high test scores and other “objective” criteria than does a school like, say, Brown.

The only “problem”–if you can call it that–which I see with your application is that your ECs are almost too good. That is, you do all the “right” things (a sport, violin, clubs, student government, volunteering), and you do them well. However, because there doesn’t seem to be an immediately evident focus or guiding passion in your choice of ECs, a jaded, cynical adcom might regard all these accomplishments as ever so much “resume building” (to use your phrase).

Now it might be that you have a guiding passion that simply didn’t shine through in your laundry list approach to explaining your ECs. In that case, you need to make sure that your essay functions in part to frame your various involvements so that this passion comes through to the reader–and so that you don’t seem like just another smart resume-builder dutifully jumping through hoops to get into a highly ranked school simply for the sake of getting into a highly ranked school. If, on the other hand, you truly do not have a guiding passion, and you don’t feel like faking one, then you might want to address that very fact–indeed, to thematize it–in your essay. Argue that you are a Renaissance woman and that you are looking for a school with excellence across the disciplines so that you can explore multiple interests and find ways to integrate them in some unique and productive way, blah, blah, etc.

As for your EA question, my advice would be that if you really want to get into a specific top-10 or top-15 school, and if you are unhooked (which your are), and if you are not constrained by financial factors (such that you won’t need to compare financial aid offers between schools before committing to one), then you should definitely go the early admissions route. With the possible exception of Cornell, RD admissions to the Ivies is getting well nigh impossible for unhooked applicants.

6

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7

UMich is a low reach for you. You are a first gen immigrant, not first gen college student. So it gives you no advantage at all. Your parent was an international student at Penn State would give you legacy advantage though.