GC Recommended Several Top Schools but...

Chance Me / Match Me
1

First, I just want to preface this by saying that in general, I’m very much against the idea of “chance me” threads because this entire college admissions process is so difficult to predict. However, given the circumstances, I’ve decided to give it a try.

I’m currently a HS junior and I recently had my big junior year appointment with my GC which is meant to kick off the college admission process for us. In preparation for the meeting, I had to submit several schools that I was interested in applying to as well as some of my college preferences. I submitted a list of five schools, which included (what I would consider) one safety, one match, one high match and two reaches. At the meeting, my GC classified my match as a safety and my high match as a low match. She also gave me a list of more than a dozen schools (including Cornell, Vandy, Notre Dame, Dartmouth and Carnegie Mellon), almost all of which I would consider to be high reaches. Admittedly, I was more than a little surprised since GCs at my school are famous for classifying schools more conservatively (calling safeties matches, for instance). She has an excellent reputation at my school but I have to wonder: do I really have a chance at these T20 schools? I just don’t want to spend the time and money visiting and applying to these kinds of schools if I wouldn’t be competitive. Maybe it’s just that I’ve spent too much time on CC, but I feel like everyone who gets into these kinds of schools is hooked in some way, has founded their own national nonprofit, has started some hugely successful business, is internationally recognized in some field or done something else equally as impressive :wink: Also, please be brutally honest; I can take it!

I plan on majoring in CS

Objective:
ACT (one sitting, first time): 36 with 9 on writing
SAT II: Math 2 (800), Bio (760), Chem (750), World History (740), Math 1 (730, will not submit unless I have to)
Unweighted GPA: 94/100 (many top colleges are aware of my HS and its limited grade inflation)
All honors and APs except for electives where that’s not possible and an extra class junior year because I find the subject matter interesting
School doesn’t rank
Sophomore APs: Chem (5), CS Principles (5), World History (5)
Current APs (expecting 4 or 5 on all): English Lang, BC Calc, Physics 1, USH, CS A
Senior Year Course Load: haven’t finalized but likely 4 APs, 1 dual enrollment, and 1 post-AP honors
Awards: nothing super major. I got a state-level CS award earlier this year, some top 3 state finishes in team-based engineering comps (got top 10 nationally in one fairly recognizable one), some regional debate awards and things like that

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Debate (secretary, will be captain next year), Model Congress (president this year and next), one of the engineering teams (captain), a service organization (secretary, two years as VP, may become president next year), another engineering team (no leadership available)
Job/Work Experience: will work this summer. Applied for a competitive software engineering internship that I probably won’t get so I’ll most likely end up working behind a counter or something like that
Volunteer/Community service: 50+ hours each year in the above-mentioned service org, some additional short-term stuff

Writing (Write a brief description and Rate Quality on 1-10 Scale; 10 as Best):
Essays: I’m generally a good writer and have pretty much mastered the extended metaphor :slight_smile:
Teacher Recommendation #1: BC Calc teacher that I also had freshman year, loves me and knows me super well (9/10)
Teacher Recommendation #2: AP Eng Lang teacher who regularly asks to use my work as samples for future classes (8/10)
Counselor Rec: Don’t know. My counselor doesn’t know me super well but spends a lot of time writing personalized recs for each kid
Additional Rec: CS teacher that I’ve had for both AP CS classes and goes around telling everyone that I’m brilliant :slight_smile: (10/10)

Summers:
As I said, I will probably work this summer
Kind of slacking my previous two summers but took an online course in applied/creative math after freshman year and in CS after my sophomore year.

Other
State: CT
School Type: public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): female in STEM (?)

Thank you in advance for all responses.

2

You don’t have to be world-class to get into college. You’re stats r fine. Chillax

3

Perhaps most importantly, what were your proposed safety and match schools, and what was her assessment of them?

Also, have you talked to your parents about affordability, particularly of the safety schools?

4

Note that high placement in state and national events may be more than “nothing super major” awards.

5

The super-selective schools are generally reach for everyone:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2095312-generic-chance-answer-for-super-selective-colleges-p1.html

6

If any of those schools interest you, you should throw your hat in the ring. You already understand that they are very selective and that they are reaches for everyone.

But your application will get a serious read. You are smart enough to know that you won’t be accepted if you don’t apply!