How good is a brute force based approach to university applications?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>I am an international applicant with the following stats:</p>

<p>SAT 1: 2320
Sat 2: Chem-800,math 2c-800, Lit-800
IB score : 38/42 (with a 5 in math HL, so that really sucks)
GPA: hard to calculate, but consistently in top 5% of class (Rank 1 in final exams of 10th and 12th grade)</p>

<p>I have taken a gap year in which I am doing a load of stuff, community service, internship as well as a personal business.</p>

<p>My point is, I want to get enrolled in one of the best universities of the USA. It doesnt seem worth spending so much money and time otherwise. These are those 10:</p>

<p>Harvard
Yale
Princeton
MIT
Upenn
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Stanford
Duke</p>

<p>I know that all of these colleges are reaches, I should apply to more achievable colleges too, and I am doing that. But I really want to go to one of the colleges above. Some of them I like more than others (especially Upenn-Wharton and MIT-sloan), but I wouldnt mind any of them.</p>

<p>But getting accepted is a very iffy proposition. In my case (as my stats are very ordinary, compared to other applicants), acceptance depends mostly on luck. And so I was weighing the pro and cons of:</p>

<p>Applying to all 10 universities v/s applying to a fewer number (say 2 or 3)</p>

<p>I feel that applying to all 10 would statistically increase chances f getting into at least one. This is because each will have different supplementary essays, so even if some are badly perceived, others may be be positively perceived. But 10 applications will require a lot of extra work.</p>

<p>What are your views? Any others people facing the same dilemna?</p>

2

<p>Many of those schools have an acceptance rate of around 10%, and you seem like a relatively average applicant, so your odds of getting in to one of them would be (assuming you actually have a 10% shot at each, which is not necessarily true) about 65%, statistically. You, of course, may have a much higher or lower chance, and ivy league admissions are always a crapshoot.</p>

<p>You could look at some well respected public universities as well, i.e. Cal/UCLA/UVA/UMich and even some highly regarded private schools that aren’t quite the ivy league</p>

3

<p>thanks. I am going by the assumption that my shot is NOT 10% to all: that in some unis I have a substantially higher chance (due to superior quality of essays) and a lower than 10% in others (coz teh essays mite not have clicked). The essay is the variable that I am depending on to hedge and even my chances.</p>

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<p>Essay isn’t as important as you think despite what people say. Stats drives the process. Then ECs, then recs/ essays as tie breakers.</p>

5

<p>hmm thats another reason that makes 10 colleges look tempting, you never know how differently each perceives my stats, ecs, etc.</p>

<p>plus i have heard that each uni has a regional quota or sumthin for each part of the world. So maybe by luck I mite get pushed up in one of those because my region is underrepresented.</p>

<p>Though its south asia, so thats really unlikely.</p>

6

<p>You should apply to all 10 if you can afford it.</p>

7

<p>makes sense, thanks</p>

8

<p>More important, or, at least as important, than stats is whether you apply ED to any school. If you want Penn’s Wharton School, then apply ED and your odds rise significantly.</p>

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<p>Do you even like those colleges or are you just doing this for prestige?</p>

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<p>^I was wondering the same thing. Of the ivy league schools, the only one you are not applying to is Brown. If my memory of the USNWR rankings is correct, then of the top ten schools, the only one you are not applying to is Caltech.</p>

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<p>If you can afford the apps and actually like all the schools on your list, go for it!</p>

12

<p>the prestige factor is important. I am the type of person who can fit in an urban or rural environment, big or small university. What is important is the quality of education. And the 10 above have the highest quality. Thats why they are “prestigious” right?</p>

<p>In fact, I find it hard to understand why people think prestige to be a wrong reason to apply. I mean, as long as it is not the only reason, why not?</p>

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<p>^ Actually I think LACs might have better teaching quality than large research universities since the faculty over at LACs concentrate more on teaching than research, also if you are going on to grad school for a Masters or a PhD then “prestige” of your undergraduate school isn’t that important. Choose universities that fit you (strong in what you like, etc…), not just based on rankings.</p>

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<p>I’m pretty sure if you applied to all 10 of those you would get into at least 1 of them. But if you want to go into business you should also look at Northwestern, UChicago, and NYU because they have awesome business schools too and would be a little easier to get into. Here are the grad school business rankings if you’re interested:</p>

<p>[Search</a> - Business - Best Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/mba/search]Search”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/mba/search)</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>correct me if im wrong but I dont think UChicago or Northwestern have undergrad business schools</p>

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<p>I can’t imagine why you won’t make it into Cornell for ED, assuming you did a load of good EC’s during your gap year.</p>

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<p>That could be true millhouse…I wouldn’t know, lol.</p>

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<p>Why don’t you try applying to top-rated Liberal arts Colleges with Economics as a major? Most Wall Street firms love employing graduates from top-rated Liberal Arts Colleges as opposed to B-School graduates who go onto do their MBA as they find the training redundant. Think in the long term and choose a broader major and a smaller school which is just as prestigious (Williams, Amherst,Swarthmore etc.). You’d do so well at places like LSE in the UK or University of Chicago for Economics. Spread yourself out a bit. I’m sure you’ll get into a number of the places you want, with or without my advice. So good luck! :)</p>

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<p>apply to all the ones you can. as people have said before, essays are merely tiebreakers. spending an extra month on an essay isn’t going to substantially increase your chances.</p>

<p>while i don’t believe it’s a crapshoot, there probably is an element of luck involved for applicants of your level–that is, competitive but unhooked. sometimes an underqualified applicant will apply to a lot of schools with a 0% chance at each. in your case, however, i really think applying to more schools will benefit you.</p>

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<p>I would suggest adding Williams, Amherst and Claremont McKenna to that list. Fantastic for econ and Wall Street recruitment.</p>