- Hispanic male high school senior in New Jersey
- 1460 SAT; 720 R&W, 740 M
- 23 out of 24 essay; 8-7-8
- 3.16 weighted GPA; top 75% (only better than 1/4 of students at my school; I know it's bad!)
- Pretty good extra-curriculars; studied abroad for a year in New Zealand, did an exchange program in Japan for a summer, taught myself Japanese, interned at an art gallery in Japan, worked part-time etc.
- Essay is very good. It is about my struggles with my Tourette's Syndrome in New Zealand, and how I was bullied by my host mother there. I then talk about how my friends there helped me get over her, and how I took those experiences into my life back in the US.
- Teacher recommendations are mediocre and are from senior year as I was in New Zealand during my junior year
- I have taken 7 AP-level courses, but only 2 were official AP classes, the rest being high-honors (weighted equally)
DISCLAIMER: I know that I have next to no chance at any of the Ivies, but I just want to apply to one. Which one would be most inclined to accept someone like me?
I think you know you don’t have much of a shot due to your GPA. I guess I’d go for Cornell, which has the highest percent of applicants accepted.
To directly answer your question: no ivy is known for accepting lower stat applications per se. Acceptance rates wise, you’re most likely to get into Cornell and least likely to get into Harvard but this doesn’t necessarily mean it would be easier for you to get into Cornell than Harvard. But honestly I think your best bet of getting in would be to apply to the one you like the best and fits your personality the best. If a school sees you as a ‘fit’ to them you have a higher chance of getting in. Hypothetically, if Dartmouth had to choice between you and a student with similar stats, grades and leadership experience, yet you seemed more of a match for the campus atmosphere and they could imagine you at Dartmouth, they would chose you ever single time.
Also when picking your ‘super reach’, don’t limit yourself to just ivies. There are plenty of great top schools out there which you may be a great fit for and love that aren’t part of the ivy league.
@TheGr8Gatsby Thanks for the advice. In that case I’d most like to apply to UPenn, but there may be a case for Columbia as my mother taught there.
Furthermore, do you think I’d be better off applying to either one of those or UChicago?
With a 3.16 weighted GPA (probably means an unweighted GPA that can be as low as the low 2.something range), the one that your parents can donate a building to.
Unless your mother currently teaches and/or you would be able to get free tuition at Columbia, I’d stick with Penn if it’s currently your favourite.
As for Chicago or Penn, only you can answer that one I’m afraid. They are both equally as difficult to get into and have more similarities than differences.
The main differences to consider would be:
- Distributional requirements. Chicago has a strong core that will take up about 1/3 of your classes compared to Penn’s distributional requirements which are a lot easier to satisfy and will take up much less time.
- Academic atmosphere. Penn’s atmosphere is very pre-professional where landing a good job is the main purpose of college compared to Chicago’s more intellectual atmosphere of learning for the sake of learning.
- Geography. Since you’re from NJ, would you rather stay closer to home or experience a different part of the country in the Midwest.
- Greek life. Roughly 40% of Penn students are involved in Greek life and if you want to party in college it will dominate your social life compared to only 10% at Chicago where if you want to be involved you need to actively seek it out.
I will also point out that at Chicago you have the option of applying EDII which would give you a boost in admission chances.
You can’t go wrong applying to either and good luck. 