My Chances

<p>I’m a 16-year-old rising senior. And I have a problem. Please help me.</p>

<p>Raw stats:</p>

<p>3.8 unweighted (4.3 weighted)</p>

<p>2260 SAT June 2005: 800 CR, 730 Math, Writing</p>

<p>36 ACT June 2005: 36 Reading, Science, 35 Math, English</p>

<p>AP: 3s Bio and Chem, 4s US History and Calc AB, 5s Lang and Euro</p>

<p>Volunteering: 500+ hours for middle school science, City Advisory Council, teen newspaper, political campaign</p>

<p>Now, if those in the know could give me percentage chances or comments on some or all of the schools below…that’d be very much appreciated.</p>

<p>Schools:</p>

<p>Stanford</p>

<p>Northwestern (Medill J-school and normal)</p>

<p>Macalester</p>

<p>Princeton (legacy)</p>

<p>Brown (legacy)</p>

<p>Columbia</p>

<p>Harvard</p>

<p>Carleton</p>

<p>William and Mary</p>

<p>Amherst</p>

<p>Tufts</p>

<p>Kenyon</p>

<p>Oberlin</p>

<p>Duke</p>

<p>U of Chicago</p>

<p>U of Cal-Berkeley</p>

<p>U of North Carolina</p>

<p>U of Florida (FL native)</p>

<p>Again, thank you SO much.</p>

<p>Andy</p>

<p>you could be in at all of them but u gave no real information about your extracurricular activities which are a very important part of the admissions process</p>

<p>No one…can give out “percentage” chances with any accuracy.</p>

<p>Take a gap year and do something to set yourself apart.</p>

<p>Well I know for sure UF is a match if not a safety…</p>

<p>All of those schools will be interested in you. Whether they accept you will depend on how you present yourself and how you fit into their class-building project. For instance, liberal arts schools may be more inclined to admit a guy with your statistics than a girl.</p>

<p>A 36 ACT is quite rare - I take my hat off to you. While it doesn’t get the publicity of the perfect SAT score, it is the more unusual of the two. If you can find any statistics for school admissions rates for perfect SAT scorers, I’d assume that those apply. I think you can feel confident that the rate is 2-3 times higher than the rate of regular admissions.</p>

<p>You are the one in the driver’s seat. You aren’t going to apply to 18 schools, so figure out what aspect(s) of college is most important to you and which school will deliver it.</p>

<p>What kind of leadership positions do you have? I’m very bad at the guessing game, but I think you’ll get into about 1/5-1/4 of the total schools you applied to, but most of them are top notch and the decision will probably depend a lot on your personal statement.</p>

<p>What are your SAT II scores?</p>

<p>This might fare better in the What Are My Chances? board.</p>

<p>for the more competitive schools, you’ll need to show (more) passion.</p>

<p>You’re going to apply to 18 schools? That’s kind of high. You should cut down that list to like around 10. As for the schools, here we go:</p>

<p>Safeties: Kenyon, UF</p>

<p>Good Matches(This means you have a good shot, around 50% or higher): Oberlin, Chicago, Northwestern(Not Medill), William & Mary, Carleton, Macalester, Tufts</p>

<p>Reaches: Princeton, UNC(OOS is incredibly hard, tougher than Duke), Cal, Stanford, Harvard, Amherst, Northwestern(Medill), Duke, Columbia</p>

<p>p.s. This is the What are my Chances? board</p>

<p>GoldenRenaissance:</p>

<p>UCB: Match (out of state)</p>

<p>Golden, So what’s your “problem”? You have great grades, great scores. If your rank is in the top 10% you’re all set statistically. That’s your foundation; that gets your foot in the door; now you need to build the whole structure.</p>

<p>Your ECs need some fleshing out. What do you do that really, really interests you? The super selective schools and even the less selective LACs will want to know what you will contribute to the campus community, so you’ll need to use the subjective elements of your application to communicate who you are and what sets you apart from all the other high achieving applicants. </p>

<p>The subjectives are essays, recommendations, resumes, interviews. This is where you need to concentrate now. Who are you? Why would they choose you?</p>

<p>You list is all over the place in personality and environment. That’s okay at this point but you need to think about where you want to spend four years – big/small, urban/rural/suburban, arsty/sporty. Once you know what YOU want you can put together a meaningful and balanced list of reach/match/safety. </p>

<p>Also, please make sure that you’ve covered financially. Needing financial help – either need based or merit – will make a big difference in how you narrow in on your choices.</p>

<p>Good luck and let us know how you do.</p>

<p>You’re a lot like me! In fact, we have the same SAT AND ACT scores… Freaky eh? And I’m applying to Stanford too!</p>