Non Cracked Out Kid Trying His Best [Reach Heavy] [NC resident, 3.9 GPA, 1540 SAT, finance or economics]

Chance Me / Match Me
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  • US Citizen
  • State/Location of residency: North Carolina
  • Type of high school: Non Feeder Large Public
  • Other special factors: N/A

**Cost Constraints / Budge: None

**Intended Major(s): Finance/Econ

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted: 3.9
Weighted: 4.42 (Weighted on 5.0 - Standard Class 4.0, Honors 4.5, AP/IB 5.0)

Class Rank: Close to top 10% out of 800
SAT Scores: 1540 (780 Math - 760 R&W Retesting September

List your HS coursework

(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)

Junior Year
AP Lang: 4
AP Precalc: 4
AP Gov: 5
AP HUG: 5
APUSH: 4
AP CSP: 4
AP Micro: 4

Senior Year
AP Calc
AP Stats
AP Macro
AP Research
AP World
AP Lit
IB Biz Man
IB Global Politics

3 Years of Spanish
All other basics covered
Awards
AP Scholar with Distinction

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)

Economic Development Intern at the Davidson College Hurt Hub (11–12): Built an AI/data web tool withfor local counties for ; presented to leadership execs and boards of economic development; tool is in use for strategy. (~7 hrs/wk, 10 wks/yr)

Founder, Youth Sports Charity (11–12): Raised ~$3.5k; served ~250+ kids; full ops/partnerships led solo. (~3 hrs/wk, 16 wks/yr)

Soccer (9–10): 12 Years of National-level academy/league; multi-year starter; regional titles; international tournament team selection. global and nationally ranked competitions

Volunteer Coach, Youth Golf (12): Led 6-week program/camps for ~180 kids.

Competitive Golf (10–12): Self-coached to ~4 handicap in ~15 months using video/analytics; tournament placements.

Full-Stack Projects (12): Three AI-powered sites (econ-dev tool, SAT practice platform, charity site).

Work (11): Range operations at local golf facility; equipment/machinery/customer support.

Business Dev Intern (12): Prospecting analysis for B2B firm; generated qualified leads; helped struggling company manage development

Essays/LORs/Other
*(Essay theme: “Learning how to learn” — diagnose → design method → iterate → ship results; ties golf analytics + coding systems to academic rebound (9–10th weaker course load → strong rise seen in 11th and 12th).

Recs: Very strong
-Local buisness leaders in the area
-Great Teacher Recs
-Economic Development Heads
(All can speak to growth, rigor, initiative)

Spike/Angle: Self-driven builder with measurable outcomes (tools adopted; programs launched; athletic self-mastery), feel as though whole profile fits together (EC’s, grades, scores) all show growth and ability to learn and master skills.

Schools
ED: Duke (Econ/Stat-Econ route; IB placement ecosystem).

Super Reach: Stanford, Georgetown, Penn

Reach: Notre Dame, UVA, Emory, Northwestern, UMich, Vandy

Target: UNC, Wake, Villanova, Indiana, Davidson (Much better chances with legacy and internship there)

Safety: Penn State, Illinois, UofSC (Moore) , NC State, Wisconsin

(I understand that this list is extremely reach heavy, and my targets are still difficult)

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Congrats on a fine record. Check each school for LORs. You likely won’t need all you plan to get.

Wake is likely a reach.

While IU Kelley is changing its admission strategy, I’d feel good about that one. They need to admit a lot of kids - it’s a huge school - so even if they tighten up, your stats put you in a good place.

I think your safeties for business are more low targets - except NC State.

Would you be happy at State ? If so, the list is fine. You’ll have at least several admits I think, if not more.

Good luck.

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What does “not cracked out kid” mean in your subject?

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And some of your safeties aren’t really safeties. Wisconsin, Penn State, and Illinois are targets at best. In state at NCState might be safer.

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Why aren’t you pursuing soccer recruiting?? From your description, you would be a plausible recruit at some of your reaches, especially as one of them is D3.

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I think you’ll get into all your safeties, most of your targets and maybe a reach.

You’ll have 8-12 choice in the spring with some instate/out of state and public/private options.

You’re going to do great things and my gut is that your energy beast matches one of the big publics.

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I see 20 applications. That’s a lot. Maybe keep 2 safeties. NC State and South Carolina. Your other safeties are probably targets being OOS.

UVA uses holistic admissions into the B school. You could do everything right and still not gain admission. Econ would be an option but Econ is not the same as business.

If you’re interested in IB maybe add NYU? Fordham Gabelli would probably be a safety/target. It’s well regarded and it’s in NYC. You could remove a few targets.

I think you’ll have a few good choices next spring. Good luck.

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OP: Are you being recruited for soccer ?

Do you want to play soccer during your college years ?

Have you been in contact with the soccer coach at Duke ?

Assuming that you are not being recruited for soccer, then your chances are unclear as some schools may wait-list you in order to protect their yield numbers and your reach schools are likely to have many applicants with the non-athletic qualifications that you have shared.

My best guess is that you will be admitted to Duke and to U Michigan.

Also likely to be offered admission to UNC, Indiana, WFU, Davidson, Penn State, NC State, Illinois, & Wisconsin.

Villanova is a tougher call.

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Just curious - what’s the thought behind yes to Duke but Nova a tough call?

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Applying ED to Duke as a well qualified North Carolina resident. While Duke has no stated preference for residents of North Carolina, I believe that NC is the state with the highest number of students (15%) at Duke. (However, Duke does offer scholarships specifically reserved for low income residents of North Carolina.)

Villanova may be an issue of yield protection unless a very convincing application is submitted. Villanova is a very popular school with growing popularity.

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“Cracked” basically means someone with an incredibly strong background and abilities, far above the average excellent applicant. My feeling is that this student is saying that they may feel they are a strong applicant but not in the cracked category.

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Look at the cool cat @tamagotchi knowing the current lingo !!

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Thank you.

I have to LOL as I thought that OP was bragging about being drug free.

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Great record - some minor weaknesses may be a lack of an AP science class (Phys/Chem/Bio) for rounding the record and the dominance of the 4’s over the 5’s (probably a non-issue). Duke would also be a high reach and UNC/Wake/Villanova are probably reaches.

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Thank you for the response, I would also agree that my safeties may not be as much of a guarantee as many would like, however, I would love to know whether you believe that school itself is more of a target, or just admission to the buisness school.

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While I may be fit for some sort of lower level collegiate play, I stopped play almost two years ago. So at this point, any idea of being recruited has long since gone.

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Most likely should have clarified that in the post :joy:

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When you say keep two safeties, would your move to be just scratch them and apply to 3 fewer schools, or would your idea be to add some variety (safer schools) to my list of reach and targets?

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I think you are getting caught up in the nomenclature. A reach is a reach. What’s the difference between a reach and a super reach? However you slice it, you’ve got a lot of reaches. And are you thinking Penn Arts and Sciences for Econ, or Wharton? They are different. Very different.

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While all the schools are still most certainly “Reaches” the schools identified as “Super Reaches” are schools I think I have far less of a chance of getting in, but am still throwing up the half court shot for them. Rather than a say a UVA, Mich, or Notre Dame, whos acceptance rate, while still awfully low, is a couple times greater than the sub 5% seen at the “Super Reach” schools.