Princeton or cosmetology school?

What Are My Chances?
#1

<p>Just kidding. No offense to cosmetology school. </p>

<p>My stats:</p>

<p>State: NC
Rank: 3/333, end of semester 1/~325
SAT I: 770V, 730M
SAT II: 800 U.S. History, 760 Math IC, 760 Writing, 720 Math IIC (ugh)
Activites:
*National History Day, finalist at nationals (10), state (10-11), and regionals (10-11), various special prizes for writing, primary sources, state entry
*Debate Team: Club president, turned into team, founded NFL Chapter, won first tournament in OO
*Internship at major local newspaper (staff writer)
*Summer session at a top 5 university
*Yearbook: Business manager, staff won best state book
*Online newspaper: Founder and editor
*Choir: multi-state tours, loads of concerts, plays
*Student council: constitution writer, 3 year rep.
*Various boring volunteering, sports, National Merit, awards for grades, scholarship nominations, who cares</p>

<p>Essay stuff: Interviewing Pat Buchanan, an ambassador, various White House officials for NHD (as well as quirky stories from my work on the project), and how my father once lied about his background which caused me to reflect on what it's like to be a first gen. college student (it's complicated to explain); other shorts on my journalism experience and my adventures writing humor columns for fun (300 pages!)</p>

<p>My question: Everyone else applying to these schools is fantastic. How do I stand out? What should I do for RD as far as presenting myself?</p>

<p>Schools (other than my back-ups): Stanford (EA), Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Duke, Wash U, and Northwestern</p>

<p>I have yet to send off my apps to Duke and the Ivy Triumverate.</p>

#2

<p>At Duke you're a shoo-in, because you live in North Carolina. They have a quota of North Carolinians to meet, and so they end up taking weaker candidates. You're a very strong candidate, so you have nothing to worry about there.</p>

<p>At WashU and Northwestern I think you are an extremely strong candidate.</p>

<p>At HYPS you are iffy. No offense, but it's a bit of a toss-up there. At Dartmouth, I would say your chances are somewhat better than at HYPS. Dartmouth is a realistic Ivy that you're applying to.</p>

<p>Honestly, you have to make your EC's seem more interesting, because they don't seem like huge committments, at least in my view. </p>

<p>Joey</p>

#3

<p>Good list. HYPS I would say it could go either way. Dartmouth is a very realistic match, and you are in Duke from NC. Northwestern and WUSTL are a lock. Maybe one of HYPS if you get good applications, but at worst you will end up choosing between all the others.</p>

#4

<p>Thanks! That's actually what I thought! I don't care about Harvard, Yale, or Princeton as much as Stanford, but I applied early to Stanford...do you think there's any hope? I probably will end up at Duke. Good comment on the ECs ... any more suggestions for what to fix?</p>

#5

<p>I totally agree, stanford is amazing. Good luck, but you never know how it goes. I think there is a 75% chance you will get into Dartmouth and Duke (and the others) and will end up choosing between these. Not a bad place to be though : )</p>

#6

<p>"Princeton or cosmetology school?"</p>

<p>ha! think you can trick people into reading your thread, eh?! very clever....
.... but you know what? you'll just end up with thousands of "reads" and very few "posts"</p>

<p>Good luck! Everyone stands a chance. :D</p>

#7

<p>Of course I tried to trick people. And I actually agree with you about where I'll get in. I was just wondering my chances for the unreachables and how to improve them. Also, does applying early action even matter? Thanks a bunch.</p>

#8

<p>Also note that by my last comment I was asking if when you say my chances are iffy or it could go either way does this translate as, "50/50 shot" or "this is a nice way of saying there's very little hope?"</p>