Reverse Chance Me?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Caucasian junior male from competitive public high school in VA that doesn’t rank.

GPA: 4.0 scaled uw with all of the hardest classes taken, top 10% unweighted

ACT: 35 C

EC: varsity sport, president of 2 clubs, internship over summer, NHS, multiple awards

Letters of rec: I’ve asked two teachers that know me very well and love me.

Essays should be good

I know some of this info is a little vague, but could you reverse chance me? Thanks!

Interested in economics/business and money is not an issue. I don’t need any aid. I’m looking for only private schools.

2

Your stats make you competitive for the Ivies, but your ECs don’t seem extraordinary. What are your awards in? Do you have a passion in a specific field? With the vast majority of Ivy applicants having stats like you, it really falls on your ECs, letters of recommendations, and essays to set you apart. I’d say you have decent chances if you write fantastic essays for ED to, say, Cornell or Penn.

3

Thanks @doorrealthe! My EC’s are good and I have a hook but I don’t want to share in here for privacy reasons.

4

Are you sure your hook is a hook? Being hooked means that either you are a URM, legacy, donor, first-generation college student, or a recruited athlete. Having a good EC is not a hook

5

@perspectivestude - without a hook your chances at Ivies and equivalents will be the same as the published acceptance rate as your stats are excellent, but no different than every other non-hooked applicant.

6

@doorrealthe oh then I just have a very good EC/story not listed. But I also am double legacy at northwestern university as both my parents and grandparents attended. Do you think I could get I here ED?

7

@Chembiodad statistically speaking, shouldn’t my chances be slightly higher due to the fact that not everyone who applies has high stats?

8

Generally the applicant pools are self-selecting. Yes, there are some unhooked applicants that don’t profile in the top-2% that apply anyways, but it’s a small group.

Hooked applicants are as high as 80% of acceptances at top schools today. Let’s look at Williams this year: at least 50% were URM and First-Gen, add in another 10% student athletes and 10% legacy - that leaves 20-30% for all others who almost uniformly scored 35-36 on ACT, 4.0 GPA and had great EC’s.

9

Double legacy is definitely a hook. If you love Northwestern than I say go for it! You’d have a good chance

10

Yes, double legacy may help assuming they attended as undergraduates. That said, our twin DD’s have a friend who profiled, was a double legacy at Cornell and he was waitlisted in ED and then denied, so nothing’s certain. Based on your profile, this is where I think a good mix of reaches, targets and safeties will fall - reaches (top-15 universities and top-5-7 LAC’s), targets (top-25 uni’s and top-20 LAC’s) and safeties (top-35 uni’s and top-30 LAC’s).

11

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! Anymore possibly?

12

Yes, with stats like yours, you’ll be in the running anywhere. But, as others have suggested, it’s tough getting into a top college without a hook of some kind – just very, very competitive. So apply to lots of great schools and a few reaches. And, yes, as a double legacy with those stats, I would think you’d have a very good shot at Northwestern. Where do YOU want to go?

13

I’ve visited many schools and fell in love with many. Personally, NU is my favorite with their academic environment and social life.

14

Then the stars have aligned. Best of luck.

15

WoW! Your stats are really great! I think you are competitive for most of the colleges in the U.S. Any colleges in your mind?

16

I’m not really sure yet, maybe colleges that are Ivy League caliber but not Ivy League. I despise the Ivy League vehemently, but that is for another time to discuss.

17

@perspectivestude, how about some of the other top universities such as Chicago, Duke, Rice, Vanderbilt, Wash U?

18

As an unhooked applicant, I think your chances lie with your ability to craft a compelling narrative. As a previous poster mentioned, your chances are roughly the same as the published acceptance rate (without considering your interesting EC). As a legacy, Northwestern would be a fair match. Even though you hate the Ivy League, I’d suggest looking into Wharton, as well as:

Emory (high match)
Carnegie Mellon (low reach)
UNC Chapel Hill (med match as an oos applicant)
Duke (low reach)
NYU Stern (match)
UC Berkely (low reach)
MIT Sloan (reach)
UChicago (reach)

Good luck!
Chance me back?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20690403

19

Thanks everyone! I just don’t like the way most Ivy leaguers act. They all seem to act ostentatiously. Regarding the other top unis, I would love to go to any one of them!!!