<p>i dont see why the first or second person who replied said he had absolutely no chance at yale.</p>
<p>-GPA
-Class Rank (Valedictorians are frequently rejected)
-Highly competitive area (Southern California)</p>
<p>There is always a chance, though… but a prediction is just that, a prediction. An opinion.</p>
<p>No… Yale is a big, big reach for him - 30% max.</p>
<p>30%??? no way, more like 5%…hes not even in top ten percent of his class! he has only taken 3 ap tests. my friend had 5 ap’s, all 5’s, a 1600, a 4.0 gpa, had taken 5 different languages and had national awards in poetry. he applied EA at yale and didnt get in. if my friend gets rejected from yale, this kid probably is too. maybe less than 5% acutally if i htink about it</p>
<p>Yale: No
Brown ED: Maybe
Northwestern: Maybe
Dartmouth: Maybe
U of Chicago: Maybe
Cornell: Maybe
UCLA: Yes
UCB: Yes
UMich: Yes
NYU: Yes</p>
<p>I said max - maybe he can get the best essay and rec in the world - yet he’s chance cannot overcome that 30% line, where it shows whether an applicant has some considerable chance or not.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but I do not think that Dartmouth, Cornell and Brown are “matches.” They’re reaches for pretty much anyone, let alone someone with a comparatively weak rank, ECs and GPA. The SAT may be good, but it doesn’t make up for the other essentials.</p>
<p>Standardized testing will NEVER make up for weak grades/rank. Regardless with what people say. A person with a 3.0GPA (<top 10%)=“” and=“” a=“” 1600=“” is=“” not=“” gonna=“” get=“” into=“” harvard=“” or=“” even=“” berkeley…=“” while=“” person=“” with=“” 4.0gpa(=“”>top10%) and a 1350 will have a much better chance at Berkeley or Harvard. This is what the schools say. I’ve read a couple books by former admission’s people and they say that Standardized testing… shows how well you can do on that specific test within that time period. It can’t make up for grades… however, grades can make up for standardized tests.</top></p>
<p>I didn’t say DCB were matches…</p>
<p>High SAT + low GPA = lazy slacker in the eyes of college adcom.</p>
<p>Do you think that College admissions would give me any props for improving my performance in school? I went from a <3.5 student in Freshman/sophomore years to 4.67 in Junior Year.
And do you think I can pretty much count on Berkeley and UCLA? My UC GPA is 4.22 (not 4.3, I miscalculated)</p>
<p>p.s. my personal statement is about how I was unmotivated until I went to a Cornell summer program and then realizing how great college was and how much I wanted to go, I started working hard, and got straight A’s Junior year. What do you guys think of that?</p>
<p>Ouch. I hate to say it but that essay would make you sound pretty self-centered and unconcerned with anything but college. You want to make the college think that you are a person that is not obssessed with college… DO NOT MAKE IT ABOUT HOW BAD YOU WANT TO GO COLLEGE… thats pretty contrived and shows that you are a pretty damn boring person… if thats the reason you work so hard.</p>
<p>Let me cut to the chase: Your best chances here BY FAR are UCLA and UC Berkeley since you are from California and get that in state preference. With UCLA and UCB, its frankly nothing but a numbers game with CA residents, and by that system you are in EASY…don’t apply to either of these early decision unless you want to go there more than the others on your list. </p>
<p>As far as others are concerned, you’ll likely to get into more than you’ll get rejected from…the way I see it: Your farthest reach by far is Yale, safest bet by far is Michigan, and the others are a toss up. Analyze the schools, learn more about them, visit if you can, and apply early to your first choice.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>The problem with UCB and UCLA is class rank - in 2003, 99% of its class was from the top 10%, and 97% at UCLA. These are not happy statistics. I think you should discuss this issue with your GC - I am not familiar with the UC admissions quirks. If you are out of state for Michigan admissions is rougher - Alexandre posted instate/out of state admit rates for them on the old board - maybe you could search on it. </p>
<p>My son has a similar issue - below top 10% but with a rising trend in grades. Your SAT’s are better, his EC’s better - but it comes to the same issue of all of the parts of the app not being in good alignment. What he is doing is applying to a couple of reach schools (actually, Brown is one) just because he likes them. For the remainder of the list, he is looking at schools whose freshman class was 20% or more below top 10%, and where he is in the top quartile SAT-wise. And a couple of safeties.</p>
<p>In all, I think you should probably keep your list and just add a strong match or good safety or two. Film is probably the most specialized major - maybe find a less competitive school with a good film department as a fallback. </p>
<p>In the admissions cycle last year, it seemed like the kids that had GPA issues tended to get wait-listed - and then admitted if they kept it together. Please try to keep motivated throughout your senior year. I think that you will get into some very good schools - but if it goes down to the wire, you have to be prepared.</p>
<p>Despite what US News says, I have trouble believing those 99 & 97% in 10% figures for the UCs…statistics can VERY EASILY be tweaked and manipulated. I find it hard to believe that every member of the UCLA football or basketball team graduated in the top 10%…same goes for legacies, etc. This is to say nothing about kids who come from schools that don’t even rank. </p>
<p>I just think don’t any UCs are going to turn down an in stater with a 1500+ on the SAT’s…its not in their interest to even do so…their goal is to keep the top kids in the state. If I had to bet, I’d say he’s a shoe in for the UCs.</p>
<p>JWBlue,
I just looked at the UC admissions tables for counselors, and have a headache at this point. However, I think you may be right about tweaking the percentages. Maybe they are percentage for kids admitted under a certain eligibility standard. Unless the OP is looking for admission to one of those selective majors (like engineering), his chances instate look better than I thought.</p>
<p>in-state gives him a really good chance, i would say moreso at ucla than at ucb</p>
<p>Ohio mom,</p>
<p>Absolutely, those numbers are tweaked to apply only to a select group. I went to NYU, but I grew up in CA…so I did apply to the UCs (was accepted to UCLA and UB). I can tell you there is no way an in-stater with a 1550 on the SAT is not getting into one of these UC schools, its almost unheard of, when people with only slightly better grades with scores of 1200-1300 get in. The UC’s use a strict numerical formula for admitting CA residents, and under it, he is in.</p>
<p>Your gpa is seriously putting you behind the eight ball at a number of these schools. You are in the top 17% of your class – in other words the 83rd percentile. The following are the percentage of students in the top 10% of their class at some of the schools you are looking at:</p>
<p>Northwestern - 83% of admitted students in top 10% of graduating class
University of Chicago - 78% of admitted students in top 10% of graduating class
University of Michigan - 90% of admitted students in top 10% of graduating class
Dartmouth - 84% of admitted students in top 10% of graduating class
Cornell - 87% of admitted students in top 10% of graduating class
Brown - 87% of admitted students in top 10% of graduating class
NYU - 63% of admitted students in top 10% of graduating class
Yale - 95% of admitted students in top 10% of graduating class</p>
<p>You higher than average SAT score will somewhat balance out your relatively low class rank. Given these numbers and your SAT score, I would agree that Yale is a super reach/execptionally unlikely;
NYU and Michigan - probably matches;
Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell - reaches;
Northwestern - closer to reach than match;
University of Chicago - closer to match than Northwestern </p>
<p>Like many people outside California, I really can’t accurately assess your chances at thoses schools.</p>
<p>If the California state schools are safeties, great. If they are not safeties, then I would consider adding one or two safety schools.</p>