The Most Unpredictable Application

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>I think my application is probally one of the most difficult to chance. So many things aligned together but some things will be subject to what certain people think is important. Here it is;</p>

<p>Strong Public School, Suburban, Middle-Class
Major: Economics or Business
Dual-Ethnic: White-Asian, Son of Immigrants from Europe and Asia</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.9/4.0 or 94%. (8th: 93%, 9th: 92%, 10th: 94%, 11th: 97%)(Increasing difficulty of courseload as progressed)
<em>Unweighted Rank: Top 11% Out of a Class of about 450</em>
SAT: 2260, (740 M, 740 CR, 780 W)
SAT II’s: 800 WH, 800 USH, 770 Math II, 780 Chemistry, 630 Bio M
PSAT: 216, NMSC Commended
13 AP’s By Graduation, almost all 5’s so far (non-5’s are self-studied).</p>

<p>Recommendations: Primarily addressing my academic strength and academic passion, will be excellent. Supplemental recommendation addressing leadership and devotion to service. </p>

<p>ECs: Student Body President, Boys State (elected to state office there), National leader in several groups, some other things. Very unique, stands out. Demonstrates three things: devotion to service, political passion, and strong leadership. If anything will push me in, it’s these soft factors.</p>

<p>Essay: Unique and revealing. </p>

<p>Here’s my situation: I have a strong application in most aspects except for unweighted class rank, which is because at my school students try to go around the system and get higher ranks than they ought to deserve (taking all easy classes)(People immediatly drop AP classes when they see they can’t get a A in them). Counseler might be addressing this in the application, as it is very clear I would succeed academically at an ivy-level school, and my recommendations will be trying to make that clear by showing my academic ability more so. This is also partially the reason I’m applying to a heck load of schools - no one knows, not even my counseler or anyone, how my class rank will be taken by colleges, in terms of admissions or scholarships. Everything is in my favor except a faulty preformance freshman year, that predestined my application to be like this no matter how hard I tried from then on.</p>

<p>Everything on my list is a gamble because of the way my rank will be taken. I could get full scholarships at matches or rejection at safeties. Please make you’re own evaluations on admission chances, honors colleges, and scholarship amounts possible at schools, but please, no attacks on my schools list. I wanted to see how the best minds can predict correctly the results of my dual-natured application.</p>

<hr>

<p>Drexel University - LeBow School of Business, Honors College
Fordham University - College at Lincoln Center, Honors Program
University of Delaware - Lerner School of Business, Honors College
RPI
George Washington University - School of Business, Honors College
New York University - Stern School of Business, Business and Political Economy Program
John Hopkins University - CAS
Georgetown University - School of Business
Cornell University - Applied Economics and Management, CAS Alternate
Harvard University
Yale University [SCEA]
Columbia University
University of Pennsylvania - Wharton School of Business
University of Chicago</p>

2

<p>I don’t think your situation is unusual at all. The best indicator for your chances at the top schools is by looking at where kids with your rank and scores ended up getting accepted in the last several years, and what it took for kids to get accepted to the most selective schools. You have a good mix of colleges here and will do get into a number of them, in my opinion. As you know the more selective schools are truly up in the air as far as chances go. I have seen kids get into UPenn, Cornell, NYU, UCH with your stats, maybe even GT. HPY and Columbia, ummm, no, not without some terrific hook that makes the schools want the kid.</p>

3

<p>i think your rank is not a problem at all, your application is almost impeccable. its only 1% off from being in the top decile, and your AP courses are ridic. good luck at all your schools!</p>

<p>chance me back?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/568714-stern-ed-others-o.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/568714-stern-ed-others-o.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>actually, you have a pretty standard application.</p>

5

<p>Can anyone comment on scholarships at the various schools too? That’s what I’m worried about a lot right now too. Thanks for all your replies so far though!</p>

<p>The funny thing is that the only real difference academically / transcript wise between me and my school’s valedictorian and sal. is that they did better freshman year. Otherwise, grades basically identical lol.</p>

6

<p>Colleges won’t look at your 8th grade grades since it’s not a year in highschool. Collegs only look at your highschool grades and some even exclude your freshman(9thgrade) grades.</p>

<p>Btw great chances at all the schools besides HYP, but you still have a decent shot at their to.</p>

7

<p>As I told my own kids, the most important thing you can do is study the stats of admitted students. If 95% plus are top 10% in their class and you are not, you must have something truly exceptional to be in that 4%. As you know the top schools need impact athletes, wealthy development candidates and top minorities, they will generally be the folks who have any stat below the 25th percentile and even the 50th percentile. </p>

<p>At Dartmouth, considerably easier to get into than HYW etc., over 40% of all kids who came in with a rank were top 2, not 2%, in their class. I’ll also note that your SAT scores that count are at almost exactly the median for Dartmouth’s class of '12, meaning they would not help a kid out with your rank.</p>

<p>I would have to agree that your situation is not unusual. Kids at high schools everywhere have to play games to maintain the desired rank. What could your counselor say? Colleges know the drill.</p>

<p>There are many with below average ranks, many with below average scores and many with below average ECs applying to all these schools. In all honesty, seeing the stats on this site helps me understand that admissions are more predictable than I thought because many are applying who have very little chance based on the numbers and while there are small miracles, the numbers tell the story. </p>

<p>And one last point: most people who apply to ivies would succeed at them. With the current level of competition that is not even an issue.</p>

8

<p>@cptofthehouse: Well normally, almost everyone in the past from my school who had a lower class rank than me (~15-20%) always got into Cornell - I think Cornell just loves our school. We got a lot of people going to Yale and Harvard too, but not as many as Cornell acceptances (which usually are around 5% of the class each year). </p>

<p>I think I’ll get into Cornell, since I’m a lot stronger of an applicant than most people who got in from my school in the past, but I’d like to have more options than just that</p>

9

<p>B ump</p>

10

<p>I really don’t see how your application is “the most unpredictable.”</p>

11

<p>^ How does a bad rank mix with an otherwise stellar and unique application? That’s the question. Some schools might give me full scholarships will others will go nuts on me, that’s what I mean.</p>

<p>Can someone comment on scholarships and honors programs please?</p>

12

<p>LOL, CC has gotten to you! The top 11% is not a ‘bad rank.’ Wake up! :slight_smile: </p>

<p>While some of your qualifications are unique, certainly Student Body President or a Boys State office (which is a popularity contest, though pretty cool - I’m a Girls State alumna myself) is not ‘unique.’</p>

13

<p>^ I didn’t explain my two other EC"s which are very unique, but they are, just they are complicated so I didnt want to elaborate on them. Boys State and SG Pres are supplemental to those.</p>

<p>Well, 11% is a bad rank in my eyes seeing that in my school all the competition is between me and the #1, #2, and #3 in my class, since we all earn the same grades and awards and scores. (freshman year…) </p>

<p>If there was no freshman year I’d be ranked prob around #15 / 450, even unweighted</p>

14

<p>Well, if you’ve got those unique ECs, go for it! :slight_smile: More power to you.</p>

<p>But I will reiterate that the top 11% is certainly not a bad rank. It’s posts like these that make other CCers afraid to post!</p>

15

<p>Well, for scholarships at schools that base it all on numbers it is. I really wanted full-rides to some places, because my family is financially strained so we were hoping for either big scholarships or great financial aid at top schools, but now it looks like I’ll have to graduate in huge debt cause my family will pay the price tag and aren’t willing to sacrifice a top college experience but can’t get into the good financial aid schools or get good scholarships…so yea, we are all really depressed by this. My mom summed it up - “one point cost us perhaps $80,000”</p>

16

<p>I hope your mother didn’t actually say that to you - that seems like an awful thing to say to a kid. Don’t stress about it. You’re above average. </p>

<p>If you are that concerned about financial aid, please look at some lower-tier schools where you KNOW you can get in with a good sum of money. I am from a low-income home myself and I’ve attempted to mix tiers.</p>

17

<p>Thing is, every college has some people from the top 10%. That means that every one of those people would get that money before me. In my last chances thread before my rank came out people predicted I would get full tutition scholarships at a lot of these places…now I’m not sure, since this rank is like throwing an asteroid at it.</p>

<p>And yes, she did say that, which is why I’m so worried now</p>

18

<p>Please don’t listen to your mother.</p>

<p>Getting good money at Ivies is possible because of your low-income status (if you’re truly low-income, of course :)). </p>

<p>Top-tier schools are a crapshoot for anyone. People with perfect test scores have been rejected just as soon as people with the equivalent of a 1 on their ACT. Chill.</p>

19

<p>NY Dem, your 1% is not the only thing that is going to be the thing that costs you a scholarship or admission to a top school. There are kids who have awesome things that are admitted who are not in the top 10%. On a purely academic basis, the very top schools really are interested in the top 1-3 students, forget the %s . So you are not even close if it comes to that. Also if you don’t want huge debt and huge family prices, look at the thread for full ride scholarships. You are certainly a prime candidate for those. You are in good shape to get into most of the colleges in the US and many can be very generous to you.</p>

20

<p>Frankly, not getting into HYP or any other Ivy or Ivy-caliber schools is not the END OF THE WORLD. Funding is limited and it can only be doled out to so many people. </p>

<p>I know this may not seem like a comfort to you, as you seem very intent on complaining about your excellent stats, but it comes across as whiny and arrogant. There are people (who have experienced significant tragedies) on these forums who wish they could be close to the first decile. </p>

<p>It is not life-changing. I think it seems reasonably unfair/arrogant to think you were a top candidate for full-rides at Ivies. </p>

<p>If I sound angry or rude, it is only because I am frustrated. I want you to understand that there are more important things than a name.</p>