5.09 GPA? How is that possible?
“I was the only sophomore who showed any ambition to her”
Not to be weird or anything, but how would you know that? Out of 500 students?
Why are you not applying for financial aid?
@yummyGumballs
My district inflated grades by .2 GPA points, so I should have a 4.89. Do you think this will negatively affect me?
@curlypie99
She said that I was the only sophomore that showed a drive/iniative, people usually don’t even talk to her during as a sophomore and they usually wait for am junior. Sorry i worded that wrong
@superbowser12
I actually did. I copy and pasted the format from one of the decision threads, but I forgot to change the no to a yes. Oops 
sorry
Just curious, out of Harvard Yale Stanford and Princeton, what do y’all think I could most likely get into? Which atmosphere do I fit into best? Looking for: good men’s volleyball program, suburban college town within a 5 hour train ride from a big city, rad fraternities, and snow.
First of all, wow, this is impressive! 
Harvard: good chance
Stanford: good chance
Yale: good chance
Princeton: high chance
Duke: high chance
Columbia: high chance
Brown: very high chance
MIT: good chance
UPenn: very high chance
John Hopkins: very high chance
Cornell: very high chance
UC Berkeley: match
USC: match
UCSD: match
UCLA: match
UC’s have a pretty abnormal acceptance system, so it’s almost impossible to know, but this is so impressive I’m pretty sure you got into at LEAST one. For the Ivy’s, I’m sure you got into Brown or UPenn. The rest are hard to say.
@JustPostingOnce As much as I think you have a great chance, worry about the fit of the school till you get the actual results. No point in thinking which college is the best for you when you don’t know if you are accepted to school yet.
You are right. I just thought chancing would be a way for me to see what I might get into and maybe marrow my choice.
Thank you all for your input!
Please tell me you didn’t just apply to these 10 universities, which are all considered “reaches” if not “reaches for everyone” due to acceptance numbers?
Or did you try this risky strategy because you’re fine taking a gap year?
@MYOS1634
If it comes down to it and I don’t get accepted into any of these, I guess I will have to do community college for undergrad
Hopefully I get into UCSD though
I don’t think it’ll happen because your resume is wow, but it’d be quite a let-down if you went to community college - although ELC should guarantee you a UC within your region, or, if all fails, through the statewide path and UCMerced.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/local-path/
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/admissions-index/index.html
I don’t see any way that you could get rejected from every college. I think you will get accepted to at LEAST 5 of those colleges. I would probably say around 8-12 of them. All of your EC’s, you being 2nd in a class of 500, and your essay will probably benefit you a lot.
Thank you! Hopefully it does not happen. I would be regretting my choice for a while XD.
Thank you everyone for your feedback! In two weeks I will know where I’ll be for the next 4 years of my life…
So scared
I think you definitely will get into one of the Ivies. We all know they are a crapshoot; You have the application for any college. Sit back and relax; you deserve it. Good luck!
Off topic, but if your income bracket is 60k, why didn’t you apply for FA? How are you paying for these?
It isn’t likely you’ll get shut out of all the Ivies as well as Stanford, MIT, Duke and Hopkins, but it is possible. I like that you have very solid backup with the UCs and Southern Cal. Individually, here’s how I see them in terms of difficulty for you:
Harvard - Reach
Yale - Reach
Princeton - Reach
Stanford - Reach
MIT - Reach
Columbia - Reach
UPenn - Low Reach
Duke - Low Reach
Brown - Low Reach
Cornell - Low Reach/High Match
Hopkins - Low Reach/High Match
Berkeley - High Match/Match
USC - High Match/Match
UCLA - Match
UCSD - Low Match
If I were you I’d maybe consider adding another low reach/high match school – maybe Northwestern, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Washington U, Rice or Vanderbilt – and removing one of your true reaches. HYPSM and Columbia are quite different schools. You might not actually enjoy your time at a school if all that appeals to you is its name recognition/prestige, so make sure you only apply to schools that strike you as places you wouldn’t mind attending. You don’t get those four years back; make sure you choose places where you’ll enjoy those years.
Also, if your list lacks a financial safety, you should consider adding one. A financial safety is a school you are 100% certain you can afford.
@donut1638 Thank you for your help! Means a lot right now is a bit stressful XD
@Katecat27 I did, I just totally forgot to change it in the post. I copy and pasted the format from another thread, but forgot to change the no to a yes when I changed the other things. Sorry for the confusion!
@prezbucky yeah, that would be my worst nightmare. I like how my safety school though is so close to where I live and that I actually had one of the best programs for my intended major in the country! I mostly applied to all of these with the intent on getting into at least a few, then doing major research and finding the one that fits me the absolute best. (Not sure if this was a good strategy) I’ve visited Harvard, Stanford, UC Berk, and USC, and I love the atmosphere, while the prestige and medical forte is a plus. I applied to Duke for their biomedical engineering, John Hopkins and Yale for their medical, but I don’t really know their atmosphere. Before I actually listed my achievements, USC was my dream and I loved the atmosphere and went there many times. It is also where I can be close to my family. However, when I found out that it was sort of a match school, I decided to apply, allured by the prestige, to all of these schools knowing that if I researched and I didn’t like them, I could fall back on USC.
Just curious, what do you mean by “true reach” as opposed to reach? Do you think I still have a chance at my reaches, and am I a unique applicant or all of my ECs similar or lackluster? Thank you so much for your input, it really helps me and gives me something to do.
Just a bit on your fit…
“Looking for: good men’s volleyball program, suburban college town within a 5 hour train ride from a big city, rad fraternities, and snow”
Snow: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Columbia, UPenn, Duke, Brown, Cornell, and Hopkins all have it. Some of them will make you hate it though. Boston and Durham (Duke) are notorious for awful weather.
Fraternities: USC blows everyone else out of the water. Duke, Stanford, and UCLA have good parties. The rest are all meh.
Big City: Everywhere but Duke, Stanford, Princeton, and Cornell are in urban environments, but are certainly not isolated. However, most of the urban campuses serve an oasis (definitely not Penn, Columbia, or UCLA though).
Volleyball: USC is dominant, a lot of them are Olympians. UCLA and Stanford are pretty good too. Not sure about the rest.
@ThisOneKid
This helps me so much! Thank you
By “true reach” I simply meant to exclude Low Reach schools from that sentence; which is to say, I meant to include only Reach schools.
To me, a Reach is a school at which a student’s admissions chances are 15% or lower. Schools like HYPSM, Chicago and Columbia are said to be reaches for everyone (without a major hook at least), and I’ve seen no reliable evidence to dispute such a claim. Most of the people applying are superstar students with strong applications - like you - so at a school that admits 5-10% of all applicants, it’s really hard to say that anyone’s chances are twice as high as the average applicant’s. That’s why they’re referred to as reaches for everyone.
I think of a Low Reach as a school where an applicant has a 15-25% chance of acceptance.
High Match: 25-40%
Match: 40-60%
You get the idea. If the UCs are in-state for you, you’re almost certain to get into at least one of them. All of the schools on your list are quality schools offering excellent undergraduate teaching. Visit those that accept you (if you can) and pick the best fit for you based on things like finances, academics, culture, surrounding city/area, and weather.