A little help, please

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>hey. Thanks in advance for the help.</p>

<p>Anyway, I am applying to some high end schools and was wondering if you could help me.</p>

<p>My choices are (in this order):</p>

<p>stanford
yale
MIT
Columbia
Duke
Vanderbilt
University of Pennsylvania (Where my brother attends)</p>

<p>The list will likely grow, but if you have any suggestions, that would be nice too.</p>

<p>About me:
Moderately prestigious private school (best in Indiana, not saying much)</p>

<p>GPA
Freshman and Sophomore year: 3.8
Junior Year: 3.6</p>

<p>APs:
Computer Science A: 4
Calculus AB: 5
Chemistry: 5
Macro and Micro Econ: 5 and 5
Statistics: 5
Awaiting results on Calc BC, Spanish, English, Comb Sci B, APUS, Physics C Mechanics and E&M, English Language, English Lit.
(every course I took this year was an AP)</p>

<p>SAT:
Math: 790
CR: 800
Writing: 690 (ouch)
SAT II's:
Math 2: 800
US hist: 770 (ouch again)</p>

<p>ACT: 34</p>

<p>4 Varsity Letters in Lacrosse and Soccer, captain of both teams
Student Council committee leaders freshman and soph. year, this year Vice president, next year, treasurer
writer and editor for newspaper
various academic competitions: Science Bowl, Brain Game, Academic Superbowl, etc. 2nd in state for all, captain of brain game</p>

<p>briefly worked at williams sonoma (over winter vacations)
worked repairing computers for 1 summer</p>

<p>over 400 hours volunteering at local Emergency Room. Certified EMT (Emergency Medical Technician), approx. 600 hours volunteering overall</p>

<p>I can be guaranteed 1 outstanding recommendation, the others are iffy, but probably positive if i behave.</p>

<p>Few Questions:
1) what are my chances? be brutally honest.
2) being indian. does it hurt me?
3) I have 1 summer to improve my chances. Please help me. I'm pretty desperate to get in my top choices. what can i do?</p>

<p>once again, thanks in advance for any help you can give.</p>

2

<p>sry. I forgot a few things:</p>

<p>I am in a 2 year research program at out school for basically honors students, at the end of which I will give a preso (colleges sem to like this)</p>

<p>also, a few awards for community leadership, academics, etc. </p>

<p>our school doesn't rank, but if they did I would be around 15 of 100 (with the hardest course load in the school, however)</p>

<p>national merit commendation so far, well see how i fare.</p>

3

<p>First understand that no matter what you do, Yale, Stanford, MIT, and Columbia may not take you. They turn down even perfect test scores and great students. You really need to go read the posts from 15 Dec (EA) and 01 Apr (RD) for the school you are interested in. A lot of people posted their stats and their accept/reject status at each school. That said, you have a shot at the lottery, but I would place your chances at the top 4 at no better than 5%. You need two outstanding recs, I mean really high. You need to get the writing score up. You need one more SAT II over 750. There is little you can do at this point to increase your leadership. You medical EC is great.</p>

4

<p>bandit makes some valid points, but 5% chance? Personally i think its much better than that. The average applicant at these schools has roughly a 15-20% chance and i consider this poster well above average. That being said, bandit is right, you do need two amazing recs but other than that, your looking pretty good. Strong courseload, great SAT and SAT II scores (i wouldn't worry about the writing score), great AP scores, and solid ECs. Your no shoe-in, but you've got as good a chance as any, i would guess.</p>

5

<p>oh, and about being Indian (Asian Indian i presume.) Don't even mention it because it could hurt you and has NO chance at helping you. You're not required to tell them: so don't.</p>

6

<p>The average applicant at Yale this year had a 9.1% chance. Subtract out the recruited athletes, URMs, legacies, and developmental cases. That leaves maybe 5% for about 10,000 kids with stats as good as his. There are 1310 spots (maybe less since they over slotted this year). To get to a 20% chance would take some very exceptional circumstances. I don't see them here.</p>

7

<p>anyone have any other suggestions other than are on my list? good matches? safeties? I am interested basically in a liberal arts education.</p>

<p>Also, more input on my chances would be nice...</p>

<p>thanks</p>

8

<p>waitt...why would being indian hurt someone in college admissions.. i thought they looked for diversity and it helped??????????</p>

9

<p>He's not American Indian. The Indian sub-continent is over-represented in the international pool, and the international pool is small.</p>

10

<p>bandit_TX, first off stop being so harsh. Second what are you thinking??? You said that 9.1% of applicants are accepted to Yale which is true, but then you went on to say that after subtracting out athletes, URM, and legacies that left less than a 5% chance. So are you trying to say that nearly half of the students at top tier schools are under-qualified? Last I checked 5% is only 55% of 9.1%. Are you saying that 45% of the class does not fully deserve to be there? Well, I surly disagree.</p>

11

<p>First, no one said that a football player can't have a 1600 SAT, did they? Or how about the oboe player that scored 1570 with 3 SATs over 750? Or the URM with a 1590 this year? Or the legacies with great scores and amazing ECs (because they can afford it?)? And yes, you will find athletes in the 1300-1400's, and URMs, and legacies, and developmental cases. Are they qualified, of course. Do they get preference over a 1550 that doesn't fit in any of these categories, of course they do. 49% of Yale's class of 2009 was filled with EA kids and a great many fit the 'hooked' category. A good many more in the RD round fit there as well. Are they all qualified, you bet. Are they better qualified than any of the unhooked kids? Maybe, maybe not. I'm not being harsh at all. What I'm trying to do is establish some realism for the 2010 applicants so we don't have another round of kids sitting out a year because they can't spell safety (or don't know what one is). Or kids that are broken hearted because the guidance counselor in high school of 300 kids tells them she's never seen a better qualified applicant and she's a dead lock to get in to HYP (this is a kid with a 1410, the highest in HS history, and ECs like cheerleader and NHS). </p>

<p>Frankly, a 3.6 GPA is not going to look good in the pool of Yale applicants. Neither is a 690 writing, and that may well be reflected in the essay as well. Top 15% isn't exactly Yale range either. The ECs are very good, but they will blend right in behind the Intel and Westinghouse finalist and the Stuy grads. No one is saying he has no chance, but that chance is small in the Yale pool, as are most. I say again, go do your research. Read the old posts. Go find the stats website and read.</p>

12

<p>Bandit could not be more correct. About half the class at top schools are comprised of hooked candidates: athletes, URMs, legacies, kids of the rich and famous, prodigies. Unqualified? No. Differently qualified is more to the point. This does leave the unhooked with about a 5% chance at schools like Yale.</p>