Hey guys. Don’t stress over what people say your chances are. Just so you guys know, I asked about mine when I was in that position, and was told that my top choice was a high reach. I proceeded to get into that high reach. Don’t expect to get in, but don’t be so discouraged to the point where you don’t apply. The most important thing in the process that you can do senior year is to put a lot of effort into your admissions essays and to not overstress yourself senior year. If you have a top choice and you can do it, apply early decision. Good luck to you all! Feel free to PM me with questions or respond here if you guys want advice.
I looked at your last Chance thread that you posted and virtually every reply was mildly positive to very positive about your chances. So…
Most called Cornell a reach. Did just look back and saw just reach not high reach, so my bad on that. Point of this was basically to say not to get discouraged.
There are people on this board who call a school a “reach” for everyone just based on it’s % acceptance rate. I don’t think that makes much sense, personally.
I think it’s important to be realistic, though. I think that there are some ranges that applicants generally fall into:
- Meet the broad academic criteria for a given school (25-75th percentile) but don't have anything that makes them stand out (hooks or outstanding ECs). These people should certainly apply and put together their best application together, but should be realistic. That doesn't mean they should give up hope, but they shouldn't put all their dreams on an acceptance.
- Applicants who have outstanding qualifications, +/- hooks. These are above the 50th percentile and hopefully at or above the 75th percentile for a given school, have good reasons why that school is a fit for them, have outstanding ECs or personal attributes that make them distinctive, and may also have some mild hooks. These applicants are generally encouraged, with the caveat that holistic admissions is a crapshoot, and no one has a crystal ball to predict what will happen. There are people who I feel pretty confident about getting in to even the elite schools, but I'm generally going to be cautious about saying that given the unpredictability of the process.
- Applicants who have major holes or flaws in their background. These are applicants who are below the 25th percentile on tests or GPA, and/or who have little or no ECs: "I have a 3.0 GPA and a 1600 SAT (all 3 tests) and I'm bad at math, but I really want to go to MIT. What are my chances?" These are people who need to re-think how realistic they are being, and whether applying to such a school is a good use of their time and money, and whether these schools are good fits for them at all. That's not to say that they have 0% chance of getting admitted if they do apply, but it's a major longshot. As @Falcon1 has noted in another thread, applicants who don't have the academic qualifications to suggest that they would be handle the workload at a school really shouldn't be focusing on whether they can get in.
I usually try to triage applicants and give them some advice about how they might improve their chances, rather than saying “match” vs. “reach” or trying to put a % number on their chances. In some cases, you have to tell people that they are setting their sights too high. I don’t think you’re doing any favors for someone who simply isn’t remotely qualified by giving them false hope.
In your case, your were a URM with strong curricular rigor, fairly ordinary ECs, borderline ACT and slightly low UW GPA. I would have said you fell into category #1, except that as a URM you had a hook. As such, I doubt that it was a waste of your money applying to any of the schools on your list, and I would have expected you to get into several good ones. I think Stanford was a bit of a long shot, but it wouldn’t have entirely shocked me if you had gotten in. Cornell was a reasonable target with the caveat mentioned under #2 above. I would expect that you will do just fine there.
I also think it’s important for people to remind themselves that life doesn’t end with college acceptance or rejection. The person who simply isn’t qualified for Ivy admission may just be a late bloomer or someone who needed time to mature. They can go somewhere else and do well and potentially transfer, or get into a top graduate/professional school. They may be better off going to a less competitive school that gives them time to find themselves. This is all just one step on the path.
I don’t think it’s wasted money for anyone whose stats are in the ballpark. I never thought my kid would make it, but she did. So that was time and money well spent.
I suspect a lot of chance threads are not posted to help with that decision. Kids want something else. Maybe reassurance.
What kind of reassurance? You can’t give admittance reassurance where it’s not warranted.
You often see good (and what should be reassuring) alternate advice given here, but many of the CC students only want to hear one thing.