Gonna keep it short. I’ve done chance threads before but now that I’ve actually applied… I applied to:
Harvard (legacy; mom is interviewer), Brown (deferred ED), Pomona, WashU (interview went well & applying to two scholarships), Tufts, Berkeley, and Cal Poly SLO (already accepted to NEU).
Stats:
-4.0 GPA UW, 4.79 W, 4.5 UCGPA
-34 superscore (36E 33M 31R 34S 30W) scored 32 both times
-highest course rigor
-4 on APES and Lang even though my school doesn’t offer APs
ECs:
-freerunning (highest ranked athlete, ~18 hrs/wk) coach also
-on Olympic committee of freerunners that confers w/ the International Olympics Committee to make freerunning an Olympic sport (conferences held seasonally)
-music (piano/vibes, ~5 hrs/week)
-jazz band (perform often)
-acting (improv team captain & act in short films and commercials ~5 hrs/wk)
-photo club president (~5 hrs/wk)
-student body president in 9th grade, representative in 10th and 11th, senior leadership president this year
-astronomy club vp (took astronomy at CC & sent transcript to all of my colleges)
-community service ~350 hrs (do environmental volunteering and volunteer coaching for freerunning)
-in key cub and nhs
Essay: about how freerunning has allowed me to embrace my curiosity & allowed me to share my ideas with others. I think it’s a unique subject that conveys a good message and shows a lot about who I am
Recs: one 10/10, one 9/10, GC 9/10 or 10/10 (talked about freerunning and knows me well cuz I go to a small school). Thanks in advance for the input!
Harvard - Reject (Accept if your family has donated heavily to the university)
Brown - Reject (Only a few get accepted after being deffered)
Pomona - Reject
WashU- Reject
Tufts - Accept or Waitlist
Berkeley - Accept
SLO - Accept
@yalehopeful017 Actually, Tufts, WashU, and Pomona all superscore the ACT; Brown only looks at highest subscores across test dates. So I actually have a 34 at all those schools (a computer superscores so admissions only see my highest subs). Harvard is my only reach that doesn’t superscore. Yeah, I know Harvard is a reach no matter what. If my mom didn’t go/ didn’t work as an interviewer, I probably wouldn’t have bothered applying.
Could u actually do the reject/accept/waitlist thing knowing which schools superscore now?
Yeah totally!
Harvard: Reject
Brown: This one is a little iffy…your odds of getting in apparently shoot down once you’re deferred…I’m just going to say waitlist because I’m unsure (I was deferred from Yale so I know how much a deferral sucks. But hey, we at least weren’t rejected!)
Pomona: Reject (they hardly take any kids and the school is super small)
WUSTL: Accept if you’ve shown interest
Tufts: Accept
Berkeley: Accept
Cal poly: Definite acceptance
My final college list changed a bit so if you’d like to compare yourself to someone also applying to Berkeley, Tufts, Harvard, WUSTL, and Brown, here’s my profile:
@yalehopeful017 oops I actually forgot to add that in terms of English, I write about 4 hours a week (just finished a short story and working on a novella). I’ve also done some newspaper internships with my city (have published articles) and am the senior language editor for the yearbook. So that’s what I do related to English and my volunteering is related to enviro.
I was president of a literary magazine club at school but we were not able to get a supervisor after 10th grade so I decided not to mention it in my application.
And plus some of my activities are random cuz they’re just things I enjoy doing that are unrelated to my career.
Haha okay! That’s definitely a little better. Colleges might become concerned if you have literally nothing related to your intended major. Like 7 of my 10 common app slots are dedicated to activities involving English.
My D got into Pomona ED1 as an intended Chemistry major, but none of her EC’s were STEM related. I think that if you’re applying to an engineering school and have nothing STEM related they might wonder. But for most LAC’s and the college of arts and sciences at universities I think they are well aware that high school is a time of exploring and trying out activities and interests, and that students change intended majors all the time. In fact, my D’s Common App essay was about how she went to engineering camp one summer and realized she hated engineering but loved public policy. Once she got to college she took one Chemistry class and decided to become an Econ/Politics double major.
@Corinthian wow! Thanks for the info! To be honest, I’ll probably end up changing my mind about what I want to study even before I get to college haha. How does your daughter like Pomona? I want to switch my app to EDII, but I may not be able to financially.
In my humble opinion (and I’m a pessimist for these things so I’m probably more negative than what your actual results will be):
Harvard: I’d say 50/50 for accept/reject
Brown: reject (just because its so much harder for deferred people to get in)
Pomona- accept/waitlist… really not sure on this one
All others accept
@ricka8 I agree with u on Brown. I’ve kind of abandoned my fantasy lol. Pomona is so unpredictable too. I’ll be lucky if I get looked at for Harvard haha.
I mean you can’t change the order now, so it’s fine. I would have personally put something involving English in the top five, but that was up to you. I ended up having to use additional info and fit two activities onto one line in order to fit in all my activities. My high school counselor actually started laughing when I told her, but she realizes that I love being involved and it would literally be such a shame to leave anything of importance off. Like I didn’t list any clubs I’m a member of, but I did list the 5 that I have elected officer positions in.
Just restating, but neither Harvard or Brown superscores the ACT (you’d have to check about the others), so I’m going off a 32 for those.
Harvard - Reject
Brown - Waitlist/reject (I got deferred from Harvard, so I feel you here. It’s just very unlikely afterwards.)
Pomona - Reject
WashU- Accept
Tufts - Accept/waitlist
Berkeley - Accept (depends on major. For example, reject if for engineering! But assuming your prompts are about freerunning, something that you’ve shown obvious passion in during the other parts of your application, you’re all good here!
SLO - Accept
@david_p Pomona superscores and I had a great interview on campus (which they value a lot). Also, Brown looks at highest sub scores across sittings so they kinda superscore. Also, unlike its counterparts, Brown’s deferred applicants have as equal chance in the RD pool as others. Idk if this’ll change any of your predictions, but I just wanted I let you know if you didn’t.