African American--What are my chances??

[Liverpool2005]

I am an African American/White student applying as a mixed race. What are my chances for Harvard, Caltech, Brown, Princeton?

SAT: 1500/1600
SAT 2: 710 on Math 1, 640 on Chem

GPA: 3.5 unweighted (finished with a 2.9 freshman year because of reasons stated in the “Additional information” section, but earned a 3.8 sophomore year and a 4.0 junior year.

Courses: Junior Year: AP Physics 1, AP Chem, Pre-AP Pre-calc, Pre AP French 3, CP English
Senior Year: AP Physics C, AP Calc AB, AP World, AP Lang, Honors Latin studies

Achievements/Honors:

1. Induction into The Society of AP 4’s and 5’s (local)
2. American Legion High School Oratical Scholarship Program (State Runner-Up)
3. Induction into The National Honor Society/The Société Honoraire de Français.
4. FBLA Business Achievement “Outstanding Chapter” Award of Merit.
5. Diploma of course completion from NJIT’s “Intro to Programming (Python)” on-campus course.

Extra Curricular’s:

1. Co-Founder/Club President of my schol’s Model United Nations club/team
2. Research internship/volunteer at Adler Aphasia center
3. Volunteer Emergency Medical Technician for First Aid and Rescue Squad
4. American Legion Jersey Boys State Delegate/City Mayor
5. Online Sports Journalist for 90min.com (Summer)
6. Treasurer/starter for FBLA
7. Academic Decathlon starter/officer (quiz-bowl)
8. Varsity Soccer (JV first two years, Varsity next two)
9. Registered second-level black belt in martial arts
10. STEM tutor for fellow classmates at school’s drop-in center

Essay: I have been heavily working on my essay for months, teachers said its the best it could be.

If I can’t achieve said schools, what schools should I be looking at?

[Math557]

SAT: Great!
Subject Test: Math is very good Chem you should send only if YOU feel you need to
GPA: Is on the lower side but you can make up for it in other areas
Class Rigor: Great!
Achievements/Honors: Decent
EC’s: Above average
What’s your major so I can suggest schools? Also these schools are reaches for anyone.

[Liverpool2005]

hey there, thanks for the response. My intended major is Engineering/Applied Math

[Math557]

Focus on your engineering and math accomplishments and ec’s in your essay and show how much it means to you but you’ve put yourself in a very good place to be accepted for these schools as of right now

[Liverpool2005]

Thanks Math557! As for EC’s and Achievements, can they be classified as “competitive” or “Above-Average” for ivy league schools?

[sunshine232]

I think all these schools are reaches for everyone, but your test scores are competitive and hopefully other factors can make up for your low GPA. The upward trend is great though!

[GreekGalMK]

To answer your EC question: the activity that really stood out to me was the martial arts. It shows dedication and perseverance. Other than that, however, your ECs seem somewhat average for Ivy League applicants. However, being mixed race with good scores will help a lot. If you don’t mind me asking, are you at least a quarter black?

[Liverpool2005]

Yes. My Father is full middle eastern, and my Grandma from my mother’s side is North African, while my Grandfather is from the Saharan Desert

[gibby]

I compiled the below last year. You should go through the decision threads for the class of 2020 for the schools you are interested in and update the stats for yourself.

If you look through the Harvard and Yale Class of 2019 Decision Threads, you’ll see that URM tests scores are just about the same as non-URM test scores. So, there is very little bump from being a URM.

Harvard Class of 2019 SCEA Decision Thread http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1714730-official-harvard-university-2019-scea-decisions-only-p1.html

#11 - Female, Black, deferred with ACT 29

21 - Male, Hispanic, accepted with SAT of 2220 and ACT 35

29 - Female, African American, accepted with SAT 2240

30 - Female, African American, accepted with SAT 2130

39 - Male, African American, deferred with SAT 2230

40 - Female, African American, accepted with SAT 2400

44 - Female, African American, sibling, accepted with SAT 2140

47 - Male, African American, deferred with SAT 2010 and ACT 25

57 - Male, Hispanic, deferred with SAT 2220 and ACT 32

62 - Male, Black, accepted with ACT 32

63 - No gender listed, African American, accepted with ACT 32

Harvard Class of 2019 RD Decision Thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1752941-harvard-university-class-of-2019-rd-results-p1.html

#1 - Male, Hispanic, accepted with SAT 2300

3 - Male, Hispanic, accepted with ACT 33

6 - Male, Hispanic, waitlisted with ACT 35

7 - Male, Hispanic, rejected with SAT 2340

10 - Female, African American, accepted with SAT 2100

21 - Male, Hispanic,accepted with ACT 31

33 - Female, African American, accepted with SAT 2380

Yale Class of 2019 SCEA Decision Thread
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1713050-yale-class-of-2019-scea-decisions-p1.html

#3 - Male, African American (Questbridge), deferred with SAT 1940 and ACT 35

15 - Male, Hispanic, deferred with SAT 2400

17 - Male, Hispanic, deferred with ACT 33

18 - Male, African American, accepted with SAT 2230

33 - Female, Cuban, accepted with SAT 2270 and ACT 33

34 - Male, African American, rejected with SAT 2030

35 - Female, Hispanic, deferred with SAT 1980

46 - Female, Mexican, accepted with SAT 2170

Yale Class of 2019 RD Decision Thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1752938-yale-university-class-of-2019-rd-results.html

#9 - Male, Hispanic, rejected with SAT 2170

11 - Female, African American, rejected with SAT 2100

14 - Female, Latina, waitlisted with SAT 2200

20 - Male, Hispanic, rejected with SAT 2300

22 - Female, African American, accepted with SAT 2240 composite and ACT 35

23. Female, Hispanic, accepted with SAT 1910 (ranked 8th in her class of 465 students with an UW 3.9 GPA)

Based upon the College Confidential data from last year, my take: Harvard seems to attract more URM’s with top scores – and those students are rejected and accepted with about the same frequency as non-URM students. Yale seems to attract more URM’s with lower test scores (possibly because of Questbridge), but for the most part URM’s with low test scores are not being accepted. And just like Harvard, URM’s with top test scores are rejected.

IMHO, your unweighted GPA (and the rank your GPA places you at in your HS) is going to be a tough-sell. This from Harvard (C11 Data Point): http://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2014-15.pdf

Percent who had GPA of 3.75 and higher = 87.41%

And this from Princeton (C11 Data Point): https://registrar.princeton.edu/university_enrollment_sta/CDS2015-16.pdf

Percent who had GPA of 3.75 and higher = 87.64%

By all means apply to Harvard, Princeton, Brown and Caltech, but do not expect to be admitted, as all of them are reach-schools for your GPA and test scores – even with being a URM. And be sure to apply to target and safety schools! Best of luck in the applications process!

[prezbucky]

OP, I think your ECs and test scores are fine. It’s the GPA that is a concern, even if it has been rising the past couple of years.

But even if your GPA were 4.0, I would give the following advice:

Because these are all reach schools, you should definitely add some match schools and at least one safety to your app list. I’d also suggest perhaps some lower reaches, but those are not necessary if you like your matches and safety.

Match examples:
Wake Forest
Tulane
Lehigh
Lafayette
Brandeis
U of Rochester
Northeastern
Boston U
SMU
U Miami
GWU

Potential safeties:
Pitt (maybe a low match, not a safety)
Alabama
Ole Miss
Your state flagship
Less selective private schools

Lower reaches than the four you listed:
Washington U
Rice
Notre Dame
Vanderbilt (Vandy puts a lot of weight on test scores)
Carnegie Mellon
Tufts