Am I aiming too high?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Hi, I am a rising senior. Please chance me for Tufts, WashU, Duke, Barnard, Stanford, Northwestern, Boston University, UPenn, and Georgetown.</p>

<p>My GPA unweighted is a 3.89 and weighted is a 4.82
(My grades took a dip, I got two B's my first semester sophomore year while my parents were getting divorced. My counselor will talk about it in her letter.)
I have taken or will have taken by graduation 6 AP classes. So far, I have earned a 5 on APUSH and I am waiting on AP Psych and AP English. I am taking AP Gov, AP Stats (better for psych majors), and AP English Lit next year.
All of my classes are honors or AP.
I got a 750 on the SAT Subject Test in US History. I took SAT Subject Tests in Literature and Math 1 and am expecting a score in the high 700s for both.
My ACT score is a 31. English: 32 Math: 29 Reading: 35 Science: 28 Writing: 9
I am retaking this weekend and hope to get a 32.
I go to an inner city public school.
I am a Jewish, white female.
As far as compelling stories go, my sister has autism which was the basis of my interest in the field. I will be writing my essay about her and our relationship as well as how my interest in psychology has grown over the years. She is my inspiration.</p>

<p>As far as activities go, I started a few clubs at school and am president:
Model UN
Book Club</p>

<p>I have just been elected as the president of the National Honor Society at school. Our project next year is tutoring young students at the neighboring elementary school.
I have over 300+ community service hours.
I have been asked to start a Best Buddies club as well (a club to connect mainstream students with students with severe disabilities). For three summers, I was a volunteer counselor at a camp for children with disabilities.</p>

<p>I have been on varsity tennis for four years. I will probably be captain for my senior year season.</p>

<p>I have an internship this summer in a psychology lab at University of Chicago, which is the career path I plan to pursue. I want to major in psychology, focusing on developmental psychology and autism research.</p>

<p>I have gone to three summer programs at Brown, Stanford, and Northwestern. Brown and Stanford were in psychology courses. All three were highly selective summer programs.</p>

<p>I have visited all of their campuses, if that makes a difference. I am a triple legacy at Northwestern, if that helps much.</p>

<p>I think I want to apply ED to Tufts or WashU. Will that improve my chances?</p>

<p>Please give me advice!! What more can I do? Thank you!!</p>

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<p>I also will be in a peer mentorship program next year. We mentor freshmen and it’s a leadership program at school. </p>

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<p>Your ACT is too low for most of the top schools. ED will definitely help.</p>

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<p>I thought the average ACT for Tufts was a 31? @ooohcollege‌ </p>

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<p>@jcpgirl10 I was talking more about Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, Upenn and the equivalent. I do agree that your stats are in line with that of Tufts.</p>

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<p>Oh okay! Thank you so much for your advice :slight_smile: Do you have any other suggestions about how I can improve my chances? @ooohcollege‌ </p>

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<p>Other than raising your ACT scores there really isn’t much else. Do something productive over the summer and give teachers ample time to write recs.</p>

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<p>Thank you! I have an internship at a research lab at UChicago. I will be a summer research assistant! @ooohcollege‌ :)</p>

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<p>@jcpgirl10‌ WashU is a great school, and since your ACT is pretty low for Ivies, applying ED to WashU is a great choice. Your other stats are solid and good. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Thank you so much for your advice @alfawarlord‌ </p>

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<p>I think you have a great chance. You’ve got a good ECs, with a focus on psychology and story to provide reasons for your interests. Your grades are fine. Don’t worry about that at all. By “inner city school” do you mean a CPS magnet school? That would suggest course rigor that would make your GPA even more impressive. The ACT is the only thing that is just a little “off” for the schools you’ve targeted, but a gain of a point or two will fix that easily.</p>

<p>However, even schools like Tufts, BU, and Georgetown, which would have been sure-bets 8 years ago for someone with your accomplishments are becoming question marks even for good students like you. Do you have any safeties? </p>

<p>My daughter is in a very similar situation to yours and started with a very similar list of colleges. She has expanded it to include a couple of true “safeties” (UAB, for example) as well as a couple of schools that are more of a match (e.g., Rochester, Tulane, UIUC) for a midwestern girl with primarily school-based involvement vs. state or national awards/achievements.</p>

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<p>Yes, I go to one of the magnet schools, so the rigor is intense. My safeties are BU, George Washington, and maybe Northeastern. I think Barnard is a true match. @EllieMom</p>

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<p>“Am I aiming too high?” </p>

<p>No. </p>

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<p>You would make a great candidate for any school, including Harvard and the sorts. Getting in, however, is another story. But you would not be “aiming too high” anywhere in any case. The only mistake you could make is to aim too low, except for a few safety schools.</p>

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<p>Just as a word of advice, I wouldn’t choose those schools as safeties, simply because a safety should be also financially affordable if you don’t get any other schools. Those are all expensive schools, especially BU and GW, which may or may not give you alot of aid. You might be able to get merit aid from Northeastern though.</p>

<p>Do you have any state schools or schools that’d you’d qualify for significant merit? I disagree with the comment that “The only mistake you could make is to aim too low.” Admissions has been getting tougher and from experience, the unexpected can happen so you gotta be prepared with a good range. Your ECs are really something impressive though. Your school choices are fine, just add some schools that are more financially “good bets”</p>

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<p>Except for BU your ACT is way too low.
(it’s even on the low-end for BU, but still in the general ballpark, for the others you’re playing a different sport)
Tufts or WUSTL for ED are not going to happen.
Legacy at Northwestern might give you enough of an edge, but it usually only works if you apply ED.
Duke, Barnard, Stanford, Penn, GTown, etc.: Sorry, but don’t bother.</p>

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<p>@soze‌ </p>

<p>Can you backup why you say “Duke, Barnard, Stanford, Penn, GTown, etc.: Sorry, but don’t bother.”</p>

<p>I highly disagree with that negative sentiment. </p>

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<p>@soze Not to contradict but I read on Fiske that the median ACT scores at BU are 26-30. I realize it’s better to aim for higher scores, but isn’t it harsh to consider 31 way too low when it seems it isn’t. I repeat this each time, I’m no college expert and I know I’m getting my facts out of book and not firsthand experience, so please feel free to contradict me, but on the data I got it feels like you’re exaggerating the scores. I mean it’s a little unsettling to think you have the scores ( which it seems she has ) and to be told that they’re way too low, and it must be confusing - it confuses me as well. </p>

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<p>Hi all! Thank you so much for your input and advice. I also was aware of different stats regarding the average ACT scores for the schools above. BU’s average is from a 28-30. Tufts is a 31. Barnard is a 30. WashU is a superscored 32-34, so I agree with @JeremyRotman‌ and @wannabefeynman‌ on @soze‌ 's comment being confusing. Also, Barnard does not consider test scores to be as important as personal qualities and GPA (according BigFuture on CollegeBoard), that’s why I said that I think it is a match. The stats I am referring to are on BigFuture (as per the class of 2018) and The Insider’s Guide to the Colleges.
@International95 thank you! Do you think my list is adequate right now?
@shawnspencer‌ my counselor at school gave me the same advice. I am trying to find more schools that would fit that category. The problem is that I don’t want to go to a big state school (which is what she suggested was a backup). I really want to go out of state and to a mid-size school. If you have any suggestions of places to look, that would be fabulous!!</p>

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<p>@wannabefeynman‌ An ACT of 31 is considerably below-the-line for an unhooked applicant to any of those schools.</p>