Am I on track for Ivy/Stanford/etc..?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey to all, long time follower, first time poster.</p>

<p>I am a Junior, and would just like to here from some other perspectives about whether I am on the right track to put myself in the best possible position with my application (I’ll leave the rest up to admissions officers).</p>

<p>GPA:</p>

<p>Weighted/Unweighted</p>

<li>4.00/4.00</li>
<li>4.47/4.00</li>
<li>4.83/4.00</li>
</ol>

<p>SAT:</p>

<p>2100 (740 CR, 690 Math, 670 WR)
(Waiting on May Grades)</p>

<p>Subjects
WHist: 690
Bio E: 550
(Will take Math II, Literature in June and Chemistry next december)</p>

<p>ACT: 32
(31 Wr, 33 Math, 33 Read, 30 Sci)</p>

<p>Will take again in June</p>

<p>E/Cs:</p>

<p>2-Time Lyons Club Speech Contestant
TrigStar Contestant
Classwide Science Award</p>

<p>3 Sport Athlete
Baseball: 3 Year Starter Varsity
Basketball: 1 Year JV Captain 1 Year Varsity
Football: 2 Year JV (1 Year Captain) 1 Year Varsity Captain</p>

<p>Robotics Club (Last Year Statewide Winner, This year’s Comp is May 16)
Interact Club (Participated in Multiple community service groups, including and African Orphanage Aid and “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” for abused women)
Mission Hospitality (Name of My school, aiding in the welcoming of new students by writing letters, and running open houses)</p>

<p>Indepth community service:
Founded a Book Recycling Drive that saved money by reusing books throughout the school, and this year will expand to 2 more schools where we will not only recycle reusable books through the school but also send books through the Peace Corps to help teach children English in foreign countries. </p>

<p>Also written for the county wide newspaper for 2 years and helped supervise a nationally recognized HS Basketball Tournament (The Mission Prep Christmas Classic) by maintaining the website and blog.</p>

<p>Thanks for any input/suggestions.</p>

<p>I would like to major in Engineering so schools I am looking at include (but are most certainly not limited to), Stanford, Princeton, Yale, MIT, CalTech, and Harvey Mudd.</p>

<p>I also have a small chance to play college baseball at a small academic college or possibly an Ivy. I’ll be at some showcases over summer, and we’ll see where that takes me.</p>

<p>Thank You, Respectfully.</p>

<p>Quick couple of adds, </p>

<p>I won a William Hearst Scholarship, was a Poetry OutLoud class-wide finalist, and qualified for the California Scholastic Federation all 5 semesters (so far).</p>

<p>I also completed a Kingdom Project in which we raised over $2500 to rebuild local baseball fields and parks (this was completed the summer before entering high school, so I am unsure as to whether it “counts”?)</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>And one more thing.</p>

<p>AP WHist: 4
Taking AP Span/AP Eng Lang this year.</p>

<p>Next year’s courseload:</p>

<p>AP Calc
AP Lit
AP Phys
Hon Chem II
Cuesta (Local Community College) PoliSci/Econ
Student Services and Development
Senior Religion </p>

<p>Unfortunately for the College process, my school requires Religion to be taken all 4 years which can be very limiting.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>I mean I don’t see what else you could really do besides get your SATs up 100-200 pts. If you can accomplish that they would be idiots to reject you.</p>

3

<p>Raise your math SAT and your SATII’s. Your math will probably naturally go up because you presumably took it the first time without precalc.</p>

4

<p>I yawned reading the application. EC’s have no correlation and dont interest me at all.</p>

5

<p>So many people with perfect score and high GPA did not get into Ivy or Stanford. Therefore, don’t expect too much. My D has 4.46 weighted GPA and 3.98 unweighted GPA with 32 ACT (34 if superscore) and two 730 on subject test did not get into any Ivy or Stanford.</p>

6

<p>Count on some good non-Ivy schools. UMich, UVa, UNC, Berkeley… Also, you’d likely get great merit aid form other schools if you’d consider them. Great stats. </p>

<p>if you are from an underrepresented state you may get in. Apply and see. You never know.</p>

<p>Valedictorian son was not accepted at Ivys or Stanford. (Waitlisted, not admitted.)
Perfect 4.0 unweighted GPA, 13 AP classes, leadership, 34 ACT, etc… All good things, but remember, there are plenty just like the two of you applying.</p>

7

<p>i’ve seen people with far better stats than that get rejected from Ivys and Stanford… check all the decisions threads. those schools are just ridiculously hard to get into. not to say that you couldn’t get in, but elite schools are always a reach for anybody. and not to offend, but your stats are on the low side for HYPSM (and certainly for CalTech).</p>

<p>if you like engineering, you should also look at great schools like Michigan, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, etc… if you don’t get into your top choices, which is more likely than not, those schools will be EXCELLENT second options for you. and like crazed said, you could get merit aid at a lot of good schools, which will save you a ton of money in the long run.</p>

<p>…
please don’t take this as me discouraging you from the Ivies though. if you got that SAT to 2250-2300+, got your SAT IIs to 700+, and added more ECs/recognitions all by next year, you would be as good as any Ivy applicant.</p>

8

<p>You have to look through the “decision threads” at the Ivys and other top schools. There are loads and loads of kids with your stats that do not make it into any of those top tier schools. Saying that, you are on the right course. You’re doing everything you can do to try and get into those schools. Keep working hard and take the most rigourous class schedule you can handle. But, I do think you should start looking at schools that may be a better match and also safeties. If you read through some of these boards, some kids were rejected to 5 and 6 schools and waitlisted at many.</p>

<p>Don;t forget about Rensselaer and Lehigh. One word of caution, if you apply to Lehigh, you have to show “demonstrated interest” - like visiting the campus and interviewing. If you don’t, you will most likely be waitlisted.</p>

<p>Also, are you a minority and/or a female? Hopefully I didn’t miss that in your post. If so, on either account, going into engineering is a BIG plus.</p>

<p>Good Luck and keep working hard.</p>

9

<p>NastyNate: Thanks and I plan to.</p>

<p>CollegeAlum: You are correct, and I think my scores should be higher this time around.</p>

<p>UrMom: Any recommendations as far as ideas for E/Cs that would correlate to some I already have? Thanks.</p>

<p>Chen: Thanks, we had plenty of kids rejected from all those school in this year’s senior class, so I am aware.</p>

<p>Crazed: Yes I have learned throughout this process, so far, that there are thousands of kids out there with resumes at or above mine. I am seriously considering UMich, UCLA, Berkeley, and Tufts as other schools, I just tossed out some reach schools in my OP.</p>

<p>Blu: Thanks, I fully expect my May SAT to be in the Mid 2200s range and I think my Math II and Lit subjects will be in the 730+ range. I am not discouraged, I just came here for some input. I just want to put myself on par with other top school applicants so that maybe my essay or something else could put me in.</p>

<p>Kleibo: I am a white male, so nothing overly different there. We have written letters to many small academic school and some big ones as well regarding playing baseball. I have some safeties lined up as well, I am not someone whose idea of a wide range of schools is all the Ivies.</p>

<p>My goal is:</p>

<p>SAT 2250+
ACT 34+
Math II 750+
Lit 730+
Chem 750+</p>

<p>I also will have taken 6 AP courses and 8 Honors courses and 3 College Courses by graduation.</p>

<p>Thanks for everyone’s input, Respectfully.</p>

10

<p>Respectfully - keep us updated with your progress and good luck - you’re going to do great. PS - My son got into Northwestern (atttending this fall) with a 2090 SAT and 33 ACT. White male.</p>

11

<p>

</p>

<p>Could you clarify on what the difference is between AP and college courses, unless you meant directly AT colleges for those courses?</p>

12

<p>Kleibo: Thanks and congratulations to you and your son.</p>

<p>Red: For the 3 college courses, I mean directly at the local CC (Cuesta College) and those classes are US History, Political Science, and Economics.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the input guys, I’ll stop by again with some updates, I appreciate all the comments. I have a general plan in place, and baseball in kinda the X Factor. </p>

<p>Last Question: Is the service project that I completed the summer before freshman a viable project to include on applications, I think it would be, but some others have said anything before high school isn’t allowed?</p>

<p>-Respectully.</p>

13

<p>Well good/confusing news here.</p>

<p>My May SAT scores came back.</p>

<p>CR 690
Math 730
Wr 800</p>

<p>Making my combined a 2270 (740 CR, 730 M, 800 W).</p>

<p>Obviously I am excited about the score but since I am planning on going into engineering I have decided to take it again early next year, shooting for a Math score of 770+. It is just confusing to me that Math is my lowest. </p>

<p>Also my Robotics squad qualified at the Monterey Bay regional this year and we are headed off to the International Championships in Massachusetts in June. </p>

<p>And I am attending 3 baseball showcases over summer, all with academic school emphasis so we’ll see how that works out. </p>

<p>Thanks always for any thoughts/ideas.</p>

14

<p>Respectfully – I don’t know which baseball showcases you are attending, but I highly recommend Headfirst Honor Roll Showcase camp. My son attended one in Virginia two years ago and had a very positive response from a number of schools with very good academics. I assume you are a California kid – I believe Headfirst also holds a camp in Sacramento. Their website lists the colleges attending each camp. See [Headfirst</a> | Honor Roll Baseball Camps](<a href=“http://www.playheadfirst.com/sports_national_honor_baseball.jsp]Headfirst”>http://www.playheadfirst.com/sports_national_honor_baseball.jsp)</p>

<p>And of course Stanford has a great camp with coaches from many of the elite schools, but that fills up quickly so I am sure that is already full.</p>

15

<p>I wouldn’t worry about the Math score. I got a 740 on both the SAT I and II. Only missed like, 2 problems on each one.</p>

<p>And as far as chances go, I will agree in saying that you’re a very strong applicant, but at the very top level, it’s just impossible to tell. You could fill 4 or 5 Yales or Stanfords from their applicant pool and you wouldn’t lose any strength or character. Work on your essays to really set yourself apart, and you should do fine.</p>

<p>And after rereading your original post, I would encourage you to look at Rice. Perfectly good engineering program, plus an awesome baseball team, not to mention a bit easier to get into than HYPSM.</p>

16

<p>SDMom, good look on the baseball camp, my brother is a rising freshman LHP, and I’m trying to get his butt into Stanford :D</p>

17

<p>SDmom: Thanks for the response. I am indeed already attending the HeadFirst Showcase in Sacramento along with the TPX Top96 at Pepperdine. </p>

<p>Schee: Thanks for the advice. I am really going over some possible essays to see which ones turn out well for me in preparation. I am looking at Rice because of the engineering program, although their baseball team is almost without doubt over my head.</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>-Respectfully.</p>

18

<p>RSX: Best of luck to you and your brother.</p>

19

<p>I’m glad youre attending Headfirst. I checked the list of college coaches attending this year and it looks like a good assortment. TPX Top 96 is OK (my son attended one of those also), but he didn’t hear from nearly as many coaches after that as he did after the Headfirst camp.<br>
Good luck!</p>

20

<p>I’m going to Headfirst this summer as well, 3rd session. Not to shift the topic, but I’m still a HS Soph LHP who throws around 80-82 (that will improve with time). Do you think that will draw interest, even though I don’t really have any scores to go along with it right now? Or will I be much better off next year when I’ve taken SATs and I get a better sense of my fits?</p>