Another desperate suburban white kid...Chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm not desperate to be accepted by an Ivey, but I am curious to see if I'd be able to. Don't worry, I think I'll be able to cope with the disappointment if I'm not accepted...Any advice on what I should improve is helpful as well. Thanks in advance! :)</p>

<p>Gender: M
Location: Conneticut
College Class Year: 2013
High School: Public
High School Type: sends some grads to top schools
Will apply for financial aid: Yes</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 4.00
GPA - Weighted: 4.63
Class Rank: top 10% (7 out of 457)
Class Size: 457</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>SAT I Math: 640 (Was able to score 710 on one at home; retesting soon)
SAT I Critical Reading: 740
SAT I Writing: 700
SAT II: Have yet to take...</p>

<p>APs (Haven't taken exams yet):
Chemistry
Biology
English
American History
Pyschology
Economics</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Boy Scouts, Marching Band, Nation Honors Society, Public Forum Debate Team Member, Book Club</p>

<p>Leadership positions: Senior Patrol Leader/ Quartermaster of Boy Scout Troop, Book Club President</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work:
S.M.A.R.T Child Day Camp Program (200 hours)
Boy Scouts (150 hours)</p>

<p>Honors and Awards:
MAT Interdistrict Summer Residency Program (Central Connetciut State Univeristy) - Statewide art program - only sixty some kids selected (Summer of sophmore year)
Eagle Scout
National Merit Scholar</p>

<p>Colleges of Interest In order of Preference:</p>

<p>ED: Columbia University (Best friend just got accepted...jealous....)
EA:Tufts University, Brown Univeristy, University of Notre Dame (legacy) RD:Northwestern University, NYU, University of Connecticut (Safety, legacy)</p>

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<p>your rank and gpa are great, you need to do well on your tests and get your SAT score 100+ points higher to consider columbia within reach. ECs seem solid enough... definitely in tufts, notre dame, nyu, uconn</p>

<p>and columbia is single choice ED, you cant do EA with columbia...</p>

3

<p>Yeah, you can't do EA while still doing ED at Columbia. So, if you want to do ED at Columbia, you will have to do RD at the rest.</p>

<p>Anyway, Columbia and Brown are slight reaches. You're probably in at the others.</p>

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<p>Northwestern might also be a reach. Brown's an ED school too. Oh, so is Tufts.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the responses! I wasn't expecting any so soon!</p>

<p>Lol, Spectaclesam, I agree about the SAT scores: my guidance counselor suggested the same thing. The irony is that my best friend scored lower than me, but she got a perfect math score and her father teaches there. Plus, she's an amazing muscian...I'm sort of boring by comparison :)</p>

<p>Thanks for the corrections on the ED/EA for Columbia, etc. I suppose Columbia will be ED and the rest will be regular admissions. It's sort of disappointing though because a lot of sources say you have a good ten to twenty percent better chance of being accepted ED and five to ten percent EA...</p>

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<p>i don't know what this is when people are saying Columbia is a slight reach...</p>

<p>HIGH reach: Columbia, Brown, Northwestern
reach: Notre Dame, Tufts
middle: NYU
safety: uconn</p>

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<p>Everyone do the Peter Griffin <em>bump</em></p>

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<p>"her father teaches there." That's a mighty big hook.</p>

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<p>^Haha, tell me about it...and her sister goes there too...
Unfortunately, my friend's a tough act to follow...</p>

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<p><em>Bump</em></p>

<p>Still waiting...</p>

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<p>Colleges LOVE Eagle Scouts. I'd agree with sak09 and say for sure for Notre Dame, UConn, Tufts, NYU etc. </p>

<p>In your Brown app, try to find something about you that sets you apart from all the other "suburban kids". Considering the nature of their student body, they value very unique individuals. And good luck with Columbia.</p>

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<p><strong><em>Bump</em></strong></p>

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<p>Bump</p>

<p>Help...please?</p>

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<p>You're not going to get much more information. You need to make sure that you get >700 on the SAT 2's. Columbia and Brown are reaches for everyone. NU and Notre Dame not so much. All you can do is apply. (And make sure that you have good recs and essays.)</p>

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<p>Your SATs really aren't competitive for Columbia and Brown. Did you study? If not, really work with a good prep book. You may do better on the ACT, if you want to try that. You have great grades and are a very dedicated Scout. Can you do something this summer (and maybe continuing next year) that adds to that- something that will impress them. I would keep it related to the Scout/scholar theme. Maybe you could work with disadvantaged kids to introduce them to nature, plus work with them on academic motivation, or something like that.</p>

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<p>Have you considered the University of Chicago? It has a core curriculum like columbia and will give you a great education. Since you mention Northwestern I gather that you are not adverse to going to Chicago. Of course the two schools are very different, with U of Chicago being more similar to Columbia. Also, I think that you would have a better chance of getting in EA to Chicago as they tend to be more forgiving of SAT scores and the rest of your stats look good.</p>

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<p><em>Bump</em> </p>

<p>Anyone else?</p>