Argh.. Chance? Columbia, UChicago, and other top tier colleges

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Gender: Male
Race: Asian.
School: private, and really competitive I think
Current Year: senior
GPA: NA (weighted); 3.90 (unweighted)
My GPA increased gradually.. ending up 4.0 last years
SAT I: 750 CR, 800 M, 700 W Total 2250
SAT II's: 800 Math IIC, 780 Physics, taking another later
AP: four subjects with 5s and four subjects with 4s. Eight subjects in total.
Rank: no rank
Courseload: no AP & IB classes are provided in my school. Everybody takes the same classes. However, my school is considered competitive by colleges, so that doen't (and didn't) matter for college admission.</p>

<p>ECs:
-yearbook (editor in chief)
-student government (3 yrs)
-president of a club (2 yrs)
-several clubs..
-decent community services (3 yrs)
-decent internships (one for 6 months, the other for about 50 hrs)
by "decent," I mean "not bad." Not awesome, not poor, just average, I mean.
-some college credits at community college (got As)
- a few small awards</p>

<p>Argh.. I guess I have to retake SAT I.. a little bit low for asians, I guess.
So what do you guys think? I want to ED columbia college and EA UChicago.
I'd really like to finish all this stuff by December 15.. which means ED has to be successful.
RD: all Ivies, Stanford, and top tier colleges, and Amherst, Swarthmore, Williams</p>

<p>I prefer bitter reality to sweet compliments. (mashochistic? lol)
Thanks in advance!</p>

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<p>you have good numbers, ur SAT's are fine, 1550 old is great- i mean its hard for anybody to get into an Ivy league school so just try to emphasize ur strong points on ur application....decent chances at most schools id say</p>

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<p>Why would you apply to all ivies? I don't get it.</p>

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<p>thanks, tennis.
jss330, I just wanted to maximize my chance. I mean, isn't it more likely to get into one if I apply to more schools?</p>

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<p>more top schools= more chances of getting in, but the wisest way of choosing a college is not by prestige level but by fit. You will be better off at a school lower on the USNWR that fits what you're looking for than you will at a prestigious school that doesn't fit you.</p>

<p>Your stats look good and will place you in the range for all the top schools, but remember that colleges look at more than just an assemblage of grades and scores and want to know about you as a person. Make sure your essays (especially your essays for Chicago) say something about you and your place in the world.</p>

<p>On a side note, what are you looking for in a college? Why do Chicago and Columbia appeal to you? That might help other posters suggest other reach schools, as well as match schools (schools where you'll most likely get in) and safeties (schools where you'll DEFINITELY get in).</p>

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<p>Columbia counts only CR and math according to mikethemaddog, who got in..so your SAT scores to their eyes are a 1550/1600 rather than a 2250/2400</p>

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<p>Are you apply to to SEAS or the college? Your math scores will really help at SEAS, but the college would probably want to see more diverse/humanities related ECs.</p>

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<p>thanks for replies!</p>

<p>unalove, I chose the two schools cuz they would be the best to prepare me for ibanking stuff. I'm into economics and finance, and want to have a postgraduate job in those fields. For the same reason, Dartmouth is on my list.</p>

<p>Also I want an environment where I can be motivated to work hard.. UChicago is certainly such a place, I heard.</p>

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<p>debate_addict, then should I have to work on CR more and try to get near 800? I was planning to focus on Writing section, cuz it seemed much easier.</p>

<p>ses, I'm applying to Columbia college. Yeah, it seems I have better chance at SEAS, so I'm hesitating a little.. argh!</p>

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<p>I always find other students' takes on UChicago interesting, and it sounds like, given what you're looking for, it's not the best fit for you.</p>

<p>UChicago is, above everything else, an academic school. Instead of "pre-med," "pre-law," "pre-ibanking," we are pretty much "study whatever the hey you want and think about your career later." If anything, we are "pre-professor." We do have a top-notch econ program that will help you in attaining your goal in becoming an ibanker, but you should note that, in my last perusal of the alumni network, econ majors split pretty evenly into econ grad school and teaching econ at other colleges and into finance/ibanking. </p>

<p>Also, we do not offer a finance major or finance classes. Your best bet is taking a class through the Graduate School of Business, but even those classes are limited.</p>

<p>And in terms of campus culture at Chicago... students do work hard, though, but they worked hard before they came here and will continue to work hard once they leave. There's nothing about the environment that necessarily encourages you to take good notes in class and do every single page of your readings, and, if anything, you may be discouraged by the way students talk about academic things even when there is no work to be done. Chicagoans are not there to motivate each other-- they use each other to do work, get it done, and then end up talking about a question they had on a problem set five days after they turned it in.</p>

<p>For what it sounds like, Dartmouth may be a better fit for you... my friend who is there (an econ major) says that, while the school is difficult, the rewards are big, in terms of recognition among employers. Also, the campus takes a collective sigh of relief on Friday and Saturday nights, where at Chicago, students will even create more work for themselves if they don't have any assigned to them.</p>

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<p>In at Chicago, Columbia, Amherst, Williams, and Swarth.</p>

<p>Reject by other Ives/Stanford. You don't really have any uniqueness tbh man.</p>

<p>Maybe if you wrote some amazing essays (which everyone says they're gonna do :S) you might have a chance. Not a good one, but still a chance.</p>

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<p>Don't want to burst your bubble, but I would consider AWS as reaches. The top LACs are not as number driven as the larger Universities because they want to build a class of students with diverse talents. U of C more likely (not to suggest that U of C is a cakewalk to get into).</p>

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<p>I don't necessarily disagree with your predictions, but I do think it's important for the OP to consider whether he would like Chicago before he thinks he'll get into it. Chicago is the last school in the world you would "apply to just to apply to" because it is so much different from most of the other offerings.</p>

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<p>yeah, people said Dartmouoth would be a better choice than U of Chicago, but thing is that it seems much more hard to get into Dartmouth or Columbia than UChicago. Generally, people with 2300+ got into Dartmouth in my school.</p>

<p>Also, I'll go to grad school after some years of ibanking job, and I can learn more professional things there, so Chicago doens't seem that bad.. basically, Chicago is great school, isn't it?</p>

<p>by the way, unalove, would it take that much time to prepare for Chicago application? Essays seemed a little hard, but I though I'd be allright cuz I have like 3-4 months left..</p>

<p>and thanks for the great insight into UChicago, unalove. It really helped me a lot.. ^^</p>

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<p>Columbia: Slight Reach.. your chances ED are actually pretty good.
If Columbia is your top choice, definitely apply there early.</p>

<p>Chicago EA: Definitely, unless your essays are extremely unoriginal and boring, but since you are considering Chicago as one of your top choices in the first place, that probably won't be the case..</p>

<p>Other Ivies: Cornell (IN or waitlist), Dartmouth, Penn, and Brown (slight reaches). Harvard, Princeton, Yale (toughies)</p>

<p>Duke: slight reach
Amherst, Swarthmore, Williams: slight reaches
Stanford, MIT: toughies</p>

<p>Also to let you know.. almost all of these colleges don't really give a crap about the Writing section or consider it to be like an SAT II.. so you are good there!</p>

<p>Good luck! :)</p>

<p>Also don't get discouraged if you get deferred from Columbia ED.. I have a friend with similar stats who was deferred ED and was later accepted in the RD round.</p>

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<p>Thanks, CoolaTroopa.</p>

<p>guys, what should I improve to increase my chances? Probably I'll work on the SAT reading section more.. My options are: SAT1, 2, and essays. Which would be the wisest thing to do in the remaining time?</p>

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<p>all of us ppl here have good grades and scores. It's your EC's and essays that are gonna set you apart, so work on those, not getting ur SAT's closer to 1600. If you increase your CR score, what does that tell colleges? only that you're a good test taker..so what? set yourself apart w/ ec's and essays...</p>

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<p>Applying to ALL the ivies won't increase your chances at any single ivy. Common mistake...</p>

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<p>this isnt just to you particular, but to people in general</p>

<p>applying to all of the Ivies just for the sake of having better chances is bad for you and bad for the rest of the applicant pool. it is bad for you because you are wasting your time on more applications to schools that you might not get into and probably won't attend even if you did get in. you want to apply to schools that are a good match for you, not just by their prestige. also, think about the rest of the applicants. if you are accepted to all the ivies, but you know that there are several that you don't even want to go to, you are taking the place of other people who truly want to go to that school. </p>

<p>and actually, I heard that the Ivies cross-check with each other, meaning that they see how many ivies you applied to. If you are applying to all of them, this may have a negative impact on you. </p>

<p>obviously you want to apply to Columbia, and you said you were looking at Dartmouth. Since you genuinely want to go to these schools, I encourage you to apply, you have as good a shot as any for Columbia ED. Maybe add one or maybe two ivies if you really want to attend them. Other than that, don't waste your time. </p>

<p>ok my rant is over =)</p>

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<p>hmm.. deathlyhollows, but it seems it's a little bit late to do something for ec's, doesn't it? I will certainly have to work on essays.</p>

<p>thanks for advice, mrchimpunk90. :) But thing is, all Ivies seems to be perfect places for ibanking jobs. Also, I heard that it's much easier to get ibanking job from "target schools," most of which are Ivies..</p>