<p>I read all these "What are my chances?" threads, and most people there have stellar stats. Has anyone experienced/witnessed someone with good, but average stats get into decent (almost Ivy league) schools? I'm sure not only me, but others feel a bit discouraged with the admission process seeing such high achievers everywhere on this website! Any hope out there? Haha. D:</p>
<p>I know a young man who got into UPenn with a 1800 on the SAT and a good, but not outstanding GPA. He sent in an audio tape of him singing and it was so good that a little note was written to him on his acceptance letter about it. </p>
<p>It’s highly unlikely that you would get into an ivy league school or a school near ivy league stats being average. The vast majority of students just go to their local CC or local state college. It’s competitive to get into all universities these days. In high school, if you don’t at least attempt to be “amazing”, it’s going to be tough to get into a top top school. Most colleges these days want it all, great EC’s, good grades and those who score on the far right hand side of the SAT/ACT bell curve.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with going to a CC and then transferring to a 4 year school. You might miss out on the dorm experience, but what do they say, life is a marathon, not a sprint.</p>
<p>Someone from my school got in to Penn with like a 30 ACT, top 20% (top 20 in state), 3.6 UW and like 4.0 weighted but was a recruited athlete. </p>
<p>“Average” kids get into Ivy leagues every year, and it’s because they have something on their resume that sets them apart. That could be an extracurricular, a particular skill they may have, or they wrote an amazing essay. if you’re looking to get into a school where your chances may be against you, look into college admissions tutoring. A great resource I was able to get help from was College Zoom. I’d definitely give it a look.</p>
<p>@chamelean75 and future readers: Maybe I defined “average” too loosely. I meant “average” as in smart, great extracurriculars, very competitive, etc. The student is smart, but just always missing that “#1” rank (for example, not in top 10% of class but rather 15%, or taking one less AP class). Instead, the student focuses a lot of time on less “measurable” activities (volunteering, sports, lab work, music, etc. can’t be labeled by a number.) Seeing people slightly “better” than me not get into decent schools worries me, and I’m just wondering how much of an impact the slight differences would make to a university. </p>
<p>If you count Berkeley OOS, then yes it’s very much doable. Or in-state at any other Public Ivy.</p>