Average student... Any chance for Aiming at the ivies... Should I even bother???

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Small school in manhattan...</p>

<p>Oh, and im a sophisticated idiot lol... thats what my doorman calls sophmores </p>

<p>GPA: Freshman year, 93ish, soph 98ish (last q 99), junior year 99 ... sucky thing is my school caps it at 99 or else id easily have 102
Oh and im taking all the hardest classes possible
*Rank *- 1 maybe possibly 2 out of 33 or 66, they do it weirdly
*SAT *- Practice tests indicate a 2260
*SAT II *- Bio E in october, MATH II, US History
*APs *- School offers one AP junior course, English Studies but you dont take the exam until Senior Year</p>

<p>I have independently studied Microeconomics 4/5, next year ill be doing US history and Macroeconomics</p>

<p>ECs:
***This is the section id like the most feed back on *<a href="in%20order,%20how%20i%20will%20put%20on%20app">/B</a>
Photography - im applying for an internship, i hope i get it, and president of photo club
Student Govt. - Vice president
School news paper - Editor in Chief
Graphic and Web Design - own web design company
Comm service 250+ hours
Tutoring - prez and founder of tutoring club, do about 3 hours a week</p>

<p>What else should I do?? I have no clue what i can do to make this better. Let me know.</p>

<p>Ive entered a few essay competitions, ill be doing the scholastic one next year, and im aiming for National Merit Scholar,
**
School awards** - head masters list, Award of Distinguished Excellency, all 5 subject awards, scholars club, selected to be in AP eng (only like 5 kids are)</p>

<p>I want to major in Economics at:</p>

<p>• Yale
• Dartmouth
• Brown
• Harvard
• University of Pennsylvania
• Northwestern
• Cornell
• Carnegie Mellon
• Georgetown
• Princeton
• Columbia
• MIT
• University of Chicago
• NYU</p>

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<p>Well, I think you just might be fishing for compliments, but you're most definately not an average student. I think that you would have a decent shot at the less difficult schools on your list like NYU and Carnegie Mellon, and I think that you'd have about an average chance (8%-25% depending on the school) at the other colleges seeing as all of them are extremely competitive.</p>

3

<p>Well I consider my self average. Maybe its because I dont have like three olympiad awards or im not in NYSSMA. Also im ****ed off because i didnt get one award this year and im not president. But id consider my self the average for CC</p>

4

<p>oh no, my grades come out to be about 97% for my entire high school career and i'm only ranked 1 OR 2! so average!</p>

<p>at least be sincere in your thread titles.</p>

5

<p>I think you definitely have a chance. Your web design company is very impressive! Ivy's look at what you've taken advantage of based on what you have available to you. I think you should try to study more AP's independently, since your school doesn't offer that many. Just because your school doesn't offer AP courses doesn't mean they don't teach along the same lines.</p>

6

<p>You need a lot more matches/safeties. I don't see any safeties on there, actually.</p>

7

<p>Don't you guys think it would be a good idea if you could actually constructively criticize me? That is why i posted here, to get help. I dont know what safeties to apply to, because it seems today the numer of those schools is diminishing and getting into all schools is tough. It would be nice for some real help...</p>

<p>Thanks forgottenmuch for being the only one who is actually helping me by giving advice. </p>

<p>But i was wondering what APs should I study? Should I do statistics, US government, Macroeconomics, Psychology? Those seem to be the most interesting... but i cant do 5 next year plus do the english AP, plus reg. eng, and scholars (thats 4 books at a time) plus everything else. Itll be nearly impossible to still do well in everything.</p>

<p>I still dont see how im not average for CC</p>

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<p>You're welcome :)</p>

<p>US Government is probably one of the easier ones, since you've studied (?) US History before.</p>

<p>You should probably try a science AP course. What science courses have you done? Psychics is always good since there are multiple tests, there are more scores to show and less you need to cover per test. Biology is painful unless you've taken a strict course on it before. Lots of reading. Chemistry is so so. </p>

<p>Why are you taking AP English and Regular English?</p>

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<p>My school makes us take both english's. </p>

<p>Zero AP science courses. I would have to learn a lot extra in Chemistry, almost not worth it. I have a choice of Chem or zoology next year, so ill be taking chem lol. So im thinking that ill take a more obscure AP, because im studying American next year... so US govt could go along with it. If it is actually easy, i could do that + Macro. Ill see i guess, clearly no one wants to help me</p>

10

<p>Economics is basically common sense. You should probably try both tests, since they are somewhat similar. But whatever, it's your call.</p>

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<p>economics isnt necessarily common sense... Yeah, there is logic to it, and a few laws are like, well duh. But many people will not be able to draw a kinked demand curve or a monopolies graph. Many people dont know the difference b/w economic and accounting profit. Econ is not common sense. If econ is common sense, then so is chem IMO. </p>

<p>I honestly regret even posting here... i hope my IP gets banned or something so i dont waste my time here anymore</p>

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<p>Chill and give it some time. A lot of the senior members take their time in responding, and aren't always online all the time. keep bumping it and eventually you should get some responses.</p>

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<p>If your school offers an advanced math/science course then you can still take the AP. AP Calc isn't that different from a calculus course. Ditto with Bio or US History. You could at least take SAT II subject exams to demonstrate mastery.</p>

<p>It sounds like you're a super-star at your school. Winning the award for every subject? It's impressive, but it makes me wonder if anyone else is doing any work. ESPECIALLY because you go to private school in Manhattan.</p>

<p>But your scores and your ECs look great. My concern is that you have one safety (NYU), which a lot of people wouldn't consider a safety, but NYU loses so many kids to Ivies that they will probably throw thousands at you and beg you to matriculate.</p>

<p>I would shorten your list. What do you want to major in? What kind of campus do you want? And look at LACs too. They may be a better fit.</p>

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<p>Econ. i want a big campus, not something like swarthmore. I like having a different variety of kids. And apparently my grade is fairly competitive. Ive heard the teachers talk about it. I mean its just that this year ive been striving to reach my two goals, get a 98 and have my math and eng grade equal each other. And its happened. The other kids do work equally as hard, if not harder, but they memorize the stuff, and i understand the stuff which is why i end up doing better. They also have 0 ECs. Its like a split. There are the kids who do ECs and arent so academically talented, and then theres the kids who have like 98s, but do zero ECs. </p>

<p>Andd ill be taking AP US hist, and one other next year. Im taking SAT II bio, sat ii math iic and us history for sure. Im thinking about chem, spanish, or physics at the very beginning of senior year.</p>

<p>And next year ill fix my list with my guidance counselour, but i dont see anything wrong with applying to ~16 schools these days. Thanks though</p>

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<p>How do you rank against the rest of NYC and Long Island? That's who you have to beat to be accepted at most of your list. You're coming out of the most competitive area of the country. HYP will take the cream.</p>

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<p>Are you considering ED anywhere? Have you read a book on Ivy application strategies? I like Katherine Cohen's the best. You can apply to a lot of schools, but your applications must be polished and put together well. The recommendations are crucial with the Ivies. You must angle for the best possible ones. Well, I think that you are a good applicant. You should be fine at CMU, Northwestern, U Chicago. Places like Cornell, Dartmouth look possible. Cornell ED is pretty easy. Oh, and you must actually get the good SAT or ACT score. I agree about needing a couple more likely and safe schools on your list. You sound like a Penn person to me- I think that is a good fit. Why MIT?- that one just doesn't seem to fit with the others. These schools are probably all deluged with would-be econ majors. Showing that you want to do and can do something in photography and writing as well will help.</p>

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<p>Thanks alot OneMom... i think ill read a book on Ivy admissions as soon as finals are over. Ive heard MIT has a good undergrad business program. </p>

<p>Ill also be adding schools like Tufts, Lehigh and a few other middle range, more safety sorta schools. I read an article how Darmouth is a really tech savvy school... which i would love, im crazy on the technology. </p>

<p>I definitely want to show a more developed interested in photography and essay writing, thats why ill be entering a lot of competitions, and if i get that internship, then i get to exhibit my photography, in NYC, which is pretty crazy. </p>

<p>My recs should be good, probably get one from my english teacher, and one from any of the other four, maybe history... but isnt it recommended that you get one from sci/math and one from eng/hist??</p>

<p>Also I think my essays will be pretty good, because ive become a stronger essay writer this year, and ill work on the common application essay this summer, and then do the other school supplemental essays slowly throughout the year. Thanks for all your help.</p>

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<p>Here's what I think:</p>

<p>Very good chance: NYU CAS (because you're majoring in economics, right? So you won't be applying to Stern, I'm assuming)</p>

<p>Good chance: UChicago, NYU Stern (if you apply there instead), Cornell, CMU</p>

<p>Between good chance and slight chance: Georgetown, Northwestern, Dartmouth</p>

<p>Slight chance: All your other Ivies</p>

<p>It's not that your stats and ECs aren't good. It's just that admissions are ridiculously competitive these days, and to say that someone has a "good chance" at the higher-ranked Ivies is just lying. Unless if you are a URM or a double-legacy, everyone has to rely on luck.</p>

<p>So good luck... you are a very good student, in any case.</p>

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<p>Well im indian, and my brother went to yale and my sister went to BU... would i be first generation if my parents didnt goto college in this country. Im not sure if they even finished college.</p>

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<p>parents didn't go to college = first generation</p>