Chance a guy who was told he had no chance at all two years ago for a lot of reaches!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Alrighty gang, let's see how things are looking for me. When I was a sophomore I posted a chances thread and was told I'd have no shot in hell at pretty much any college I wanted to to go!</p>

<p>I go to a decent public high school in Texas with large classes of usually about 20-30 (with graduating classes of around 1000). We send probably two or three people to elite colleges each year. I know that my desire to go to well-known private colleges is definitely unusual around here (except among those ranked in the top 2%)</p>

<p>Race: Caucasian, I speak a middle eastern language fluently (cannot read or write it)
GPA: 3.9
Rank: 11/765
SAT (superscore): 2210/2400 (Math: 690 Critical Reading: 750 Writing: 770)
ACT compsite: 32
13 AP classes over 4 years, 5 on AP Lang exam
APs: APWH, AP Lang, AP Physics B, APUSH, AP Euro, AP Lit, AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Gov, AP Macroeconomics, AP Calc BC, AP Stats, AP German, AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism
8 College credits earned at Harvard Summer School Program
Have only taken the most rigorous core classes available
Something unique about my schedule: I am one of two students to make it to German 5 by senior year (had started a year early).</p>

<p>Leadership:
- Varsity debate team captain (2 years, junior-senior)
- Business club treasurer (junior)
- Co-proctor for a language test administered at my school last year
- Co-founding member and VP of an honors society for the Social Studies (senior)
- Co-founding member and VP of a club for secular students (senior)
- Chairman of a teacher appreciation committee at my school (we have one chairman per department for a total of 11) (senior)
- Debate coordinator (an officer position) for the political club (senior)
- Tech support for the language department (sophomore-senior)</p>

<p>Volunteering/work experience:
- National Honors Society volunteer/tutor (senior)
- Associate at a clothing store (employed since July)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
- Junior-Varsity tennis first three years of high school, expected varsity in senior year but stopped due to injury, expect to heal and play again in college
- Debate team (sophomore), Varsity debate team (junior-senior)
- I do undergraduate physics labs that my physics teacher offers at a local university on the weekends (senior)
- Member of a volunteering society (Freshman-senior)
- Business club member (sophomore-junior)
- German club member (8th grade - senior)
- Orchestra violinist (2005-2010)
- I build and repair computers locally for free (ongoing since I was about 13)</p>

<p>Awards/Achievements:
- National German Honors Society Induction (sophomore)
- National Social Studies Honor Society Induction (senior)
- National Honors Society Induction (junior)
- AP Scholar Award (senior)</p>

<p>I intend on declaring Economics as my major, microecon was a class I took at Harvard Summer School and I liked it.
Writing is pretty much the only thing I am good at so I expect that my essays will look good xD
My recommendations should be decent but not good. Our classes are large so it is difficult to get close to teachers. I asked my German teacher of 5 years and the sponsor of the Social Studies Honors Society I am a founding member of. </p>

<p>My first choice college is Harvard, I absolutely loved it there during the Summer Program and I have a lot to say about it (i.e. when it gets to the supplement) but I am not doing SCEA because I am skeptical of the SAT II scores I haven't seen yet.</p>

<p>Harvard
Brown
UChicago
Yale
Princeton
UPenn
Columbia
Stanford
Northwestern
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UMich
Cornell
NYU
Dartmouth
Duke
Vanderbilt
Emory
WashU St. Louis
Johns Hopkins
UVA
UNC Chapel Hill
USC
Tufts
Rice
Brandeis
Northeastern</p>

<p>Colleges that I think my math score on the SAT eliminates me from getting into:
Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Caltech</p>

<p>I am doing EA to Uchicago, UMich, UVA, and Northeastern (those are all the colleges on my list with non-single-choice EA)</p>

<p>Thank you guys!</p>

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<p>I think you’re a shoe in for UMich, NYU, UCLA, UNC-CH, UVA, USC, Northeastern and Brandeis. I knew people with similar stats and extra curriculars that got accepted with fantastic scholarships. I’m not so sure about the others.</p>

3

<p>Oh dang. That is probably the longest list I have seen a member post. These schools are all so different from each other, so what exactly are you looking in for a school besides prestige? UC Berkeley and Columbia for example have completely different atmospheres. Cut down your list, because right now I can’t tell if you’re joking with this chance thread.</p>

4

<p>

My apologies if you were being mislead. The truth of the matter is that I am genuinely afraid of receiving rejections from everywhere except for my safety school, UT. It is hard for me to cut down my list then, because my reasoning is that “I probably can’t make it into either UC Berkeley or Columbia, so I’m not in a position to discriminate between them. Getting into either would be tremendously lucky.”
As for what I am looking for in a school, I am looking for an atmosphere that rewards me for the hard work that I have put in these past few years, an atmosphere of accepting scholars that I can find my home with, scholars who have put in a similar amount of work and share similar freethinking ideals. Chances are slim for everybody for these reaches so I don’t think it matters whether you like one campus more than the other, applying to both increases your chances of getting into one of them and you’ll be extremely lucky to get into one of them. </p>

<p>If you want me to be more specific by the way, I would really love to go to any college on that list because pretty much all of them fit an environment I would be fine in.</p>

5

<p>No worries, but you can’t fear rejection. My college list was initially about 10 schools long, but I cut it down to 6 after I did some really in depth research on each school. I realized that I was infatuated with Columbia simply because of NY, but that I absolutely despised their core curriculum. I would seriously advise you cut down your list because you don’t want to make this process more overwhelming than it has to be. One way is to group schools that are really similar and then choose the school you would most rather attend. Which do you prefer: Rice, Vandy, Duke, or Emory? Great southern schools with liberal arts educations and similar enough prestige. Let’s be honest, you will NOT be happy anywhere. You need to narrow your search. Be hard on yourself, and just go through your list saying yes or no to each school.</p>

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<p>The ones I’m willing to chance for are the ones that are NOT “reaches-for-anyone”, since you’ve got too many “reach-for-anyone” schools on your list. If the school on your list does not appear below, it is a reach-for-anyone school. That said, for UChicago, pay attention to your essays.</p>

<p>UCB: Match (OOS helps)
UCLA: Match (same here)
UMI: Safety
NYU: Low match
UVA: High match (OOS is going to hurt)
USC: High match
Brandeis: Low match
NEU: Safety</p>

7

<p>Thanks for the posts so far guys. One question I have struggled with is whether I should use ED to try and get into a college I really like but is not my number one choice. I am afraid I will be rejected from all of the top colleges and I will regret not using ED, but I am also afraid of using ED, getting in, and then getting accepted to a college I would’ve rather gone to via RD. The only college I’d really choose over the others is Harvard and you guys can probably tell that my EC’s are not impressive enough to get me into Harvard (I have’t started any businesses, don’t have any breakthrough research publications, etc). I really like Brown and Columbia, is it safe to say I will be rejected from the others RD so I should try to ED to Brown or Columbia?</p>

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<p>Anyone have an idea if I am even close to competitive for any of my reach schools?</p>

9

<p>Hey. I think chancing individual schools is rather foolish because nobody knows enough about you. However, what I am going to do for you is go through your application on this forum and analyze where things may go wrong. I may seem rude at points, but I would rather that you see me as a jerk than for you to get denied to a school.</p>

<p>Before I start, you need to read my post and then log out of this forum until December. Yes, it will be tempting to come back, but you need to focus on your EA/ED application right now and make sure that you don’t stress yourself out until December. I also believe that I am going to tell you everything you need to know about how you can improve your application right now.</p>

<p>-The main goal with test scores is to get 32 or higher on the ACT or 2200+ on the SAT. Because you have done this, relax and move on; you are in the door. Try for 750+ on Math II and one other subject test.</p>

<p>-Colleges don’t care that you happened to start German one year before others. Don’t brag about this. Languages are a class where you are stuck in a path for high school. The only accomplishment you have in this is not dropping out.</p>

<p>You need focus. What do I mean by focus? Focus is something that much of your ECs revolved around, and something that you were successful at. Most importantly however, focus is what college admissions think you will bring to the college. Now your focus doesn’t have to be unique; mine is mathematics research and engineering. Of course I backed this up (Siemens comp participant, submitted paper to journal, presentation at a conference at a college, tutor in engineering teams at elementary schools (engineering tutor of the state 2x), and competing at an international college engineering competition.</p>

<p>Of course yours doesn’t need to be this extensive, but you need to tell colleges why they want you to come to the school. Once you find your focus, write your R</p>

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<p>What makes you special? What have you done that is completely unique? Convince me that you’re interesting, and then do the same thing for Harvard. Your stats are good and you have a shot, but you have to make them want you.</p>

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<p>Do you think you’d thrive better at a school with almost 2 years of required classes or a school with virutally no set requuirements? A large school with 25000 students on campus and intro classes with 200+ kids in a class or a small school of 2500 with 20 kids or so in a class? Urban with no central campus? Urban with a central campus? Rural? Suburban? Extensive greek life or no greek life at all?</p>

<p>Maybe instead of a scattershot “apply to a lot and hope I get in somewhere besides UT” approach take some time to think about what best fits YOU. Example: Columbia and Brown are very different schools with very diffent approaches to learning . . . which one fits you better?</p>

<p>The Admin officers are all looking for kids that FIT their schools . . . help them out by taking some time to think through schools that fit YOU.</p>

<p>That said, your stats are similar to both the accepted AND the rejected students at the top 20. For example, Brown says “no” about 85% of Salutatorians or those with an 800 SAT Math. Meaning those schools are reaches for almost everyone.</p>

<p>P.S. When you say that “I don’t think it matters whether you like one campus more than the other” you’re ignoring the concept of “fit”, which is a top factor for Admissions folks.</p>

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<p>At least the reaches are realistic… If you want 45+ semester hours of required classes, if that’s your idea of a well-rounded education, by all means, apply at Columbia or U Chicago and cut Brown. If you think you can do, and perform, better with academic freedom, ED at Brown and cut U Chicago and Columbia.</p>

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<p>It’s great that you’re applying EA to UChicago. I got into UChicago RD this year(and intend to do econ) and you have better academics than me! </p>

<p>One tip for your UChicago application… They care a lot about whether you’re the right ‘fit’ for UChicago. Take a lot of time on their supplement as it’s fairly different to most supplement in terms of the essays. </p>

<p>Good luck for the rest, I reckon you stand a great chance!</p>