Chance a Nebraska farm kid :) Will chance back!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Chance-

  1. Cornell- CALS Applied ED
  2. U Penn
  3. Dartmouth
  4. Vanderbilt
  5. UC Berkeley
  6. Northwestern
  7. UCSD
  8. Princeton
  9. U Chicago
  10. What schools are I competitive for?

Race: Asian/White (multiracial)

Background-Oldest of 7, homeschooled, living on farm in Nebraska

Location- Rural Nebraska

ACT 33 (E-34 M-30 R-36 S-31 W 36)
SAT II: 710-Literature, 700- US History

GPA-3.8 UW (Homeschooled)

AP’s Taken (4 Junior year, 6 Senior year)
AP Scores- APUSH (4), AP Government and Politics (4), AP English Literature (3), AP Macro-(3)

Senior Course Load
AP Comparative Gov
AP World History
AP Euro History
AP Micro
AP Envi Sci
AP English Language
Calculus
Physics
Latin III

Total AP Courses In High School (Rigorous): 10

Intended Major- Food Science/Business?

Extracurriculars-
1st Honor Roll (previously attended boarding school)
National Latin exam “cum laude” award
AP Scholar with Honor

Academic Awards-
BSA- I earned all 137 merit badges. Only 275 scouts have done this so far out of over 100 million. First in state to do this and was featured in the local paper.

Eagle Scout 300+ community service hours, earned SCUBA certification, boater certification

Piano since 5th grade, played in nursing homes

I run an egg business “I helped build a coop and raised 300 free-range chickens. I sold their eggs to local businesses and individuals”

Varsity Football My team made it to the first round of the California Interscholastic Federation. I was voted “Most improved” player in 9th grade.

National Junior Classical League My team made it to the first round of the California Interscholastic Federation. I was voted “Most improved” player in 9th grade.
Barista at Scooters Coffee. I work at Scooter’s Coffee making delicious hot, iced, and blended coffee and tea drinks. I have been commended for my superhuman speed.

Altar Serving I have served on the altar at the traditional Latin Mass for the past nine years.

Peru Mission Trip-I raised $3000 and traveled to Piura, Peru for 2 weeks on a mission trip to help the poor. I helped build houses, deliver food, and visit orphanages.

Dale Carnegie-I took the Dale Carnegie Training, Public Speaking Mastery for Teens, and Teen Leadership and Communications courses.and was voted “most improved”.

Essays 10/10

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Edit-My Dad went to U Penn, so idk if applying early Cornell helps my chances since I’m giving up applying U Penn.

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Do you have safeties that you didn’t list? If not, you need them.

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Yep, need matches + Safeties

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@collegebobollege @cappex Yea, I wasn’t 100% sure what my matches are. What do you think? My safeties are UCSB, UCSD(?) and UNL. What about Cornell and the other schools?

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  1. Cornell- low reach
  2. U Penn- high reach
  3. Dartmouth- high reach
  4. Vanderbilt
  5. UC Berkeley
  6. Northwestern-high reach
  7. UCSD
  8. Princeton- high reach
  9. U Chicago- high reach

The ones I didn’t fill out were ones I don’t know very much about, sorry! Honestly, all of these schools are really difficult to get into and are probably reaches for everyone. You have strong ECs-- being an Eagle Scout is really impressive-- but also they’re not focused. Colleges look for demonstrated interest in one or two fields of study because they’re trying to create a well-rounded class full of people who are exceptional at whatever their passion is. Being from rural Nebraska will definitely help you, though! Maybe enough to make Cornell a target school, but it’s hard to know for sure. Having strong essays will help a ton. I wish you the best of luck with your college process and I hope you get into your top choice!

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None of the schools you listed except UCSD and maybe Berkeley are matches for barely anyone. Look at places like Emory, the Claremont Colleges, etc.

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@arielsayshello Thanks a lot! I know my ECs are really all over, but I had also earned all the merit badges in Boy Scouts, which is harder than Eagle. I dont know if that helps anything. I applied to Cornell ED. Was that a good idea or should I have applied to one of my high reaches? Would being a legacy have still made U Penn a high reach?

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@collegebobollege thanks. All of the Claremont schools have lower acceptance rates than some of the schools I put down. Do you think applying to Cornell was a good choice? I’m just not sure if I should’ve applied somewhere harder if it’s a low reach. Sorry, not trying to sound unappreciative or anything, I was just trying to get into the BEST school I could.

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UCSB and UCSD are not safeties. Safeties need to be affordable (UC’s will cost $55K/year with little to no financial aid for OOS applicants) and have a high acceptance rate (these UC’s <40% acceptance rate).

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@Geocach some of their acceptance rates are deceivingly low. I would put Pitzer and maybe Claremont Mckenna as matches for you. If you’re looking for others, my matches are USC (w/ legacy), Emory, and Vassar, and my safeties are Tulane (already accepted), Brandeis, and University of Washington (we have somewhat similar stats)

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@collegebobollege Thanks so much for the advice. Is it even worth applying to high reaches RD if I dont get in early?

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@Gumbymom Well at UNL (my state school) I’d get free tuition. That would be my safety if I didn’t get in anywhere else. UCSB’s average ACT score is a 28. I thought I would have a pretty good chance of getting accepted. I wasn’t concerned about affordability for the state schools. I just thought applying for it for some private schools looks better than not.

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Definitely! Don’t get me wrong, I think you’re a competitive applicant for all of your schools. I’d only call Princeton and UChicago high reaches, the rest just reaches.

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@collegebobollege Awesome. Now I’m kind of regretting applying ED to Cornell. I guess I just felt I could show the admissions that I was a good fit there. I dont mean to sound like a brat lol. where did you apply?

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So your parents (with 7 kids) can afford to pay over $200,000 for your college education? State schools cost more for out of state students, and they give no need based aid and almost no merit aid to out of state students. My guess is that all the UCs are unaffordable for you.

The only thing that stands out for you from the crowd at the rest of the schools on your list besides UNL is geographic diversity. They all have piles of applicants that are highly qualified with strong ECs. I don’t see you getting in anyplace, although Cornell & Dartmouth may be low reaches. My advice is if you haven’t completed applications yet that you jettison all but a couple of the high reaches, and focus on finding more match schools. Your financial aid picture may be fuzzy, though (family farms put a kink into those net price calculators you find on each college website on the financial aid page – you should take a shot at running them anyway, though). Unless you are content to attend UNL, I’d change your school list.

Is food science even a major at the schools on your list? I don’t know what you would major in at Northwestern – you can’t get an undergrad business degree there, and they don’t offer food science as a major either. Same with UChicago. It seems like you just made a list of highly ranked schools, but didn’t check to see if they offer your major. Food science is most likely to be offered at a state university. Unfortunately, as discussed above, you are out of state for all but Nebraska schools. I am not aware of any reciprocity deals between Nebraska and other states except this site:

http://msep.mhec.org/

Ohio State gives some merit to OOS students as well. There are some schools that offer in-state tuition for higher test scores, too.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1505285-automatic-out-of-state-tuition-waivers.html

You still have to figure out if they are affordable, though.

Here is a site with automatic merit awards for stats. Look at University of Alabama. Don’t forget that if you get tuition, you still need to cover room & board, books, expenses, and travel. You also need health care coverage that works at the college location, or most colleges will make you purchase theirs.

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

But as I said, deadlines are looming. You will have to get moving if you want to meet them for these schools.

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I think ED to Cornell was a good choice. I applied ED to Vanderbilt!

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Sweet! I’m planning on applying ED II to Vanderbilt. Good luck!

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You need to look at the more up to date Stats for the UC’s. Regardless if your ACT is above the average, you are OOS and as @intparent pointed out, they are costly so not a safety.

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/uc-freshman-application-data.pdf

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@Geocach:If you think Claremont McKenna is a match, or even a ‘safety,’ as alluded to by one of the posters,you’re either operating with bad…ie,… old…information,or you’re receiving inaccurate advice. As i’ve pointed out a couple of times on this site, Claremont McKenna and Pomona are tied for the lowest acceptance rate (9.76%) of any LAC in the country for class of '19, .while Harvey Mudd (another of the Claremonts) generally battles with CalTech over the school with highest SAT scores.

“…@collegebobollege thanks. All of the Claremont schools have lower acceptance rates than some of the schools I put down. Do you think applying to Cornell was a good choice? I’m just not sure if I should’ve applied somewhere harder if it’s a low reach. Sorry, not trying to sound unappreciative or anything, I was just trying to get into the BEST school I could.”

Actually,of the nine schools you listed, the only two with lower acceptance rates than Claremont are Princeton and
U of Chicago…I’ not trying to discourage you…just think its important to give you accurate information…best of luck to you.

BTW I’ve listed the most current acceptance rates for the nine colleges on your initial list, below:

  1. Cornell- CALS Applied ED 14.9% Claremont Mckenna 9.76%
  2. U Penn 9.9%
  3. Dartmouth 10.3%
  4. Vanderbilt 11%
  5. UC Berkeley 17.3%
  6. Northwestern 13%
  7. UCSD 33.5%
  8. Princeton 7%
  9. U Chicago 7.8%