<p>Hi everyone! I just made an account here and I was pretty intrigued by all of the "chancing" threads. I've always questioned my chances of getting into schools like Princeton, Columbia, Duke, and UVA so do you think you could briefly tell me how you think I'm doing? I'm a junior, by the way!</p>
<p>Weighted GPA: 4.5 (my state seems to do this differently, as we're out of 4.5, not 4)
Unweighted GPA: About a 4.3
Rank: Top 10
PSAT: 201
SAT: Haven't taken yet, however, I feel like I can improve from my PSAT score</p>
<p>AP Classes: World History (5), English Lang, Psychology, US History, European History
--I plan on taking 4 or 5 AP classes next year as well (9 or 10 total, then)</p>
<p>ECs/Honors:
Vice President of Drama Club (hopefully President next year!)
Very active participant in drama department (on and off stage; I spend most of my EC time on this)
Wrote a play that is going to be performed at a competition (hopefully we'll place high! :))
International Thespian Society member
NHS member
Academic Team member
French Club member
Outstanding Sophomore Female of the Year
Outstanding Honors Biology, French II, French III, and Drama II student
NHS student of the month </p>
<p>Also, I plan on getting a summer job both this year and next. Do colleges value work experience? I especially want to know because I passed up a chance to do an immersive French summer program to work.</p>
<p>I think you have a solid foundation, but there are a few things to tweak to get the best chances. The first is a sport, you don’t necessarily have to be a varsity or anything, just having one on your resume looks good. I’m not sure exactly what your class rank is, but for somewhere like Princeton and Columbia You should probably be somewhere in the top 4 or 5. Breaking 2200 on your SATs would be a good way to cap it all off, 201 isn’t bad but it’s a bit below what some of the more selective schools are looking for. Work experience is also very good, especially if your work involves working with others or team skills, etc. So I would say:</p>
<p>Princeton: Not excellent, but with what I mentioned above you could give it a pretty solid chance
Columbia: Same as Princeton
Duke: To be honest I’m not familiar with their standards, but just by what I’ve heard you have a solid chance
UVA: A safe bet, you’re not quite guaranteed but I think you can sleep soundly on this one</p>
<p>Thank you so much! It’s nice to hear something from someone unbiased. I wish I could do some sort of sport, but I’m really not athletic at all (unless you count being awesome at Just Dance haha!) nor do I have the time for it, so hopefully my drama and NHS service will somehow make up for that. Thanks again!</p>
<p>A 201 PSAT is not competitive unless you are outstanding in some other way. You would do well to get >2250 on your SAT. Then you have as good a chance as anyone.</p>
<p>I would have to disagree that a sport matters one bit if you’re not a recruited athlete.</p>
<p>I do agree that unless you go to a very top school, most accepted to Princeton and Columbia are very top of class. Top 10 is fine for Duke and UVA.</p>
<p>SATs to be competitive at the ivies should be 2250 plus if you don’t have a hook.</p>
<p>But the cost important thing after you have the stats is doing some activity that really differentiates you. Winning national competitions, giving to your community at an unusual level, accomplishing anything notable.</p>
<p>Thank you very much, everyone. I’m not incredibly proud of my PSAT score (looking back, I made some stupid mistakes), but I’m sure that I can boost that on the SAT. I also should probably go find out what my official ranking is…thanks again!</p>