Chance a URM at my top schools please

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<hr>

<p>I'm a senior from Oregon and I really want to attend these schools. I think I am going to apply ED to Duke to improve my chances (any advice on how much it will help would also be appreciated). I'm an African-American URM with low income so finances shouldn't be a problem.</p>

<p>Schools: (I have safeties but I didn't list them)
University of Washington
UCLA
U Penn
Stanford
Duke
Vandy
U Chicago</p>

<p>My Stats:
ACT: 29 (Not great, I know, but i'm hoping other parts of my app will overshadow this)
Class rigor: By the time I graduate, I will have taken around 8 AP's:
AP Psychology
AP Biology
AP Chemistry
AP Lit and Comp, AP Gov
AP Macroeconomics
Calculus
AP Statistics</p>

<p>UW GPA: 4.0 so far
Rank: 1/680-ish students</p>

<p>EC's:
Speech and Debate team (This is my main one)
~Awards
6-time District Champion in 5 different events
Northern Oregon LD Debate Champion
Impromptu State Finalist
Won numerous local competitions
National Qualifier
Broke at Nationals in Impromptu</p>

<p>~Honors
National Forensic League All-American
Speech and Debate team president for 3 years
Many team awards like best new speechie(when i was a freshman), Most Valuable Speechie etc...
Set School Record for most posts (correlates with distinctions below)</p>

<p>~Distinctions
Merit, Honor, Excellence, Special Distinction, Superior Distinction, Outstanding Distinction
Hoping to get Premier Distinction before i graduate</p>

<p>Senior Class Vice-President</p>

<p>Track and Field (Varisty Letter)</p>

<p>School's quiz bowl team</p>

<p>Other Honors/Awards:
AP Scholar
Award of Excellence (Pretty big deal, got it in front of my whole school)
Honors Diploma
Participated in "High Five", which is Northwest quiz competition where schools have 5 kids compete. We won our round but I think the show got cancelled before we could continue lol</p>

<p>Volunteer:
Church Youth Group Leader (100+ hrs)
Hospital (100+ hrs)</p>

<p>Summer:
Job-Shadowed an Anesthesiologist and watched several surgeries</p>

<p>I'm hoping that applying ED will really improve my chances at duke because that's where I want to go the most. I'm also hoping to write my best essays to further improve my chances. Please chance me and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>bump…bump…</p>

3

<p>URM+Geographical location+ED= good chances</p>

4

<p>Forget UCLA, they will not give a low income OOS student the aid they need and I would check what Washington gives to those OOS. I would really try to raise the ACT–even just a point or try the SAT, for the ivies just to really nail it, but with your excellent rank good shot at all of these schools.</p>

5

<p>University of Washington - match
UCLA - reach (OOS and other reasons that hmom5 has said)
U Penn - reach
Stanford - reach
Duke ED - reach but I think you have a good shot at getting in
Vandy - match
U Chicag - low reach</p>

<p>If you can raise your ACT/SAT you will have a better chance of getting into these schools, but you look pretty good as it is. Good luck!</p>

6

<p>University of Washington - match
UCLA - rejected (good luck getting into the UCs OOS)
U Penn - mid reach (but I like your odds if you go ED)
Stanford - mid reach (Stanford is known to pride itself on diversity, plus it is very holistic)
Duke - mid reach
Vandy - low/mid reach
U Chicago - mid/high reach (I’m not sure if you fit its profile very well)</p>

<p>I’ve tried not to give you chances solely based upon the supposed selectivity of each school; I’ve incorporated a bit of each school’s qualities and what they look for in an applicant. With that said, raise your ACT by 2-3 and your outlook will greatly increase everywhere (except UCLA).</p>