<p>I'm sitting here working through the Common App kinda worried about the whole thing. I'm applying to:</p>
<p>Brown
Cornell
Columbia
Dartmouth
Duke
Harvard
NYU
Princeton
UPenn Wharton
U of Virginia
Yale</p>
<p>Asian male from Colorado attending a large public school</p>
<p>SAT: 2400
SAT II: Physics 800, Math II 800, Chinese 790
ACT: 36 (w/o writing)
GPA: 4.54W/3.85UW
Rank: 31/853 weighted
APs: 10 so far (8 5s, 2 4s), taking 5 this year</p>
<p>EC: Taekwondo is my biggest one and the one I elaborate on. I've spent a lot of time on it and have done really well in it. I'm also in a couple clubs that I admittedly don't take all that seriously, but I do have quite a few honors in all of them. No leadership roles in those, unfortunately. 200+ hours volunteering at a hospital. I'd say that ECs are my weakest point.</p>
<p>Awards:
- 3rd at TKD nationals, lots of regional wins
- 4x AIME qualifier plus other math contest placings
- Science Bowl 3rd in state, team captain
- Science Olympiad 2x state qualifiers
- American Comp. Sci. League national qualifier</p>
<p>Essay: Basically about how there's too much that makes me who I am to focus in on any one thing. Teachers have said they've liked it, though it's a risk.</p>
<p>Recs: One I saw and it's really good, the other should be pretty good. Got a new counselor this year, so her rec is so-so.</p>
<p>It's too late now to apply to more schools (kicking myself for not finding real safeties), so I'm basically just looking for reassurance that I'm not hugely overreaching. Thanks guys.</p>
<p>Thanks guys, I am pretty proud of my test scores. Regarding the EC thing being basically TKD + math/science/tech, I’ve heard mixed opinions on it. Some say that having concentrated ECs is good, while others say it’s not. I’m pretty on the fence about what else if anything I should include. I do have some other minor things that I could make sound pretty good, but I’d rather not have to stretch them so far.</p>
<p>If Ii had to guess, I would say you will get into 2-4 of those schools. 31/800 class rank isnt top ten and under 3.9 and only 4.54 weighted, relitivly speaking, isn’t that good, compared to 10,000 other applicants. The sat scores are very good and i personally think your ec’s are at least above average. I would have applied to a safety school or at least non top tier. There is no doubt in my mind that you won’t get into at least 1. Good luck</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. Rank/GPA and my ECs are my main concerns too. In terms of rank though, I’m in the top 5% of a fairly competitive class (plenty going to HYPSM and the like) having taken a very challenging course load (15 total APs, currently in 3rd year college math) so I’m hoping that colleges will take that into consideration. Regarding the ECs, yeah… there’s no real stand out point there…</p>
<p>haha I actually have a very similar situation to yours. Same SAT score, lower SAT IIs but a bit more extracurriculars.</p>
<p>Again, EC diversity’s gonna be the real downer here. However, it’s not bad; completely above average, but again, more diversity would’ve been completely guaranteed you into your dream schools. Above average ECs though, thanks to ur taekwondo and the awards. Did you join at least some school clubs that you haven’t listed?. Great scores obviously. Rank is fine, but unweighted GPA kinda hurts (not above 3.9).</p>
<p>Assuming that money is not a problem,</p>
<p>Duke/UVA/NYU are pretty high matches; acceptance is high chance, financial aid/merit scholarships is a question mark though.</p>
<p>Low ivy tier - cornell/brown/columbia/dartmouth: probably low reach/low match, I think you have a good chance for cornell at least (based on who got accepted last year at my school, you should be FINE for cornell for acceptance but not sure about scholarships/financial aid)</p>
<p>High ivy tier - harvard/yale/princeton/etc. : high reach for anybody. Weighted GPA might kill you here worse than ur ECs, but I still think you have a better chance than most.</p>
<p>i wouldn’t worry; though a lot of them are reaches, you should definitely be ok for getting into a few of them at least. your test scores are amazing and your grades are definitely competitive; a lot of the schools are still reaches for you only because they’re reaches for anyone.</p>
<p>Brown: match
Cornell: match
Columbia: high match
Dartmouth: high match
Duke: match
Harvard: reach
NYU: high safety
Princeton: reach
UPenn Wharton: idk
U of Virginia: idk
Yale: reach</p>