Chance me- all Ivies (my mains are Cornell, Brown, and Columbia), NYU, Duke, and Georgetown

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi everyone,
I’m a rising junior, and I was wondering if anyone could chance me for the Ivies, NYU, Duke, and Georgetown. My dream school would be Cornell College of Human Ecology, Brown, or Duke. I haven’t taken many AP courses yet, being as I have just finished sophomore year and sophomores can only take one AP class, and I haven’t taken any SATs (including subject tests, but I plan to take biology, world history, math 1, and English) or ACTs.

Please be honest, I’m open to any ideas to boost my chances, and criticism is welcome (but please be semi-nice lol)

GPA- 4.0 uw, 4.3w
Classes taken- math: Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, next year pre calc honors
English- English 1 Honors, English 2 Honors, and next year AP Lang
History- World History A Honors, AP World (see this is the one ap class I was talking about!!!),next year US History Honors and APHUG (I would do APUSH but it doesn’t pertain that much to my plans for my major (anthropology or at Cornell HumEc, Human Biology Health and Society)
Science- Earth and Environmental Science Honors, Biology Honors, next year AP Bio
language- French 1, French 2, and next year French 3 Honors (we can’t take the honors level until French 3)
elective- concert band (it will be honors starting junior year)

Electives
Girl Scouts- Bronze and Gold Award
Mu Alpha Theta
NHS
NEHS
NFHS- Le Grand Concours National French Exam bronze and silver medals (placed nationally)
Science Honor Society and Science Olympiad
Young Women’s Empowerment Club- vice president (will be president senior year)
Duke University- I work with a lab in evolutionary anthropology publishing research and doing data entry, hopefully later this year I will go full time
Cornell University Summer College- took courses online for credit over my summer break
math and English tutor

Hooks
-First generation college student
-woman in science
-minority religious/ ethnic group
-prestigious college prep charter school

In the future in high school, I want to possibly start a nonprofit or app for people, especially girls, struggling with mental illness as this hits really close to home for me!

If you guys could think of any ideas on how I could boost my chances, especially for Cornell, please let me now!

2

You have a great GPA and classes are good. Work on the ECs, there are a bit too simple. Try to get some leadership positions and you have a good shot! You seem to be passionate about your interests, so that’ll come off well on the app.

3

Thank you so much!!! I really appreciate the tips! I think that Girl Scouts, Duke, and my online classes at Cornell are my most important ECs, but I definitely see what you mean about the leadership positions!

4

None of the things you listed as hooks are actually hooks. Hooks would be something that would cause a college to look favorably upon accepting you for some reason, whether it be that you are a recruited athlete, your parents are huge donors, etc. Being a “woman in science” doesn’t qualify as a hook, and neither does “first generation college student” or “prestigious college prep school”. Depending on what minority group you are a part of (can you clarify?), I wouldn’t consider that to be a hook either. You have a good GPA, but your ECs are somewhat worrisome. Honor societies like Alpha Theta, NHS and NEHS aren’t going to help you out much, and scoring well on a French test isn’t either. The labwork, Girls Scouts, and (maybe) the club you created are the only ECs of substance. Being a tutor won’t help on your application at all. Half of what you listed under Electives, I wouldn’t even consider ECs - I would place them in the Honors portion of your application. NYU seems reasonable, and Duke may look favorably upon you conducting research in their lab, but other than that, all other schools are reaches and you have no better a chance of getting accepted than the current acceptance rates for those universities. GL!

5

Oops I put elective instead of ECs

6

What kind of ECs would you suggest looking into or getting involved in?

7

I’m only a junior lol. But I definitely see your point that the ECs are simple, so I need some ideas on how to have stronger ECs. I’m looking to major in anthropology, so something science-y would be the best.

8

If so, work on building your research at Duke and making it substantial. Data entry is a good starting point, but you want to start getting involved on juicier projects that can result in some cool findings. Just try to push for that a little bit more in your lab with your PI. It doesn’t have to be forceful, just tell them you are interested in getting involved in a certain project. Do your research on the work you do first, build skills, and show them you are capable. You don’t have many other great ECs, so just focus on this and try really hard to get into Duke. It’s an incredible university and it’s probably your best shot! You are on the right track, GL!

9

First gen is a powerful hook in the current admissions landscape, as well as certain minorities. As with anything on the internet, make sure to understand the experience and background of posters when assessing comments and recommendations. Continue to work hard and focus on what is in your control…grades, test scores, ECs. Lastly, choose ECs that you like, not those that you think will look good to AOs.