Chance me and I'll chance you back super promptly!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>So, I'm applying to the following schools. I might not have a shot at any of them, but I'd appreciate some feedback all the same. Be honest, please. I won't take it personally. I'm applying to a few safety schools (not listed) too, but if I don't get in somewhere I'm really dying to go, I might just take a gap year and travel. </p>

<p>Dartmouth (ED)
Columbia
Penn
UChicago
JHU
Carnegie Mellon
NYU
Georgetown
American University
Tulane
William & Mary
BU</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>None of the school's I've gone to have done rankings!!</p>

<p>SAT: 2310
SATII: Literature: 750 Math II: 720
Unweighted GPA: 3.6*
Weighted GPA: No idea
AP**: Psych-5, EngLit-4, EngLang-5, Microecon-5, USGov-5. (By the end of senior year I will have Calc AB and BC, Physics B and C, Chem, USH, Visual Art, and if I can get my school to administer them, Spanish, German and maybe Latin. I test well and plan to have nothing lower than a 4 on any of these.)</p>

<p><em>I know this is awful, and that it might just be a deal-breaker.
*</em>I went to an IB school for my freshman and sophomore years, so those are all from my junior year. </p>

<p>ECs/Sports</p>

<p>Gr.9/10:
V. Ice hockey (captain and MVP sophomore year)
V. Field hockey (state all-star freshman year)
Duke of Edinborough
over 100 hours community service
social services club
amnesty international (only 9th)
model UN</p>

<p>Gr.11*
club ice hockey, captain</p>

<p>*this was a really difficult year for me. I switched into a huge school about a month late, and there's no excuse, but I really have nothing which is terrible because it's the most important year. Needless to say I spend a lot of time freaking out about this, but there's nothing I can do about it now except work as hard as I can to make up for it. </p>

<p>Gr.12</p>

<p>school forest (eco. clean up)
SPIDEE (diversity awareness education)
student review board (planning, etc.)
club ice hockey
friendship club (tutoring special needs kids)
volunteer work at the senior center</p>

<p>Essay and recs:</p>

<p>I really don't want to sound cocky, but I think I can write a great essay. I also have somebody fantastic lined up for Dartmouth's peer review.
I just started at a new school (my family moves a lot) this year, but it's very small and I'm hoping to get some pretty good recs from my APEng and APChem teachers, plus maybe one from my junior improv theater teacher. </p>

<p>P.S. I want to do pre-med and major in Chem. and Bio. (unless that's too much in which case I'll switch right over to just chem)</p>

2

<p>bump badum bump</p>

3

<p>Dartmouth: Reach
Columbia: Reach
Penn: Reach
UChicago: Reach
JHU: Low Reach
Carnegie Mellon: Low Reach
NYU: High Match
Georgetown: Reach
American University: Match
Tulane: Reach
William & Mary: Reach
BU: Match</p>

<p>Have some safeties too! Chance me back please!</p>

4

<p>Thank you thank you thank you! I want to get into Dartmouth so, so badly. I know I shouldn’t think too much about it because it’s a reach for me.
Good luck with Ole Miss!</p>

5

<p>The APs that you are taking do not matter. Only the AP classes that you’re in. Colleges won’t see your scores from this year, except at the college you enroll at. </p>

<p>Also, have you done scientific research, etc? What science classes have you taken? Sometimes, colleges have mixed feelings about students who say they are interested in a certain career, but haven’t really demonstrated much interest in that career in their high school life. </p>

<p>Dartmouth (ED) - High reach (Dartmouth has an incredibly small class, and a lot of that is athletic recruits. It’s much harder to get in there ED than it appears.)
Columbia - High reach
Penn - Mid reach
UChicago - Mid reach
JHU - Low reach
Carnegie Mellon - High match / Low reach
NYU - Match
Georgetown - Low reach
American University - Match
Tulane - High match
William & Mary - High match
BU - Match</p>

6

<p>Dartmouth, Columbia, and Penn should always be considered high reaches for anyone in the applicant pool solely because their standards are so high.
UChicago and Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, and Tulane are a reach because of GPA.
BU, NYU, and American are matches.
Don’t know about William and Mary.</p>

7

<p>Would I be better off applying ED to Columbia instead?</p>

8

<p>You’d be best off at Penn. Their accepted class is incredibly large, such that the admission rate still has to be above 1/5, even factoring in their athlete class. I would say Columbia and Dartmouth would be of pretty similar difficulty, with Columbia probably being a little more difficult.</p>

<p>If you’re just looking to get into an Ivy, that’s a great strategy. But, If Dartmouth is your top choice, wouldn’t it kill you to go to Penn, never knowing whether or not you could’ve gone to Dartmouth instead?</p>

<p>Other things should go into your decision as well. Will your ED app be ready? Rushing an app can cause a rejection for a student who would’ve been accepted RD. Also, colleges do claim that they would never accept a student early who they would’ve have accepted in the regular pool as well (Though I’m not sure whether I believe this).</p>

9

<p>Scientific research such as…? I haven’t done any! I took the only science classes offered during 9th and 10th and did really well in them (two years meant to cover the equivalent of honors chem, honors bio and honors physics). I only took AP Psych last year, but this year I’ve got AP Chem and sustainable agriculture. I have to study AP bio. and AP physics on my own because my school doesn’t offer them.</p>

10

<p>Tanboyrunfast: I’m not really worried about getting into an ivy, although, to tell you the truth, I sometimes have to remind myself not to worry too much about branding. I spent a lot of time researching a lot of schools, and dartmouth penn and columbia made it onto my list for the same reasons as the rest of them. They are my top 3 though (UChicago is tied for third. My concern is that I won’t have a chance of getting into any of them RD, so I might do better to apply to Penn so that I end up at my third choice instead of my 10th. I don’t know if this makes sense.</p>

<p>And yeah, my ED app will be ready. My only concern is being at a new school and having less time to get to know teachers before I need recs.</p>

11

<p>I understand where you’re coming from. I had a similar situation in that my top two choices are Yale and Dartmouth. I was thinking about doing Dartmouth ED, but I know that should I get in, I’d always wonder if I would’ve gotten into Yale. I don’t want to apply to Yale SCEA, because a rejection in December would just suck! If you would want to go to Penn, totally without reservations, I think it’s a great idea! Remember though, UChicago has nonrestrictive early action, so no loss in applying there early either.</p>

<p>Clarifying my earlier point, take, for example, a kid who is really interested in marine biology. He writes his essay about his passion for marine biology, but he’s really never engaged in marine biology. He took freshman biology, but never any more advanced bio or environmental science classes, nor did he do anything outside of the classroom to satisfy this interest. This creates a watered down application. What will this kid actually do if he comes to X University? Based on what you’ve said though, I don’t think you’ll come off in this way.</p>

<p>By scientific research, I mean working in a lab at a university or something similar.</p>

12

<p>Thank you so, so much for the advice. I really needed it. I’m definitely going to rethink some things and consider moving my list around. I really, really love Dartmouth, but I would be immensely grateful to end up at UChicago, Penn or Columbia as well. At the end of the day, I’m not remotely safe applying to any of them, and I don’t want to regret making a trivial distinction. We’ll see what happens.
Best of luck to you in your applications. Seriously. You’ve been a huge help.</p>

13

<p>Dartmouth, Columbia, and UChicago are all reaches. </p>

<p>Penn would be a lower reach, especially early…the larger class size WILL help, as the point was made earlier.</p>

<p>JHU, Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon: Low Reaches. I think you might get in at at least one of these schools. </p>

<p>NYU, BU, American University, Tulane: Admit/match to low match</p>

<p>Just my guesses from similar cases, I can be totes wrong though!
Chance me maybe?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1550070-looking-some-helpful-input-chance-me.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1550070-looking-some-helpful-input-chance-me.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

14

<p>Thank you. I think I’ll get my applications for Penn and Dartmouth ready for the ED deadline and decide a little later.
Bump.</p>

15

<p>Sounds like a good plan from here. I would also see UPenn as a low reach, even with your GPA. UChicago as well for RD. JHU would be a high match from my side. I agree with TypeRA on the rest. Focus on your essay to compensate your Grade 11 ECs, but you seem quite confident about that.</p>

<p>Can you chance me as well?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1549918-chances-international.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1549918-chances-international.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

16

<p>Thanks :slight_smile: Best of luck to you!</p>

17

<p>Dartmouth (ED)-reach
Columbia-reach
Penn-reach
UChicago-reach
JHU-low reach
Carnegie Mellon-reach
NYU-match
Georgetown-low reach/high match
American University-match
Tulane-match
William & Mary-match</p>

18

<p>Dartmouth: Reach</p>

<p>Columbia: Reach</p>

<p>Penn: Reach</p>

<p>UChicago: Reach</p>

<p>JHU: Low Reach</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon: High match</p>

<p>NYU: High Match</p>

<p>Georgetown: Reach</p>

<p>American University: Match</p>

<p>Tulane: High match</p>

<p>William & Mary: Reach</p>

<p>BU: Match</p>

19

<p>I would say that you should work on your GPA a bit, but your SATs and APs look pretty good… If you write as fantastic of an essay as you say, perhaps your voice and character will make up for the less-than-stellar grades.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

20

<p>Dartmouth: Reach
Columbia: Reach
Penn: Low reach
UChicago: low reach
JHU: Low Reach
Carnegie Mellon: Low Reach
NYU: High Match
Georgetown: Reach
American University: Match
Tulane: Reach
William & Mary: Reach
BU: Match</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1551205-chance-me.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1551205-chance-me.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;