Chance me! Brown (ED), Georgetown, Ivies, JHU, BU (RD). I also need advice

Chance Me / Match Me!
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hi !! pls be honest af i can take it as i don’t have high hopes

also applying to chapel hill (instate)

chinese, female, parents are immigrants, upper middle class

intended major: idk science? i like it and i think its v fascinating but my biggest issue is i haven’t done anything (research, internship, etc) despite my mom being a doctor… you’ll see below lol

gpa: 4.6 (w), top 10% (but i go to private school so that’s only like 10 people anyway)

sat: 1540 (790 m, 750 rw i believe)

ap: 5’s on 5 exams (bio, apush, psych, stat, chinese), plan on taking 5 more senior year (lit, bc, chem, spanish, econ)

ec: piano competitions (state level), orchestra (violin state level), volunteer at nursing home w piano/violin

i work retail 20-30 hr/wk

soooo as you can see i don’t really do much and am all over the place in terms of interests/strengths (i struggled a lot w mh, and idk what i wanna do in life/lowkey have no interests bc you know how it is w mh issues taking up your life)

im not sure if i should apply ed to brown to shoot my shot, and do rd for all the other schools, OR apply ea to georgetown (i loved it there) bc there’s a higher chance i get in

ivies specifically are columbia, upenn, harvard ++ jhu

safety are gonna be chapel hill, northeastern, boston university

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So you have a 4.6, taking a bunch of rigor, an SAT that is in the 99th percentile, work 20-30 hours a week and you play piano and violin at state level competitions.

Yep, you’ve done nothing :slight_smile: You kids today - the stress you put on yourself is unreal.

I think with your Columbia, Peen, Harvard, JHU - they are unlikely - because they are unlikely for everyone. But if you present yourself in a more confident, captivating way - then why not. Perhaps music is an angle in.

I know in-state UNC is good. NEU is not a safety - there are kids getting turned down there that get into IVYs. I think demonstrating interest (i.e. ED) means a lot there. And BU is a match, not a safety.

While you’re likely in as an in-state UNC, you might put one underneath - NC State or Wilmington for example, just as a double precaution.

As to whether you should apply ED to Brown - that depends on - is that 100% your top choice or you just using an admission strategy to maximize chances? have you been? do you know it’s for you - it’s different with an open curriculum. Since you’re upper middle class, I’ll assume you’re getting no aid - do you know if your parents are willing to spend $80K a year - and that goes for the other Ivies and Gtown which give no aid? If not, take them off.

There’s a lot of other prestigious schools where you could do well - Emory (slight reach), Miami Florida (that would be a safet/reach as opposed to BU/NEU), Case Western. I think you’d find Wake a reach.

Be more confident. You are amazing!!!

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I’d look to add a school like Carleton which values creativity and compassion and which provides multiple supports for mh issues.

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yeah i went to a summer program at brown for a few weeks and i loved the campus! and learned more abt the open curriculum/class sit in etc flexibility. im thinking about adding nc state… i really just low-key prioritized location since i wanted to be in a large city up north

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Well - there’s lots of schools up North. @Bill_Marsh just mentioned Carleton and St. Olaf (safety) is nearby. OK - that’s not the North you mean and they’re not in a city. Macaleser (target) is in a city as are Case Western and Pitt - and they are up North - although maybe not the Up North you mean.

How about a Brandeis as a back up? Or an @Bill_Marsh favorite - Wesleyan. Or Vassar - not in a big city but close to a train to it.

It’s likely worst case you are at Chapel Hill and most would kill for that!!! But if you want to be in the big city - maybe Fordham as a safety? But I think Brandeis could work for you, right outside Boston. Rochester could be another target and I know has a solid music component if you wanted to go there.

Good luck

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I’m not sure that the best place for her is necessarily in a big city, but it’s obviously her choice. Life in a big city can be stressful.

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Since you like Brown, consider schools like it in one or more ways:

Regarding Georgetown, without much in the way of geosciences or astronomy, I wouldn’t recommend it as a first choice for a student undecided as to which of the sciences she may pursue.

I’m sorry about your mh challenges. You have achieved quite well throughout them, however.

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neu is ruthless in increasing their rankings. They would reject any overqualified person if they suspect he has less than 10% chance of attending.

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UNC in state + in state tuition is a no brainer imo. Equal >= UCSB/D and a bit worse than UCB

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yeah that’s my backup plan which is sounding more appealing everyday ! i saw the tuition would only be like 8k

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really? i thought they were like 50 ranking at best

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thank you :slight_smile: i wanted to do premed but it sounds so stressful and I’m not sure i could handle it. i want to do something with biology or chemistry maybe

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#28 in US News, a public Ivy.

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It looks like I am the only adult on this thread willing to tell you the cold, hard truth so, I’m not going to beat around the bush: there’s no way you are going to convince your parents to pay full price for a LAC. I’m not even going to waste my time or yours trying to entice you to consider Amherst, Wesleyan, Smith, Vassar or any other small college comparable to Brown in terms of vibe, tradition, or academics. And basically, if you don’t get into Brown, I don’t see you getting into any other Ivy. The Little Ivies represent an important step, niche - whatever you want to call it - second bite at the apple - for the Ivy reject, but educating immigrant parents (especially, doctors) who’ve never heard of them is a tough job.

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This seems fair. If considered by selectivity, UNC–CH falls outside of the top 50 nationally:

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OP: if I understood you correctly (difficult to do so with your lack of punctuation) you are considering Georgetown EA because you believe you will have a better chance of admission in that round. Georgetown has said that is not the case and in fact the admission percentage is lower in EA.

I do wonder about fit at Georgetown because of your ambivalence about a science major — why is that a top choice? You need to look beyond prestige and instead investigate the schools and their programs. Your concern should be your essays, not your ECs.

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hi! thanks for your honesty! yeah my asian parents definently wouldn’t want me going to an liberal arts school in the middle of nowhere, especially far away from home. i think its extremely improbable i get into an ivy (even my parents say so they just want me to try it anyway). i’ve visited all the places I’m applying to so my parents are ok with all these, tuition is gonna hit hard but I’m just hoping for the best bc you never really know!

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Same one of my old college counselors who didn’t believe in me said to my parents in a private meeting that “there is always hArVeY MuDd and hOnOrs CoLlEgEs” ARE WE PAYING YOU 10k a year for this ? I think that played a role in their dissmisal.

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yes, that’s what i have thought but thank you for telling me that it unfortunately won’t be the case. since i don’t really know what i want to do, i’m not sure which programs i should be applying to. however, i don’t want to put “undecided” because i’m not sure if it’ll make me look like a weaker applicant

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However, full pay families may find the greatest value at colleges that match this description. Consider the prominence of Williams in this Forbes article, for example: