Chance Me - Class of 2016

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi, I’m a rising senior in highschool and I would greatly appreciate an honest opinion on my chances to get into: Duke, Northwestern (ED), Swarthmore (ED), Wash U, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, USC, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UNC Chapel Hill

  • From my stats, I think most of these schools are high reach for me, but I would like to hear from other people. If I choose to apply ED, I am planning to apply to either Northwestern or Swarthmore.
  • I attend a competitive highschool in VA
  • I’m interested in Biomed engineering, but I am also thinking about applying as a history major.

SAT: 2130
SAT II: BIO M : 720 US History: probably upper 700 - I will try to take Math II later in the fall
Class Rank: I’m not sure, but I think I place somewhere in the top 60 kids out of 250
ACTs: I will take very soon, hopefully will get 34-36
GPA: 4.08 W
AP: Psych - awaiting score, Calc AB - awaiting score, Stat - awaiting score, US -awaiting score, Bio - 4
Senior Course-load: AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, AP Econ (Macro/Micro), AP Chem, AP Gov, English 4 (honors), and Latin IV (Honors) - My school is strict on the number of APs a student can take.

Extracurricular stuff/Honors
National Merit - Semi-finalist - I will try for finalist, I’m actually not quite sure how this works lol
Quizbowl - Nationally Ranked, we go to national HS tournaments (HSNCT, PACE) and place fairly well.
National History Bowl - Nationally ranked, Co-Team captain
National History Bee - Nationals
Member of FRC Team (First robotics) - Team council member and a student leader - I have skills in welding and heavy machinery. - Captain of Welding team - and attended FIRST National competition in St. Louis
I have 200 volunteer hours at a camp for blind/visually impaired children serving as a camp counselor
I also have some hours as a volunteer for First - I helped out at the National competition
Advocated for STEM/First programs to congress members at a national advocacy conference
World Quest - placed 5th and 3rd at State competitions
Guitar/Piano - I’ve been playing Piano Since 2nd grade and self-taught for Guitar - I volunteer at hospitals playing for patients with my friends.
I perform altar service duties for my Catholic church - I heard this may help for Notre Dame

Ect:
Family Income: 100k+
Family of 5 - I have two other siblings
Asian - First generation
My teacher recommendations should be good, but primarily from humanities teachers (I have one math/science teacher)
Counselor recommendation - average - my school got a new counselor that will write the recommendations.

2

I agree, they are reaches but I think UCLA USC and UNC are high matches. Make sure your essays are good and j think you can be a competitive applicant. Best of luck!
Chance me back please:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1782833-chance-a-rising-senior-for-uchicago-georgetown-ivies-etc-will-chance-back.html#latest

3

Can’t tell without a UW gpa, but if you apply to all these schools with your stats I think you’ll get into at least one of the more competitive ones (NU, WashU, Vanderbilt, etc), especially if you apply to one ED. You have good enough test scores and ECs so you should have a shot, good luck!

4

Thanks for the responses, I really appreciate them!
My unweighted gpa is about 3.7. I didn’t include it in my initial post because its only an estimate because my school doesn’t give out the unweighted gpa for some odd reason.

5

A 3.7 GPA might actually be slightly low for your more competitive schools, but as long as it is btwn 3.7-3.8 and not 3.6-3.7 you still stand a chance ED at Northwestern (not sure about swarthmore) with your good ECs and and SAT (and possibly ACT). Make sure you write good essays to as stay competitive as possible because that little extra edge could make a big difference if your more borderline. Good Luck!