Chance Me! Columbia Univ., Oxbridge, Amherst, Yale, Stanford, NYU, Cornell

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey everyone! I’m posting so I can get (what some would consider) an early start on deciding which colleges I should apply to and which ones are safety, ballpark, or reach. Thanks so much! Here’s my info:

Background Info:
School Type: Public (ranked in top 10 of state)
Location: Connecticut
Race/Gender: Mixed White (Middle Eastern) and Chinese
Prospective Major: Applying undecided, but hopefully looking into pre-med and film stuff
GPA: 97.5 (Straight As, woop woop!)
Class rank: My school doesn’t rank.
SAT: 2100-2300 range on the SAT based on various practice tests.

Course load:
Basically as many APs and honors as are available for the core classes. I already know my courses because we have to sign up for them way early.
Sophomore:
AP Chemistry
Junior:
AP Lang
AP Calc BC
AP Biology
AP US History
AP Macro+Micro Economics
Senior:
AP Lit
AP Portfolio (Art class)
AP Physics
AP Statistics
AP French
AP Government and Politics

Extracurricular Info:

School activities/organizations in which you participate:
-ECO (Environmental Conservation Organization) One of the first members in the founding year
-Crew team, coxswain
-Orchestra, first chair violin
-GSA (Gay Straight Alliance)
-Studio Art

School honors:
-First honors every quarter since freshman year
-Nominated for writer of the year award freshman year
-Student of the year awards at Chinese Language School

After-school obligations:
-Babysitting for neighbors
-TAG (Teen Advisory Group) Includes planning teen programs for the Farmington Public Library, assisting with set-up
-attending the Chinese Language School of Greater Hartford for past 10 years, graduating this year
-teaching Chinese yo-yo lessons
-Nordstrom BP Fashion Board Internship

Civic activities:
-Providing food for a men’s homeless shelter with the FHS cooking club
-Planning and performing in library Chinese cultural library programs (separate from TAG) for the children’s section
-Volunteer counselor for Suzuki Strings Camp (60 hours sophomore year, 12 hours junior year)
-Volunteer counselor for Chinese Language School Camp (40 hours for each of 3 summers)
-Town Wide Clean Up
-Tutoring at Union School Elementary
-Assisting in Art Enrichment Program at Union School Elementary
-Volunteering for the Democratic Party in my town

I’m not a senior yet, and I have a few other extracurriculars that are essentially guaranteed. I know people often think it’s stupid to chance on things one hasn’t actually achieved yet, and I somewhat agree, but might as well add in these things. If you’re going to **** all over me for this, please ignore
-GSA president
-Varsity Crew co-captain
-Chamber Orchestra

Possible Hooks?
I don’t know if these would even help at all, but might as well give it a go.
-I’m mixed race white/middle eastern and asian. I honestly have no idea if that would help at all.
-I’m a legacy at Yale.

Thank you everybody for all your help, and gave a great day!

2

It’s impossible for anybody to “chance” you for Oxbridge without knowing what subject and your AP scores.

3

You have a good shot at Cornell, but Stanford and Columbia might be harder. Not sure how much Yale legacy will help you, but it might not make a huge difference than a regular pool applicant (One kid in my school this year whose whole family went to Harvard got rejected). Get your SAT as high as you can and keep your grades up. Make your essay as sincere as possible and make sure you have the right teacher recs. I can’t say for Oxbridge or Amherst, as i’m very unaquainted with those two schools. Lastly, NYU you have a good chance; Stern may be a bit harder but i think you have a good chance regardless.
One thing that may be lacking in your profile is any major awards for your EC’s, such as any regional, state or national recognition in anything. Also , Honor rolls are nothing to the ivies (i wouldn’t even include it). You have fantastic and terrific EC’s, but having some recognition and more proof of your high achievment in any of those EC’s will definitely be a boost.

4

Definitely apply EA for Yale unless your really have a preference for one of your listed schools over the others. Cornell is a match, NYU is a low match/safety, and the rest are reaches. In my opinion, its best to apply broadly, and probability says you will get into one of the reaches.

5

Thank you @fcm951 and @puzzled123! Puzzled, I know it wasn’t in the thread, but do you have any suggestions on how to improve my apps in the future and maybe make one of my reaches into a match? My preference is towards Columbia, btw.

6

Assuming an SAT of 2200+, you’re competitive wherever you apply in the United States. Of course, that merely means that you get to join the very large pools of qualified applicants that flood all the most selective schools. But, if you continue to do what you’re doing, and you actually achieve high test scores, and you take some care to carefully craft your essays and overall applications, you should enjoy some success when the decisions arrive.

7

@LaurieChan

I am assuming you are a junior: there is not too much that you can do to change the content on your application at this point (other than score high on the SAT, which I am assuming you will). You should pick your top choice college as soon as possible and prepare to apply early there so your chances will be significantly better. Spend a lot of time crafting that perfect common application essay and supplement- your essays will likely impact your app more than anything else from this point onward.

8

You have a great profile! Nice job on those grades!
A mixed race of white and Asian in no way is a hook just to answer your question. You should see the things kids post about being born the wrong race and their chances with admissions. But I don’t think it’ll be an impediment.
Yale legacy status can give you a bit of a bump, idk about a hook though!
2100-2300 is quite a bit of a range so I really hope that you can get closer to the 2300 to give you the best shot (whatever that means for these schools)
Also, I don’t really agree with the above poster about Cornell being a match. Please be weary when people say that any of these incredibly competitive schools are matches. I had a 2170 SAT, 3.97 uw gpa, and urm status as a Hispanic and I got flat out rejected from Cornell even though almost all posters called it a match. My experience is likely not going to be the same as yours but it’s just to point out not to believe other’s estimations of chances based on a profile.
I think you have a good shot, just work on those essays and apply! Make sure to have some safeties that you absolutely love and are financially reasonable just in case! I would really hate to see another one of these “perfect sat, perfect gpa, rejected from all schools” post. But I have a feeling you won’t have to worry about that :slight_smile: Good luck! I’m rooting for you!

9

What are your AP/AICE/IB scores? British University care way more about those scores than your gpa. Kind of the opposite of the american school system