Hello, everyone. I am halfway through my junior year of high school! I will be starting college apps in about six months, so i just want to get some ideas of what would be realistic before I get to that point. It has been my dream for a while to attend UPenn, but I honestly don’t know if that would be a viable option. Be honest, please. If you could chance me for Cornell and Dartmouth ED1, as well, that would be great. Thanks!
GPA: 3.87UW, 4.15W
Rank: N/A (I am top 10% - all I know)
ACT: 34C (36E, 34R, 34S, 32M)
Planning to take SAT IIs in lit and U.S. history
Major: Political science/gov
ECs:
President, Founder of the Political Club
Council President in MUN (state office)
President of Youth in Government
Treasurer of the Student Council
Political internship with governor and congressman (eight weeks, three hours per week)
Internship with immigration lawyer
National Honor Society
School ambassador
Political activism (invited to multiple national conferences)
General volunteering (100+ hours)
Awards:
Assuming something regarding AP
State level award in MUN
Probably a few small ones I am forgetting
^ Basically, nothing of significance
If you chance, could you please tell me which one you think I would have the best shot at? I love all three, but I just want to set my eyes on one, obviously, for ED1.
As with any “chance me” question, it’s difficult to provide a helpful response since there is so much information we do not know, such as quality of recommendations and essays, as well as the quality of your school. You seem like you have accomplished a lot (congrats). Would be helpful to know what state or area of the country you are in, as well as race and gender. As for your question, “please tell me which one you think I would have the best shot at,” everything else being equal I would say Cornell, Dartmouth, and UPenn in that order. But again, just based on stats and ECs it’s not especially accurate to provide chances.
@sunny66 Hey, thanks! I live in Ohio, and I am a white male. I am working with a very qualified admissions company to help write my essays. I will make sure I strategically push my recs. My high school is top 15 in the state.
I do think you have a good chance at these school since you have extracurriculars that are strong and show demonstrated interest in your major. However, as it goes with chance mes for selective schools, there is no way for me to say you’re a shoo in as these schools are all crapshoots. Good luck, Penn is also my dream school and I hope to ED there!
Hey. I have zero expertise, but here are my impressions: You are a solid student with excellent test scores. A 34 ACT is–what?-top 1%? Top 2%? Roughly three million people graduate from high school every year, and if we were to order them, you’d probably be somewhere in the top 2% of them. That is really, really awesome. Problem is, that’s still 60,000 people, and the Ivy League admits a total of around 20,000, including international students.
To me, while your ECs look solid, they will probably come off as average among that population of the top 60,000 applicants nationwide, which is who you are competing against. I don’t mean to imply that I don’t think you have a shot at these schools, just not one any better or worse than most of the other applications they will get. However, by thinking about this early, you can change that. I’d recommend pursuing the best summer opportunity you can to help you stand out a little more. Maybe also try to think of one cool thing you can do during this coming semester that will help you stand out, too, something that is a little more unusual than just being in a school org and reflects some of your interests.
In short: I think you probably have enough to get through the first gateway, but you may still be on the bubble at those schools. You can get there, though. Show your passion. Good luck.
ED acceptance at Penn is much higher than RD. If going there if your dream, I’d say go for it and apply ED. You have an extensive list of extra curriculars that are quite impressive. I’m assuming you’re a junior and have time to up your GPA (it’s the only part not up to par with the average person accepted into upenn). I’m not an admissions officer but with good rec letters I feel you have a good shot. However, Ivys are still very difficult to get into and acceptance isn’t a science.
@RayManta Thank you for the comment! How do I come up with an activity that would be unique to the Ivies? I guess I just need some ideas of what would be on that level. I assumed that would be an issue in my profile.
@hw1102 Thank you! My GPA wont increase by much. I have one semester left to get it up, so I would maybe have a 3.89 at the time of applying.
This is something I’m focused on simply because my daughter is in the same position as you. My understanding is that the top schools really love to see that you have a specific passion and pursue it. It doesn’t have to be academic–if you love cooking, for example, start a youtube channel where you teach teens how to make your favorite meals. If you like the arts, maybe there is a local arts center where you can offer to help or even teach a class to young kids introducing them to poetry. You obviously have an interest in politics and government–one way to show this is to organize and plan a visit to your school by your congressman or senator. There are probably plenty of other political activities you can do, even on the local level if you live in a small town or simply by helping people register to vote. If your town has an election this coming year, you could volunteer for a candidate–there’s nothing like politics on the local level, which is just about getting the word out about your candidate, but really demonstrates your commitment to government. It doesn’t have to be unique or Nobel-Prize worthy, just a way to show the admissions folks who you are in a way that the rest of your application won’t. Only you know who you are and what you like to do–turn it into a strength. Good luck!
Yeah chance me threads are getting tougher these days, however you have a solid application, emphasize the internships and activism, what you learned, your impact, and how those would translate to the colleges you’re applying to. If Penn is your dream, apply there ED as that’s your best chance of getting in. It looks like you’re focused on the ivies, but you want to consider places like Georgetown, maybe Chicago, Northwestern in the midwest, since you’re in Ohio. Good luck.
@theloniusmonk I actually have looked at Northwestern. I visited in June. It was awesome! Georgetown is one of my favorite schools, but they are almost impossible to get into for international relations/political science. I’ll definitely apply, though. I want to expand my view on colleges, because I have only been looking at a few select schools. There could be some that I like, that I haven’t looked at yet. There are schools other than the Ivies, and I feel like my scope has been kind of limited. Do you have any other suggestions?
@RayManta Thank you. I am actually required by my school to do a major senior project, so I will try and push ideas in March.
I would be very surprised if you actually liked U Penn / Dartmouth & Cornell equally (if you visited during the summer/when schools were not in term the differences may have been less obvious).
If you like Penn (for itself, v it’s membership in a sports league, which is how your question reads), think about Emory, Vanderbilt, Tufts, BU, UMi, George Washington*. If you like Dartmouth (for itself), schools like Middlebury, Bucknell, Bowdoin, Vanderbilt, perhaps WUSTL, etc. might be worth a look.
As another poster mentioned, UPenn takes an unusually high % of the incoming class from ED: if that is your true love, go for it.
As for this:
The short answer is that by spring of junior year, you don’t. You look for ways to do more/deeper of what you are really invested in.
*GWU is exceptional for polisci-type internships (even better than Georgetown, b/c they work with you more to accommodate internships during term time and it is easier to get to the internships from GW than Georgetown).
If you’re looking at politics/IR, two other schools that come to mind are George Washington (Elliot school, I think you’d have a good chance of admittance with your stats) and Tufts.
@SJ2727@collegemom3717 My mom LOVES Tufts, and she wants me to look at it badly. Just in theory, if I were to apply ED, IF I LIKE IT, would I have a good chance of getting in?
I’m not familiar with Tufts policies in particular but in general ED gives you a better chance, as you know. But with a school like that, nothing is guaranteed (well…almost nothing. I’d pretty much guarantee you’d get an offer applying ED to American, who are highly rated in IR too, but I know they have very specific ED policies).
