Chance me for Duke, Princeton, Stanford, Villanova, and more

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>** Background: **</p>

<p>Do people generally go to top colleges? About 10 to Ivy’s + S+M, 20 others to top colleges
Gender: Male
Grade: 12 (rising senior)
Race: Dutch (Born in Holland) </p>

<p>** Hooks: **</p>

<p>Legacy: no
URM: no
Recruited Athlete: no</p>

<p>** GPA **</p>

<p>Weighted/Unweighted? Weighted
Scale: 5.0 (+1 for AP/Honors)
Freshman: 4.5
Sophomore: 4.67
Junior: 4.78
Senior: none</p>

<p>Unweighted: 3.8 cumulative, 3.85 Junior year. Upward Trend in grades
Class Rank: 12/550</p>

<p>GPA of Valedictorian: 4.76</p>

<p>Course Rigor (challenging, very challenging, most challenging): Very/Most Challenging</p>

<p>AP’s Taken + Scores:
Biology: 5
History: 5
Physics B: 5
Physics C (mech): 5
Calc BC: 5
Calc AB Subscore: 5</p>

<p>** Senior Schedule: **</p>

<p>Current Issues (regular)
AP French
AP Stat
AP Lit
AP Chem
Gym (regular)
+
Linear Algebra at local University</p>

<p>** Standardized Testing: (SAT/ACT) **</p>

<p>Single Sitting:
CR: 670 M: 740 W: 730
Essay: 10
*only taken once, cold.
Will you take the ACT: (SAT if vice versa): no
Subject Tests:
Physics: 750 (11)
Math II C: 800 (11)
Chemistry: 720 (9)</p>

<p>** Recommendations (indicate strength of recommendation): **</p>

<p>English: haven’t seen it, but probably top 10% and a strong recommendation
Physics: haven’t seen it, but probably top 1-2% and a strong recommendation
Guidance Counselor: will write about troubles faced in Freshman year, know pretty well.</p>

<p>** Essays: **</p>

<p>Still in the works, looking to be pretty strong</p>

<p>** Major Awards (Intel, USAMO, etc..): none **</p>

<p>** Honor Societies: **</p>

<p>Foreign Language Honor Society (10,11)
National Honor Society (11)
Science Honor Society (11)</p>

<p>** Extracirriculars: **</p>

<p>Sport Teams: (Indicate if Varsity)
Tennis - Varsity (11,12)
Cross Country - Junior Varsity (10)
Indoor Track - Junior Varsity (10)</p>

<p>** Awards/Honors Received (indicate if local, state, national, international): **</p>

<ul>
<li>AIME Qualifier 1x (11) - National</li>
<li>Math Team (part of A team - 10,11), 5 on A team, 40 on B team</li>
<li>Qualified for CSAML (10,11) - State
-Team got 3rd in State</li>
<li>Qualified for NEAML (10,11) - New England
-Team got 16th in New England</li>
<li>Top 3 individual in math - Greater Hartford region</li>
<li>Top 5 individual in math - State</li>
<li>3rd place team, JETS competition - State</li>
<li>1st place delegation 2x, University of Hartford Model UN Simulation</li>
</ul>

<p>** Clubs: **</p>

<p>Model UN (4 years)
Math Team (4 years)
Teen Advisory Board for local library (4 years)
Debate Team (4 years)
JETS Team (2 years)
Student Council (3 years)</p>

<p>** Leadership Positions (Include length of time held): **</p>

<p>Model UN President - 1 year (12)
Math Team Captain - 1 year (11)</p>

<p>** Volunteer (Indicate hours and major programs attended): **</p>

<p>Camp Sunrise (summer 09): 120
Chruch mission trips, camp (2010): 70
Boy Scouts (9, 10): 30
MathCounts Proctor (9,10,11): 20
Key Club (10): 20
Other events volunteered ~ 40</p>

<p>Total: Around 300 hours</p>

<p>** Jobs (Indicate length of time and employer): **</p>

<p>Starting one in September, none otherwise</p>

<p>** Intended Major in College: Economics **</p>

<p>** Universities applying to: (not a set list) **</p>

<p>Stanford
Duke
Harvard
Princeton
Dartmouth
Villanova
Boston College
University of Virginia
University of Connecticut (In State)</p>

2

<p>Most likely rejection at Harvard and Princeton</p>

3

<p>You got the GPA and test scores, although your rank is surprisingly low, but you lack particularly strong ECs or any major hook, so I’d rule out Harvard and Princeton. Yale would be the next biggest reach, followed closely by Duke and Dartmouth. UVA is a high match, with everything else being safeties.</p>

4

<p>Your academics look great and are up to par with other future applicants. Your SAT is a bit low (maybe 100 more points would be good). Whats lacking are your ECs. Doing sports is good but only if you are amazing at it. I don’t think JV cuts it. You don’t seem to have a sole interest in anything and that could definetly hurt you. You might come off as just doing Clubs and ECs just to make your app look good because a lot of your ECs are quite common. Your chances aren’t great but neither is anyone elses. Apply to all the colleges and see what happens. Most likely you will be waitlisted…</p>

<p>Good Luck</p>

5

<p>A couple things that aren’t really shown…</p>

<p>With the sports, I was a big sports player in middle school (especially tennis and running) but a big injury (knee) really made it tough to continue with high-level sports. Sports freshman year was out of the question, but I tried back at running sophomore year but did not have the speed I used to (ie I did not make Varsity). Finally Junior year my knee was much better so I was really able to involve myself much more with tennis, which I now play year-round, quite frequently.</p>

<p>As to my “weak EC’s”. I am SUPER involved with Model UN, but unfortunately it doesn’t show on paper. As a freshman I ramped up our conference schedule (got us into a national conference) and have been an integral part yet. The main conference we attend, NHSMUN, does not do awards. However, I have put hundreds of hours into Model UN.</p>

6

<p>For the ivies and Stanford, rank, SATs and ECs are not where they would need to be for an unhooked candidate from CT. Duke is a reasonable reach and the others look good.</p>

7

<p>

Elaborate on that please. Where do they need to be?</p>

8

<p>With regard to HYPSM + Ivies, the applicant has an average UW GPA, below average SAT Scores (with the lowest as the CR), and EC’s that are not spectacular but average. </p>

<p>Harvard-Reach/High Reach
Princeton-Reach/High Reach
Stanford-Reach/High Reach
Dartmouth-Reach
Duke- Reach
UVA-match
Villanova- match
BC-pretty much in
Uconn-Safety</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>For a good shot at these colleges, GPA needs to be around 3.9+, top 5/whatever, 2250+ SAT with good CR and Math, and not sure about EC’s.</p>

<p>jhredsox, while colleges do value students making a varsity team, if the student has not recieved any honors/awards then it makes it less appealing. In your case, you seem to be simply “part” of the team.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>His EC’s do tend to do somewhat of a laundry list, with the sole exception of Math team and MUN.</p>

<p>While colleges will understand circumstances that stop you from doing something, you are expected to be on par with other applicants.</p>

9

<p>would it help me to just leave out half of my clubs? there are a couple which I’m barely involved in, but a couple that I’m very involved in. I don’t know if this would help show more focus…</p>

10

<p>The kind of focus they are looking for is focus that has yielded extreme accomplishment. A list of a buch of clubs will not help at a top school.</p>

<p>I would agree with the above. For ivies and their peers, most unhooked successful applicants will be among the top few in their class (over 40% val or sal at the mid tier ivies), have over a 2250 score with high lls, and will have unusual accomplishment in an EC.</p>

11

<p>Harvard-Who Knows?
Princeton-High Reach
Stanford-High Reach
Dartmouth-Reach
Duke- match
UVA-match
Villanova- in
BC-in
Uconn-Safety</p>

12

<p>Stanford - No
Duke - No
Harvard - No
Princeton - No
Dartmouth - maybe on the no side
Villanova - Yes
Boston College - Yes with money
University of Virginia - Don’t predict on my own school
University of Connecticut (In State) - Yes with money</p>

13

<p>how significant would a very strong essay be?</p>

14

<p>It can heal the sick but not raise the dead.</p>

15

<p>Essays are what tip you in once you have the stats.</p>

16

<p>

</p>

<p>The difference Duke and these Ivies is not that drastic as indicated here. Duke is by no means a match.</p>

17

<p>^I agree. Duke is definitely more selective than Dartmouth, and is just about as hard to get into as Penn and Brown.</p>

18

<p>Might look at Holy Cross.</p>

19

<p>Duke is not more selective than dartmouth by any measure but the poster who pointed out little difference in the field of top schools is correct. 5 years ago there was a big difference, it has shrunk dramatically.</p>