Chance me for Fall 2022 admissions at Ivies

Senior in IBDP program at a Magnet Public school in Atlanta, GA. GPA= 4.82 weighted. Unweighted = 4.0. 13 AP courses (all 5s) and IB exams (yet to be done in January 2022). Taken foreign language (Spanish) all 4 years of high school. SAT 1550. Math-2 SAT subject = 800/800. Lots of extra curriculars. Not won any major awards though. President of Science Team, Math Team and Model UN at school. Also participate in Quiz bowl, Beta club, NHS, Fencing (private lessons). Lots of volunteer hours with NHS and Beta and outside school - tutoring. I will be a NMSQT semi-finalist (1510/1520). Not sure I will be finalist (process not complete yet). I am Asian (east Indian) - US citizen. Parents divorced. Parents degree - Masters. Only Mom will pay. Dad is a no-show. Parent income bracket - low 100s. Looking to do a degree in Mathematics (probably applied Math, with some courses in either Finance or Economics).
Should I apply REA for Harvard or Princeton? I will also apply Regular at Yale, Brown, Columbia and UPenn.

You have a wonderful background and are obviously a very strong student. That being said, Ivy League schools will be a reach for you as they are for all students. You definitely check off all the boxes (GPA/SAT score/ECs etc) but that is no guarantee of admission. Please make sure you have matches and safeties that you can be excited about (and afford) because the Ivies are so competitive you can’t be sure of admission.

1 Like

I second what @Thorsmom66 says - you just never know. Even the Vandys of the world are tough - but you’ll likely get into a top 30. Or you can go, like so many Ivy types, to a public with merit and crush it (assuming you don’t qualify for need aid)
so you’re not paying $80K.

To answer your question on REA, the answer is yes assuming:

It’s hard to tell but on Harvard’s website they say there’s no advantage but there does seem to be on on Princetons although they don’t say it. It depends on your match schools - because if they are private and you want to apply on an early action, then no - don’t use restrictive. If you are not applying to privates with early action (like a Miami), then roll the dice. At the next tier private schools, you’ll want to apply early to those that offer - and if that’s the case, you can’t do early action at Harvard/Princeton.

No matter what - make sure you have targets (the Rochesters of the world, maybe Emory, a Wake Forest, etc.) and safeties (which could include Miami).

btw - Ga Tech and UGA Honors - both OUTSTANDING.

Good luck.

Applying to all the Ivies is often prestige-based, which is not the best of reasons but very common. These schools are all different.

Financial aid should definitely be a factor so that is one good reason to apply to Harvard, Yale and Princeton. I don’t know about aid at the others (when my kid went to Brown, they still had loans and no longer do).

Check out Amherst and Williams as well, for financial help (and prestige!).

I would make sure to learn about other great schools out there.

1 Like

This.

You are in the top tier of students. Still, prepare yourself for a crazy ride. You will probably get in to a school that surprises you and get denied from schools that shock you. Don’t get too attached to any one particular school. People will question you about how different Brown is from Columbia, and how could you possibly apply to both? Ignore all of that noise. This is a numbers game. Apply to all of the top schools that interest you. Start early on your essays, seek out guidance, and work hard on them. I think you will end up at a school that really excites you.

To be fair, they only listed six, not including Cornell and Dartmouth, which are the 2 most unlike the others, IMO.

Other than that, seconding what others have said.

Is your question which of H or P you should apply to REA? They have different campus cultures, so the first thing is whether one suits you more. But, all things being equal, to me P > H for math.

Be aware that from the pov of your school you are clearly a star, but from the pov of H/P/etc AdComs you are a typical applicant.That is a really hard concept for students who are used to being a standout to get their head around. In particular, the idea of going “only” to the state uni- which many of your peers with lower stats will do- can seem a bitter pill to swallow. Some students see getting the brand name of (say) Yale as a prize for having worked so hard during HS.

And yet, imo GaTech has a better math program than Yale / Penn / Dartmouth. In fact, there are a bunch of schools that are stronger for math (iirc, Penn State > UPenn for math) A lot of them are probably not affordable (UC-B, UCLA for example), but Stanford (at least as competitive) and Duke (slightly less competitive) have good FinAid, and really strong math programs.

Of course, if you are thinking that you need the brand name b/c what you really want is to go from IB (HS) to IB (career) in order to make lots & lots of money, and math is just your ticket to that world, that’s a different conversation!

6 Likes

What do you mean dad is a ‘no-show’? Is he in your life? Does he pay child support?

All these schools require the CSS Profile, which includes non-custodial parent financial info. If your dad isn’t in the picture, you will have to file for an NCP waiver at each school
some may grant it, some may not, depends on the circumstances.

1 Like

Given you have expressed a specific interest in applied math (and seem status aware), I pulled the applied math rankings below. While admittedly “ranking” isn’t a pure science or for that matter worth much in isolation it is worth noting the consistency of several schools who appear to have strong reputations across multiple surveys.

I am partial to Brown’s APMA concentration because of the open curriculums flexibility to leverage the math skills into other co concentrations like Econ and entrepreneurship.

That said all of the schools you are considering (and numerous others with less cache) will provide a great experience.

As others have mentioned you are a great candidate.

My cautionary comment would be to consider that with schools with single digit acceptance rate students often look at their “odds” as solid if they are in the top 5% of their graduating class. The practical reality is to get accepted you need to be at the top 5% of a pool of people that were all at the top of their local graduating classes.

Best of luck and you have a lot to be proud of regardless of where you land.

Niche Applied Math
1 MIT
2 Harvard
3 Stanford
4 Yale
5 Rice
6 Brown
7 Columbia
8 Wash U
9 Northwestern
10 USC

According to the advanced analytics applied in the Harvard litigation, there was an advantage to apply early to Harvard, at least during the periods analyzed. I think if you search the threads on CC, @Data10, I believe, broke out the analysis. There has not been any similar study of Princeton. That being said, if one is a clear favorite, choose that one.

Echo the above comments on having some matches/safeties in the mix, especially EA options in publics/public honors programs. In terms of application strategy/tactics for someone with your accomplishments:

  • Apply your top pick EA/REA

  • Apply to your instate flagship(s)/honors EA or rolling. If you get in, you can drop any safeties or potential matches that you do not rate as highly

  • Choose 3 to 5 more applications to complete by the EA/REA school’s decision date so you pretty much can just hit the send button (or not) after your EA/REA decision is received. If the decision was a yes, then only send the application of schools you might consider over your EA/REA school, including on the basis of financial aid. If the decision was a deferral (at least for H and P), submit the already completed apps. If a reject (esp H), rethink your reach list and perhaps some of your essays or LoR’s. An early reject from H probably means there is some fatal defect in your app as H historically rejects very few in the early round.

  • Choose 3 to 5 more backup schools, primarily matches and safeties with essays in outline or draft form, on track to be completed prior to RD deadlines based on the results of the EA/REA and public EA/rolling schools.

I don’t think it is a numbers game for highly selectives. It is not like buying extra lottery tickets. Yes, you should apply to several that match your desires, but among the thousands of average excellent applicants like you, it is the subjective aspects of your app that will get you in or not. Your EC’s at this point are what they are and your LoR’s, other than picking the right teachers, are out of your control. The only thing you can control now are the essays and short answers. Don’t stretch yourself too thin. The tendency then is to repurpose essays or make them generic enough that they can be repurposed. Not saying repurposing doesn’t make sense for identical or similar essay topics of an intellectual nature, but there are opportunities in many essays to showcase your specific fit within that school either as a user of their resources or as a contributor to aspects of the school community that they signal as valuable.

3 Likes

Unweighted GPA = 4.0 does that mean you are in running for valedictorian? Only reason I’m asking is that I’ve heard of some school districts where there are 30 people with perfect GPA and all are named valedictorian.

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.