Chance me for Harvard, Stanford, etc. please

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi, I've been reading these posts for a while and now I'm interested in being chanced myself please... Any other advice is also appreciated.</p>

<p>Top Schools:
Harvard - top academics, might play low in tennis line-up
Stanford - top academics, west coast vibe, weather, couldn't play tennis
Georgetown - D.C. locale, internship possibilities, play high in tennis line-up
probably applying to a few more Ivy's
Looking to major in Political Science and possibly another major, unsure of yet</p>

<p>Stats:
Junior at online school - doing online education past few years to work through coursework more quickly, tennis, and flexibility
GPA: 4.0 unweighted/4.35 weighted
ACT - 34 (36/35/35/30/10) - took second time in April to try to improve science, hoping for 35
SAT - 1540/2300 first time, won't retake - 640 CR/800 M/760 W
5 AP tests taken so far, more this year - 5's on all
SAT II's in June
Class rank: 1/273, far as I know nobody from my school has ever gone to an Ivy
Class schedule - most rigorous possible - 4 AP's last two years, will have 13 overall by graduation, also honors for other classes</p>

<p>EC's:
I was the volunteer coordinator my regional office for the Obama campaign. Basically found volunteers for, organized, and ran nightly phone banks and canvasses. Was in charge of all voter contact efforts for the area and coordinating the 680+ local volunteers we had. Ran office on my own, had loads of specialized training, was done on a volunteer basis, roughly 60 hours/week from August through November last year. Have LOR's to back it up
Other political - initiated and ran local pledge canvass in conjunction with Organizing for America - had to find staging location, volunteers, get materials and set-up, and train volunteers.</p>

<p>I don't have all of the "filler" EC's, mostly because of online school, but I have had a few clubs, Student Council, emcee at school awards ceremony, etc. and next year I'll have NHS and debate, too.</p>

<p>Athletics - Tennis
I'm number one in my state - Wisconsin - in tennis in my age group. Ranked top 15 midwest, around 100 nationally. Practice everyday, compete in tournaments around the country, etc. 3 sportsmanship awards won. Would be a top recruit for Georgetown, probably lower at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, but maybe 3rd recruit, would not be able to play tennis at Stanford.</p>

<p>LOR's will be extremely strong, including one from somebody working in the White House now</p>

<p>Chance me as both a recruited athlete and not, because I'm guessing it would have an impact.</p>

<p>Thanks:)</p>

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<p>Your SAT I scores dont add up.</p>

3

<p>1440/2200 ehhhh</p>

4

<p>Oops sorry 740 CR/800 M/760 W now they should add up to 1540/2300</p>

5

<p>FYI, from what I hear, who your LOR comes from doesn’t really matter. It could come from Ted kennedy and if it said the same thing as a letter from Joe Shmo, it wouldn’t make any difference. Pretty good chance, well, you’ve done all that you can, the rest is just luck.</p>

6

<p>Have you contacted the tennis coaches at those schools? I’m pretty sure being a recruited athlete means you have lower standards for admission than everyone else, but you’re solid academically, so even without being recruited you stand a much better chance than most.</p>

7

<p>Wow, you look perfect for those schools, and if you can play Tennis, then power to you. I think you should try your hardest to send coaches a videotape of your playing, and then apply ED to a school that you seem interested playing Tennis in the most so that the coach and give you a good name to the admission committee. Good luck!</p>

<p>Chance me?<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/695607-wrong-me-fall-love-these-schools-chance-me-tell.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/695607-wrong-me-fall-love-these-schools-chance-me-tell.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thanks for the advice guys… that’s good to know about who the letters come from and yes I have spoken to some of the coaches and will be talking to others. What about a school like Stanford where I couldn’t play tennis?<br>
Oh and also I just got a 36 on the April ACT so now my 34 and 2300 can be disregarded…
Anybody else?</p>

9

<p>I’d say you hae a reasonable shot. It will be greatly in your favor that you’re from the middle or nowhere and a school that does not send kids to top colleges. If you’re also low income that would be another huge plus. </p>

<p>Don’t count on these 2 though, also add some lower ivy/top LAC level schools. You should be able to play tennis at the LACs which would make them a slam dunk.</p>

10

<p>I’d say you have a really good shot. You are great academically, but your tennis is a BIG hook. You’re post is a bit long, so to be honest i kind of skimmed, so I didn’t see a gender listed. What is your gender? Like people have said before, you have a shot at HYPS without tennis, but again, tennis is a hook. Work it. Maybe write an essay about it. Like hmom mentioned, if you have any other hooks I would say you are set. I’ve seen a lot of HYPS chance posts on this forum, and I’d say you have some of the best chances that I’ve seen. On the other hand, you have to evaluate how important tennis is to you. Personally, if I had worked THAT hard to play tennis, I would cross Stanford right off my list. I would want to reap the benefits of my hard work. I would say:
Harvard: Reach (sorry, but it is for everyone…but again you have a good shot).
Stanford: Low Reach
Georgetown: Match</p>

11

<p>Thanks again guys…
hmom5 - I am low-income (I have relied on a number of grants to get my tennis to the national level)… however I didn’t know that could help my admission that much - isn’t it need-blind at a lot of these schools? Also I’m looking at some LACs and other ivy’s - I’ve been heavily recruited by the Amherst coach already and am basically in there if I choose it</p>

<p>Dreamsofivy - I’m a white male. That’s an excellent point about tennis. Simply because of that, Stanford is below almost all the schools that I’m seriously looking at, but I’d like to keep my options open. If I fell in love with the school, as a friend of mine did, I could try and go there and practice with the team and improve, just not be in the line-up. It is a dream of mine to play college tennis though so that would be a really tough decision.</p>

<p>Also, I was wondering if my campaign work was a hook. Besides tennis, that’s my major passion, and I definitely plan on writing an essay about it.</p>

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<p>Low income is a tip factor. Campaign work is not a hook, real hooks are: recruited athlete, URM, legacy, development (rich).</p>

<p>If Amherst is interested, many great schools will be. Realize that most kids with perfect stats get rejected from Harvard and Stanford. Do some research and choose some great LAC’s where you will hae a real hook. Look at Pomona, Williams, Tufts and Middlebury for starters. Also look at Dartmouth, Penn and Brown.</p>

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<p>hmom5 - great advice… would you mind defining “tip factor” for me?</p>

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<p>I’m not hmom (obviously lol), but I believe a tip factor is something that, let’s say you’re right on the cusp of admission (meaning you meet GPA, SAT, and all other standards), the tip factor will “tip” you over the edge. hmom is also giving fantastic advice about the LACs. Look at schools such as: Williams, Swarthmore, Pomona, Amherst, and Carleton. They would be nice matches. Also, look into these schools, as I think they would be good even though they would be lower than Harvard, etc:
as hmom mentioned:
Other Ivies like Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, Penn, Yale, and Princeton.
Duke
Northwestern
Rice
I think those would be nice, especially because Rice and Duke would have warm climates for tennis. Nothing better than year round tennis! Don’t sacrifice your hard work for Stanford lol!</p>

15

<p>Thanks for the advice guys… I’ll definitely look at some of the LACs, and Yale, Columbia, Princeton, and Dartmouth are all on my list. Tennis can be year-round anywhere because of indoor courts, but its still nice to be outside I agree… anybody else?</p>

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<p>The thing about the LACs is that they are all Div 3, so less competitive to get in for tennis. And yes, a tip factor means that if all things are equal between you and other higher income candiates, low income will tip you in at the schools looking for more low income students like the ivies and top LACs.</p>