Chance me for Harvard, Yale, and Duke?

Demographics
US domestic (permanent resident)

  • TX, in a pretty competitive urban city.
  • Type of high school: Public, large and competitive…
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional) White, French
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): none

Intended Major(s)
Classics, Comparative Literature, Gender and Sexuality

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 6.5/6.0
  • Class Rank: 1/620
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1560; 780 reading and writing and 780 math.
    Coursework
    *9 years of language on my high school transcript.
    Current classes: BC Calc, AP Lit, AP Micro, AP Biology, Speech and Debate, Journalism, and Art I (required)
    15 APs by the time I graduate
    Scores:
    AP: Psych (5), Spanish Language and Culture (5), French Language and Culture (5), Macroeconomics (5), European History (5), World History (5), US History (5), Chemistry (4), English Language and Culture (5)

Awards

  1. TOC Qualifier
  2. NIETOC Qualifier x 2
  3. TFA Qualifier
  4. State Qualifier in Cross country- 9th
  5. Ranked top 10 in state for Literary Event (sorry about vagueness)
  6. Finals at some national tournaments

Extracurriculars

  1. Research with Department Head of T20 Classics-11- 12
    Sole research assistant them. Analyzed Latin texts for book under contract (Cambridge Press).
  2. Speech and Debate- 9-12
    Generated $3,000+ sponsorships with local businesses. National qualifier in Event. .
  3. Research at Princeton- 10th
    One of 15 students to author a comparative research paper with Princeton PhDs about Mansfield’s short story “Garden Party,” using psychoanalytic lens.
  4. Business internship 10th
    Assisted in audit work: assets and bank reconciliation. Organized and filed meeting notes and audit documents. Selectivity of one student per year.
    5.Varsity Cross Country:
    All-State, All-Region, Academic All-State; One time State Championships qualifier (9th); Regional Qualifier (9th- 10th)
  5. NHI Student Leader: Spotlight findings and stories, connecting to NHI fundamentals to provoke international discussion about Latino community
  6. Congress Rep Student Lead: Trained volunteers to phone- and text-bank, coordinated volunteers, represented candidate at women’s meetings
  7. Book Club, President; Rebuilt a district-wide book club program during COVID; chose books to reflect social themes and create discussion.
  8. Led a branch-wide book club; organized literacy fairs and botany fairs for students. Planned county-wide branch activities for 15 libraries.**
  9. NEHS helped establish a partnership with library
    Updates submitted with LOCI
    2nd in state in a certain event
    Internship with Princeton Prof in Comp Lit
    Subreddit moderator- r/feminism- 300 k members
    Help manage an international program for research internships
    Essays/LORs/Other
    I had incredibly strong essays because I had an essay counselor.
    Common App 9/10
    Yale supps 10/10
    Harvard sups: 9/10 and submitted book list
    LORs:
    Submitted to all:
    Counselor’s LOR: 5/10- large public school so she has a bunch of students
    Research mentor’s lor 8/10- she loved me
    For Yale:
    English teacher eh rec to be honest- 5/10
    APUSH teacher- 10/10 loves me, calls me her adopted daughter
    For Harvard
    APUSH teacher- 10/10 loves me, calls me her adopted daughter
    AP Lit teacher- 8/10- knew me well and could write abt my current capabilities

Submissions research- I submitted a research paper centered on art history for Harvard

Interviews were alright, nothing amazing…

Results:
UT Plan II- Full merit ride
Yale Deferred

Waiting on
Harvard

Congratulations on the full ride to UT! You have a great application and I think you stand as good a chance as anyone to be accepted to Harvard, Yale, or Duke. Most applicants only apply to these schools if they think they have a good shot at acceptance. That means that with admit rates below 10%, that most of that other 90% is qualified to handle the rigor of these institutions. Thus, although I think your chances are as great as can be, just because of the odds, these institutions are unlikely for everyone. You already have a terrific acceptance (and full ride) at UT though, which is awesome!

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Congratulations on your many accomplishments.

IMO nobody can reasonably chance your for those schools – they all have well under a 10% admission rate and get more qualified candidates than they have spots available. Harvard, Yale, and Duke should be considered a reach for any unhooked applicant. A full ride at UT is a fantastic option to have in your back pocket.

Best of luck moving forward – you can go on to do great things at all of those universities.

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First of all, wow and congratulations. A full ride to UT is great!

Regarding Harvard and Yale, you might figure that 85% of applicants are academically qualified to attend. You are very obviously in this group. Quite a few admissions spots are given to athletes, legacy students, and URM students. This leaves you competing with nearly 85% of the applicants for maybe roughly half of the admissions spots. On the other hand, your accomplishments to this point are impressive.

I would be surprised if your chances for admissions are all that different from the overall acceptance rate at Harvard and Yale. I do not know Duke as much (we live way to the north and east of it). I might guess that your chances might be a little bit higher than the acceptance rate, but only a little bit.

Have you run the NPC for Harvard, Yale, and Duke? One thing to think about is that getting a bachelor’s at UT and a master’s at Harvard or Yale or Duke might be less expensive than getting a bachelor’s at Harvard or Yale or Duke, and you will have a master’s degree. When I was a graduate student (master’s degree) at a similarly ranked university there were quite a few students who had done just that – gotten their bachelor’s at an in-state public university (usually one ranked lower than UT Austin) and then went to get a master’s at a top ranked university. Probably at least half of the students had a bit of work experience in between.

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Chancing is a mugs errand for those schools, esp at this point, when there is nothing you can do!

But, why would you ask a teacher to write an LOR who doesn’t see you as a real star- esp when you have one that does? And, even in giant HSs, the GCs know who the stars are in a class- why wouldn’t your GC see you as one of them?

Thank you!

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well, I applied REA to Yale, so I didn’t know my senior year teacher well enough at the time to ask for a rec. Additionally, she reached out to me about writing my rec letter, so I assumed we were good to go. We were not and when I saw the rec letter, I was so disappointed and I cried, but it was submitted. In between I learned my lesson for other schools.
In general, the GCs at my school at least are really unhelpful and are more focused on behavior issues- I only see my counselor twice a year.

Thank you!!! Money hasn’t been much of a problem, to be honest I am just trying to get in and hoping for the best. I will definitely consider it!

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Easy, go for the scholarship. Why graduate with debt if you don’t have to?

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You are in the same category as most of the accepted applicants. That being said, without a hook, the chances are less than 10%. You have some great EC’s but most applicants do as well. There is no way anyone can tell you the likely results as they can’t see other applicants from your area who you will be competing against.
In any case, with your hard work behind you, you will do well anywhere you go.

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