Chance me for HYP and Top Tier

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I am painfully aware of a very average GPA, that is actually closer to 3.7. I speculate that I can raise my SAT score to 2300+ and am confident in a 35 on the SAT. I am apprehensive because I spent a lot of my time focusing on extracurriculars and it has taken a toll on my GPA. I go to a very challenging private high school (consistently 2nd in the nation according to polls) which only adds .25 per AP class on a 100 point scale. I am very apprehensive about the admissions process as there is much pressure by my parents to get into a top-class university. Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

Goal:
Tier I (Reach): University of Pennsylvania (Early Decision), Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, WashU, Northwestern, U Chicago, (Stanford—might not apply do to likelihood of getting in)
Tier II: Reed College, Emory, Pepperdine University, UT Honors
Tier III: Trinity (Scholarship)

Statistics:
Year: Junior
SAT I: 2290 (Math: 750; Reading: 760; Writing: 780)
ACT: Expected score of 35 (judging by ACT PLAN scores)
SAT II: Bio-M (800); Math II (800); Physics (770)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8
Rank: Highschool does not rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): Bio (5); Environmental (5); APUSH (5); AP English (5); AP European (5); AP World (5);

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.):
1st Grand Award (EV): Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
3rd Award I-SWEEEP
MUN Distinguished Delegate
Permanent Collection Artist

Subjective

Extracurriculars (see above for awards):
United States World Team Pentathlete:
Top three finish at Nationals, Poor performance at World Championships

B Rank Fencer- In touch with Ivy Coaches, Potential (A) rank
1st Team All-State Varsity Soccer
Captain and co-founder of Varsity Baseball team.

Job/Work Experience: (paid)
400 Hours Paid Intern Work at a private Biotechnology Institution

Volunteer Work
200 Hours Community Service (Camp Camp/ Assorted)

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
I felt confident with Common App Essay, most likely a 9 as writing is my strong suit.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher #1 7/10: AP Biology teacher, I got a good grade but didn’t have a personal connection with her.
Teacher #2 9/10: Tenured English Teacher, exceptional letter (I peeked at it whoops)
Optional Rec: 9/10: Chief Scientific Officer of aforementioned Biotechnology Company
Counselor: 7/10: Described me as an awesome student, one of the best in her career and I hung out in her office a lot so we knew each other pretty well. Mentioned that I took every AP class available excluding language and art classes and took Calc 3 and linear algebra in 11th

Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Biology
Intended Grad Program: Law School
State (if domestic applicant): TX
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Private: 32 Student Graduating Class
Ethnicity: Caucasian/Asian
Gender: M
Income Bracket: ~ 80k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

If you are wondering why Biology and Law School (an odd combination), I was projecting a career as an IP Attorney.

Thanks Again!
-Apprehensive Student

2

Hi, I am a high school senior who got accepted to Cornell ED. I don’t think you need to retake your SATs, as they are already really high. I cannot speak for other schools but for Cornell, I learned that the most important thing in your application is to have passion and experience for the specific major you are applying to! And I think for all top schools, it is really advantageous to promote yourself as an interesting person (as in, creating a hook for yourself) in your ECs. Obviously, you can’t suddenly be a triple legacy or first generation, but if you are a science person, really focus on that in your application. During your senior summer, try to gain internships or research opportunities that are pertinent to biology (which it looks like you already did). For your Common App personal statement, on the other hand, let go of all the academic stuff and just try to show the best part of your personality. Sorry if this was a little confusing. Hope it helped!

3

I would guess your chances are excellent to any of the best schools. Your private school has strong relationships with most of the top schools. Your credentials are excellent. Your GPA doesn’t really matter here-it won’t stand in the way of any thing.

4

You’ve got to be kidding.

  1. First, you are a 4 sport athlete, and it sounds like you are recruitable in 2 (track and field and fencing). As a nationally ranked pentathlete, you must be recruitable. @sherpa is the person to talk to about fencing (and athletic recruitment in general), but a B level fencer with potential for A level sounds recruitable to me. What is your weapon? Have you been in touch with recruiters? Duke and Stanford would seem like excellent potential targets as well as the Ivies.
  2. Your Academic Index right now is somewhere around 229 based on your SAT I scores and a GPA in the 3.7-3.79 range. Any athletic coach would jump for joy for that. There is absolutely no need to retake the SAT, regardless of whether you are being recruited.
  3. Even if you aren't recruited, you are a 4 sport athlete who is an ISEF grand prize winner with 400 hours of intern experience at a biotech company and other strong ECs. I don't know what "permanent collection artist" is, but if you are in a position to submit an arts portfolio as well it will only strengthen your already ridiculous ECs.

Put together a strong application that presents a coherent narrative and you are in great shape for any school in the country. Biology and law school with an IP focus is a great theme to tie together your interests. Not odd at all.

I am a little concerned about the “there is much pressure from my parents to get into a top class university.” I doubt you will have much trouble with that, but you should think about what you want, and what kind of atmosphere would make you happy.

5

As a follow-up to #1 above, I believe recruiters are prevented from contacting you before next summer, but there is nothing to stop you from reaching out to schools of potential interest and making sure that you are on their radar.

6

Are you now a junior or a senior? If you are a junior, why are you talking about your recommendations and Common App essay already having been written? If you are a senior, then you would already know your Penn ED result by now, you wouldn’t be still predicting your ACT score, you would be all set with the coaches by now, etc.
@renaissancedad said

I think that part is right.

7

@renaissancedad especially thanks. I’ve seen resentment towards these types of posts because they usually come off pretentious and I wasn’t trying to show off I was genuinely not confident about the admissions process. I will try to get in touch with the Ivy Coaches because our club (OFC) has pretty close ties with some of the coaches. I am B rank and it is possible that I might get an A, but unlikely, due to time constraints and difficulty, especially in Epee. The pressure from my parents is indeed mounting, but I will try to maintain individuality in the admissions process (I particularly enjoy the idea of Reed, but my parents would prefer Pepperdine, etc.). Thanks a bunch for your responses and I’ll (probably) stop posting on this topic, as it is annoying the forum members (which I understand completely). I learned about the Academic Index as well. Anyways, thanks for the support I was EXTREMELY nervous about my GPA not being competitive. Hopefully I can come back with positive feedback in the coming years. Thanks to all!

8

There are all kinds of threads in CC, including made up ones, so you shouldn’t be surprised if there is a certain amount of skepticism to a multi-sport athlete/ISEF grand finalist with your other qualifications, who professes a lack of confidence about her chances. Most people would love to be in your place.

The annoyance most likely comes from (1) envy/skepticism about your background, which is not a reason to stop posting, and (2) posting multiple repetitive threads, which only serves to clutter and confuse getting useful feedback. I would suggest sticking with one thread.

You should take the time to read the following thread through in its entirety:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/athletic-recruits/930200-college-fencing-recruiting-p1.html

In your case, you may be recruitable in track and field as well. @varska is probably the best authority in that area. I don’t know much about the logistics of 2-sport recruitment, but that’s also something to discuss.

I also think that you should think hard about where you would best fit. Being potentially recruitable by an Ivy or top Division I school is a wonderful luxury, but that environment isn’t for everyone, and if you think you would fit in better at a LAC then that’s important. Many (perhaps most) athletes at these schools have positive experiences, but certainly not all:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennie-shulkin/ivy-league-quitters-the-c_b_4525656.html

Good luck!

9

@renaissancedad thanks again! I am browsing the college fencing recruiting thread and I couldn’t figure out how to delete threads so all of those annoying ones I posted in succession I guess can’t be removed, but hopefully the will fade into the thousands of threads on this site. I don’t think I could make a track/field team at a competitive school as my mile time is only like 5:30 so I wouldn’t be quite good enough (I make up for combined time with quick shooting, in case you are familiar with Modern Pentathlon). Anyways thanks for the help and I think I’ll do a little better on trying not to agitate seasoned users on future threads. Thanks for the support!

10

Hey, I’m sorry I jumped on you for the other thread - the main point was that you are actually getting good information in this thread…

11

@NickFlynn No dude looking back at it I have flooded the topic with threads and this was actually the one I was getting good information on. It’s totally warranted that you were upset I was being pretty annoying, I was just new to the site so I didn’t understand. Thanks a bunch!

12

@marginallyadept, my bad, I didn’t understand from your OP that you participated in the Modern Pentathlon.

13

Wow lots of helpful info! Can someone chance me as well? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1840553-what-are-my-chances-at-usc-viterbi.html?new=1

14

@SylvRsr thanks for the advice on placement!

15

@marginallyadept Hi it seems like you got what you needed already! I agree to a very large extent with the former posters, however, I don’t think it would hurt anything to take the SATs again, unless this will be your third or fourth time taking them. If you got a 2290 on the first try, you can totally take the SATs again. But please only do so if you think you can improve significantly!!! A 35 on the ACT alone would make you very competitive, but I know it can be assuring to have a crazy high SAT score as well.
Overall, I have to say you are among one of the most competitive applicants I have ever seen on College Confidential. You pretty much have EVERYTHING one can possibly hope for. Strong test scores, ECs, awards, athletics, and probably essays. Your GPA might not be perfect, but it’s nothing to worry about. The rigor of your curriculum and that of your school will justify your already really good GPA.
If you are interested in HYP, I would totally throw them onto your college list as you have great chances of getting in.
I applied to Penn ED this year and got accepted, so feel free to PM about any Penn specific questions! Best of luck!

16

@SylvRsr Thanks a bunch! This thread has actually been really helpful for me as I had no idea what the reqs were. I had been browsing through the site and I had been seeing INSANE stats posted so I was very anxious. I think this helped to calm my nerves a lot. I think I definitely will be messaging you down the road about Penn because it is always good to hear other people’s perspectives. Thanks again!

17

Nobody ever got rejected for having a 2290. Be thankful that you can bid standardized testing farewell, and move on to skills with some real-world application. You’re academically “qualified,” and once that box is ticked you’ll be better served by devoting time to your essays and (in some cases) interviews

18

@marginallyadept I’d say your stats are pretty insane as well… I think you’re in very good shape. Just make sure your essays and recs are good and you’re golden! You’re welcome!

19

^^ I completely agree. Well said.

20

Oh, I was meaning to ask, how important are interviews to the admissions process? I’ve got varying responses; some say that it was the deciding factor in their acceptance and others say it is negligible. Is having an interview/having a good relationship with the admissions officer necessary?