Chance me for ivies and other top schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Please tell me what you think my chances are for ivies. Thanks!</p>

<p>I'm currently a high school senior in Pennsylvania at a decent public school that sends 2-3 to ivies every year. Also a white boy</p>

<p>UW GPA- 3.79, upward trend,--- 3.65 freshman -3.875 sophomore- 3.875 junior
Class Rank 23/497, top 5%</p>

<p>SAT scores: 2380- 800cr 800m 780w (8 essay) -- this was my third time taking the test, first two were 2090 and 2280</p>

<p>SAT Subject tests: Math2- 800, US History- 780</p>

<p>AP:
10th: Psychology (5)
11th: AP Calc AB (4), AP US Gov. (4), AP Lang. and Comp.
12th: AP Calc BC, AP Biology, AP Lit. and Comp.</p>

<p>Senior year courseload: AP Calc BC, AP Lit., AP Bio., Honors Statistics, Honors Senior Social Sciences (required course), Spanish 5, half-year business course</p>

<p>Awards: National Merit Semifinalist, county spelling bee semifinalist 10th and 11th, 1st place in school for AMC 10</p>

<p>Extra Curriculars:
Boy Scouts (Eagle Scout, Senior Patrol Leader) 9,10,11,12
Scholastic Scrimmage (academic quiz bowl) 11,12
NHS 11,12
FBLA (2nd in regionals for Business Calculations) 10,11,12
Peer Tutor 12
Track (pole vaulting, not varsity) 11,12
Fencing (at local YMCA, not really that official) 9,10,11,12</p>

<p>Community Service: I've been on two week-long mission trips to a homeless shelter in Maryland. Other than that just some random stuff through boy scouts, church, and NHS.</p>

<p>My essays will probably be okay but nothing outstanding. My one rec was probably pretty good and the other was probably generic.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Weak gpa couples with not-great ECs don’t make for great chances at ivies (maybe okay at Cornell). The 2-3 who go are probably towards the top of your class.</p>

3

<p>i think eagle scout isn’t so bad -.-</p>

4

<p>while eagles scout is obviously good, it won’t carry your app.</p>

5

<p>Maybe a land grant school at Cornell.</p>

<p>What you have is just one piece of the ivy Puzzle-the scores. Your rank is low for an ivy and your ECs are average. You tell us you come from a school that only sends a few to ivies. At those schools only the very top get in if they’re not hooked.</p>

<p>Have a look here. You can see that Brown, in the middle of the ivy pack, rejects all but 20% with a perfect CR score and all but 17% with perfect math. So the thinking on these boards that a perfect score will get you in is a myth. These schools want and get the full Monty:</p>

<p>[Brown</a> Admission: Facts & Figures](<a href=“Undergraduate Admission | Brown University”>Undergraduate Admission | Brown University)</p>

<p>That said, applying to a couple is fine. But focus on schools you’re more likely to get into because you’ll find there isn’t endless time to write supplements. Many kids put their effort into the wrong schools and get shut out from their realistic reaches.</p>

6

<p>how is a 3.79 weak?!?!? </p>

<p>Great job on those stats, even if they don’t guarantee ivy acceptances.</p>

7

<p>It’s his rank, not his GPA. GPAs mean different things at different schools. The majority of unhooked Ivy admits are top 2 in their class.</p>

8

<p>what happens to kids from schools that don’t rank?</p>

9

<p>Considering your school sends 2-3 to ivies per year and you are ranked 23, you don’t have a very good chance. Although your SATs are great, your UW GPA is kinda low and you don’t have any ECs that stand out (besides eagle scout). Don’t get your hopes up, but good luck!</p>

10

<p>Contrary to what everyone else said, I think that it’s going to come down to how you presented yourself in your application. If you emphasized a specific passion/trait in your app in some way then I think there’s a decent chance. If you just listed your ECs and left it at that then I can’t say too many good things but I’m still more optimistic of your odds then these guys. And since when was top 5% a bad rank… silly College Confidential.</p>

11

<p>Excavalier, no, the silly CC is all of the kids telling each other top 5% is a good rank for an ivy. Factually, it’s not for a student without a genuine hook. I encourage you and every other student here to read common data sets and info like the Brown facts and figures above to get the real facts. </p>

<p>When you read the stats above realize that half of the class is an athlete, URM, legacy, staff kid or billionaire’s kid. Then do the math To figure out what it takes without a hook. We’re talking about schools that take 6 or 10 percent and half the seats are gone before the regular pool is consider.</p>

12

<p>I still think it’s going to go down to how he presented himself on the application. If he wrote it like a generic applicant and simply wrote down “blah blah blah activity” and so on, then he’s got a small chance. If he marketed himself to make a glowing app, things could change - not so much to make him a shoe-in but it’ll make him look better. </p>

<p>Frankly, no one has a great chance for an Ivy. I know people who get in much tougher (admissions-wise) schools than Cornell, then get waitlisted/rejected from Cornell and other Ivies/non-Ivies in the 10-20 range. Yes I’ve seen common data sets, I’ve done my own research during my own college search, too. Of course 5% isn’t ideal for an Ivy, but I wouldn’t go as far as saying that it’s “bad” for one, either (although our interpretations of “bad” are probably very different).</p>

13

<p>My interpretation is that for anyone who attends a non highly comoetitive high school (sends under 10% to top 20 schools), top 5% is too low for an ivy with the exception of land grant schools at Cornell. These schools want top 5% from the super hooked now!</p>

14

<p>Your board scores are incredible. They’re undoubtedly good enough for HPY. The GPA is much less on the same caliber but solid nonetheless. You have relatively few ECs but they are all very good ones. The only thing that really hurts your app is your school ranking. Like aforementioned posts stated, if only 2-3 kids are being sent to Ivies, you will have a difficult time getting chosen above the kids ranked ahead of you. Nonetheless, I think your shot at non-Ivy schools is very good. Try Cornell.</p>

<p>Chance me back please x] : <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1251288-cornell-ed-chances.html#post13529168[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1251288-cornell-ed-chances.html#post13529168&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

15

<p>The rank thing is my biggest problem I guess =/ not to be mean but all the kids ahead of me, with the exception of the valedictorian, are really dumb. Half of them haven’t taken a single AP class.</p>

<p>Also our school’s grading system is ■■■■■■■■ - 92 for an A instead of 90 and they make you take these ridiculous mandatory classes with incompetent teachers that have brought my grade down</p>

16

<p>Does your school weight gpa or is the gpa value for an A in a standard class the same as the gpa value for an A in an AP class? The latter is probably the case given that you say those people haven’t taken any APs. In that case, they should see that when your school sends the school profile which won’t hurt you as much when they look at your class rank, but the gpa alone is still weak.</p>