<p>Im applying to
Harvard
Princeton
Yale
UPenn
Stanford
MIT
UMich
Northwestern
UChicago
PLease chance me for these schools
SAT: 2250 M/CR/W/Essay 800/740/710/8
ACT: 33C (32R 32E 33M 35S)
SAT II: 780 Math II 770 World History 800 Physics 750 Chem
Unweighted GPA : 3.93
Weighted GPA : 4.47
Rank : School doesnt do rank
AP: Human Geography(5) World History(5) Chemistry(4) Calculus BC(5) US History(5) Physics C(5) Comp Sci (5)
IB: N/A
Senior Course Load: French III, Honors Advanced Mathematics, Ap Bio, AP Psychology, AP Gov't , Ap English
MAjor Awards: NOne
Common Awards: honor roll, NMSF, AMC 8 honor roll, AMC 10 honor roll, AMC 12 honor roll, various state level piano competitions, school science fair</p>
<p>Extracurriculars: Student Council Member(10-12), President(12)
Varsity Soccer(11-12),
Track(9-12)
NHS Member(11-12) Vice President(12)
French Club Member(10-12) Vice President(12)
Math Team(7-12)
Job/Work Experience: Internship at National Physics Lab (10-11) Summer
Volunteer/Community Service: Tons of stuff through NHS and StuCo
Summer Experience: Internship, Soccer Camp, Music Camp (10-11)
Recommendations:
Assume all are fine, got one from math teacher/math team coach, and another from english teacher
Other:
Country: US
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: African American
Gender: M
Income Bracket Range: ~ 100,000</p>
<p>Completely agree with the post above. I think the only thing that might prevent you from getting into the top Ivies, Stanford, and MIT is that you don’t seem to have that many ECs and awards that show real strength and commitment to your interests. In my opinion, we should be able to easily determine your intended major just by looking at your app - the classes you’ve taken, the clubs you joined and got leadership positions in, what you’ve done outside of school and over the summer. That doesn’t seem to be the case with you. But then again, the URM status should help you out a ton…</p>
<p>I would say you have a fair chance, but nothing is safe besides U Mich. Your scores for subject and ap are really good, but your SAT is a little low (trust me I have the same problem with a 2240). I am jealous of your math scores… Your ecs are a little unfocused, but you do have a good shot at all of these.</p>
<p>I completely disagree with ivanov2014. I’ve NEVER heard an admissions officer say that they look for kids with a trend in their ECs, especially since a lot of top colleges encourage students to come into college not knowing what their major is. While it’s true that your ECs aren’t “unique” by any means, they’re perfectly fine for a high school student; adcoms know we’re busy and don’t have tons of time for 50 billion different activities AND being a leader in every single one of them. </p>
<p>That being said, you’re applying to some tough schools, so a large percentage of your competition WILL have crazy ECs. The way you can stand out is by writing amazing, original essays, so try your best at that. </p>
<p>I may have misspoken. I never suggested that you need to have a ton of different activities and leadership in all of them. I’m pretty sure that this is exactly what colleges do NOT want. Instead, they want an applicant that demonstrates deep involvement and dedication to several fields that the student is interested in and enjoys doing. After all, why would you want to go into engineering if you’ve done nothing engineering-related outside of school? (This is not directed specifically at OP, just a rhetorical question.) In my opinion (and I’m no expert), the strongest list of ECs is one that demonstrates genuine interest, involvement, and long-commitment to a couple of specific areas, preferably the ones that you’re planning to major in. And that’s what the OP doesn’t seem to have.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why you would apply to those group of schools. You need to decide what you want to major in and look at the strength of each school. Yale’s name isn’t going to attract top engineering or CS companies; a strong program will attract the companies you eventually want to hire you.</p>
<p>I repeat my statement. This would be a complete waste of money. There is close to zero chance you’ll be happy at this large of range of colleges.</p>
<p>I agree with you, but I can see why the OP made these decisions. It’s very difficult to judge about about how happy you’ll be at a school without visiting it - and not all of us have a chance to fly out to a different state just to decide what schools to apply to. Not attend - just apply. I think he just found schools that are the best and most prestigious in his major. These schools are definitely reaches, but he seems very well-qualified for them academically. And then once he gets accepted, he can visit schools and make a final decision based on his opinion. The only drawback is the cost of applications, but his income seems to allow for it. So you can’t really blame him for trying to get into these amazing schools, even if the atmosphere there might not fit him.</p>
<p>I hardly think that being a Yale alum will severely disadvantage you if you want to enter STEM. Cornelliann is just some purist who believes that your college is some sort soul matching experience. It cannot be that profound and even if you felt that a college was the purpose of your existence, there is no guarantee that you would get in anyway. OP should apply to his range for now, do some further research when possible throughout the year and make the decisions when he gets accepted.</p>
<p>If Yale is a good match, sure go there for STEM (I never said it was bad for science/math by the way). The way OP’s list is set up tells me he just looked at the top 10 universities.</p>
<p>BTW, I know colleges can be hard to judge whether you like them or not before visiting, but OP is all over the spectrum.</p>
<p>Fun fact: facebook doesn’t recruit from Yale.</p>
<p>Let’s not pass judgement on each other, Mafrio. And while we’re staying out of each other’s business, why don’t we do the same for the OP? The OP asked us to chance him/her, not to give advice on how many colleges to apply to and where to apply; unsolicited advice is not often appreciated, especially on this board :D</p>
<p>uchicago northwestern and uMich are on there because they r close to home, and all relatively good for my major. U penn is on there cuz i have connections there and the rest are o there because they r od for my major. caltech is not on there because student body is too small, and harvey mudd isnt there cuz i dont like the campus i can see UC Berkeley joining the list as well.</p>