<p>Im sorry if I wasn’t polite enough. I do appreciate all responses. I am kindof freaking out about college. I’ve never ever thought that I “had it in the bag” so to speak like many friends who are better connected than I. Even with good grades and scores I’ve always felt like nothing stands me out, but I guess im just not “extraordinary”</p>
<p>nah don’t listen to anyone who says your app isn’t special or extraordinary enough</p>
<p>besides, it’s just that, people are saying your app isn’t extraordinary, not that YOU aren’t extraordinary</p>
<p>you still have time to make your app extraordinary</p>
<p>how do I do that?</p>
<p>Should I have started to work on my essay?</p>
<p>You’re way more qualified than many other peopler who have gotten in the Ivies. That’s all I have to say.</p>
<p>I know my dad could call in favors, but atm he is saying he won’t. He doesnt think its ethical. I know his name will help but its kindof terrifying because I feel like ive done everything in my power to make my app as great as possible… Maybe he’ll change his mind. I know he is close friends with presidents of hp and knows admissions people at y.</p>
<p>Look, worrying won’t help you any bit! The hyp schools are the top schools in the nation for a reason. It’s a crapshoot! A Harvard adcom said last year that there were enough qualified rejected students to make a second class! All I’m saying is that when it comes to applying to hyp schools, no one is guranteed and the reason why we are being harsh is to inform you that you have a chance and quite a good chance, but no one is guranteed because they are extremely selective schools with most applicants who are extremely qualified like your self. My earlier post were not to put you down, more more as to give you a honest depiction of your chances and that hyp schools are unpredictable.</p>
<p>Here are some other schools I’m thinking of applying to if anyone has any opinions:
Georgetown
UChicago (legacy)
Brown
Dartmouth
Columbia
NYU
Vassar
Amherst
Williams (never gunna happen)
Northwestern
George Washington
Wesleyan</p>
<p>Like if someone could tell me reach/match/high reach etc…</p>
<p>nobody :/?</p>
<p>bump bump bump</p>
<p>I’ll chance back! I know alot about admissions in liberal arts colleges! especially like the top top ones</p>
<p>Your application will be looked in the context of your privileged, academic upbringing. They will review it to see if you have taken full advantage of your opportunites, and how much independent leadership you demonstrated. If you are among the top students of your class, whom teachers marvel at either from academic prowess or amazing activities, your chances are decent.</p>
<p>If adcoms see a solid student, but one who has not used his opportunites in extraordinary ways, well, your chances are more like the usual HYPS averages. </p>
<p>The Yale and P legacies should help though, its just impossible to predict how much.</p>
<p>You probably won’t get into one of your top choices. You can try, but you had better have some safety schools ready.
But the good news is that it is possible to get a good education at schools in the second 50.</p>
<p>I applaud your father for not wanting to pull strings. It is vital to stand on your own two feet as early as possible. Besides it is actually good to go to an appropriate school rather than the best one. I know someone who got into your first choice because he was a world class athlete; despite his 800 math SAT, he didn’t really belong there. He struggled to get C’s.</p>
<p>You would do well to listen to everyone’s advice and calm down. That “bump” stuff is childish.</p>
<p>“Besides it is actually good to go to an appropriate school rather than the best one.”</p>
<p>I disagree with that.</p>
<p>can someone please take a look at the list i posted and chance the schools?</p>
<p>I honestly heard that the “legacy” and “connection” status isnt what it used to be years ago. Since thereis so many people applying to colleges ivies care less and less about what connections you arenusing. Honestly it can even hurt you. If you try to use connections admission officers notice it and feel you are just trying to finagle your way in. According to most of the iviesnFAQ students who are a legacy are given an additional look. However, you still need to be the top of the top at schools likeprinceton.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that people who have 4.0s all four years with 2200 to 2300 SAT scores get denied to some of these schools. There is no formula in getting into any ivy. For every applicant its like a lottery chance.</p>
<p>yea thats really stupid that its not always better to go to the best place. that would be fine, if I was a world class athelete just getting in for that. I would not have trouble at these schools. Ive done really well in one of the top highschools and i got a 2250 on my SATs in one go. I think i wouldnt be struggling for c’s.</p>
<p>Georgetown - High Match/Low Reach
UChicago (legacy)- High Match
Brown- Reach
Dartmouth- Low Reach
Columbia- Reach
NYU- High Match
Vassar- Low Match
Amherst- High Match
Williams (never gunna happen)- I honestly don’t know enough about it
Northwestern- Match
George Washington - Safety
Wesleyan- Match</p>
<p>My biggest concern with the original post was that you only wrote about applying to Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Princeton, so I was going to tell you to apply to at least 1 or 2 schools that you were absolutely sure you’d get into, just in case everything falls through. Your connections are good, your grades look only ok, but if your counselors have been able to explain to college admissions officers that because of your school’s level of rigor, it’s supposed to be that way then I think you’re fine. Do you have any AP scores from junior year? Do you have any other EC’s besides the Pakistan thing, I mean that’s really, really cool (like, so cool I would consider selling one of my kidneys to do it) but that could have been something that your parents forced you to do, so you have anything that shows a passion or commitment? </p>
<p>Also, how do you have legacy at Yale, Princeton and UChicago…do you have three parents, or are you counting a grandparent?
Chance?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1180619-chances-questions.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1180619-chances-questions.html</a></p>
<p>My dad went to yale for undergrad and then princeton grad school. My mom went to UChicago for both. I have a 5 in AP lit and a 4 in US History. I worked for multiple years at the local soup kitchen. I also have played alot of chess and as for sports I swam and played soccer and tennis. I am really passionate about philosophy and philanthropy. I am writing my essay about my trip to india and how putting a spin on it because i think that alot of people write about foreign trips but it was different for me. It was different because we were staying an an alums house who was super rich so i got to go from like super wealthy to going around in the super poor neighborhoods so it really was a huge shift on a daily basis that outlined the disparity of wealth. I audited a course for no credit junior year with my favorite teacher (Political Philosophy). I spoke to a friend who works in Admissions in Columbia and she said that I should push that because it shows me taking advantage of my education in a way that wasnt specifically to get colleges to notice me because technically it wasnt for credit, i just did it because I loved it. I did all the work and everything. I was going to add in my essay how that spurred me to get involved in Pakistan through Open Society Institute (Mr. Soros’s philanthropic organization). Funny, I always thought that NYU was closer to a low match. My grades really are very good. Id say my grades freshmen year were like O.K. and then sophmore year I would be in the top 20% of my class. Junior year is really when i kicked into gear and Im definatly in the top 25 of my grade junior year. I’d guess I’m like ranked 10-25/160. While thats not that many kids in a class just remember that its an INCREDIBLY competitve highschool which has been ranked #1 in past years and is always in the top 3 so all those kids are either really smart or really rich.</p>
<p>I personally hold NYU in high regard…not quite sure why, but I know that it is a good school and for some reason I rank it above others, so I might be completely off on these ratings 
My ratings system for schools doesn’t really make sense, except in my head. So just remember to take all of this with a grain of salt, because I’d say that just about every single one of us (besides the wayward college professor, admin dean or college counselor that stumbles upon this site) isn’t actually qualified to rank anyone’s chances. As for the audited class, that’s really cool, and I think you should work to put that in an essay somewhere, because it shows that you have genuine intellectual curiousity, which is a nice note when it seems that applications are simply becoming more and more like checklists.</p>
<p>My son attended a public school and a higher GPA, SAT score and SAT II scores and was not accepted at Yale or Brown. He also had very good EC’s, recommendations, etc. Of course, he was not a legacy. </p>
<p>I think you have a much better than average shot at your legacy schools. You’re wise to be working on a list with safety schools as well.</p>