Chance me for Ivy+

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey guys, I was hoping I could get some feedback on my prospects to some of the schools I am planning on applying to. Here are my stats:
ACT: 32 second-sitting (33 superscored)
SAT II: US History- 730, Biology E- 740
AP: 5- Human Geography, US History, English Language 4- European History, Environmental Science, Spanish Language and Culture, World History, Psychology 3- Biology
Awards: Alexander Hamilton Scholars Finalist Award (1 of 70 students nationwide), Questbridge College Prep Scholar, National AP Scholar, University of Southern California Bovard Scholar (1 of 50 nationwide), some school awards

ECs: Cofounder and President of Young Global Leaders Club, Treasurer for HOSA, Chairman and Member Representative for Asian-American Culture Club, Team Captain and Coach for church’s Bible Bowl team, Mentor and Chaplain for church’s Pathfinder club, handpicked by teachers to serve as part of school’s AP Ambassadors
Summer Activities: McCombs Future Executive Academy, Subiendo Academy for Rising Leaders, Asia Society Young Leaders Institute, USC Bovard Scholars, Korean Consulate Weekly Seminars for Young Leaders on Global Issues, University of Denver Pioneer Prep Leadership Institute for African-Americans

State: Texas
Ethnicity: Black (Kenyan-American)
Income: Low
Intended Major: African Studies/International Relations/Political Science

Fly-in programs accepted to:
Williams, Swarthmore, UChicago, Emory, UPenn, Babson, Colgate, Middlebury, WashU St. Louis, Amherst, Pomona, Washington and Lee

Schools I’m applying to:
Harvard SCEA
Brown
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
UPenn
Rice
UChicago
Emory
Duke
Williams
Vanderbilt (maybe)
UT Austin (safety)

2

@MaybeHarvard2022
What is your Weighted and UW GPA?

3

@VANDEMORY1342 oops I forgot to include that. I have a 4.0 UW, my school uses a 100 point scale so I have a 118.82 (~4.75 W) and I am 3 of 570 in my class.

4

@MaybeHarvard2022
Harvard SCEA- Reach
Brown- High Match/Low Reach
Yale- Reach
Princeton- Reach
Stanford- Reach
UPenn- Low Reach
Rice- Match/ High Match
UChicago- Low Reach/ Reach
Emory- Match
Duke- High Match
Williams- Match
Vanderbilt (maybe)- Match/ High Match
UT Austin (safety)
You will get into a lot of these schools

5

Hey!! I think your ec’s are great, and your gpa is outstanding.Your ACT aligns perfectly with nearly all these schools, and it helps you’re a URM. I’d say if you write really strong supplements for all of these, you’re pretty much in (except stanford, which is a reach for everyone.) Hope we both get into Brown!! Go bears!

6

@ihopeigetintbh thank you so much!! wish you the best

7

Unlike the others, I wouldn’t be so quick to be optimistic. First, honestly, a 32 is kinda low for ivies; a 34+ is what you should probably aim for.

I know people say URM helps, but there are URM’s who also have the test scores for these schools. For example, a kid I mentor is a son of undocumented Mexican immigrants, he has an income of like 28k for a family of 6, and has a 35 ACT+ 3 subject tests (800 math 2, 790 Bio M, 780 Chem).

I don’t know all his extracurriculars, but I do know two that I’d consider notable. One is Questbridge scholar (like you). However, the other one is very notable–Summer Science Program (idk much about it but he said it has around a 6% acceptance rate). I guess I went off on a tangent here, but the point is, try to get your score up; don’t rely on URM as a crutch like the others are saying it could be.

8

Honestly I would place all of them except Williams and UT at low reach - reach simply because of the volatility associated with their acceptances. I fully expect that you get into a few, but as to which ones are anyone’s guess.

9

@CCthrowaway07894 thanks for your feedback, it is appreciated. However, I know that once you are past a school’s score threshold (which I am for all these schools), your scores become meaningless and the rest of your application is considered. Also, GPA/transcript is weighed more than test scores, and I have an extremely strong academic record (10 AP classes so far, 16 by graduation). My cousin who graduated from my high school 4 years ago was accepted into Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, Duke, and Rice with lower scores and GPA than me. Although that’s all relative, it does say a bit.

10

bump

11

Unless one has a hook.

LOL, that’s because it does. And the OP is AFAIK an African-American male - the Holy Grail of URM. Look at the quads (and there stats) accepted to Yale last year.

Whether the OP will get accepted to a certain school, it’s hard to say. But I do think he will have some good choices. Best of luck.

12

^ I completely agree. Your ACT score isn’t great but your URM hook will help a significant amount. Your ECs are impressive so I can see you getting into several Ivies

13

Is that a joke about your cousin, all relative, ha! Anyway congrats on the fly-ins, that’s a really good sign that you’ll do well with your colleges. Because admissions at these places are lottery-esque it’s tough to say that you will get into any one of these places but for sure you’ll get into a few of them. Your challenge is going to be narrow the RD list down if you get deferred from Harvard, the fly-ins will help with that.

14

OP, your post #8 is not entirely correct. For highly selective schools, they won’t look at your file seriously if you do not hit some minimum objective benchmarks (transcript, test scores), but it doesn’t mean that they will throw away scores after some threshold with differences in scores being meaningless. A 36 candidate is going to be viewed differently than a 32. See this link to Brown which conveniently breaks out admissions rates by pretty narrow test scores. 28% of applicants with 36 on their ACT got accepted vs 11% for 33-35’s and only 7% for 29-32’s for the class of 2020 https://www.brown.edu/admission/undergraduate/explore/admission-facts#distribution. I would think this holds true for almost all of the schools on your list.

That being said, you are a strong applicant and the fly-ins are a good sign. Harvard SCEA is a good call as you have the potential to cut down your list quite a bit if you get good news in December. You are an auto admit at UT, but are you applying to one or more of the honors programs?

15

@BKSquared Thank you very much! I appreciate the feedback. I am planning on applying to Plan II and Liberal Arts Honors.

16

@MaybeHarvard2022 You still have the Holy Grail of URM especially being male to boot. Post back when you get your acceptances. A very strong and impressive app. Good luck!

17

You need killer essay to round it up. Look up Randy Levine, www.writetocollege.com, an excellent essay coach.

18

@babysladkaya thank you for the advice, I’ve been writing essays for quite a while and I’ve been told (not to brag) that I am an excellent writer. I’m currently working with coaches from college access orgs I was accepted into to refine my personal statement/supplements.

19

@gearmom thank you! i’ll definitely post back when I get my first decision in december.

20

Are you within the top 6% of your class?