@billcsho I stated earlier that I am 3 of 570 in my class, which makes me top 0.5%
I think that UT Austin is a very good very solid safety, which allows you to put your effort into mild reaches and reaches. I also think that you are likely to get into several of your other schools as well although I also have trouble predicting which ones. I think that you will continue to do very well. Good luck!
It is hard to follow if it is not in the original post. So far I see one safety and a bunch of reaches on your list. Your test score is on the low side of mid 50 for those top schools although URM helps at most of them. Perhaps you may consider retaking the test to bring up the test score a bit. Most schools do not superscore ACT.
@DadTwoGirls thank you very much!
@billcsho thank you for the advice! however, I do not plan on retaking the ACT as I have already taken it twice and my parents dont have the money to send 3 score reports to 12+ colleges. I think schools will appreciate that I was able to raise my score from a 30 to 32. I will have a 33 when applying to UChicago, UPenn, Johns Hopkins, Williams, and Duke* since they “superscore” the ACT.
Yes, these schools superscore ACT except for Duke that it would look at the best section scores without recalculating composite score. It is a kind of like UMich which looks at section scores without superscoring.
@billcsho haha yeah thats why I put an asterisk next to it since what they do is basically superscoring although they dont recalcuate the composite.
Taking it three times would also, imo, show too much focus on tests.
And in my opinion, 3 times is fine, and is pretty typical. More importantly, many experts don’t think 3 times is too many.
http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/000002/
OP - I just want to emphasize what several posters have said in that predicting the results at any 1 school is futile but your application looks strong enough that you’ll get into several of your choices (barring something we can’t see that is very negative). So with that said don’t take the result from any one of those schools with a super low admit rate as a mandate. Also if you get deferred by Harvard in SCEA you still might get in during RD.
@Dolemite thank you very much! would you consider me a highly competitive male URM?
IMO, yes.
Can I say that you will get into Harvard or that you will get into Princeton or any school on your list other than UT?. No. And neither can anyone else here. But as I said before, I think you will get into several (although I don’t know which, so you should have a good amount of options from which to choose. Good luck.
Just so you know at the HYPS its very difficult to predict anything, a friend of my DD was an AA male with a 4.0UW and a 4.5W with a 35 ACT, solid EC’s and was rejected at Harvard So don’t think that being a URM is a golden ticket, it helps, but not a sure thing.
@CU123 thanks for your reply. You are right. I’m not banking on URM that’s why I am putting in major effort on my essays.
HYPS - lottery schools for practically everyone
Penn, UChicago, Brown, Duke - definitely reaches but more attainable than HYPS
Emory, Williams, Rice, Vanderbilt - low reaches/ maybe high matches
UT-Austin - probably safety
Update: I am a Questbridge National College Match Finalist
Congrats on your latest achievement! In terms of being an excellent writer, while I don’t think that you are bragging, people often make a mistake of being too verbose in their college essays, using fancy words or trying to impress the admissions with a gamut of extracurricular activities thinking that it shows they can handle the workload. The officers are looking for a story. Are your stories engaging? Do people say that they are an interesting read? Is your writing funny, not in a silly way but think in a way of David Sedaris, a frequent contributor to the New Yorker magazine and an author of several books.
I’d say low reach to all except maybe match to duke and Emory, (not sure about ut). Good luck!!! Chance me back please?
^ HYPS are not low reaches for anyone other than people with perfect academic profiles AND major national/international awards or people with good academic profiles who come from seriously big-name families and have probably donated tens of million to the school.
@Penn95 i agree with you. however in a previous post on my thread you said penn, williams, and emory were reach for me but i have above average chances especially after attending their fly-ins (percentages coming directly from the AOs).