Chance me for Ivys, Stanford, USC, Emory, BU, BC

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student: US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: * Northeast, urban city
  • Type of high school (current college for transfers): private independent day school
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): East asian
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): UG legacy at Princeton, Yale

Intended Major(s)
Varies based on the school-- primarily looking at combinations of environmental studies, science policy, and entrepreneurship/business

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.98/4.0 (one A- freshman year) though school does not calculate GPA
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): school does not weigh GPA
  • Class Rank: no class rank but approximately top 1-3 out of 70
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 36 ACT

Coursework
(AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s))
School has no AP classes or honors, self-studied for AP USH, Biology, and Eng Lit and got 5s on all three. Took college classes at my closest Ivy year-round, got As in all courses.

Awards
National merit semifinalist (likely finalist, though that doesn’t come out until 2022)
AIME qualifier and AMC 10 honor roll
Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Key
Featured writer in nationwide publication

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)

Not listing all of them but here are the most important–

  • Interned at UCLA lab freshman year and volunteered at a local hospital before I transitioned more towards social entrepreneurship/science policy
  • Mentor for younger students at my school, contributed heavily to revamping the leadership system
  • Science courses at nearby Ivy (during the academic year)
  • Head of school Science & Science Applications club (doubled club membership, organized year-long research project, hosted 10+ speakers each year)
  • Founded a nonprofit/social venture combining science and environmental policy, raised 25k for donations in two years
  • Founder of AAPI affinity (100+ members), organized citywide conference with state government (200+ attendees), advise school board of trustees from student perspective
  • Interned for several prominent, successful political campaigns (significant impact that I outlined in a supplemental essay)

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
Personal statement - likely 10/10, my counselor said it was the best he’s ever seen
Supplements - 9/10 or 10/10
LORs - probably somewhere between 8/10 and 10/10 because one teacher knows me better than the other

Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)
Minimal financial aid (high family contribution)

Thanks guys!!! I’m also applying for USC, Emory, and BU merit – so please let me know what you think my chances are there! As a disclaimer, too, these are my reach schools and I’d be lucky to be accepted into any of them. :))) I have my matches and safeties already – I’m just wondering what my chances are at my reach schools. Thank you!!!

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Taking a science class isn’t an EC.

I think the EC where you raise d$25K - that’s #1 - you can quantify it.

Since you go to a private school, they may have more ins.

Obviously, your best odds are BU (ED best for them) and BC + Emory. If you are NMF, USC will likely accept you with 50% scholarship. Not on your list - but Alabama has the most NMFs - so you may look there because there’s a reason they all go there - $$$.

You are right - these schools are reaches because that’s what they are for all - but I see Emory (if you apply to Oxford, for sure), USC if you are NMF and BC as targets. BU - should be.

The Ivies - obviously the best chance at Dartmouth and Cornell.

Are you chasing names - or looking at the best schools for environmental sciences? You might look at Duke, Rice, Bowdoin, but maybe add Middlebury, Carleton, and W&L as likelies.

I think you need to work on organizing your ECs better - lead with things you can quantify - and these should be activities, not classes, etc.

You have a strong resume. Good luck.

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Just to play devil’s advocate here, how are schools even assessing the quality of the “$25K raised”, with out supporting letters/documentation. The $25K could have easily been contributed by one of the parents/etc… $1M would be a lot more impressive. The problem is that schools have far too many applications to read in order to perform appropriate levels of due diligence the way an employer would whose conducting a job search…

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Strong record, I would seriously consider applying early as a legacy to Princeton or Yale, assuming that either is at or near the top of your list.

There are many very qualified legacy candidates of course, but there is no doubt that legacy is also a big hook factor at both schools.

Your odds are probably somewhat better doing binding ED at one of the Ivies that offer it, but I think I’d still advise SCEA where your legacy boost will apply.

My own kid was a legacy at one of Yale and Princeton and was admitted to both last year; I won’t pretend to understand all the ins and outs of the admissions process, but I do feel strongly that legacy is a valuable plus factor for the otherwise strong applicant.

Good luck!

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All kids are the same - they have little space on the common app to show what they’ve done. The colleges are adept at reading. perhaps they google orgnaizations - I don’t know.

But how do we know that someone who says they played football played football.

There is not a letter attached to each or even any activity. I guess that’s where the part comes in that you check the box stating this is, in fact, honest and truthful to the best of your ability.

Do some embellish or lie - I suppose - but we have to hope they don’t…or hope the colleges are adept at weeding that out.

I pressed my kids, just like in a job interview, to quantify. If you can’t quantify, it likely will be seen as lacking teeth. Perhaps in this case the OP comes up with more #s - how many interactions, etc.

Some kids clearly write about these in their essays or supplementals or short answers as well.

I’m a cynic and you’re far more cynical than me.

It’s a fair comment - but hopefully people are being honest.

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That’s why I’m a lot more impressed by awards (preferably at national level). They just provide that extra level of rigor and third-party validation…

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Interesting, because if you don’t believe that someone’s ECs are what they say, why would you believe that they won a specific award? Sure, some can be verified, but some can’t.

I would want to see well rounded kids- who participate in an activity, who add value to the community, etc. I’d be hopeful that they speak the truth. I know my kids did.

That said, neither of us (well, i’m not) are AOs - so can’t really be sure what people are looking for.

While I know some awards show mastery over society, I’d much rather have a kid who plays in the band, walks dogs, does meals on wheels, helps a refugee family as my daughter did at home and is leading a team to do in College…then someone who can say they won a math competition…that’s great, but what are they doing to help society.

But again, i’m not an AO - so what I think doesn’t matter too much.

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Yes, I should have clarified, only the awards that are verifiable (award sites, press releases/etc), are impressive to me. The rest I have to take with a grain of salt. No I’m not an AO, but I do alumni interviews…

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So if someone were to tell you that they are in the band and play trumpet, walk dogs at the shelter, and help take care of sick grandma, you’d dismiss that?

Well, we’re off topic - but - that’s interesting to me.

But we should stay on topic. I’m sure the OP would love for you to rate their chances - as you see it.

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That’s not exactly what I’m saying. All I mean is that I give less weight to stuff that is not rigorous and verifiable. Why not get a letter of support from the dog shelter/etc if that’s a really significant activity?

I don’t mean to make light of this, but I think you can see how people can game the system…

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Fundamentally, I look for impact. How have applicants made a difference, whether it be in the classroom, on the team, in the community/etc. The more documented and verifiable the impact, the more impressive it is to me. How is that wrong?

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i agree it can be gamed but schools also limit what you can get a letter for - some allow an extra but some only teachers and counselor, etc. Anyway, we’re off topic :slight_smile:

Everyone has their opinion - in many ways yours trumps mine as I’m not a part of the admission process as you are for the school you represent.

I’m not making a judgement on your statement - although I don’t necessarily think it’s possible.

It’s why I suggest people quantify what they’ve done - but to your point, that’s just words on a paper. That said, I’d hate to dismiss someone’s hard work of several years just because they didn’t verify.

Anyway - good discussion but far off topic - you haven’t given the OP, assuming what they are saying is truthful, their chance - which is the point of the thread…not our one off but fascinating discussion. I’m sure they’d love to hear your opinion on their chances given what they’ve provided.

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Well put. Let me give the tl;dr version - move on both of you, from the OT conversation and focus on the OP.

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I am curious about the non-profit. Did you do the application for 501c3 status yourself? Was this created so that you could solicit donations?

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You are a strong applicant but the usual caveats apply when it comes to reach schools – they call them “reach” for a reason. That being said, your best chance at an Ivy are Princeton and Yale where you are a legacy so if those interest you I’d definitely apply to one (or both) of them. I think you have a very good chance of admission to USC, Emory and BU and a good chance at BC. The rest (Stanford and any Ivy) will be tough.

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Looks like you are a very strong applicant. What contact have you made with USC and do you have a strong “why USC” essay? How did you intern at UCLA when you lived in the NE?

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I completely agree. There are so many valuable ECs that are not competitions with awards! Whether colleges agree I don’t know. I guess some do and others don’t. I am personally sick to death of our society’s obsession with winning!

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i think that you will be & should be viewed as a strong candidate for admission to all of your targeted schools. You seem clever & effective regarding communications @didionlover13 well beyond your years.

(If I had to make a bet, I’d wager on Yale.)

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You are about as strong a candidate as one could be, without having a “hook” or a “spike”. I’m assuming that you didn’t apply ED/EA at either of the schools where you’re a legacy (this would have been your best bet). At this point, it’s a crap shoot for you. I don’t know whether legacy status helps in the regular decision round at Princeton and Yale. You are likely to be accepted at USC, Emory, and BU, but I don’t know that you’d get merit at BU (although you certainly “merit” it). It’s really unfortunate that after the seats are alloted to the hooked and spiky applicants, extraordinarily high achieving students like you have relatively low chance of acceptance at the tippy top schools, even though your academic record and achievements likely far surpass theirs.

That, together with the issue of no financial aid for the upper middle class that produces many of the high-achieving students, is why our flagship state schools just keep getting more and more selective. The high achieving children of business owners (or at least those that cannot hide their income and assets), and high earning professionals are choosing to pay 30K/yr at their flagship state U, rather than 80K/yr at a more “prestigious” school.

That being said, I think that you are likely to wind up being admitted to at least one of your reach schools - possibly off the wait list in the late spring or early summer, but still, I think one of them will offer you a spot. You most certainly deserve it!

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