This discussion was created from comments split from: Chance me for Ivies, Tufts, Vandy….
CHANCE ME FOR PRINCETON, HARVARD, YALE, COLUMBIA, CORNELL, PENN, TUFTS!!
WARNING: I am NOT the type of person you’d expect to apply to an Ivy, so these are all insane reaches for me. I’m not the president of 8 clubs, nor did I singlehandedly cure any diseases. I wish interviews mattered more than they do, because I’m a human and looking at me as a list of activities and numbers just doesn’t do me much justice. That’s my weakness, I can’t be a piece of paper. That being said, I just may not be Ivy material! I can take your criticism! Please be honest!
ALSO: IT’S 3 AM SO THIS MAY BE A MESS
GPA: 97.3 (school does not do weighted average or 4.0 scale. It’s just a 97.3 out of 100)
ACT Scores: (sent both)
Composite: 34
Eng:36 Math:32 Read:31 Sci:35 Write:8
Composite: 35
Eng:35 Math:35 Read:35 Sci:34 Write:8
SAT Subject Tests:
Math 2: 730
Bio: 780
Extra Curricular Activities: Environmental Action, Art, Peer Tutoring, Poetry, Spanish Newspaper, Photography, Captain of Varsity Hockey Team, JV Basketball, Math (club and team), Art Editor for Poetry Magazine.
Keep in mind that my school ends at 5:15 PM, which means I really do not have the time most people have for all the crazy extra curriculars.
I also do a lot of volunteer work in the community for the needy and elderly and worked 1 on 1 with a young child with special needs
Classes Taken (11th and 12th grades only):
AP U.S History (current)
AP Studio Art 2-D Design (current)
AP Calc BC (current)
AP English Lit (current)
AP English Lang (11th, got a 3)
AP Bio (11th, got a 4)
AP U.S Gov and Politics (11th, got a 5)
College Physics (AP not offered)
(I’ve taken many other classes, all at the highest levels offered. Didn’t want this to turn into a 3 hour read so I only included the most important)
Hobbies: Art, photography, guitar, cooking, computer graphics and design, architecture, poetry, other literature
Summers: Lots of traveling, Columbia University Summer Programs for High School Students: Architecture and Neuroscience, interned at local doctor’s office.
Awards/Honors: National Art Honor Society, National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, Top 10 GPA in Class (I don’t know exactly where I rank, my school doesn’t disclose), AP Scholar, and other ones but it’s 3:30 AM and I think I covered the more important ones.
I have stellar letters of recommendation and (not that it counts for anything) my interviews all went extremely well. I did not, though, have interviews with Tufts or Cornell (I know Cornell doesn’t offer, I was just saying).
Here’s what I’ve heard so far.
Princeton University: Deferred Early Action (MY DREAM SCHOOL, VISITED TWICE, SPOKE TO HEAD OF BIO DEPT, SEND LETTER OF CONTINUED INTEREST)
MIT: REJECTED Regular Decision
Brandeis College: Accepted Regular Decision
Barnard College: Waitlisted (RD, obviously)
University of Maryland: Accepted Early Action, Honors College, Gemstone, Presidents scholarship
Hunter College CUNY: Accepted Regular Decision, Sage Honors Scholars with a very good scholarship
Queens College CUNY: Accepted Regular Decision, invited to apply for Honors (that’s just how they work)
City College CUNY: Accepted Regular Decision, Honors Scholars, highest scholarship, but REJECTED from Macaulay
Baruch College CUNY: Accepted Regular Decision, invited to apply to Honors (like Queens, it’s a 2-step process)
Thanks for getting all the way to the end!
@collegereject428 I’d say a fair chance at Tufts and Cornell, though the rest are definetly reaches. Your acceptance to Brandeis bodes well for your chances though, since it is so competitive. Congrats! What are you thinking of my chances?
@Clubapple We all know college acceptances are really flukey. If you were rejected from any of them, it wouldn’t be because of your application. It would have nothing to do with you. You’re clearly extremely qualified and it would be any school’s loss if they turn you down. I’d say you’ve got a better chance than anyone else! Congrats on all of your achievements!!!
Also @Clubapple , thanks for chancing me! I know my application doesn’t seem so competitive, but I’m hoping that colleges will know how limited the opportunity in my school is. It’s really not the best school and I’ve done all I could. Beside debate, model UN, or anything that involves public speaking (my biggest fear). I actually told my Yale interviewer that I’m terrified of public speaking and that I know that’s a really dangerous trait for someone looking to get into a competitive college, as it’s a marker of lack of confidence and what not. But he told me that it’s fine, that from everything else he can see I do a lot without saying much, and that going to college, wherever that may be, will help my public speaking. Also, I know one of my letters of rec talks a lot about how I’m reserved yet manage to stand out anyway (that’s all I know, I OBVIOUSLY never saw it!!!) so I’m hoping it won’t be the thing that kills me here.
@collegereject428, it’s bad form to hijack somebody else’s thread.
@collegereject428 and @Clubapple: both of you go run laps. Or go spend the day at the food bank. Or go shovel your elderly neighbor’s walk. Whatever: find something physical, and preferably something that is helpful to somebody else, to put your nervous energy to better use.
@collegemom3717 I made my account last night and wasn’t sure how this worked at all. Sorry for jumping onto your thread like that @clubapple !!! Was not my intention at all!
@collegemom3717: As for my nervous energy, I never said I was sitting here doing nothing. I’m right in the middle of hockey season, and have been practicing tons!! On Thursday I dropped off boxes of food off to the elderly and needy in my community. Yesterday I spent 4 hours tutoring a junior for her first ACT. Don’t judge people or the ways in which they deal with their anxieties!!
Actually, I stand by my view that posting ‘please tell me it’s going to be alright’ threads on CC is not a useful way to dispel nervous energy, so if that’s a judgement, so be it 
On the other hand, the other activities you mention are - in my opinion- more useful, so I recommend doubling up on them!
And I do wish the both of you the best of luck- I am not unaware of how painful these last days of waiting can be.
@collegemom3717 thank you!