Chance me for Princeton, Yale, Cornell and Johns Hopkins

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi, I want to know if I even have a chance at Princeton, Yale, Cornell (CALS) and JHU with my stats because the schools are so competitive.

White, middle-class male
Molecular Biology (Princeton, Yale), Biochemistry (JHU), Biological Engineering (Cornell) Majors

ACT 34 Composite. 34 English, 32 Math, 33 Reading, 35 Science

GPA (Unweighted) 3.94

(All honors/ 9 APs)
Rank: 10 out of 300. 3.3%

SAT2s: Biology M: 790; Math 1: 750

ECs:
All State Trombonist, 1st Trombone
5 time All-County Trombonist (Principle in both band and orchestra twice)
Eagle Scout
NHS President
Tri-M HS President
Literary arts magazine, literary editor
Mathletes VP
Jazz Band, Marching Band, District Band (Principal 4x), Pit Orchestra
PA Announcement Club
Christian Club
Church Youth Group (100+ service hours and missions trips over summer to Las Vegas; Lima, Peru, Jamaica among other places)
Principle Trombone in a prestigious wind ensemble of multiple school districts

2

Your math scores are kind of low (32 and 750 on Math I). This might create some doubt about your ability to do well in Engineering. Aside from that, you don’t really seem to stand out and I might wonder why you aren’t putting greater emphasis on music?

3

You have great test scores and gpa. The only thing that I can potentially see as a weakness would be the fact that you do not have many ecs that relate to science (which is what you want to major in). I am not sure if that will cause any problems or not, but you have to keep in mind that the ivies get tons of applications with perfect test scores and gpa. So, one really needs to stand out and show that the ecs relate to his/her passions. As far as Johns Hopkins is concerned, I think you will probably get in.

4

Princeton, yale, and jhu I would say are reaches. Cornell is a low reach imo. Best of luck man.

5

Definitely need to emphasize the music factor in the essays. Eagle Scout does you a great service, too. I would be slightly concerned about the 750 on math 1 for STEM majors. I think Yale and Princeton are reaches but Cornell and Hopkins are possible. Good luck!

6

Princeton, Yale, and John Hopkins I would say are reaches, but you have the means to get accepted by them if you write an excellent college essay. Cornell would also be a reach, but a low one.

7

I agree with what the previous posters are saying. Hopefully, you also have a few more schools on your list. It’s always good to be sure you have a few safeties that you think you could picture yourself at. Best Wishes! It’s an exciting time.

8

Here’s my objective prediction, based on the available statistics on the Internet:

It’s scaled from 1 to 10, 1 being the easiest and 10 impossible:

Princeton: 10
Yale: 10
Cornell: 9
JHU: 9

*Everything is weak

9

Honestly, it sounds to me like you could get into Cornell no problem… a couple people I know who go there are far less accomplished. JH is probably a low reach, but doable, especially if you had a great arts supplement (?). As for Princeton and Yale, I don’t have much of an idea, but they’re at least medium-high reaches. Good luck!

10

@Mminjjae okay i totally respect that, but what do you think i should improve to increase my chances? What did you think was the weakest thing?

11

Helping lead your school’s Mathletes team looks great, as do your overall test scores. Typical involvement for prospective engineering majors shooting for highly competitive universities includes starting or leading a summer math camp for elementary students, starting or leading a STEM club or program, mentoring a middle school science club, or starting a Rube Goldberg club at an elementary school. These are just a few examples. ECs are the weakest part of your application.

12

Thanks for your feedback everyone, just for reference to future classes I applied to Harvard instead of Yale and the results are as follows:
Accepted: Princeton and Johns Hopkins
Waitlisted: Cornell
Denied: Harvard

I will be attending Princeton :slight_smile: