Chance me for Stanford, Columbia, etc.?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a rising senior - just interested about my chances. From looking at similar threads, I know most of my schools are just high reaches, but if anyone has any additional info/advice/comments about my college list I’d love to hear them.

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2390, first attempt (790 writing, essay: 10)
ACT: N/A
SAT II: Math II: 800, Literature: 800
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): School only reports weighted GPA on a 100 point scale: ~101
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/300+
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calculus BC (5), Chem (5), Comp Sci (5), Lang (5), APUSH (5), Physics 1 (2 - didn’t study, whoops!)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Stats, AP Literature, AP Environmental Science, AP Euro, AP Psych, Biomedical Research
Awards: Won an international writing competition (not a particularly well-known contest, but got a $$ award), regional writing awards from Scholastic Art and Writing, AP Scholar with Distinction, minor school awards.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Tennis (4 years, Varsity for 3 years, MVP)
Environmental club (12- VP, 11- secretary)
HOPE club (11- VP)
Peer Leaders, which is basically a teacher-nominated group of students that help out with school events (10, 11, 12)
Teen Auxiliary for a local hospital (12 - Co-president) - should become a registered nonprofit org. around this December
Was published in 10 literary journals - some are international & also most of them were teen-based
NHS & a bunch of other honor societies

Job/Work Experience: Language teacher at my religious temple, editor/reader/intern at 3 teen literary journals, 2 research internships (summer only)
Volunteer/Community service: Retirement home + local hospital (~400 hours)
Summer Activities: 2 research internships - one of them was through a competitive program w/ a stipend

Other
State (if domestic applicant): NJ
Country (if international applicant): U.S.
School Type: Public, math/science magnet program (but doesn’t have a great track record with top tier schools)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): complete anti-hook
Recs: 1 is stellar, the other is pretty good

I plan to major in Biology/Human Biology and doing a English/Creative Writing double major or minor, depending on the school.

Please chance me for: Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, UPenn, UCLA, UC Berkley, USC, JHU, Scripps, NYU, Rutgers (I’m trying to look for more safety schools, so any suggestions would be great!!)

2

You have the raw qualifications to be competitive anywhere. Now you have to package it to maximize you chances beyond the roughly 1/20 general pool. Emphasize your writing aware and publications. Stanford wants top humanities students to balance all the CS/EE types. Interdisciplinary is also good.

3

I think you have a shot at any of these schools, but likely it will be difficult. Grades and test scores, obviously are outstanding for you. I think you have some very impressive EC’s (especially the writing), but some of them seem to be resume fillers/random (HOPE Club?) Solid everything else. I agree with above. Writing achievements are far and away the most impressive thing on your application and will most likely have to be the thing that makes you stick out if you want to get in to any of these places. Summer activities and volunteering for you are very solid. As for your schools: Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, and UPenn (all crapshoots, but highlight your writing skills and you have a decent shot I think :wink: ; all Reaches), UCLA - High match, UC Berkley - Low Reach, JHU - Low Reach, NYU - Low Match, Rutgers - Safety. I think you have a very solid list, but you might consider adding one or two fit/safety schools on and taking a reach or two off to make it more balanced. Please chance me back! http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1796275-what-do-you-think-of-my-chances-are-at-these-universities.html#latest Good luck!

4

Can you afford the OOS publics. For the UC’s, OOS pay full fees $55k per year. Little to no financial aid to non-state residents regardless of stats, since the UC’s are paid for by California taxpayers.

5

@jarrett211 Thanks for the advice! I probably should have expanded on my clubs, I’m very passionate about them actually. HOPE Club is like Key Club, but there’s also a ESL tutoring component I’m really involved in. So I guess it fits in with my English/writing ECs. And definitely, environmental club seems random, but I was raised to be aware of climate change and environmental issues so I’m really interested in that.
I’ll chance you right now! :slight_smile:

6

@“aunt bea” Yeah, I think I’ll be okay with the tuition, especially because my parents are moving to California when I go to college (they’ve wanted to move there for years). I think I’ll be applicable for in-state tuition for a year or two if I do go to a UC. Thanks for the heads up though!

7

I had a family ember get into USC this year and your qualifications definitely exceed hers. She had no special hooks. Your academics would likely cut it for a UC, if you’re out of state though, you’re especially lucky. Stanford is obviously the most selective of any institution. Does anyone really know what it takes to get in there? You’ve got lots of great options though, definitely give all those schools a chance!