Chance me for the Ivy League (Princeton SCEA)?

I have to completely agree with @renaissancedad. Your chances at any of the Ivies is at or even below that of their acceptance rates because your EC’s are subpar. Also, only taking two AP’s so far at a private/competitive high school seems awfully light to me. Rice is certainly not a safety. Please use Naviance at your school and also work closely with your GC to develop a list of schools that are appropriate for you. Apply to the Ivies if you’re so inclined but recognize that getting into one is highly unlikely. Good luck to you and I hope you prove me wrong!

It’s important to note that the OP is at a private New England boarding school with tremendous resources available to her. I think top schools would look for someone with these resources to really take the initiative and push some activities to exceptional levels. I don’t see any of that. Everything - including the senior schedule without any sciences - looks like someone who is playing it safe, and that’s not generally a winning strategy.

@Falcon1 @renaissancedad - Completely agree that the ECs are subpar for my recourses, but I took the most rigorous courseload available to me - no one had more than 2 APs junior year (we weren’t allowed) and the only AP before then was AP Physics sophomore year. I can only take 6 classes at a time at my school so I decided to replace science senior year with AP Econ - so I figured that’d be of equal rigor. I’ve taken Bio, Chem, and Physics throughout high school.

I think that the person whom you should really be speaking to is your school counselor. While on the face of it, your ECs and general profile would lead me to conclude that Rice would not be a safety, it is possible that students with your profile at your school are almost always accepted. However, were I you, I would be looking at applying to additional schools in addition to Princeton SCEA. You can also apply to public universities at the same time, so you should consider U Michigan, UVA and U Wisconsin.

And in terms of music, if you truly feel you are gifted in vocal performance, you should consider sending in an arts supplement. There will be applicants who have been in All State choruses, have appeared with local opera companies, have composed and performed their own songs at various venues and festivals etc. While I appreciate your passion for singing, I’m not certain it will be considered particularly special unless you back it up in some way.

@ImNotSure8, what is your 6th course? There were only 5 senior courses listed in the OP.

Please understand that I am not trying to be negative or diminish your efforts in any way. You are talented, and you’ve undoubtedly worked hard. But the competition for admission to top 25 schools is intensely competitive. There are some applicants who simply do not meet the basic qualifications, and there will be some who are so ridiculously qualified or who have such strong hooks that they are fairly obvious candidates for admission. But that leaves 10-15x as many applicants as there are remaining spots. This is where adcoms have to look carefully, make judgments about an applicant’s potential and likelihood to thrive in their environment, and sometimes split hairs in decided which of several qualified applicants will get a coveted admission letter. Some of it may come down to pure luck in terms of what they need to round out a class. As @midatlmom notes, your school GC is better qualified than we are to assess your chances in the context of your curriculum and the opportunities available to you. But every year there are hundreds of qualified people who are mystified when they slip through the cracks and end up disappointed. I hope that will not be your fate, and like @Falcon1 I will be thrilled to be wrong. But I’m concerned that there isn’t enough “oomph” in your profile as described to differentiate yourself. Some of this can be overcome if exceptionally strong recs and essays. Although adcoms have much more detailed information to work on than we do in a “chance thread”, a Common App + supplement is still a very narrow window into the life of applicants who have worked hard for years, and how that window portrays you can make a huge difference.

So my advice to you is (1) be realistic, (2) apply to a range of schools, (3) talk to your guidance counselor/department to get a sense of what some of those targets might be, (4) make sure that your GC and the teachers who will write you recs get the best possible sense of who you are so that they can write strong references, and (5) above all, think about how you want to present yourself. What matters to you? What is your story? What differentiates you from other qualified applicants, not just in terms of your accomplishments, but as a person? How will you take advantage of the incredible resources at top schools in ways that others won’t, or add to their communities? What is special about you that isn’t necessarily represented in your numbers and activities that makes you the one who should get one of those coveted letters?

Good luck!

EC’s are subpar on paper, but even ‘subpar’ EC’s are not an auto rejection. It’s hard to tell if someone’s EC’s are good just through a brief description. Counselor rec comes in huge here to help give context to the OP’s accomplishments, how much of an impact he/she had on the school community. Teacher rec as well will help. On paper, she might have been just a member of MUN, but she might have been a vocal leader within the group (which the teacher rec can attest to).

The one sure thing that I can tell from the OP’s profile is stats. They are within the range of Princeton and a 2290/4.0 with a rigorous courseload speaks for itself, while EC’s might need recs/essays/a more in-depth description to truly make them shine.

If courseload is checked ‘Most Rigorous’ by the counselor, then it is fine.

I agree with @renaissancedad you’ll have to talk to your GC as he/she knows much better than us how qualified you are.

@rdeng2614, What can I tell you about my ECs that might help? My counselor will hopefully give me a good rec because, in general, counelors try to give ivy-hopefuls a leg up because it helps the school as well. It will probably mostly speak to my in-class prowress, however.

In MUN I just joined this year and wasn’t much of a leader or really great. I’ve been in one conference, but I didn’t feel very good.

As for the computer help club, when I joined I was one of three and the other two graduated, which was why I got the position but shhh. I’m quite good with helping people with their computer issues and such.

I’m a good singer but don’t tend to take leadership much. I haven’t done anything with my singing, and while I might be in the top 20 of the 100 in our class for signing, I’m not exceptional.

Math/Science tutoring might be a bit better - they asked for people to teach a tonne of Algebra I students and I volunteered.

My GC was fine with my applying to a tonne of ivies and Rice as a safety… IDK.

Here’s a subjective, student-driven list of EC’s but it gives you an idea of what’s out there. Notice that school awards are at the very bottom. I don’t see you posting even any school awards. Unfortunately, many of the serious competitors for Ivy League spots will have some things mentioned in this list. Princeton is the #1 ranked school in the nation by USNWR (no comment as to the validity of these ratings). It attracts the best and the brightest kids who’s schedules are packed full of activities (no comment about whether this is good or not). You have good grades and test scores. There are schools that would love to have you. The Ivies, however, are reaches( but who knows, maybe your school has an “in” with some of them). Give it a shot but keep your options open. You sound like a great kid. I’m sure you’ll end up loving college whether it be Princeton or not.

I would say, honestly, that your chances at the top ivies are very slim. Your ECs don’t sound competitive at all, and that’s what they’re looking for at the top tier. Does anyone disagree?

Get the thought of Rice as a safety out of your head, please. :slight_smile:

You have a lot of reaches if you apply to the Ivies and Rice – work on adding some matches and a safety.

For you, matches would be good state schools OOS and private schools like:

Emory - High match
Tufts - High match/low reach
Boston College - High match
U of Rochester - High match/match
Lehigh - High match/match
Tulane - High match/match
NYU - High match/match
Brandeis - High match/match
Boston U - Match
Case Western - Match
Reed - High match
U of Richmond - Match
Holy Cross - Match
Trinity College - Match
Macalester - High match
Occidental - High match
St. Olaf - Match
Sewanee - Match
Lafayette - Match

And a safety will typically be your state flagship or (if you are in California, Virginia or Michigan…) another state school, or a less selective private school.

You’ve got this – just, as @renaissancedad said, make sure you apply to a range of schools. You’re looking right now almost exclusively at reaches – don’t forget to add a few matches and a safety.