Chance me for top 20(ivy league included) as an english major.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

tats:3.6-3.7, 4.2-4.3 W, 2 AP 10th grade, 5 AP 11th grade

SAT:1550

ACT:34

Math 2:790

Bio:780

Lit:760

US history: 800

5 on AP Euro, 3 on AP Bio so far.

Extracurriculars

Published 3 Novels

Started non profit to globalize literacy rates in africa

Started literary journal for people to publish prose

Humanties internship

Teach kids English at Kumon

Published in a well known lit magazine

Head Editor of an international literary magazine.

Will write great essays, decent recs

2

“Published 3 Novels” = a real publisher paid you, or self published? The first is impressive, the second - not so much.
“Started non profit to globalize literacy rates in africa” is kind of a cliche at this point.
“decent recs” won’t help at Ivy’s and T20. - Would work on this with your recommenders

Your SAT is in the ball park, your GPA is a touch low, but even if it were 3.9uw, just being in the ball park for the T20 doesn’t mean much when the acceptance rates are in, or close to, single digits.

3

If you create your college list carefully, you will have some great options next year. These articles might help you search for schools that align with your interests:

http://contently.net/2014/11/06/resources/10-best-colleges-creative-writers/

http://flavorwire.com/409437/the-25-most-literary-colleges-in-america

https://education.seattlepi.com/university-united-states-creative-writing-courses-2243.html

4

Real publisher lol

5

Are you an international student? Because that has an impact on your odds.

6

no

7

It depends what you want to do. If you want to continue your creative writing career, the lists that @merc81 shared are much better guides for what colleges to choose than that USANews or other standard rankings. if you are looking to continue in academia, don’t. Otherwise, your stats are good, but any colleges with acceptance rates below 10%=15% is always a reach. Being a published author probably provides a good boost to your application.

8

I think you have a shot. Keep in mind that t20s are unpredictable.

9

Several things.

  1. Don’t bother sending your ACT. Your SAT is plenty good.
  2. Make sure to do well on your APs. They can help a lot.
  3. A lot depends on the specifics of your ECs, e.g. what sort of novels you published, what your non-profit actually does. It is hard to judge without knowing anything about the specifics. That being said, it seems to me that you are trying to make your ECs seem more impressive than they are. For example, if your non-profit or novel were a big deal, I doubt you would list tutoring at Kumon. Also, if you were as impressive as you are trying to show yourself to be, I doubt your recs would be merely decent. I am also not really sure what a humanities internship is, what counts as a well-known literary magazine, what sort of literary magazine you edit, etc. It kind of seems like you are BSing/resume padding a lot and admissions officers will see right through this.
    None of this is to denigrate anything you do. It is fine and good to have ECs like this, just be honest about what they are. Don’t exaggerate the prestige or impressiveness of what you have done. For example, when you say you started a non-profit to globalize literacy rates in Africa that makes it sound like you started a major organization, which is (I am assuming) misleading and admissions officers will not like you for this. Find a way to make things like this sound less misleading.
  4. You don’t know whether your essays will be great. College essays are not pieces of creative writing, despite what many on CC seem to think.
  5. Your GPA (unweighted) is low. Try to get straight A’s from here on out. That should be your primary goal.

Hope this helps.

10

kind of bland but not too bad.

11

Your publications are what sets you apart. That’s a unique accomplishment. Depending on what admission committees think about your published material, that could be a tipping point for getting into the highly selective schools. Because otherwise, your academic stats are pretty much standard for the top universities.