So I’m a junior. It kind of just hit me that college is just a few years away, so I would like to know what my chances could be for the reach schools I am applying to. Here they are:
Brown
Penn
Dartmouth
Yale
Duke
UChicago
USC
Berkeley
UCLA
Northwestern
Not applying to all of these. probably only 4 or 5 of these, but I really liked all of them when I visited, so I truly want to attend. Here are my stats. I go to a top 50 private school in New York.
GPA: 3.88 UW (1st semester Junior year grades have not come out yet, but I had all As and one B+ unfortunately 
)
SAT II: Math 2 770 English Lit: 790
SAT: 1550
Will have 7 APs by the end of Senior Year
Extracurriculars:
- Yearbook Commitee (Editor)
- admissions student ambassador (Co-Leader of program)
- Spark Club (President): This one probably needs an explanation. In essence, this club is a social justice club. We raise awareness among the student body about issues in our community. For instance, we heard that, in our local area, the property of native american tribes was being encroached upon, and a LNG plant was set to be built on their property. We organized an assembly on the issue, bringing in a representative from the tribe to speak at school, and held a fundraiser for them.
- Poetry Club (founder + president)
- Squash: Played for over 10 years, national ranking, invitationals and gold level tournaments, help coach younger players at local sports club
- Piano: Played for over 10 years, numerous solo performances in and outside of school
- City youth council (member)
- Tutor peers in writing at school
- volunteer biweekly at a local children’s club, supervising ~ over 100 hours
- Have taken a summer-long college level course at Oxford University
- Have had a prestigious internship overseas writing for a highly respected newspaper. Had a couple works of mine published in the paper.
- Have had an internship working on the political campaign of a local senator.
Awards:
AP Scholar
National Merit Commended Scholar
my awards suck lol
I’d appreciate any sort of response, and please be as honest as possible.
I think that these are all reaches. You have a chance, but you definitely need to also think about match and safety schools where you would be happy. Berkeley and UCLA would almost for sure be full pay since you are out of state.
Do you know what your budget is, and have you run the NPC on each of these schools to find out whether they are likely to be affordable?
You do of course have some very good in-state public universities in New York.
I agree with all of what @DadTwoGirls girls says above. I would add that your essays (all of them–common app and college supplemental) and recommendation letters are very important. In order to increase your chance for these reaches you should apply Early decision to one of these schools if you can afford to be full pay financially. Why isn’t Cornell on your list? If you want an Ivy, the land grant colleges and liberal arts colleges of Cornell would be “easier” to get admitted to, relatively speaking, than any of the colleges on your list above if you apply Early Decision. You need to think carefully about what program you want to study and then apply to the school that has the program you want–you will need to show you are a good fit for the college you are applying to. Because that could tip the balance in your favor. If finances are an issue and you want don’t want to go to yoir in-state SUNY, there are plenty of great schools–private colleges/universities and out-of-state State flagships that are higher ranked and more prestigious than any SUNY, where with your stats you would be in the top of quarter of the applicant pool and where could receive large merit aid --you need to research those because they would be your match and safety safety schools.
To a casual eye, UChicago looks like an outlier in the schools you have listed. It might be interesting for you to do a little more research on it to see if it really is as good a fit and why / why not. That process may help you identify some less reach-y options that you would genuinely like if they became your best options.
I have similar stats (You can check out my page), and it worked out. However, don’t bank on that. Scroll through the decision threads of all those schools. See if there are any trends. Also, be yourself as much as possible on your app Hope that helps!
Your stats are good, but for these schools, a bit below average. What you’re going to end up with is a long list of rejections and a semester at community college. You need to put in a real safety school that you actually want to go to. USC is a decent match, but it only has an 18% acceptance rate, which puts you in the same statistical category as UT-Austin law school.
Also, getting in is only part of the story. You need to find out if mom and dad are willing to pay for it, otherwise, you’re wasting you time applying.
^ Perhaps the GPA is below average, but certainly not the SAT score. However, nothing is really standing out from other applicants at these reach schools.
Wow so I have zero chance, noted
well that seems like willful mis-reading of the replies…
Your stats are in range for any of these colleges, but it doesn’t mean you will get in. You will get in into some but also will get plenty of rejections.
You are ORM, this downside, there are a lot of competitive applicants from your area. What do you need ? A hook.
My suggestion, talk to your coach and try to get recruited for Squash, visit again your top-choices, talk to their coaches , meet the team and try to play with them=> your chances will increase drastically if you get recruited, win-win situation. I just describe a way how my international friend got in during early decision cycle as recruited athlet into one of the top-ranked colleges in US which is reach for every single person ( she also asked for a lot of aid, if that matters).
So, start that process right now if you are serious about getting into your reaches. It will not guarantee you admission but definitely help you a lot.
In all other scenarios, you have slim chances as everyone else does.
Thanks, I hadn’t really considered needing a hook. However, getting recruited is probably not going to happen, as I’m simply not good enough (I’m ranked only in the top 200 nationally, when you typically have to be much higher to get recruited at a top school). However, I’ll see what else I can do to get some kind of a hook on my side