Chance me for Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Other Top Schools...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey all... I've been on College Confidential for a year and two months now, and I still don't feel like I can accurately weigh my odds for some of the top schools. Care to chip in?</p>

<p>I am a rising senior.</p>

<p>[ul][<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2250 (CR: 730, M: 800, W: 720 (69 writing subscore, 10 essay)).
[</em>] ACT: 36 (36 all sections, 10 essay).
[<em>] SAT II: 770 Math II, Hopefully 750-800 for US History and Biology.
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0.
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School does not rank.
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): US Gov’t and Politics (5), English Lang (likely 5), US History (definite 5), AP Biology (definite 5), AP Calculus AB (likely 5) .
[<em>] Note on Course Load: I have taken the most rigorous load at my school. We don’t usually start APs until junior year.
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP European History, AP Environmental Science, AP Physics C, Calculus 2/Differential Equations (at college), Political Ideas (400-level class at college), Debate Captaining, Student Council, Independent Study in Applied Philosophy.
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist (most likely), See extracurriculars for others.[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>[ul][li] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Irish dance (10 years; world champion team dancer; top 5 in nation in solo dancing), Debate (4 years; semifinalist at nationals in congressional debate, and ranked second in state; will be debate captain next year), Band (8 years (won’t be doing senior year); section leader in concert band; achieved second chair at school out of 10 French horns), Statewide Youth Advisory Council (2 years (terms on the council are for 2 years); vice-chair of the council; co-authored a resolution on teen suicide prevention passed by state legislature), Experimental economics research (Summer, 2012, at Chapman University; will be co-authoring a paper… don’t know if it will be published).[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>[ul][<em>] Volunteer/Community service: Total of about 250 hours... Volunteer weekly at a retirement home, helping old folk with dementia; I love talking with old people!
[</em>] Summer Activities: Economics research (2012), Chapman Experimental Economics Program (2011), Irish Dance North American Championships (2009-2012), Boys State (2012), National Speech and Debate Championships (2011, 2012). I had nothing really between freshman and sophomore year except for a summer P.E. course.
[li] Essays, Recs., Etc.: Hopefully good… One teacher will have a great recommendation about intellectually curiosity and leadership in classroom, as will my counselor… I don’t know about the other teacher.</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Other Info[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): Colorado
[</em>] School Type: Middle-sized Public
[<em>] Ethnicity: Pasty White
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>] Income Bracket: 120,000 to 180,000
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Yeah… I got nothing.[/ul]</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>I’m specifically thinking…</p>

<p>Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Penn
University of Virginia
University of Chicago
Georgetown
University of Southern California
Lehigh
Boston College
Boston University</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

3

<p>Academics, solid. ECs, decent. Fair shot at getting in to an HYP, Reasonable chances at Penn, Columbia. Baring anything unforeseen, in everywhere else. Submit only ACT if that’s all you’ll need.</p>

4

<p>Awesome! Thanks for the response… I’m hoping submitting just an ACT will be fine.</p>

5

<p>Your academics are just what they are looking for. EC are good too. Also it’s nice to have a fellow boys’ state delegate looking at such prestigious school as I am. Best of luck!</p>

6

<p>Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Penn are all reaches. Unlikely, but definitely possible for you to get in 1 or more of those schools.</p>

<p>University of Chicago and Georgetown are low reaches, bit more likely, but still no guarantees.</p>

<p>University of Virginia is a match and I think you will get in there.</p>

<p>In at the rest of the schools on your list.</p>

7

<p>Put U Chicago in the reach group, but yeah, your in everywhere else.</p>

8

<p>What will help my application stand out? Which extracurricular should I try to highlight?</p>

9

<p>I think your ec’s are really good…</p>

10

<p>I agree with much of what has been said. Just be sure to highlight the topics about which you are most passionate, not necessarily those which will be the most “impressive.”</p>

11

<p>And should I just omit small activities? I’ve been Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper, but it is not a big extracurricular activity for me at all, for the school newspaper is very small. In a case like this, should I just not even include this?</p>

12

<p>^That’s almost a dumb question. There’s no harm in including it; because you have a significant role in the newspaper (though it may be small), it would only help.</p>

13

<p>^Actually, I don’t think that is small role . Colleges want to see leadership. Just don’t
put it first.</p>