Chance me? (Harvard, MIT, Princeton, CMU, Williams, UPenn, Haverford)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi! First time doing one of these so bear with me :slight_smile:

Objective:
ACT- 35 composite, 36 English and Reading, 33 math, 34 science
SAT II- Math 740, US History 800, Physics 800
APs- World History 5, US History 5, English Lang and Comp 5, Physics 3
GPA- 3.93 unweighted, 4.29 weighted (not sure what out of)
Rank- 1st decile
Course rigor- 9 APs, 9 accelerated courses, 2 online/summer courses in addition
Intended major: Physics (astrophysics if they have it)
Senior Courses- AP Chemistry, Drawing and Painting, AP Government, Gym, Orchestra, AP Calculus BC, Accelerated English, Intro to Computer Science, AP Psychology

Subjective:
Extracurriculars-


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Cross Country (varsity and made it to state qualifiers)
Track and Field (varsity, school record, made it to state qualifiers) 200m, 4by1, 4by4, long jump
alpine ski racing (not school affiliated, 14th in state)
Book Club (co-president)
Student Government (homeroom representative, class caucus)
Homecoming committee (chair)
Orchestra
Editor for school literary magazine
Job/volunteer Experience- 2 summers as a dining room assistant at a local golf club (will be returning as a server this year), regularly volunteer with my city’s clean team
Awards-
AP Scholar with Honor
National Merit Commended Scholar
3 Cumulative Highest Honors (a school award)
3 Scholar-Athlete Awards (again, a school award)
2 varsity letters
Essays- not done yet, but I will be getting them checked by my AP English teacher who’s ruthless when it comes to essays
Recommendations- 1 is really good, if a bit bland. I don’t know about the other one or my counselor rec.
Interviews- only had my MIT one, I thought it went well. My interviewer and I bonded over space and he showed me pics of saturn that he took with his telescope :slight_smile:

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Other:
State- PA
Gender- female
Ethnicity- white
School: Public
Hooks- bisexual/lgbt

My schools (so you dont have to scroll up) are
Harvard
MIT
Princeton
CMU
Williams
UPenn
Haverford.

I’m also applying to 2 safety schools, but since they’re safety schools i won’t waste your time asking you to chance me there.

Thank you!

2

You definitely shouldn’t rely on only my opinion, since I’m no expert, but I think you are on the right track. Pretty much all of the schools you listed are a reach for everyone, but it doesn’t seem like you have any specific reason to be rejected either. If anything, having some sort of very very special award or something could increase your chances, but it seems like you wouldn’t have enough time for that anyway. Good luck!

3

I think you’re looking pretty good for most of them. I’m an MIT student (also physics/astrophysics!) and your scores beat mine, though your course load is less rigorous than mine was. Great variety of extracurriculars though!

4

I would guess you would get into a few Ivies…I’ll be a little shocked if you aren’t. Chance me back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1939905-chance-me.html#latest

5

@kittkatt835 My S18 has similar grades and passion…more a space engineering aero/astro (Course 16-ENG at MIT) major with astronomy minor…why no Caltech no the list?

6

@brazos21 Hi! Thanks for replying
I was looking into caltech but i’ve decided I’d rather stay close(ish) to home. Plus, I’m kind of a huge fan of snow &winter, which they don’t seem to have in pasadena haha

7

@yalehopeful017 Thank you! sure :slight_smile:

8

FORGOT TO ADD-

ACT writing- 8/12 (I know it’s not great… hoping my AP Eng score + grades will make up for it)

My mom is an alum to UPenn

Class size: 361

There are a lot of high achievers in my grade @ my school… one kid won a national science competition & has a planet named after him, another was the guy who had the whole “if the government switches to X font it’ll save them millions” thing that was on the news 2 years ago, this girl got the highest score on the National French Exam (not sure if highest score possible or highest out of test takers) and another is an internationally ranked pokemon competitor (lol just kidding i doubt this’ll affect anything. but it is true). I don’t really have anything big like this.

9

I think you have pretty good chances. Harvard & MIT might be a bit difficult just because these are highly selective schools. One of my friends last year had basically everything you had, he started his own company, had 2 patents, and STILL got rejected from MIT so I really don’t know whats going on with them. You have a high chance at UPenn, your stats + your mom is an alum might give you a better chance than others. But again, I’m not an expert or an admissions officer, so don’t take my word as law XD

10

And I get the whole competitive school thing :frowning: My school’s just like that. Our top 25% kids could be valedictorian at literally any other school because they all have straight As, 34-36 ACT, 1500+ on the New SAT, etc. I think its just important to stand out in your own way, because in the sea of applicants that have similar stats, someone who, say, enjoys archery and competes at a state level might be more of interest to an admissions officer than just another academically driven, pit orchestra, 36 ACT student. So don’t worry about the rest of your school being super competitive, they’ll already know that. Just something my guidance counselor told me :slight_smile:

11

Talk to Tom Donnelly at Haverford. You might be able to run at Williams or do skiing.

12

Thanks :slight_smile:

13

@Sonali11 Thanks! I’ll keep that in mind :~)