Chance Me (Harvard, Stanford, USC, UCLA,)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

GPA: 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.67/4.67
Rank: 1/150(tied with two others)
White male, SoCal private school, family income >300k
Test Scores: 30 ACT, 31 Superscore
APs: Macroeconomics 5, AP English, Bio, and World History all 3s.

ECs:
Varisty Lacrosse all four years
Robotics Club 10th, 11th
NHS + CSF 9-12th

Work:
Started my own business in 2016 with >100k revenue in the first 12 months, on track to hit 300k in 2017.

Essays/Recs:
Common App Essay: 10/10 wrote about my business, including struggles I had with it etc. Was very passionate in my essay.
Counselor Recs: 9/10
Teacher Recs: 9/10

Wondering what my odds are for Harvard, Stanford, USC, and UCLA.

2

Your ACT is very low for Harvard and Stanford and your EC’s are weak. Some details about your business?

3

As aforementioned probably 0 for Stanford and Harvard despite the business. You still need at least a 34 in ACT no matter what “special” things you’ve accomplished. 3s in APs don’t bode well at all. Also your EC’s are extremely weak, having one business and not competing in any competitions, etc doesnt show too much passion despite the impressive profit your business has made. I have to say that making 100K + and a projected 300K is extremely impressive though. What is your business about? That could help

4

Oops, I made a mistake. I meant 0 for USC and UCLA as ECs are not as important to them as test scores. However for Harvard and Stanford you may have a shot; It depends a ton on what your business is about, are you meeting a need, will it cause a difference in the community, does it show leadership, etc

5

Your GPA is competitive but ACT score is low for all the schools on your list, so aim for a 32+ for the best chances.

6

UCs generally tend to weight GPA over test scores more than other schools, so the OP’s 4.0 unweighted GPA may be helpful at UCLA. Note that UCLA’s 25th-75th percentile ACT range for fall 2016 was 29-34 for admits (27-34 for CA resident admits) and 26-33 for enrolled frosh (25-33 for CA resident enrolled frosh), so it is not like the OP’s 30 ACT is below the range there (unless the OP is going for the more competitive engineering majors). Admit rate for domestic applicants with 3.90 unweighted GPA was 50% that year.

http://www.admission.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_fr/Frosh_Prof16.htm

USC appears to favor test scores more, with recent admit and enroll ACT 25th-75th percentile ranges of 31-34 and 30-34 respectively.

https://admission.usc.edu/docs/USCFreshmanProfile.pdf

7

@ucbalumnus Due to the excessive amount of people with a 4.0 GPA, I feel like ACT and SATs would now stand out much more to admissions officers.

8

Both UCLA and USC have many non 4.0 unweighted GPA admits and enrolls.

UCLA 25th percentile GPA was 3.85 admit and 3.80 enroll, while USC was 3.77 admit and 3.64 enroll.

Note that UCLA has higher GPA but lower test scores than USC. The OP’s GPA heavy profile is probably more favorable for UCLA than USC.

9

There are some ECs I forgot to add to the OP that I probably should have. I have ~300-400 hours of volunteer work through ESOL club at my school(Environmental Studies and Outdoor Leadership), was a member of Chess club for all four years, and also have a second business that I launched recently and will likely be adding to my application.

10

Don’t really want to disclose that much about the business, but it is fully online and has two full time employees(virtually hired) working on it. I started it with a friend of mine, we invested our own small personal savings(~$2,000 total).

11

Increase your SAT. Low Ecs.

If you could chance me that would be greatly appreciated.