Chance me! I'll chance back!!!!! Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia!!!

<p>GPA: 98/100 (Planning to bring up to a 99.2 or 3)
Class Rank: 8/231 (hoping to go up to 2-4th)</p>

<p>EC:
National Honor Society
County Youth Commission (Future Chairman)
National Beta Club
Science National Honor Society (President/Founder)
Science Olympiad (Captain/Founder)
French Honor Society
Health Occupations Students of America/HOSA (President/Founder)
Operation Smile/Students in Action (President/Founder)
AAYO Chamber Orchestra (1st Part/Violin)
City Wind Ensemble (Alto Saxophone) (1st part)
District Honor Band (Alto Saxophone) (1st Chair)
Tri-M Music Honor Society (Future President)
All-State Band (Alto Saxophone)(1st chair)
Skyelite/Mastery Jazz Band (Alto Saxophone) (2nd Chair)
Eclipse (1st Alto Saxophone)
National Youth Band (hopefully I make it in)
Interlochen Summer Program (1st part sax)
Solo and Ensemble (Superior Rating)
All-State Jazz Band (if I can make it past the second round)
All-State Orchestra (again, If I make it past the second round)
UNICEF(Vice-President)
Society for the Advancement of Scoliosis Research ( Was diagnosed and had surgery recently. I'm the current director and we have a benefit concert every year)
Governor's Honors Program (Music Major, 1st part Sax)
Theatre Pit Orchestra (Alto Saxophone) (1st chair)
Winterfest (Alto Saxophone) (1st chair)
Mastery Orchestra (1st part)
Mastery Band (1st chair sax)</p>

<p>Ethnicity: URM (AA)
Intended Major: Biology/Chemistry</p>

<p>SAT - 2300's
ACT - 35</p>

<p>I'm currently a junior and I attend an Arts school.
My stats are legit (some of them hopeful to be and I noted it beside those ones). No these will not all go on my application and I understand that.</p>

<p>AP's
AP Physics
AP US History (10th)
AP Calculus AB
AP Eng/Language
AP Government
AP World History (9th)</p>

<p>Are my GPA and class rank ok? Comments (constructive)?
Thank you!</p>

<p>Looks like you’re a music person, which is good to serve as a hook. You are a competitive student to many of the top schools, and as long as you realize that all Ivy Leagues are reaches for everyone, you’re more than fine.</p>

<p>You look really good. These schools are hard for anyone to get into. So no one is ever really sure. You have really good activities as well. </p>

<p>Chance back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1690899-chances-at-mostly-liberal-arts-schools.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1690899-chances-at-mostly-liberal-arts-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>yeah you have a slim chance but that’s pretty much all the advice your going to get, these schools are pretty much unpredictable because of how low their acceptance rate is with a large amount of applications. By the way, your class rank isn’t outstanding enough, unless it is in a real competitive school, I wouldn’t include that in your app.</p>

<p>@Shipsarecool‌ you can’t CHOOSE to include your class rank or not because it’s at your school counselor report</p>

<p>You have a great background. As long as you can write coherently, you should be in great shape. Are you applying EA/ED anywhere?</p>

<p>All of these schools are very competitive so it will be very difficult. However, you are a strong candidate. A URM with a 2300 SAT and super strong ECs is always someone who will be competitive in elite admissions. You look like you are very involved in music so express your passion for it in your essays. I think you have a good shot at landing admission into at least one but it is so hard to tell with these schools. Best of luck!</p>

<p>chance me? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1698120-stanford-princeton-mit-final-chance-thread-questbridge-finalist.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1698120-stanford-princeton-mit-final-chance-thread-questbridge-finalist.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>@tomjagner17‌ - Just as a side note, the comment by @Shipsarecool‌ that “your class rank isn’t outstanding enough” is incorrect, IMO. 8/231 is in the top 5%, which is fine for these Ivy schools. That won’t be what gets you in or keeps you out, if you stay where you are. As everyone notes all the time, the schools you asked about are the most competitive in the world for admission, and while you certainly qualify to be in the pool of those that they will consider strongly, there are at least 10 just like you for each slot at each school. So the only "chances’ you can get here is that you have one.</p>

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</p>

<p>advice: Relax. </p>

<p>@fallenchemist 231 isn’t really a big class in my opinion, I thought an average high school would have atleast like 400-500 graduates… And yes, that rank is good for colleges such as UCLA NYU or maybe even Washing & Lee if she’s lucky, but she/he is choosing colleges with less than 5% acceptance rates so yeah thats just how I see it #MyOpion… Im not saying this kid’s stuff isn’t good enough, just saying isn’t that good for the schools he/she wants, if that makes sense ;O</p>

<p>@Shipsarecool So if I bring up my class rank, will that make me competitive? What do you think can make me “good” for the schools I want?</p>

<p>Well, he can’t help how big or small his class is, so what that has to do with anything mystifies me. That is why people use percentages. That statement you make about an average high school being 400-500 per class and how that relates to any of this totally escapes me.</p>

<p>And yes, these colleges are the most selective, although you are incorrect when you say less than 5%. Stanford had the lowest acceptance rate last year at 5.1% <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/us/led-by-stanfords-5-top-colleges-acceptance-rates-hit-new-lows.html?_r=0”>http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/us/led-by-stanfords-5-top-colleges-acceptance-rates-hit-new-lows.html?_r=0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

I point this out just for accuracy’s sake. Those are still extremely low numbers.</p>

<p>Anyway, as admission officers from all these schools will tell you, once you get into a certain range of a stat, you basically get put into a group they deem acceptable. They really don’t look at 2300 SAT differently than a 2400, and most will tell you that even down to 2250 is Ivy level. For class rank, top 5% is generally considered the acceptable grouping. Do you get an edge if you are valedictorian? Not as much as one used to, especially since getting that title has changed at many schools.</p>

<p>Any school, including the most selective, would be very foolish to toss kids aside because they graduated in the top 3.5% of their class instead of the top 1-2%, especially if that means the difference of maybe 2-4 spaces within that class. Heck, that could be from the grade in a gym class, depending on how the school calculates GPA. If admissions were that easy, they would only look at stats. But they don’t. They have certain lowest acceptable stats in mind, then judge from there. Even then, exceptions are made for various reasons, and not just athletics. The stats from the Common Data Set show that. That as much as anything proves you are wrong, since those do show entering students that are not in the top 10% even.</p>

<p>Princeton, for example, has 95% in the top 10% and 98% in the top 25%! So you know that there are some reasonable number of students that were between 5-10%, or more to my point compared to what you are saying between 3-10%. Same for the other schools, pretty much.</p>

<p>You are way off base with the comment about UCLA, NYU and W&L by saying “if she’s lucky”. Sorry, but that is just a nonsense way of stating it. Of course being in the top 5% of the class is well within those schools’ parameters.</p>

<p>@fallenchemist Thank you so much for putting that into perspective! So is my 98 GPA ok or should I keep trying to bring it up?</p>

<p>@tomjagner always strive for perfection, that will get you to where you want to be, in other words, YES try to bring it up lol. Goodluck to you, what are you majoring in if you don’t mind me asking </p>

<p>How good are you at writing essays? Because every admission officer I’ve ever spoken to has said that the hands-down most important part of your application is your essay, and that’s really what usually makes or breaks applicants </p>

<p>I think you have a good chance, especially being a URM. If your essay in some way says in painfully beautiful language how your ECs changed you/made you a better person/changed view on life/implies passion, I thing you’d be a very strong candidate. </p>

<p>@tomjagner17‌ </p>

<p>Yes, your 98 is OK, and yes, keep trying to top it. I mean don’t go over the edge about it, but as @Shipsarecool says, you might as well try for 100 unless that means giving up all else. That makes no sense either. You get what I mean.</p>

<p>@Shipsarecool I was thinking about either double majoring in Biology and Chemistry or doing a Major in Biochemistry and a Minor in music</p>

<p>@tomjagner17 nah I think you should do bio and chem, those are more interesting to study.</p>