Chance Me? Ivies, JHU, GWU, Georgetown, NYU, American, UConn

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Applying to: Harvard, Princeton, Penn, Brown, Tufts, Stanford, JHU, GWU, Georgetown, NYU, American, UConn
Intended Major: Politics, Intl. Relations

Just a note before getting into stats, ECE is the program used at my school; it’s roughly equivalent to AP, IB, or dual-enrollment.

Stats:
SAT:1520 (750 Eng. 770 Math)
SAT Subject: 800 US History, 780 Bio M
GPA: 3.9/4 UW, 4.4/5 weighted
Rank 20ish/350
Classes:
Grade 9: Honors English 9, Honors Algebra 2, Honors Biology, Latin 2, Honors Human Geography, ECE Comparative Govt.
Summer: Ethics and Morality in Science
Grade 10: ECE Chemistry, ECE US History, Honors Pre-Calc, Honors Latin 3, Honors English 10, Spanish 2
Summer: Spanish 3, ECE Latin 4,
Grade 11: ECE World Civilizations, ECE Biology, ECE Latin 5, Honors English 11, ECE Calculus
Summer: ECE Spanish 4
Grade 12: (As presently scheduled) ECE Microeconomics, ECE European Civilization, ECE Statistics, ECE Comparative Literature, ECE Spanish 5.
Grades, Straight As but for a smattering of Bs in freshman year.
Academic titles: Likely National Merit Scholar semi-finalist or finalist (subscore 223 (I think that qualifies in all states but idk)), National Hispanic Recognition Program, NHS, National Latin Honor Society

Extracurriculars
Robotics Team: (Pres) (9,10,11,12) Attended World Championships in 2016
Science Bowl (9,10,11,12): Attended National Competition in 2017
Model U.N (Pres) (9,10,11,12): Attended/Will Attend National Conference (NHSMUN) all 4 years
Amnesty Intl club (11,12)
Varsity Tennis (9,10,11,12) Varsity in grades 9,10,11, will be in 12
Chamber singers (as a class) (9,10,11,12)
Class Treasurer (11) maybe 12, idk if I’ll be reelected
Summer: Volunteered at local robotics camp, 50 hrs, Volunteered at law firm w/ state govt. lobbyists, 70 hrs

Recs might be iffy, but essay should be fine.
State: CT
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Legacy at Tufts, Stanford, double Legacy at JHU

2

Coming from a current International Affairs student at GWU, your stats are certainly high enough to gain admission and probably scholarship as well. However, I know for a fact that the admissions office cares about how your ECs relate to your intended field of study more so than other schools. So make extra sure to place emphasis on your Model UN, Amnesty Int’l, and law firm volunteering on your GWU application. Do that, and I can virtually guarantee you that you’ll have a spot.

I won’t speak on any of your other schools that you listed, as I would merely be googling “average SAT for _____”. I have no special knowledge of any other school besides my own.

If you want to talk more about the politics and international affairs programs at GWU, feel free to ask me, especially if you’ve got questions about the Elliott School (GWU’s international affairs school). I love my college a lot so I am biased, but I truly believe that the Elliott School can go toe to toe with any program in the country, guaranteed. And that includes Georgetown and the ivies.

Good luck to you as you go through this process! Again, feel free to ask me any GWU questions!

3

Alright, here is my breakdown off of the information you provided. Your EC’s, stats, and honors are very good. Definitely play up the Model UN, Amnesty International, and law firm experience to all of these schools. Anyone feel free to move these around as you see fit.

“Hard” Reach:
Harvard, Princeton,

“Soft” Reach:
Penn, Brown, Stanford

Target:
Tufts, JHU, Georgetown

“Soft” Safety
GWU, NYU

“Hard” Safety
American, UConn

4

Your stats are great and you have a lot of long term commitment to your extracurriculars! I would say you have a great chance at all of these schools - from here I would say the only thing to do is make sure you appear less “generic” on your application, since these are a lot of extracurricular clubs that schools like these will be seeing over and over again on students’ applications. Best of luck!!

5

You have great chances. Your stats are good, ECs are better, and you are hooked.

6

Why would your recs be iffy? esp at the tippy tops you need recs that will say that you stand out (in a good way) from the other students that the teacher has had over the years.

7

Stanford, Harvard, and Princeton - to edit descart - should be a hard reach. There are so many student who apply to those universities that the chances are shockingly low. You being a legacy will help, but not by a whole lot

8

I’m not necessarily confident in my recs as I haven’t really formed intimate relations w/ my teachers thus far.

9

Anyway, thanks so much for all your input, advice.

10

I’m interested in IR as well and applied to a lot of similar schools, with similar stats, and have done so much research on this stuff it’s not even funny. Going to Georgetown in actually a few days!

Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, and Georgetown if you’re applying to SFS will be the hard reaches. Anyone on this thread saying Georgetown is not a reach for IR is simply uninformed. Of these I only applied to Gtown. Would’ve turned down any of them for it. It’s just the best school in the world for IR, and it was my only real reach and the only school I would’ve been genuinely happy going to.

Soft reaches will be Georgetown if you’re applying to the college, Brown, and Penn. Actually picked Gtown over both of these- kind of a no-brainer for an IR kid. Again, some grouped Gtown with Tufts/JHU because of it’s acceptance rate being similar, this is not valid because it goes off of it’s own application and has one of the most rigorous application processes in the world, so by the time apps are submitted, 99% of the unqualified or insufficiently motivated kids have been weeded out, and so that 15% is 15% of a very high-caliber applicant pool. You can’t just apply there for fun, or on a whim, like with any of the others, so this 15% number is deceiving.

Targets: Tufts, JHU. Didn’t apply to Hopkins, but picked Georgetown over Tufts.

Safeties: Pretty much all the others- didn’t apply to any of these

Now, in terms of your info- you basically look like a kid who’s going to get into most of the schools he/she applies to even if they’re all tip top- especially the ones at which you’re a legacy- if you just send that app to all these places. Everything is on point. Keep kicking butt.

If you have any questions about admissions, why I picked Gtown, or anything like that, feel free to PM me! More than happy to help and answer questions

11

@Enceladus42 Stellar stats, but as you probably noticed, it doesn’t seem any of your ECs relate to your intended major?

12

You’ll be fine. Consider applying ED to a school if you want, but like yeah you have a good shot at all of the schools.