Please chance me for: Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Harvard, Brown, Swarthmore, Williams, Stanford, Smith, Barnard, Reed and possibly help me come up with some safeties? Thanks! I’ll chance back if you post a link to ur thread
I decided to do it the way most people post decision results
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): didnt take
ACT (breakdown): E: 34 M: 33 R: 36 S: 32 Writing: 36 (plan on retaking to get a 35 Composite)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 800 German (I grew up in Germany though so doesn’t count), 750 World History
I plan on taking the SAT2 for US and bio next month
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): doesnt rank
AP (place score in parentheses): World History (5) I am also taking Bio, Lang and US History this year (junior) and will be taking 5 APs next year
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load:
AP Chem
AP Physics
AP Lit
AP Euro History
AP Calc
SUPA Psychology
- required courses
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none lol RIP
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Gender Equality Club (President/Founder); Refugee Outreach Club (President/Founder, organized tutors to tutor inner city kids and refugees, raised awareness); Girls Who Code Club; Math Team; Mu Alpha Theta; National Honor Society; Class President and on Event Committee (9th Grade); on the Youth Advisory Board of the county domestic and sexual violence organization; House Manager/Student Producer for the High School and Middle School Shows, also on Stage Crew
Job/Work Experience: peer tutor since 9th grade, tutor at kumon (1 year), worked at local boutique
Volunteer/Community Service: 200+ hours at a local refugee organization, will be volunteering there this summer
Summer Activities: online college class, college visits, moving, traveling, internship at refugee organization
State (if domestic applicant): midatlantic,
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: F
Income Bracket: 200,000+
Other: minor disability, idk if that counts; grew up abroad
Yale- Good
Princeton- Good
Columbia- Good
Penn- Very Good
Harvard- Good
Brown- Very Good
Swarthmore- Excellent
Williams- Excellent
Stanford- Good
Smith- Excellent
Barnard- Very Good
Reed- Excellent
Perhaps Sarah Lawrence, UCLA, or maybe Dartmouth as safety, but you seem like a well-rounded student who will get into an excellent college.
@writer80 thanks! good idea for the safeties too… I was actually considering some of those (but I doubt Dartmouth could be considered a safety?) Do you have any advice for what I could improve?
Oh sorry, I meant Dartmouth as another option. I think you did awesome and would hope for the best! 
Don’t listen to the above poster. UCLA should not be considered a safety unless you are in state which you are not. It might be a high match for someone with as great a profile as you but it is by no means a safety the same goes for Dartmouth. As for their other chances writer80 said
Yale- Good
Princeton- Good
Columbia- Good
Penn- Very Good
Harvard- Good
Brown- Very Good
Swarthmore- Excellent
Williams- Excellent
Stanford- Good
Smith- Excellent
Barnard- Very Good
Reed- Excellent
But with schools that competitive no one has a good chance without any hooks. You’re definitely competitive and I think you’ll definitely get into some but saying you have a good, very good, or excellent shot at schools that competitive isn’t doing you any favors. You’re academic record and profile look and great so you’re in a good position. Best of luck!
Even if you are in-state, UCLA should still not be considered a safety. That’s a bad idea.
writer80 sounds like someone to ignore on chance threads.
Your list consists entirely of reaches (although I don’t know that much about Reed). You’re at risk of being seriously misled if you listen to writer80. As an example, it’s very misleading to say you have “Excellent” chances to Williams (overall acceptance rate 17%. RD rate 15%) and Swarthmore (over acceptance rate 12%)? Yes you might get in some but you could also get totally shut out with that list. You need safeties and matches. Post more about what you’re looking for and people can make helpful suggestions. Also it seems you’re probably not concerned about COA or FA, but clarify that too. Your list seems to be a jumble of Ivies, some elite Northeast LAC’s, with Stanford and Reed randomly thrown in.
what’s COA and FA? I don’t know exactly what I want but as of right now I am considering those schools as reach schools. I obviously understand that they’re reaches because they are for everyone unless you’re some art prodigy or mathematical genius. I want a school that’s good academically and has a positive, collaborative environment that also knows how to have fun. However, I don’t want a party or super druggy school (which I’ve heard reed is?). id also prefer an emphasis on undergrads over grads. I like the option of a nearby city but that’s not a must have. I wouldn’t mind an all girls school as long as it’s near either other colleges or a city. What are some matches or safeties? would the following do as safeties: Syracuse, Sarah Lawrence, American, union, Lewis and Clark
COA is cost of attendance and FA is financial aid.
ohh umm no that’s kinda on the back burner as of right now… it’ll be a deciding figure when I ultimately pick which school to go to but not when applying
So you have a pile of mostly reach schools, and you aren’t going to worry about the cost. That is not a wise approach.
Every college has a net price calculator on their website. You work with your parents to put in your financial info, and it will tell you your expected cost of attendance. There is no point in chasing after schools that are unaffordable, so that should be one of your first steps well before applying. There is absolutely no reason not to do it now. You can waste a ton of time and money on applications, and have NO affordable options when you are done. Given that a college education at most of the schools on your list costs over a quarter of a million dollars, it has to be one of your first questions, not the last ones. Showing your parents what it really costs is important. We see a lot of parents who SAY they will pay, but in the spring when they see the actual cost they change their minds. Your parents may prefer that you look at schools that will give you merit money (which is NOT the list you have now, most of these give no merit money to anyone).
Regarding your list, you have a lot of ECs, but none really seem to have the “pop” that top schools are looking for. Your academics are strong, but so are thousands of other applicants to the top schools. I would say you are an average applicant to the top schools (that typically admit less than 10% of applicants). See below.
Yale - High reach
Princeton- High Reach
Columbia- High Reach
Penn- High Reach
Harvard- High Reach
Brown- High Reach
Swarthmore- Reach
Williams- Reach
Stanford- High Reach
Smith- Match
Barnard- Match
Reed- Low Match
You need a lot more matches and a true safety or two, or you likely will have very limited choices in the spring. What is your proposed major? If you haven’t yet, you should get a copy of the Fiske Guide to Colleges and spend time with it. It is important to spend more time looking for matches and safeties than reaches, as you are much more likely to end up at a match or safety.
I’m thinking econ or bio plus a minor/concentration (whatever the school calls it) in german. What are some matches you might suggest? and is it too late to do anything that would help make those schools less of a reach?
You shouldn’t be framing your life around trying to get into colleges that you apparently have picked just for prestige reasons. There are hundreds of colleges that can give you a perfectly fine education in the majors you are interested in, and get you to whatever career goals you have. You could read “How to Be a High School Superstar” by Cal Newport, but it is late in the process for it to help much.
You need to own finding colleges that fit you. Just asking on the Internet and adding them to your list isn’t research. Get a copy of Fiske and spend a couple hours marking colleges. Research more on the ones that interest you, and try to make some visits. Work with your parents on the financial picture – it is the biggest issue for most applicants.
I agree with everything @intparent has said. There are tons of schools out there that are potential matches and safeties for you. So many that it’s hard to recommend any with the tiny bit of information you’ve given, which is that you have good stats and decent EC’s. We don’t even know your home state or what part of the country you want, or whether you want a big, medium or small school. And it’s a huge mistake to worry later about finances. Make sure your parents have run the Net Price Calculators and really understand what it will cost. As intparent pointed out, your list consists of schools without merit aid. Some of the most heartbreaking threads we see on CC each Spring are when someone gets into a reach and can’t attend because of cost. Start with the Fiske guide and also with your HS guidance department. Does your school have Naviance? When looking for safeties and matches that can be helpful (but not foolproof). Where does your school have a solid track record of getting kids in with your stats?
I’ve checked naviance quite a bit and my school has a good track record. Most people with my stats from my school get into pretty prestigious schools. Out of a class of 250 there are probably around 40 people who get into the schools I mentioned above (or similar) every year. I want to be in the NE or west coast but not in between.
Ok well now we’re making some progress. We’ve ruled out the southern and midwestern schools. What schools have you visited and what did you like or dislike about them? As a junior coming up on the summer before senior year, you need to have made or be making trips. Since money is apparently not a problem for attendance, I assume it’s not a problem for visits either. Sounds like you are interested in LAC’s as well as research universities, right? It’s easy to find reaches (have you looked at the Claremont consortium?), but what you really need are matches. Hopefully some other people who are more familiar with the northeast can weigh in about matches. I do think that the UC’s like high stats full pay OOS applicants. Not safeties by any means but you’d probably get in some, including possibly UCLA. But would you want a big state school like the UC’s?
Also, if your HS regularly gets 16% of the class into the top schools like HYPS and Williams/Swarthmore/Barnard etc, then it sounds like you have a very good guidance department. They must know what they’re doing and you should probably give their advice greater weight than anonymous people on the internet.
I think you have as good a chance as any person with high grades and scores due to a lack of special awards. It looks like you show involvement, but (and please forgive and reply if you think this is rude) I don’t see who you are as a person through this. It seems like you involved yourself in a ton of extracurriculars without a true direction as a way to get into ivy leagues. What are you passionate about? If you can make these things shine, you can greatly increase your chances of going anywhere. I do agree with the above posters that you have an ambitious list without any room for safeties or low matches. Correct me if I’m wrong with anything I’m saying, because I’m totally ok with if if you disagree.
Don’t worry, I appreciate any and all input! I like LAC and research universities but am not a fan of huge state schools. I have visited Columbia, Princeton, middlebury, Williams, Hamilton, Barnard, vassar, Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, bars, Lewis and Clark, reed and possibly 1-2 more that I can’t think of off the top of my head right now. for me, a good social environment is really important. I live near a lot of schools so it’s pretty easy to go visit. i (personally) think that my real “passion” and strength is in the activist things I do (all my hours volunteering with refugees, my position on a highly selective youth advisory board which is a county-wide position, and the upcoming intense internship I have at the refugee center I volunteer at). however, I like math (seen in the coding club and math team) and do that and theater (student producer/house manager) for fun.
@technogirl21 why did some schools get capital letters and others got lowercase letters? Is it Freudian?
@urbanslaughter youre giving me too much credit! it was autocorrect hahah