Chance Me? Northeastern, Harvard, Dartmouth, Tufts, BC ,BU

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m currently a rising senior from Miami, FL and I really want to go the a school in Boston. I’m very picky about my schools and am applying to some very selective ones (including Northeastern). Actually, my top choices are Northeastern and Harvard. Harvard is a stretch obviously. I have good everything but a ehh SAT score. It’s not terrible but it’s not amazing. I’m interested in a Pre-med or medical sciences major
Here is my info:

RANK: top 12% of class
GPA: (unweighted) ~3.75
(Weighted) ~4.83
PSAT: 173
ACT: never took it
SAT: 1800 (combined). but I’m taking it again in October. My practice tests indicate I’ll get roughly between a 1850-1900

SAT SUBJECT TEST (SPANISH): 790 (not an 800 only because I left some questions blank)

freshman year classes:
GEOGRAPHY HONORS: 98
BIOLOGY HONORS: 90
RELIGION 1 (THERE IS NO HONORS OR AP RELIGION IN MY SCHOOL): 98
HEALTH (THERE IS NO HONORS OR AP HEALTH IN MY SCHOOL): 95
PE: 100
ALGEBRA 1 HONORS: 88
SPANISH SPEAKERS 3: 92
ENGLISH 1 HONORS: 92
COMPUTER LITERACY (THERE IS NO HONORS OR AP COMPUTER CLASS IN MY SCHOOL):96

sophomore year classes:
WORLD HISTORY HONORS: 88
CHEMISTRY HONORS: 86
RELIGION 2 (THERE IS NO HONORS OR AP RELIGION IN MY SCHOOL): 95
ART 2-D (THERE IS NO HONORS OR AP ART 2-D IN MY SCHOOL):100
GEOMETRY HONORS: 88
SPANISH SPEAKERS 4 HONORS: 92
ENGLISH 2 HONORS: 94
COMPUTER INFORMATION SYSTEMS (THERE IS NO HONORS OR AP COMPUTER CLASS IN MY SCHOOL):93

in my school, we can’t take AP classes until junior year unless you are an alpha (top scholars group).

junior year classes:
AP US HISTORY: 90 (got a 1 lol)
PHYSICS: 87
RELIGION 3 (THERE IS NO HONORS OR AP RELIGION IN MY SCHOOL): 98
PORTFOLIO HONORS:99
ALGEBRA 2 HONORS: 83
AP SPANISH LANGUAGE: 95 (got a 5)
AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE: 91 (got a 3)

senior year classes: (current)
AP ECONOMICS:
ANATOMY HONORS:
RELIGION 4(THERE IS NO HONORS OR AP RELIGION IN MY SCHOOL):
AP STUDIO ART:
PRECAL HONORS:
AP SPANISH LIT:
AP ENGLISH LIT:
AMERICAN GOV HONORS:

CLUBS:
National Honors Society
Science Honors Society
Spanish Honors Society
English Honors Society
Art Honors Society
Pre-med Club
Grace Club (works with kids with autism)
Student Ambassador

SPORTS:
Club (outside of school) Volleyball: end of freshman-whole sophomore year

AWARDS:
I have won awards in my city,state,and school such as:
city: mayors award, do the right thing award
state: president’s award
school: have won honor roll multiple times’

COMMUNITY SERVICE:
I have an community service project that has been recognized by the president of University of Miami and by the Mayor of my county. I have about 1385 community service hours and 99% sure I’m gonna be a candidate for silver knight.

I have been studying most summer for the SAT but I only have one more chance bc in December I’m doing a subject test. I’m gonna keep my old reading score of a 600 and I’m concentrating on raising my math score to a 690+ and my writing score to a 720+. I think I can do it because I’m very good at the writing section and math section.

-female
-Hispanic
-parents didn’t go to college in USA so I guess I’m first generation
-14 year old sister
-Catholic (go to a catholic high school)
-parents are immigrants
-mom is Colombian
-dad is Bolivian
-mom went to Harvard for extension school
-cousin went to Cornell
-mom has friends who have helped me get to know ivy league life better
(connections in Cornell, Harvard, MIT, Dartmouth)

DREAM SCHOOLS: Harvard, John Hopkins, Tufts, Dartmouth, Tulane, Amherst, Notre Dame, Boston College
REALISTIC SCHOOLS: Boston University, University of Miami, University of North Carolina (Chapell Hill), Northeastern
BACK UP SCHOOLS: Florida International University, University of South Florida

EXTRA QUESTIONS:

-Does anyone know if Northeastern will accept me with at least a 1850?
-Also, anyone know any good websites with free SAT practice tests with explanations?
-How does being a minority help my chances?

-As you can see, I’m not a good test taker. I get nervous and tend to do average. I got everything else down though.

2

If your mom graduated with a degree from Harvard Extension School then you wouldn’t be considered a first generation student. Actually, some colleges consider first generation as parents never “graduated” from college and others as parents never “attended” college.

Being Hispanic will help but your grades and test scores are low for colleges in your dream school list (idk about Boston College). I’m pretty certain that Harvard doesn’t consider HES as qualifying you for legacy status.

Good luck with the retake. You will have better chances at Northeastern if you improve your scores by 200+ points but your grades are still problematic for the top schools on your list, especially since you are interested in the medical sciences but your grades are lowest in the sciences and math.

Kudos for all your community service work!

3

UNC Chapel Hill is harder than Northeastern, Boston College, and Tulane to get into out of state. I would strongly consider taking it off your list if it’s not a top choice of yours.

4

Not a chance at any of those schools with an 1850, sorry.

5

ive had a friend who was hispanic who got into Columbia, cornell, northwestern, amherst and other top schools with UNDER an 1800- his EC’s were not that great either but his essays were legitimately the best college essays ive ever read

6

It seems that a lot of CC’ers have a friend who did the impossible.

7

Have you considered trying the ACT? The two tests are very different. Both “hard”, but for different reasons. If you can work quickly under pressure, you may do better with the ACT.

I did see an acceptance in the Tufts RD thread with a 27 ACT. It is very hard to say…

8

omg really? My essay is alright but I’m gonna redo it. Do you think I could see the essay (if possible)?

9

@TomSrOfBoston It is true though, a handful of students get into schools like HYPSM with SATs in the 1800-1900 range. It is INCREDIBLY rare, but it happens. It is holistic after all, none of these schools have a minimum SAT req, and they can accept whoever they want. There was one kid who came to our school to talk about his admission to Harvard, he was a urm, middle class, and only had a 1900 SAT. However, he said he believes that his choice of study: French Studies (or maybe it was French Lit), and his essays, are what tipped the scale in his favorite.

As for the ubiquitous nature of these “I had a friend who/I knew a guy who” stories, they are the underdog stories that people love so much, especially people here on CC who dream of going to the Ivies. So they are bound to spread.

10

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/1631636-official-tufts-university-class-of-2018-regular-decision-results-p1.html

Look through here. There are a number of “average” scores in the lineup. You can ask one of them questions through PM if you like.

11

Such Hail Mary applications contribute to the very low acceptance rates for the top schools.

12

Rank and test scores are going to be an issue at the reach schools at the moment. Everything except UNC is a good choice in the middle though (UNC can be tough). Keep studying and bring up that SAT