Chance me please for Brown and Northwestern!!!

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>First of all, I am currently a student in a university outside the US.
(So that makes me an <em>international applicant</em>)
I have considered applying as a transfer, but thought applying as a freshman would be better for me ..</p>

<p>I am applying as an either Mathematics or Economics major.
Here is a list of schools I'm considering:</p>

<p>UChicago / Brown / Dartmouth / UPenn (Super Reach)
Northwestern / WashU / Cornell / Johns Hopkins / Carnegie Mellon (Reach)</p>

<p>Pomona / Harvey Mudd (Super Reach)
Carleton / Colgate / Middlebury / Oberlin (Reach)</p>

<p>Here are my Stats:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9 UW (There are no APs offered in my school, no weighting of GPA..)</p>

<p>SAT I: 2330 (CR 750; M 800; WR 780 Essay=12)</p>

<p>SAT II: -Math L2: 800
- US History: 760
- Planning to take Physics in Oct; expecting a 750-ish</p>

<p>AP Exams: Microeconomics 5
Macroeconomics 5
Psychology 5
Calculus BC 5 (AB Subscore: 5)
Statistics 5
Physics 5
US History 4</p>

<p>And the ECs.. which I think is weak.. there is no hook</p>

<p>Student Council: 2 years
President of Volunteering Club (Raised around $500?! probs, it was then donated)
Soccer: 2 Years
MUN: 1 Year
School newspaper: 2 years; co-editor
High school research (Awarded; Junior year)</p>

<p>Intern in a Economics Research Institute (Sophomore summer)
Intern in a consulting firm (Junior summer)</p>

<p>Awarded in a national research paper contest for high schoolers
UNESCO national essay contest: awarded</p>

<p>150~200 hours of volunteering</p>

<p>I'm especially worried about what the university will think of my "gap year" between high school graduation and the application this year..
Anyways, chance me please!!</p>

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<p>bumpity bumpbump</p>

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<p>How exactly is Dartmouth, Penn and Brown a super reach while Northwestern a reach?</p>

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<p>@CentralFC, Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn=Admit less than 15%
Northwestern= 23% admit rate, no one is knocking your school, don’t get so offended. The OP has a 2330 on his SATs and is a very competitive candidate for all schools but Northwestern is definitely in reach than those ivies. it doesn’t mean Northwestern isn’t an OUTSTANDING school (because it is). Anyway, OP like I just said, you look like an excellent applicant I think you will get into many schools here. Even those in the super reach end. However, I hope you have safety schools, as college admissions is capricious and you never know what might happen in the end.</p>

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<p>@Central FC</p>

<p>Don’t get me wrong, Central FC-- I actually don’t know which schools are more difficult to get into, so I just assumed the Ivies were harder schools for me.
I also think that Northwestern is as selective as the schools I mentioned in the first line, but as you can see I have a very long list here, so I just divided them into lines to make it look visually neater…</p>

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<p>And @Divy1234, thanks for you advice and your optimistic comment… and yes, I will be sure to include some safety schools :p</p>

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<p>Please do comment on this post guys~ I am ready and willing to receive any criticism or advice!</p>

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<p>It asnt optimistic. This is where you are, to be honest. I can’t see how anyone could predict sub par chances, you’re at the point where admission can’t really be predicted for any one school but a general “good chances for admission” is sufficient.</p>

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<p>Thanks, Divy1234!
Any other opinions, please?</p>

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<p>I think your GPA and your SATs are great for all of those schools and that you have a chance in all of them. The fact I would be more concerned about is the real lack of ECs - they aren’t many and there isn’t something that would make you stand out. What did you do in this gap year? I think that if you did something uncommon or that made you grow up you can find a space in which explaining it (ECs as year abroad or as one of the essays)
I suggest you to just apply and see. Competition in most of the schools mentioned is high. Pick safeties. </p>

<p>Chance back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1370677-please-chance-me-ivies-i-promise-ill-chance-anyone-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1370677-please-chance-me-ivies-i-promise-ill-chance-anyone-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Northwestern’s admit rate is at 15%. Try again.</p>

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<p>Either-Or (2011 was 23% my mistake), it wouldn’t matter as Brown admits 8% I believe and the rest are below 15% not to mention they are vies who get the most competitive applicants in the country. Like I said, NU is one of the best there is ever, but it can’t hold up to the ivy reputation, there’s no arguing that. It is an absolutely phenomenal school and I congratulate you or making it in in the most selective year it’s had. However, it simply is not an ivy and can’t stack up, reputation wise. ACADEMICS wise they are very similar it’s just that ivies are known to be just that much more competitive (spare maybe Cornell which is in par with NU).</p>

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<p>2011 was 18%.</p>

<p>And Northwestern was recently ranked above Brown and Cornell, likely surpassing Dartmouth in the rankings that will be released in a few months. I realize these are all great schools and this argument is moot, but to say that it doesn’t have a reputation comparable to the Ivies because they’re Ivies is myopic.</p>

<p>And even then, what is your point? If they don’t stack up reputation wise, how is that relevant? It doesn’t change the fact that they’re as good, if not better, than the aforementioned Ivies. Your argument makes no sense.</p>

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<p>[Northwestern</a> | Northwestern University | Best College | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/northwestern-1739]Northwestern”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/northwestern-1739)
Really, it doesn’t matter much. Seriously northwestern is top notch. I’m simply saying its more than understandable that the op was outing northwestern into the second category seeing as ivies just have a stronger reputation for major selectivity.</p>

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<p>Also, it makes sense when you put in the context of reputation. The ivies are repute to have the most selective admissions of anywhere. Whether this is completely true or if the ivies are necessarily any better than non ivies (which the aren’t) doesn’t matter. Simply stated, the ivies have a reputation for more selective admissions than all other schools. I’m not speaking of an academic reputation simply a traditional view that ivies are extremely
Selective. In that sense, it is foreseeable that the op put northwestern one notch lower. Whether this is true is moot, the fact is its understandable why the list is the way it is.</p>

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<p>You went from defending that position to questioning its integrity. That leads me to believe that you have no clue what you’re talking about while being blinded by a group of schools that make up a football conference, schools that piggy back off of Harvard, Yale and Princeton. </p>

<p>Reputation doesn’t make it more difficult to get into, nor a better institution. With that reasoning, Stanford would be inferior to Brown or Dartmouth because it isn’t an Ivy. See how ignorant that appears?</p>

<p>Edit: Here you go: <a href=“http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2012/03/notify-applicants.html[/url]”>Northwestern Notifies Admitted Students - Northwestern Now;

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<p>SINCE this thread was supposed to be about chances and not some argument about which school is more selective or a higher reach or whatever, I’m just gonna do the chance:
@tigerhobbes: Your chances for many of the schools are pretty nice! I’m sure you’ll get into most of your reaches, and even your high reaches, possibly!</p>

<p>The only advice I can tell you is to study well in AP Physics, since most of your other credentials and scores are great! :)</p>

<p>GOOD LUCK!</p>

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<p>You are an arrogant child and I’ve seen you get defensive in this way before about northwestern. Bottom line, the ivy league has a reputation for selectivity and based off this reputation which you just verified exists when you said the schools piggy backed of HYP’s reputation, people tend to see them as the cream of the crop selectivity wise. Are they more selective then NU? Yes, check the numbers. Does that make them a better school? No. So by reputation and the selectivity numbers I can see why op put ivies ahead. I agree this argument is silly and the thread is being hijacked. But this is the bottom line, be happy about your school it is one of the best, but don’t be so defensive.</p>

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<p>Are they more selective then NU? You’re how old and can’t differentiate ‘then’ from ‘than’?</p>

<p>And to think I was taking you seriously.</p>

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<p>@Divy1234, @CentralFC</p>

<p>I have posted another thread without dividing the colleges into tiers.
@CentralFC; I am sorry for making you feel uncomfortable unintentionally differentiating “Ivies” and “Non-Ivies.” I didn’t mean to compare different schools; I do not know much about college admissions and just assumed … sorry for that.
I was just organizing the colleges into my “assumed selectivity” to make the post more visually comfortable for the CC people to read. Sorry for making unevidenced assumptions.
I personally regard Northwestern a great school- I prefer it over some colleges that I mentioned in the “FIRST LINE.” I will be careful not to mention other universities’ names so to avoid controversy.</p>

<p>The “College Chances” forum in the CC website I believe is a very helpful and useful place to get advice on how to organize people’s college list or on what should be improved in people’s applications. </p>

<p>I am sorry for leaving a source of misunderstanding and controversy to both of you and whoever might have felt uncomfortable reading through this thread.</p>

<p>I wish I could delete the thread but I guess there is no way to do that…</p>

<p>I have said a lot of things without spending a lot of time organizing my thoughts;
In conclusion, I hope this argument comes to an end and hope there would be no more of such arguments comparing schools in this manner.</p>