<p>2380 SAT I
800, 740, 730 SAT 2
3.67 GPA UW (sophmore year i sucked but i did real good freshman and junior years)
live right outside philly
Tough Private School but not a ton of honors classes (only 4) until senior year
good but not great extracurriculars (debate, tennis, chess, Governor's school, 60 hours volunteering and i'm gonna be a National Merit Finalist cause i did super well on that too)
good essays
good recommendations
non legacy, non URM, no hooks to anywhere
the only hook might possibly be that i'm pretty good at tennis and would be a top player on a bunch of D3 schools but then again i'm not really interested in playing tennis in college and i don't want to say to the coach i'm gonna play for the team if i'm not going to
i am interested in Yale, UChicago, Rice, UMich LSA Honors Program, UPenn, Amherst, Tufts, Claremont McKenna. i listed these schools in order of my interest in them, with the caveat that i know i probably can't get into Yale anyways and that UChicago and Rice are tied for # 2 now. i want to double major in econ and philosophy or maybe just major in one and minor in the other. i'm not sure where i'm gonna be ED ing or EA ing. its almost definitely gonna be UChicago or Rice but I haven't made up my mind which one. please list whether you think these schools are reaches/mids/safeties for me and what the specific % are you would guess. also please comment which schools you think are best for philosophy/economics</p>
<p>bumpity bumpity bump</p>
<p>Yale- Huge Reach
UChicago- Huge Reach
Rice- Huge Reach
UMich LSA- Match
Honors Program- Not going to happen (GPA requirements, etc)
UPenn- Huge Reach
Amherst- Reach
Tufts- Match/High Match
Claremont McKenna- Match/High Match</p>
<p>You seriously need some safeties. GPA is low and SAT won't make up for that.</p>
<p>Good luck :)</p>
<p>i know. one thing i forgot about the GPA. my school was rated like one of the 20 best high schools in America. its like literally just below Choate Andover etc. therefore, it is my impression that the colleges are much more lenient toward my GPA because my school is so hard. also my school doesn't use class rank so colleges won't know what my class rank is.</p>
<p>the reason my GPA sucks is that i had some issues sophmore year where i temporarily lost interest in school. in freshman and junior years, i had 1 B combined. however, in sophmore year i had 3 B's.
thx for being so honest though.</p>
<p>also i know i can get into Penn at the very worst. my school sends 10% of its class to Penn every year, and i am actually in the top 15-20% of my class GPA wise just disregrading my SAT's. a ton of people at my school who are worst students than me in GPA and in SAT's have gotten into Penn</p>
<p>also which do you think would be the bigger reach--Rice ED or UChicago EA?</p>
<p>" my school was rated like one of the 20 best high schools in America"</p>
<p>Mine is rated in the top 15. Trust me, colleges aren't more lenient. They might forgive a 3.9 or even a 3.85, but that is about the scope for Ivies. We have about 5-8 Ivy acceptances, and about 2-3 enrollments every year. All of those kids have 3.9+ GPA</p>
<p>ok well what i appreciate most about you is that you're being brutally honest. i fcked up sophmore year and its all my fault. if not for sophmore year i'd have like a 3.8 or 3.85. if you had to put a % estimate on me if i was to ED at rice what % would you give?</p>
<p>my safety is Pitt Honors and UMich and my match is PSU Honors hopefully because its easier for residents from PA to get in there</p>
<p>% Estimate for Rice ED: 50/50, perhaps 60/40 in your favor.
Really depends on your recs, essays, and determination. If you have amazing recs, awesome essays, I think you can make it (and we both know that I'm not exactly an optimist ;)</p>
<p>Sorry to be such a downer. It's depressing to see so many kids at our school apply to Ivies and other such amazing schools, feeling certain they will get in, and be rejected because of their 3.7. Ivies don't really understand the difficulty level of a top 20 high school and the nearly impossible task of achieving a 4.0.</p>
<p>But, to be honest with you, our class size is only 120 students, so if your school is larger and your class ranking is pretty high, your chances will increase.</p>
<p>my school fortunately doesn't have class ranking cause it would screw every1 over. recs and essays will be good cause i did amazing this year (junior year) and i had 2 teachers who loved me. very good point though about how maybe some schools might not automatically take that into consideration. thx.</p>
<p>do think think my ED % at Rice is a lot better than my EA % at Chicago? they are my two top schools and i can't decide which one i want to go to more so i might just play it by the % acceptance game.</p>
<p>again, thx a lot for everything. i really like people who are brutally honest and don't sugarcoat cause otherwise you could pretend like my GPA is ok and then i get rejected from everywhere</p>
<p>also, would this make a difference. my junior year grades were A-, A, A, A, A, A, A?</p>
<p>basically would it make a big difference that i did my best junior year and i could explain why sophmore year was an anomaly</p>
<p>wow i won't shut up. last thing i forgot to mention. i have taken 3 AP's, US History, World History, and English Language, and I got a 5 on every one of them</p>
<p>I would say aim for UChicago because they will likely be more forgiving than Rice (as they are looking for uniqueness and self-selecting applicants). Also, EA is less binding than ED, so that might be the way to go. Your junior grades are awesome, and should really help your chances. You can try to explain away sophomore year, but your best bet is to take responsibility for it (colleges love that, as it shows maturity, and you seem very mature so showing that quality will help your app).</p>
<p>Also, let me offer you some hope from the accepted seniors thread:</p>
<p>Accepted: Harvard (Attending), University of Virginia, Emory, Vanderbilt, Boston University, Syracuse</p>
<p>Waitlisted: Washington University in St. Louis</p>
<p>Rejected: Georgetown, Cornell</p>
<p>SAT: 2200 (730 cr, 770 m, 700 w)
SAT II: 700 Bio M, 800 Math II, 790 US Hist</p>
<p>GPA: 3.79 unweighted but with a ton of AP and honors classes
Rank: Top 20% but not exactly disclosed</p>
<p>National Merit Scholar (224)
Three 5s on AP Tests
Varsity Track and Cross Country Captain
National Honor Society President
Music, Drama Invovement
Community Service (money raised for national NM society)
Model UN (with one award)</p>
<p>Location: New Jersey
School: Small Public
Sex: Male
Race: White/Jewish</p>
<p>I had some legacy at Harvard and Cornell</p>
<p>cool thx a lot for all the advice
basically compared to me you have a better GPA, more honors classes (although in fairness my school doesn't even offer honors English and it didn't offer honors History until 11th grade) and connections. but at least we're both Jewish (although i don't really believe in that Talmud)
i think chicago would be great for me cause i want to take econ along with philosophy.
P.S. how are you liking Harvard?</p>
<p>Yale- huge reach. pretty big. sorry
UChicago- reach. but do-able
Rice- reach.
UMich LSA- um.....i'll say in, but UM is pretty hard to get into oos
UPenn- Big Reach....it's an ivy....it's the luck of the draw after you have the stats- and you have the stats (except for gpa)
Amherst- Slight Reach, but i think you'll get it
Tufts- In, i've seen it before
Claremont McKenna- In I think</p>
<p>chance me too! <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/559685-i-got-owned-pwnd-even.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/559685-i-got-owned-pwnd-even.html</a></p>
<p>Now I see why you called me a complete failure. Makes perfect sense.</p>
<p>"cool thx a lot for all the advice
basically compared to me you have a better GPA, more honors classes (although in fairness my school doesn't even offer honors English and it didn't offer honors History until 11th grade) and connections. but at least we're both Jewish (although i don't really believe in that Talmud)
i think chicago would be great for me cause i want to take econ along with philosophy.
P.S. how are you liking Harvard?"</p>
<p>Sorry, did not mean to imply that this was me. I simply found this and wanted to share it with you to give you hope.</p>
<p>wait smart.cookie. did you get a scholarship with a 224? or were you a semifinalist??</p>
<p>oh so that wasn't you. my fault. never mind.</p>
<p>bump for a couple more perspectives on my %'s.</p>