Chance me please (Yale, Wharton, Columbia)!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Thanks so much for reading this! Means a lot to me!

I am hopping to get into economics, however, my profile is very polarized. My grades are average and I have not awards, however I do a HECK LOT of extracurriculars. Below is my information.

I am Chinese Canadian attending average public school in Vancouver B.C.

Academics:

My school grade average is about 93%-94%. However, my school doesn’t offer AP courses at all so I self-studied 10 tests, and I overloaded myself which led to a decrease in school grades. I also had sour relationships with a few teachers and they butchered my percent average as well.

AP Chinese, World History, Human Geo, Microeconomics : 5
AP US History, Euro History, Comparative Government, Psychology, Macroeconomics: 4
AP US Government and Politics: 3

SAT Subject tests: taking US History, English Lit, and Math 2 in October, aiming for 700+
ACT: Just took the test in September, estimating 32+

Extra-Curriculars

President of Operation Med School Vancouver, medical conference with 300+ attendees,
CFO of a youth-led registered non-profit helping children with disability,
Finance Director of a youth-led registered non-profit building libraries in developing countries,
VP Finance of of a youth-led registered non-profit environmental organization,
USG Conference of a MUN conference with 200+ attendees,
President of Amnesty International Club at School (grade 11, I resigned this year)
President of Science Club at School (grade 11, I resigned this year)
Founder and admin of Humans of Gleneagle (a facebook page featuring students from my school)
Staff member for multiple hotel MUN conferences
Played as 2nd tenor sax in school jazz band for 3 years
Worked on school paper in grade 10
Also a pretty good debater but always came 1 or 2 spots away from top 10 at tournaments

Work-Experience:

Burger Flipper at McDonalds for 5 month
Intern at Liberal Party Candidate election campaign for 1 month

Awards:

AP awards
First/Second place in several math contests at my school, but was only top 25% holistically
Several MUN delegate awards

2

A long list of ECs does not supplant a superior academic record – and your GPA is the largest metric of that. At a school with such a low admit rate such as Yale (and the other 3 Ivies you’ve posted “chance me” threads), your odds are steeper than the normally dismal chances, would be my opinion

3

I don’t do chances, but I would strongly suggest focusing your efforts on finding match schools that you’d be happy to attend and that would be happy to have you. Throw a “wing and a prayer” application at a top school if it makes you happy, but put your energy elsewhere.

4

Grades don’t look competitive. Lots of EC’s but not a lot of focus. It seems like a lot of “youth led” activities. Are these through the same organization- like your church? Also with no AP Calculus AB or BC, you really limit your chances are a lot of top business schools, certainly at Wharton.

5

I would say that you have mis-prioritized your time and effort, in at least 2 ways:

  1. Self-studying for 10 APs does nothing for getting you in to top schools. Keeping your GPA up and getting strong SAT/ACT and SAT II scores is much more valuable. An ACT of 32 is around the 25th percentile or lower for Yale, and SAT IIs of 700 are marginal.
  2. Having a laundry list of ECs does not demonstrate passion, commitment, accomplishment, or intellectual vitality. Your activities are much too diffuse, without enough depth, and too generic.

As @IxnayBob notes, you are in the “wing and a prayer” group for admission to Yale, especially as an Asian (I presume male) from Canada. By all means go for it, but be realistic, and have a wide range of more realistic options.

6

Why do you want Yale, and why should Yale want you?

7

Somehow your comment

makes me think that your chances are poor.

8

FWIW: College’s judge students in the context of their high school. If your high school does not offer AP classes, an Admissions Committee does not expect a student to have taken any AP exams. Having taken 10 AP exams demonstrates to an admissions officer that you don’t understand what is important in the college applications process. It demonstrates that you are test-obsessed, which is the opposite of what Yale looks for.

And in terms of EC’s, you should read this article, as your laundry list of activities is not what colleges are looking for either: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marjorie-hansen-shaevitz/extra-curricular-activities-college-admission_b_3040217.html

9

In terms of EC’s and what raises a red flag, please watch this ex-Stanfod Admissions officer go through a student’s EC list and poke holes in it because it’s a laundry list: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96XL8vBBB7o