Chance Me Please!!!!!!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi guys! Would someone be willing to give me their opinion on which schools I can consider myself competitive for in terms of safety, match, and reach? I just wanted to know if I should add in some more matches or safeties.Thank you! Will chance back the first 10 responders.

Schools:
Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Dartmouth, UVA, SUNY-ESF, Xavier, U of Alabama

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):800 W (11), 780 M, 740 R : 2320
ACT (breakdown): n/a
SAT II: 790 Math 2, 760 Chemistry, 800 Biology E
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.94
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/355
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Human Geography (5), AP Chemistry (4), AP Environmental Science (5), AP Calculus AB (?), AP Language and Composition (?), APUSH (?), AP Physics 1 (?)
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, AP Literature, AP US Gov, Cell Biology and Genetics, Environmental Research Honors, Gym 2 (required), AP European History

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

  1. USNCO Semi-Finalist Honors
  2. National Mythology Exam Gold Medal
  3. National Honor Society
  4. 2016 USTA JTT 18 and Under Single-Gender Mid Atlantic Champions (Major Tennis Tournament- not sure if this is an award)

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  1. Varsity Tennis 9-12 (Captain Junior- Senior Year)
  2. Science Olympiad 10-12 (10-12 Founder/President)
  3. Varsity Scholastic Bowl 9-12
  4. Latin Club 9-12 (Treasurer 9-10, President 12)
  5. EMERGE Diversity Club (Minority Achievement) 9-12 (Secretary 10/ President 11-12) 6) National Science Honor Society (Vice President 11/ President 12)
  6. Mu Alpha Theta (math honor society and math team) 9-12
  7. American Red Cross 9-12 (Founder/President 9-10 of Red Cross Club)
  8. Orientation-Crew (10-12)

Job/Work Experience:

  1. County Government Environment Division Intern (10-12)
  2. Chemistry Internship and Research (10-12)
  3. School Mentorship (at local college) (11-12)

Volunteer/Community service:

  1. Emergency Room Script 200+ hours
  2. Key Club 50+ hours

Summer Activities:

  1. VA Summer Gov School 3) Summer Hospital Volunteer Program 3x
  2. Boys State (School has already chosen nominees)
  3. Applying to MITES/SAMS/TASP (fingers crossed)

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Environmental Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): Virginia
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Medium Public (1500)
Ethnicity: African-American
Gender: Male
Income Bracket:

2

SUNY-ESF, Xavier, U of Alabama: safeties, very good chance of getting in and getting a scholarship
UVA: since you are instate I would almost call this a safety, but UVA has been known to be kind of a crap shoot with its acceptances. Still, it is a match at most.
Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Dartmouth: You have the stats for all of these schools, but they are very selective. I would suggest (if you haven’t applied yet) applying into a school that is not engineering (if the school lets you change your major once you are attending). You have the best chances at Cornell and Dartmouth.
I would add some matches, just because your list is a little unbalanced and you will be disappointed if you get rejected from the ivies and only get into schools that you are very overqualified for. I can’t pick your matches for you, but any schools that are not ivies but are basically just as rigorous (Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, UNC, UMichigan) will make your list more balanced. Good luck!

3

@Syrupandpancakes Thanks for the insight! What do you mean by “I would suggest applying into a school that is not engineering(if the school lets you change your major once you are attending).”

4

Also, if I choose to apply to more match schools, should I not apply to Xavier and Alabama?

5

I’ll use Bucknell as an example. A friend of mine is overqualified for that school, but EDed because she wanted to be done with the college process early and it was her favorite. She wants to have a career in business, and applied into the business school. This caused her to get rejected :(. However, Bucknell gives the option to apply undecided, and also gives the option to switch schools (i.e. from liberal arts to business). Some schools (like Villanova) do not let the student switch schools.
If your colleges have the option of switching, I would apply into the easiest school they have, which is most likely arts&sciences.
Also, with your stats, you probably don’t need to apply to Xavier and Alabama if you are adding good match schools, but make sure they are pretty safe bets before you cross off those two.

6

Still apply to Alabama. It’ll be a great safety school for you, and your sat would get you a full tuition scholarship.

7

Bump…

8

For your Ivy League choices, I feel like you are doing everything right. There’s definitely no particular reason to get rejected from those but I know the competition is always tough so they still might be a reach. I can’t say much about the others, sorry.

Also - how did you study for USNCO? I’m currently in AP Chem, and I’m working ahead in my textbook (Zumdahl) but I don’t really know how to prepare for the non multiple choice parts of the national exam.

9

@18college1111 Thanks for your insight. Would you consider me a match for Cornell and Dartmouth, or should I still consider them a reach. In regards to the USNCO National Exam, I just practiced off the old exams and performed the experiments at my school.

10

@18college1111 Also, you should definitely try to read through that entire textbook by March 1