Chance me Stanford, Ivies, Georgetown, Hopkins (will chance back)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey guys! I’m a rising junior in a Pennsylvania high school right outside Philadelphia, please give me some feedback on how I’m looking for the college process, I’ll chance back!

Colleges
Stanford (REA)
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
Georgetown
UPenn
Harvey Mudd
USC
Northwestern
George Washington
Tulane
Boston U
UPitt
Penn State

Ethnicity: Black/African American
Graduation date: June 2018
Rank: 2/282
Weighted total GPA: 108.5/100
Non-weighted total GPA: 96/100

SAT : 1400
ACT: 33 (should I retake?)
SAT II: Chem- 740 will take Math 1 & 2 in August

AP’s:
10th grade: AP Gov (5) AP Chem (4)
11th grade: AP Calc BC, AP Physics 1, AP Lang, AP Psych, AP Environmental Sci

12th grade: AP Stat, AP Comp Sci, AP English Lit, AP Physics 2, AP Human Geo

Award: Society of Women Engineers High Recognition in Science and Math, couple regional and state awards in PJAS

Extracurricular:
Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science- Secretary, couple regional and state awards
PEER Facilitators- Event Head, serve as student guidance counselors
Springfield Buddies: club to support disabled students (both siblings have disabilities)
Freshman Mentors- executive board
Dance Marathon- captain, raise money for pediatric cancer
Mosque Youth Group Founder and President: help unite Muslim teens in Islamic and cultural pride
Harvey Mudd WISTEM program- 1 of 20 girls selected out of 300
NHS, NEHS, WLHS

Summer Activities:
Volunteered at Hospital of UPenn (9th into 10th grade summer)
this summer, attending Camp Neuro, Camp Cardio on scholarship and LIU Summer Honors Institute: Choosing a Career Path in Health Care, shadowing a doctor
Extras: Taught myself how to play guitar, caught up on reading books, just enjoying summer

Essays: Don’t really know what to write but I’m trying to make them genuine and honest, think they’ll either make or break my application

Major- Chemistry or Neuroscience/Cognitive Science

Teacher RECs: should both be good, from Chem and Calc teacher, both love me and push me to succeed

Hooks: URM, disabled siblings, immigrant (came to U.S in 2004)

Let me know thanks guys!!

2

What is your GPA on a 4 point scale ? Boston, Tulane and Penn state you have a very high chance of getting in. As for the other more selective schools I’d say you have a solid shot of getting in but obviously no guarantees. If you nail your essay your chances will only increase. You should consider connecting your major to your background (immigrant, disabled siblings etc…)

3

I’ve never had below an A, so I’m guessing my GPA is a 4.0 and yeah that’s why I’m interested in Neuroscience/Cognitive Science as both my siblings have mental disabilities @LizIA2018

4

You listed being an immigrant as a hook. It’s actually not. If you are a US citizen, you are far better off than if you are an immigrant with a green card in terms of colleges acceptance. If you are a US citizen, I would try to keep the immigrant status on the down low. Daughter of immigrants, great! Immigrant herself, not so much. Be sure to read up on the colleges you are applying to, as some do tend to show favoritism to applicants who are more secular.

If you can play your cards right, and keep some information more on the down low, while displaying other information, then you have a good chance to get into all the schools listed above. Just saying, when you get to the tippy top, it’s a bit of a crapshoot. I’d say you have a 50+ chance for your more selective schools, and 90+ chance for the others.

Good luck!

5

@ConcernedRabbit While I am a U.S citizen the common app requires me to state my country and city of birth but I’ll avoid talking about my immigrant status in the essay portions of the application. Thanks for the feedback!

6

Great GPA and EC’s. Good test scores but a little low for the really selective schools

Reach:
Stanford (REA)
Harvard
UPenn
Harvey Mudd
Northwestern

Decent shot but will still tough:
Johns Hopkins
Georgetown
USC

Pretty solid chances:
George Washington
Tulane
Boston U
UPitt
Penn State

I’d say definitely retake ACT

7

Everything is great except your test scores! I think you have a good chance at all schools except Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern. If you apply ED, you have a decent shot at Penn especially if you can get your test scores up! Best of luck! Chance back?

8

@junior010

You have great stats and URM status and personal story will make you a strong applicant. ( although @ConcernedRabbit is probably a bit optimistic. 50+ is awfully high for anyone for Stanford or Harvard) but you certainly should apply if those schools appeal. You have as good a chance, if not better, than most high-stat students.

A few things stand out:

  1. As always, finances. Some of the schools on your list will only give need-based aid: Harvard, Penn etc. Some have very limited merit aid (JHU, NW etc.) others have more merit aid and you have stats/story that might get you a reasonable amount (USC, GW, Tulane etc.) and, of course, there’s in-state tution at the Pennsy schools. No need to discuss your family finances here, but you should know going into the process (using the on-line calcs and having an honest convo with your family) what you can reasonably afford and if the full-need/need-only schools are likely to give you enough.

  2. Schools you are interested in. You have selected a pretty clear pattern of large research U’s, mostly urban (save Stanford, Penn State, (if you mean main campus, which I’m guessing you do) and NWestern.) The one outlier is Mudd. Mudd is the “most different” from the kind of schools you are choosing, but since you’re part of the WISTEM you either have spent a few days there or will very soon, so that will tell you if you think it will be a good fit for you. But the Claremont consortium is a very different vibe than Harvard/JHU/Penn/Tulane/USC type of urban school.

If anything I would consider scaling back your applications by a few schools. Stanford has 5 unique essays, Penn will have a “why Penn,” I think USC and JHU (and probably most others) will require one “custom” essay. You will be doing a lot of writing (and spending a some extra $$) to apply to 13 schools since you can only go to one!

I have no doubt you will have a lot of options when you get to next spring. If possible spend as much time as you can on the websites of the schools you don’t know well so you can write in real specifics about them in your application. And think about which schools really appeal to you and why. You might find you dont need to spend $90 and a 5 or 6 hours on a few of those applications if the schools don’t really excite you.

9

You extra curriculars are very impressive, As someone whose relative is on Stanford admissions committee, I would say that you have a good chance. I can easily see the trend throughout your school, a science wiz that is a good teacher and role model. I know youll get into a great school, but Harvard and Northwestern are a reach, if you can get the ACT to maybe a 35? Best of luck, would you chance me back? http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2001735-will-chance-back-junior-hs-class-of-2019.html#latest

10

@CaliDad2020 Thank you so much! This is super helpful, I’m also first gen so my parents don’t know much about college and my guidance counselor isn’t too helpful, I didn’t consider all of this in complying my list of schools so I will definitely take your advice into consideration.

11

@junior010

Happy to help. Nothing is worse than watching a kid get into a school they love and seeing the disappointment as they slowly realize it’s just not affordable. We’ve seen it more than once. You have to keep in mind that out of pocket full pay at the top privates will be $280,000. But few people actually pay that much. You’ll need to know how much the school expects and how much your folks and you can reasonably contribute.

The top Fin Aid schools (Stanford and Harvard, for example) can sometimes provide very significant money to families that earn 100,000 or more a year (depending on other situations.) That is why it is crucial you sit with your parents, go through the online calculators for some of your top choices (Sadly, most schools have different ways of calculating “full need.” Some use home equity, some don’t. Some include loans as "student contribution, a few are “no loan” etc. so you/your parents have to do one for each school to be most accurate.)

Harvard or Stanford tend to be most generous with need aid so you/your parents may be pleasantly surprised. Or you may find you are in that difficult spot where your parents make too much money, yet they have to spend too much on your siblings or other expenses, and can’t afford as much as the school wants them to (or, equally valid, don’t think it’s worth paying the extra, say 80,000, to go to JHU rather than Pitt, esp if you think grad school is in your future.)

But if you first know your budget limits you can then make more informed choices.

You will find a great situation. I’ll give you my final bit of cliched stock advice: chose for the fit not the t-shirt. Every school on your list will be full of amazing professors (and some crappy ones that just want to get back in the lab) tons of interested, motivated students and more books, activities, clubs, lectures, conferences and BS sessions than you could ever attend in 40 college careers, so go where you’re going to be happy and engaged and supported (it can be hard for 1st gen kids - or any kid for that matter - to deal with 4 years far from siblings and parents and friends. Or it can be amazing and freeing. Or both.)

One last thought. You have no LACs (Mudd is, in a way, but it’s a kind of STEM LAC.) I’m thinking you’re considering pre-med/medschool (hence GW and BU?). It’s true the hospital options in places like Penn/Philly are more robust than some of the smaller LACs, but since you’re only a rising Jr. if you haven’t already, it might be worth heading out to Swarthmore/Haverford/Bryn Mawr or maybe up some to of the other nearby rural LACs like Bucknell or Lehigh (not technically an LAC but has that feel) just to know for sure that “kind” of school is not for you.

Do some research this summer and over the next year, try to find the best fit for you, financially, socially, academically and “vibe.” Find a few schools you love, submit the best application you can and you’ll have an amazing college career!

12

im not really sure how the gpa out of 100 works but im assuming your gpa is good. you should definitely retake some of your standardized tests to bring them higher. other than that your ecs are pretty solid.

Stanford (REA) - high reach
Harvard - high reach
Johns Hopkins - reach
Georgetown - reach
UPenn - reach
Harvey Mudd
USC - match
Northwestern - reach
George Washington - low match
Tulane - low match
Boston U - low match
UPitt - not sure
Penn State - low match

chance back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2001162-chance-me-low-gpa-but-pretty-decent-elsewhere-ucla-brown-northwestern-washu-usc-etc.html#latest

13

Oops oops I mistyped I’m actually a rising senior

14

@Junior010

same advice applies, but just with a bit more urgency. I’m sure you’re on your essays now. Probably worth looking the # of “unique” essays your schools require. If you’re doing Stanford EA look at that first, a few students we know were surpised by the amount of writing in that application.

Also worth “ranking” you schools in order of importance/fit and attacking the essays in that order.

Have fun!

15

you’re an excellent applicant, though disabled siblings aren’t a hook :-), you can write about how they impacted you in an essay of course, but the essay should be about you, not them. Colleges get a lot of essays on how a relative influenced their choice to study pre-med. If you’re applying to STEM universities or programs being a female is a hook, and if your parents didn’t go to college at all, that would be a hook as well.

For tests, you’re fine with a 33 ACT, the mid-50% for your schools are 32-35 or 31-34, so you’re right in the middle. For the subject tests, don’t take Math 1 and Math 2, just take Math 2 and a science one - chem or bio.

Stanford REA - you should get accepted here, if not REA then RD but play it safe and assume you get deferred
Harvard - reject could be toughest school for you to get in
JHU - wait list (I just had to have one W/L in there)
Northwestern and the rest - you’re in.

Tighten up your ECs to show a few areas of focus (science, service, leadership, volunteer for disabled/under-represented groups) over the summer and you’ll be in good shape. Good Luck!