Chance Me - USC, UPENN and BOSTON

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • US citizen
  • Maryland
  • College Prep HS
  • Female, White

Intended Major(s)
Sciences – Chem or Bio

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.88
  • Weighted HS GPA: 4.33
  • Class Rank: ~15/120
  • SAT Scores: 1490

Coursework

11 AP’s, Fluent Spanish

Awards
NHS/Honors Math & Spanish Society/Cum Laude/Headmaster Lists – 4 years

Extracurriculars
*Leadership – Fellow, Prefect, Peer Tutor, Student Council Leader, Adm’s Diplomat, Math & Art Club
*Summer Activities – Honors coursework and summer studies in Intended Major at UPENN & NYU,
*Competitions – HS Tennis Captain and tournament play
*Volunteering – excellent 6 yr volunteer record
*Work Experience – continuous PT employment last 4 yrs,

Essays/LORs/Other
Strong Essay, Excellent LOR’s

Cost Constraints / Budget
N/A

Schools

  • Safety – Drexel EA, Bucknell RD, Fordham EA, CUNY

  • Likely – Northeastern EA, Villanova EA, University of Miami EA, Boston College RD, Boston University RD

  • Reach – University of Southern California EA, Brown, UPENN, Barnard

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Are you a senior that has already applied to these schools, or a junior looking towards next year?

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Bucknell has an acceptance rate in the low 30%. That’s not a safety, unless you have some other in with them (recruited athlete, large donor, etc.). Along the same lines, your likely schools have all recently dipped into reach or near-reach territory with falling acceptance rates.

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Agree that you need to re-asses your classifications. Bucknell is definitely not a safety and your likely schools are more match/reaches depending on the school.

Also are the schools all affordable?

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senior having already applied

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What are your results so far for the schools where you have applied EA?

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Did you get into your EA schools? Are they affordable?

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Deferred at USC, yes affordable

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Correct - additional connection at Bucknell

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What about the rest of the EA schools?

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Accepted at Drexel and Fordham

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SAT is on the low side. If skip SAT, based on info you disclose, should be sufficient for USC chemistry major in RD round with no scholarship in the past. Many students are applying 30+ schools nowadays so that further drops the admit rate in every school. Probably not likely at Brown/UPenn. Don’t know about Barnard. Good luck in March.

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Thanks for the feedback!

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Congrats on your acceptances so far! As far as the rest of your schools go, many of them will really depend on how the AOs view your essays, letters of rec and extracurriculars. UPenn and Brown are reaches for everyone, but perhaps well written essays and letters will put you in the admit pile. Good luck!

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At this point - i’m not sure it matters what we say.

I would venture that your safeties are safe except for Bucknell which is likely.

Your likelies - maybe Nova, Miami - but the three Boston schools are not. And the reaches - maybe Barnard.

Your rank concerns me.

But you already have great options.

And what we say means little.

Best of luck.

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A lot of this depends on your HS. At our slightly bigger private HS which sends 35% or so to T30s, someone with a 3.9ish UW GPA, 1450-1500 scores, and your rank (a few kids outside of the top10%) and scores, who had taken the hardest courseload the school offers, presuming great recs /essays : 3 of your Likelies would be “Matches”(various places in the 25-75% acceptance range), 2 would be Likely(>75%). In fact, one of your reaches is also a match from our school(a high-match, 25-35%, but in the match range). But many others on here come from different areas where your likelies would definitely be reaches. CC posters will all have different responses based on the schools/areas we know best: your best estimate of your own chances is probably obtained from your own counselors. Congratulations on your acceptances so far and best of luck!

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It’s too late to stress now. You already have some acceptances so you know you will be going somewhere. That’s a win!

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Best wishes. Enjoy senior year while also keep up with grades.

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Thanks so much for the thoughtful response; thank you

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Great acceptances already!

You’ve done very well in school. Your academic results will like make your transition to college a smooth process, and your work ethics will be a great asset in your future studies!

I wouldn’t be surprised if another choice will present itself from other safeties or one of the likelies. On the other hand, the reaches are exactly that (for everyone) – for some colleges the RD round acceptance is <5%; so something to strive for, but not expect.