Chance Me?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Can anyone chance me for Duke, UNC-CH, UMN (Honors), UW-Madison (Honors), WUSTL, Harvard, Yale?
Feel free to suggest schools (preferably one where I could land a scholarship)

Stats: (Rising senior)
SAT: 1560 (790 math, 770 reading, 24/24 writing)
ACT: 36 (36 math, 36 science, 36 english, 35 reading, 8/12 writing)
SAT Subject: Math 800, US History 800, Chem 780
GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.7 weighted
Rank: 6 out of 364
AP:Calculus BC 5, US History 4, Physics 1 4, CompSci 4 , Lit 5, Geo 5, Macroecon 5, Chem 4, Stats 5
Intended senior course load:
AP Lang
AP Bio
AP Physics 2
AP Government (1st semester)- Speech Honors(2nd semesters)
French 4
Mentorship w/ a Physiology Professor in Lab
Major Awards: National AP Scholar (maybe semi-finalist)

Extracurricular:
Started lifeguarding this summer
Volunteer at hospital since last summer ~150 hours, Team leader
Year round swimming since Kindergarden, consistent state qualifier
HS Swim Captain, Varsity 3 years (due to a schedule issue freshman year I swam varsity but didn’t letter)
Shadow above professor this summer
NHS

Essays and recs: just assume 6-7/10

State: MN
Intended Major: Statistics
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income: 150-200k? Parents don’t give me this info, just know I’m in the “too poor for school, too rich for aid” zone
Hooks: none

2

You probably have the best academics ive seen! Good ecs too! I dont see a single reason why you shouldnt be accepted in any of these schools! Good luck! Maybe chance me back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2005601-how-can-i-have-an-actual-chance-please-enter.html#latest

3

Hello,

Here’s what I think –

Duke: Match
UNC - CH: Easy
UMN: Easy
UMN Honors: Match
UW - Madison: Easy
UW - Madison Honors: Match
WUSTL: Match
Harvard: Reach
Yale: Reach

In order to help you, I want to be honest and direct, so I’m sorry if I come off as harsh. Your academics and standardized test scores are very strong, but your extracurricular side isn’t exceptional by Harvard/ Yale standards. I think it’s cool that you have lots of hospital volunteer experience, are shadowing a professor and have been swimming for 12+ years – qualifying to state, serving as a leader and developing work experience based on that interest. However, Harvard and Yale accept the greatest students in the world, and you haven’t racked up state or national titles in activities, like swimming. That being said, your essays – and perhaps recommendation letters – are going to need to be stronger than a 6-7/10 to make up for this. Think long and hard about your unique, personal story and work/ edit it relentlessly, even having others look over it. If Harvard or Yale are what you really want, the last thing you want to do is procrastinate on your essays. Have you had to overcome certain challenges or witnessed/ done something in life that very few can remotely relate to? If so, such schools love to hear about it!

You seem like a very strong applicant, so I’d recommend applying to more schools, especially lower-tier ivy league schools. Schools, like USC, UT Austin, and UMich also offer spectacular scholarships to students like you from my experience. If a full scholarship is what you’re looking for, then applying to an in-state school should do the trick.

Even if your extracurriculars aren’t Harvard/ Yale level, they – in addition to your academic profile – still make you a strong applicant for other schools on your list. However, don’t be surprised if lower top-tier schools, like Duke and WUSTL don’t accept you. Schools, like these, are notorious for rejecting applicants they think will get into better schools, like Stanford. They do that because they feel such students won’t end up picking them anyway, so why waste an offer. For example, I was accepted into Harvard, Oxford and Columbia, but was strangely waitlisted by UChicago. I have friends who were accepted into Harvard, but rejected by schools like Duke, Tufts and UCLA. That’s why applying to lots of options is a good idea.

Hope this helped, and best of luck with your applications and admissions!

4

Duke has an 8% acceptance rate, making it a reach. WUSTL has a 17% acceptance rate, making it a reach. UNC out of state has an 18% acceptance rate… making it not “easy.”

You may get in…but I would not call them a match or “easy.” It’s more than scores.

5

@twogirls I understand where you’re coming from, but I felt simply calling everything a “reach” wouldn’t be very helpful. Of course, unpredictable things happen in college admissions and I mentioned that, but based on my college admissions experience and by witnessing others’ experiences, he will most likely get into those schools. That’s assuming, of course, his essays are strong.

I’ve seen students get into those 3 schools in particular with similar academic credentials and extracurriculars as him – I suppose great essays, in addition, are what secured their admission. In fact, I’d say he has the upper-hand with his standardized test scores, so I think calling these schools matches is reasonable.

Obviously all of our answers shouldn’t be taken as any certainty as we’re not the colleges’ admissions committees themselves. However, if he works hard on his essays, I’m fairly confident he’ll get acceptance letters from the schools I mentioned. Yes, the acceptance rates are low, but he is an exceptional student.

6

He may get in… but students get rejected from Duke all the time with perfect or near perfect scores. The school has an 8% acceptance rate. The same goes for Wash U- he may certainly get in but with a 17% acceptance rate it is not a match.

UNC… OOS acceptance is 18%. Yes these scores and GPA are outstanding… but they look at way more than this and to think otherwise is naive. Fit is very important to this school even if it means that scores are a little lower. And… being a “fit” for both Duke and UNC as an OOS student is no easy task… the schools are very different.

Calling schools with under a 20% acceptance rate “matches” or “easy”… . is false. Does this mean he won’t get in? Absolutely not- he may get in.

7

First of all, that’s not really true. Students who have a perfect unweighted GPA, incredibly high weighted GPA, a perfect ACT score, an almost perfect SAT score and perfect scores on most SAT subject tests – plus pretty great EC’s and essays – very, very rarely will not get into those particular schools. In fact, the only scenario I can think of where they don’t get in would have to be what I described in my first post (intentionally rejecting top applicants who will pick better schools anyway). I know people who have gotten into these schools with much worse academic credentials. Now, they did rebound with excellent extracurriculars – but that’s why I said his standardized test scores and essays should make him stand out.

Secondly, what’s the point of just calling every school a “reach” except for the obvious safeties. These threads would honestly then be useless. I gave my first-hand testimony and told him what he needs to do for that testimony to come to fruition. Obviously these schools ARE reaches. But that’s not the question. The question is to evaluate HIS situation and chances of admission and for him, I’m confident in calling some of these matches.

Like I’ve said over and over again, his academics and standardized test scores are practically impeccable and his extracurriculars are actually quite impressive – he’s demonstrated a lot of dedication with his volunteerism, professor shadowing and 12-year swimming career. If he’s done all of that, writing a killer essay shouldn’t be difficult. Unpredictable things can happen but calling these schools “reaches” for a student of his caliber is unhelpful and sort of ridiculous – they’re reaches for decent, above average students but not him.

I understand that you have a lot of points on this forum, but I don’t see the point in answering so many threads with short, unhelpful and sort of discouraging answers. Of course, maybe you’ve provided lengthier answers in other threads. However, time and time again, I’ve seen answers on College Confidential simply call schools a reach and discourage students, not properly considering their profile and helping them. If we were asking what these schools, are in general, we’d attach the term “reach” to most of them. But this thread is about this student specifically. It’s important to be supportive and weigh the questioner’s case. I also think it’s important for students who have actually been through the college admissions process to be the ones who predominantly answer these questions.

8

The student has outstanding scores and a perfect unweighted GPA. I can count several students right off the top of my head who had the same and did not get in. Again… does this mean he won’t get in? No.

This is a very very strong student and I wish him the best of luck. I am not taking anything away from his accomplishments. To call Duke a “match” is ridiculous.

9

That’s either because of the scenario I described or because they didn’t have the extracurriculars and essays. That’s why I emphasized the importance of those two and how he’ll have to especially capitalize on the latter and his standardized test scores will make up for the former.

I guess we can agree to disagree, but I still feel labeling them as reaches is unhelpful – especially without positive and negative feedback. At that point, the question might as well have been “what are the chances of students getting into these schools” when the question really is “what are the chances of this student specifically getting in?”

Whatever, let’s just drop this.

10

You’ve got some great stats. ECs are decent, but no wow factor. Pick one of the schools and apply ED for your best shot.

11

Good idea. We both agree that this is a very strong student.

The OP is asking for scholarship suggestions-
I would apply to some competitive scholarships at schools such as Vanderbilt etc
U of Rochester is a great school that may give you merit
Pitt Honors - if you apply early you certainly qualify for full tuition ( not guaranteed) The honors program has very very strong students.

12

“Calling schools with under a 20% acceptance rate “matches” or “easy”… . is false. Does this mean he won’t get in? Absolutely not- he may get in.”

Conversely, calling every school under 20% a reach is false, or at least not helping people that post these questions on CC. Like @inevitablewinner said, not every one of these colleges is a reach, people posting here know they’re reaches, they’re trying to figure out if its less of a reach or a match given their circumstances. For instance at Brown, if you have a 800 on CR, the acceptance rate was 23%, which would mean that a similar score of 36 would give this applicant a boost. Now yes I know that means that Brown rejected 77% of perfect scores, but that’s better than the 8 or 9% acceptance rate. The issue here though is the Asian male, an ORM, but being from Minnesota could counter that. I would agree with you about Duke is probably a reach along with Yale and Harvard, but the others are matches and safeties.