Chance Me!

Hi everyone! I am currently a rising senior at a small public high school in northern New England. I am hoping to apply to Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, Georgetown, Amherst College, Willliams College, Bates, BC, BU and NYU as my very competitive colleges. For my application, I will have played four years of varsity football- three as starting quarterback and two as captain. I will have played four years of baseball, two years of varsity. Also, I played basketball for my first two years of high school. I have four years of student government, junior year as treasurer and senior year as president. Three years of NHS, senior year as treasurer. I serve on our schools Student-Athletic leadership team, and I am also the student body representative for the school board. I did an internship weekly, volunteering at a local elementary school helping to create a relationship with a few boys who struggled with behavioral issues. I attended two large state wide leadership conferences, and was accepted into a summer long advanced studies program that turned out to be cancelled. Academics wise, I have an unweighted 3.7/4.0 GPA and I am in the top ten of my class. I have taken six honors courses, two AP and two college dual enrollment courses in the first three years of high school, mixed in with a few normal electives. Senior year I am taking three AP courses, one honors and two college dual enrollment courses. My school offers very few AP courses. My SAT was cancelled, and I do not have a set test date for when I can take that. I hope to major in economics, as I saw first hand how a young child at school was affected by coming from a less fortunate family- socioeconomically speaking. I am also considering a double major with econ and public policy, international relations or political science/government. . Thank you in advance!

Do you know what your budget is? Can you afford to be full pay? If not, have you run the NPCs on the schools you are considering?

Do you have two solid safeties that you know you will be admitted to, you know you can afford, and you would be happy to attend?

“Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, Georgetown, Amherst College, Willliams College” are reaches. I do not know anything about Bates. I might think of “BC, BU and NYU” as reaches also, but they might be slightly lower reaches, assuming that they are affordable.

Are you recruitable for football? If so then that changes everything, and your grades are strong enough to not be a problem.

Thank you for your response. I am able to pay my net price for these schools, and have two safeties I feel good about applying to, affording and attending if my reaches don’t work out. Unfortunately, I am not recruitable for division one football.

I have no right to dictate your chances, but I see very strong leadership within you and a passion for the community within the words you have provided.

My only concern is the ECs component of your application. Regarding international relations or economics, have you completed any research on IR or Model UN conferences? It is imperative to have ECs or a buildup of interests in regards to the fields that you are applying for. I would suggest taking a college course via online website on international relations or social action, perhaps Economics as well.

If you have good extracurriculars, alongside your impressive roles for your community, I do see potential at these schools. Keep in mind, you are aiming for Dartmouth and the HY schools; they are very very unpredictable. Please do not take my words for granted nor others in this forum; Chance Me’s are absolutely terrible and should not even exist as forum discussions.

I have looked into model UN and other similar programs for the IR side, but I haven’t ended up attending. I have taken a college dual enrollment course in Honors Economics, and senior year I am taking an online local college’s microeconomics course. I will most likely apply only into economics, and when I get to campus later consider double majoring, as I feel my classes and ec’s are more geared towards economics.

You mentioned that paying net price would be okay for you. I assume that means you will be applying for financial aid?

COVID19 has wiped out the financial aid budgets of many colleges, especially the smaller LACs. So its unclear how many colleges will remain need blind next application cycle.

You also mentioned that your rank is top 10. How many students in your graduating class?

Would you want to play football at a DII or DIII school? Do you want to stay in the northeast? Being full-pay is probably a boost. You might consider ED to your top school. Run the NPC for your schools. Also, depending how this year goes some schools on your list might be test optional. Might be a good year to aim high as long as you have a few safeties.

Information, and just not asking random people such as this board, is your key.

Ask your counseling department where students of similar abilities to yours have gone to college? That will help put your grades and class rank in some kind of perspective.

Look at the “common data sets” for the colleges you are interested in. A wealth of information in those documents. Use Google to find them.

Although the SAT and ACT tests are being used by fewer colleges, I do believe that they have provided students a good gage as to where they might fit in. Take them, if you can.

Sports can provide a boost in getting into a college, but do know that they are also a big time commitment. College is a more challenging academic experience and time to study is important, along with good study skills.

I will be applying or financial aid, yes. There is just under 200 kids in my class.

Based on that profile, I’d say that NYU, Bates, BU and BC are within reach. The financial aid might not be that great for NYU and BU however. The others are less predictable. I don’t see it happening for Harvard, Dartmouth or Yale. You’re focused on colleges in the northeast. Have you thought about applying to colleges elsewhere?

Geography can sometimes play a role in college admissions. Have you heard of Claremont McKenna? They have a strong econ department and might take a liking to your profile. Also consider Rice, Georgetown, GW and UChicago.