<p>Hey this is my tentative list. I'd appreciate if you had any feedback on my chances at my reaches or any thoughts in general. Thank you!</p>
<p>My College List (in order of preference) (a few will likely be cut out)</p>
<p>Dartmouth
Princeton
Brown
Bowdoin
Middlebury
Amherst
Bates
Vassar
Wash U
Skidmore
University of Vermont</p>
<p>My Profile</p>
<p>Male
Caucasian
Medium sized Public High School in Boston suburb
GPA W: 4.80
GPA UW: 4.0
Rank: 1/228
SAT I: 680 CR 710 M 750 W = 2140 (will retake)
SAT II: 720 US History 660 Literature 590 Math II (will retake, possibly French in addition)
ACT: 31 (10 on essay)- probably won't send
AP's: 3 junior year (English Composition-5, US History-5, AB Calc-3)
Senior Schedule: 6 AP's (Latin Virgil, French, BC Calc, Physics, English Literature, Psychology)
EC's: 3 years varsity golf
3 years varsity tennis (1 year JV)
2 years marching band (percussion)
2 years concert band (brass)
4 years French Club (treasurer sophomore year, president senior year)
4 years Latin Club (vice president senior year)
Founder and president of International Club (participates in cultural meetings and celebrations as well as relief efforts and fundraisers)
National Honors Society (president)
3 summers interning for the mayor of my city (Boston suburb of 28,000 people-did clerical work as well as special projects including a local historic sites website, recycling, nature guide, a "Clean Up Our City Day," and a pedestrian safety program)
Community Service: somewhere > 200 hours
Working senior year 10 hours a week as a mentor at an elementary afterschool program
Brown Book Award Winner--in short, given to best writer in the junior class of my school
3 years National French Contest Chapter Winner
AP Scholar
Finished Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior Year with Excellence (all A's)
Recommendations: will be from guidance counselor, Latin and English teachers junior year, and mayor of my city</p>
<p>Thanks guys and good luck to all in the application process this fall!</p>
<p>No, but I wish haha. I really don’t have any hooks, although with Dartmouth, Princeton, and Brown I am going to present myself as a potential member of the marching band–even though this is not really a hook like being an athlete is.</p>
<p>Anybody? I’m concerned I have too many reaches, and I’m still trying to find more matches or safeties that appeal to me. If anyone had any suggestions, that would be greatly appreciated, as well.</p>
<p>Great GPA! Bump up those SAT Is and SAT IIs if you still have time and I think you’d have a fantastic shot at the top schools on your list. Your ECs are great, but there might not be enough unique-ness for some of the higher ranked schools if you catch my drift (D, P, B) but you shouldn’t worry about that too much. I remember watching this video where they interviewed the Dean of Admissions at Harvard and they said that they were looking for those all-around good students. Out of an incoming class of around 2000, they took about 300 who excelled in academics, and 300 who excelled in extracurriculars/sports, meaning there were about 1400 who were just plain all around great students. I’m sure it’s a similar case with other Ivies. </p>
<p>I think you need to take that Youtube effort in a different context. What he meant is that 300 may have no social skills but won so many national academic awards, and have proven themselves academic geniuses, so they accepted them anyway. And 17% of the class is recruited athletes, nearly 20% URMs, 12% are legacies and another 5% are staff and development kids. Whoops, he forgot to mention those!</p>
<p>The remainder are just normal, well rounded valedictorians with 2380 SAT scores.</p>
<p>ummmmmm hmm…
so either your standardized test scores are deceivingly low or your gpa is deceivingly high.
either way, i’d focus one one test (you seem to prefer SAT) and retake it (twice?) using princeton review to study and potentially taking a class on SAT. (however if you are relying on studying to bring up your scores, ACT is easier to study for. again, your call)</p>
<p>so the thing is, idk about liberal arts schools, but i’ll guess at the ones i kinda know of…
Dartmouth-uhhhh high reach? (idk)
Princeton- idk, depending on test scores, you might not wanna apply.
Brown- highish reach
Bowdoin-?
Middlebury-you’ll get in
Amherst-? high-middle reach?
Bates-?
Johns Hopkins- low reach
Vassar-Low reach
Wash U- high reach-esque
Skidmore-? i haven’t heard of it, so likely match.
University of Vermont- idk what this even is… (i mean… i’ve never heard anything about it)</p>
<p>conclusively, i think you gave yourself a bit too much credit, but idk what school you go to, so you’d obviously know more than i.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that anything about me is deceiving, haha, just that I put a lot of effort into my school work and take the most challenging courses, yet standardized testing has never been a huge strength of mine. I don’t see my scores as being horrible, but I know that they could be a lot better.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t see my list as giving myself “too much credit,” but these are all schools I really like and want to apply to, even if I know my chances aren’t the best.</p>
<p>Anyways, thank you for replying to my post, I haven’t gotten much feedback haha</p>
<p>i think that your gpa is fantastic, but your test scores certainly need work. your SATI is definitely in the range for the top tier schools, but it couldnt hurt to bump it up to 2200+. as far as your satIIs, they really prefer to see only 700+, so i would definitely try to get in another good satII score… definitely do not send anything below 650. i think that regarding your ecs, you are very well rounded, and key leadership roles will certainly impress the schools, but they say very little about you. i would try to definitely organize them in a way that shows some commonality between them. overall i think that most ivys are reaches for you but you definitely have a slight chance at them - not completely out of reach. i think your projected list is very accurate</p>
<p>Dartmouth: reach
Princeton: reach
Brown: high match/low reach
Bowdoin, Middlebury, Amherst, Bates, Vassar: IDk these schools…sorry
Wash U: WUStL would be around high match
Skidmore: IDk…pretty bad college name IMHO hahah
University of Vermont: safety…i’ve seen someone with 2100 SAT around 4.2 weighted with moderate EC’s get in.</p>
<p>I know someone whose stats are similar…great GPA but weak SAT’s, research work and volunteer. Rejected Stanford early but got into Cornell</p>
