I’m a junior who will be applying to schools in the fall. I’m planning on applying to at least one ivy league school. My stats aren’t fantastic, but I read so much and my relatives tell me so much about how kids with lower stats can get into ivies sometimes. Do you think I have a chance? Thanks!
GPA: 3.875UW 4.23W
ACT: 34
AP: Macroeconomics 5, Psych/APUSH?
SAT2: US History 630, Math2/Spanish?
Courseload: 7 AP (My school doesn’t let freshmen take AP’s and let sophomores take only one)
Extracurriculars (only naming important ones): Varsity tennis captain, debate, DECA, run soccer refereeing in my town, lifeguard, tennis instructor, NHS, volunteering
Leadership: started a politics club, tennis captain, tutor since 7th grade, ref coordinator, awesome rec’s about my general leadership
awards: made it to DECA ICDC, some varsity debate awards, some quizbowl awards, 2 varsity letters, every honor roll possible,
Hooks: hispanic, pacific islander
However, the 8 Ivy League schools are not all the same. As an obvious example, attending Dartmouth College with 6,000 students in a small town in New Hampshire would be a very different experience from attending Columbia with 28,000 students in New York City. Of course if you also consider Stanford and MIT and perhaps Chicago then you get more variations.
As such, I would encourage you to at least look on-line at each of these schools and try to figure out which one or two would be the best match for you. Also, be aware that the best match for you in a school might not necessarily be Ivy League or equivalent.
Also, be aware that the Ivy League and equivalent schools are a long shot for every student, so you definitely need to have other options that you would be very comfortable attending.
Your stats aren’t low, my man! A 3.875 UW coupled with a 34 is tremendous. Your history SATII is a little low for the ivies, though. I would consider not sending that.
Find an ivy or two that you really connect to and apply. Try not to get too worried about what your relatives say about colleges! You’re doing just fine.
Personally, I’m going to give you an honest answer: Yes, you DO have a chance. Although, it may be slimmer than you think. There are people with stellar stats, 4.0 GPA’s, 1500+ SAT’s, state leadership positions and national awards who all get rejected each year. Your GPA is a bit lacking, but the weighted and ACT makes up for that. Your EC’s, on the other hand, are quite generic. The leadership positions you have attained in these activities are not things that stand out and makes the admissions office say “wow!” Your lack of regional, state and national awards will set you back a bit. Being involved in EC’s also means gaining recognitions in your specialized area. Unless there are awards you chose not to list on this post (state and national), it’s going to be quite difficult for you to compete with other applicants.
But hey, there’s always a tad bit of luck involved with the admissions process. Good luck!
I think your academic qualifications are pretty good for the most part. I am only concerned about two things. One, you have taken very few AP classes so I am unsure how will that look on your college application and two, your SAT history test score is not the strongest, so I’m not sure you want to report this to colleges. If your intended major is related to history, then by all means go ahead and report it.
Your ECs are pretty good but are generic and varied. These are the types of ECs that many ivy league applicants have on their profile (DECA, NHS, speech & debate) so I am not sure they will give you an edge in the applicant pool. Depending on you intended major, you should use this summer to get more involved in activities that directly relate to your area of interest.
A word of advice: you shouldn’t apply to Ivy League colleges just because they have a “brand-name” or sound very prestigious. A true ivy league-caliber applicant will succeed wherever she goes. Figure out what exactly it is that you want to study in college and look for ivy leagues that will help you succeed in that particular area. For example, Princeton is very strong in STEM and Comp Sci, whereas Yale, Dartmouth, and Brown are more humanities-centered. Cornell and Columbia are good for medicine, and Penn and Harvard are good for business and poli sci. Good luck! I would appreciate it if you could chance me back here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1995754-chance-me-low-gpa-rank-cornell-rice-wash-u-ucla-etc-p1.html
@studentathlete18 Cornell and Brown’s avg is a 32. OP has a 34 and is Pacific Islander which is the biggest hook(counts as NativeA). Coupled with the rest of their application it’s a match / highish match imho.