Chances at an IVY?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I posted my profile here a little while ago, I'm sure many people read it.
But here's a new revised profile with changed test scores(It hasn't exactly happened yet, but I know I can pull it off). here you go</p>

<p>Hi,
My name is John Doe and I attend Lathrop High School in Fairbanks, Alaska </p>

<p>Well, i'm looking to enter a top college, specifically the ivy leagues, but would like to know my chances of getting in, so here I am.</p>

<p>ACT: 35
SATII: Biology(790), Math IIC(800), US History(750)</p>

<p>Rank 21/276 in a very competitive school,
most competeitive class in school's history</p>

<p>My cumulative GPA is 3.938 (weighted)
3.751 (Unweighted)</p>

<p>I have taken: AP Biology
AP Comp
AP Calculus
AP Economy Micro & Macro
AP US History
AP US Government
A's in all </p>

<p>I have taken 3 years of French
4 years of social science
4 years of math
3 years of science- did not take physics, planning on taking it
through correspondence soon
4 years of english</p>

<p>I am fluently Bilingual (korean and English)- completely fluent
partially trilingual (+french)- not really though</p>

<p>Extra-cirriculars*
-I have 100+ hours of community service at the local hospital helping old and terminal patients, as well as in the cafeteria </p>

<p>-I am president of my church youth group</p>

<p>-I teach sunday school, an arduous task. demands preparation and leadership</p>

<p>-I am a teacher at the local Korean Language School </p>

<p>I am the official translator of the pastor's sermons and documents
(orally & written)</p>

<p>-Organized, taught, and lead my sunday school band
-Am lead guitarist at adult service band
-teach guitar regularily</p>

<p>-Devout piano student, received excellent adjudications for intermediate songs after 8 months of lessons- much better now</p>

<p>-National Honor Society
-Earth Club</p>

<p>-4th place state science symposium</p>

<p>-Awarded poem publication in book by American Poet Society </p>

<p>-National AP Scholar</p>

<p>-Long Distance track (ran 800)- not very good ^_^</p>

<p>Thats about it. If you do say no, can you tell me why? I know I have a rather low GPA and rank, perhaps SAT too. I am planning to take the ACT soon as well; and a semester grade of 4.6 will raise my GPA to
4.01 (weighted, don't know unweighted), which will probably do me no good as dealines are before the end of the semester.
I know I have a rather mediocre application, but I am a very good writer, and plan to write a stellar essay along with great teacher recommendations.
I also live in Alaska ^_^.</p>

<p>So the question comes once again; do I have any chance of getting into an ivy league?</p>

2

<p>Your stats look great so it will come down to your essays and recommendations. You definitely have a chance but with Ivys there is no guarantee for anyone. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>try Brown or Columbia, I think you'll have a great chance at either of those schools</p>

4

<p>bump
Anyone else?</p>

5

<p>Would you be interested in Cornell? The acceptance rate for early decision candidates is very good.</p>

6

<p>Why is your weighted GPA so low if you took all those AP courses and received A's in them all?</p>

7

<p>I've decided to just copy and paste the following response to those that it applies to...i think it will be helpful though:</p>

<hr>

<p>As the thousandth person who’s asked their chances at a school, and who is met by a bunch of kids the same age saying responses that have no judgment to them, I say this. There are very few times when someone can realistically look at someone’s profile and say "automatic acceptance". In the last few months, there have been enough "chances" threads with kids who have near perfect stats to fill most of an Ivy League class. The rest can be filled with those on this board who haven't made a thread but still possesses the same stats. </p>

<p>After spending a rainy weekend going through about 200 of these "chances" threads, I see a common trend that is broken only by a handful (either in a good or bad way). You have the grades, you have the SAT scores, you have the claim that you're essays and recs will be great, the class rank, all that stuff. </p>

<p>But so many people have that....there has to be more. Nobody is going to say "damn, all the things I've done in the last four years haven't been good enough" - and I'm not saying all your accomplishments aren't good enough. But what I am saying is that they are, generally, commonplace. Just change President of [club name]. </p>

<p>There is a distinct difference between listing all your accomplishments and formulating them into something presentable. Applying to college is like selling yourself to an employer. Here is a good example. You got 10 photographers in a line. Each one has been in some photographer magazine, won an award, had plenty of experience, did great at Photography school. Each one gave me a pretty good "Why I want the job" statement. But I can only pick one. I already have a photographer who can take action shots and one that can take still shots. All ten photographers are great at those. BUT, one of these ten sent me an awesome portfolio of underwater photography that really seems to be his specialty. None of the other ten can do that...so I pick him.</p>

<p>Why did I pick him? Because he possessed something unique and showed it to me. He didn’t focus on the fact he was great at all the types of photography – all the rest were too. I later found out that one of the other photographers was awesome at environmental photography – but I didn’t really know, because some of his best shots were mixed in with all his other accomplishments. </p>

<p>Hopefully you got the gist of that story without an explanation, but those that need it, here it goes. Pick out the thing you’re best at…and shine on it. Don’t lose someone in a plethora of sports and music awards while your passion for biology is hidden.</p>

8

<p>Mostly agree with brhcs. Being from AK helps, though. Each Ivy probably gets no more than a few dozen qualified applicants from your state (if that), so you'll stand out there. As always, essays and personality are the key.</p>

9

<p>Thank you everyone for your replys.
The reason my GPA is low is because of my freshman year, got my fair share of B's, never got anything lower than a B though.
I got Bs during my 1st, 2nd, and 5th semesters. >_<</p>

<p>Oh I forgot to mention...
I got 3's on all of my AP tests (biology, APUSH, Comp) so far. How much will that hurt my chances of entering an Ivy??? Pretty bummed about it, I got A's in the classes, but 3's on the tests...I guess I was stressed out??</p>

10

<p>I think your GPA is good, I was just wondering because the difference between your weighted and nonweighted just seemed a little low, thats all. </p>

<p>I agree with brhchs06 for the most part, except that the advice is a little too late for a senior who is applying to college now. Yeah, you can try to "shine" as best as you can through your essays even if you feel your EC's are a laundrylist</p>

11

<p>That's great news, </p>

<p>but what about the fact that I got 3's on all the AP tests I took so far?</p>

<p>How much will that hurt my chances??</p>

12

<p>Well brhchs06, that's easier said than done. You can't expect everyone who posted their stats to have a hook because...well if everyone stood out, then nobody would.</p>

13

<p>wait i have a question: you got a 35 on your ACT and you want to take it again? i thought a 35 was good! but then again im not really "down" with the ACT.</p>

14

<p>yeah, a 35 on the ACT is a very good score. It's anywhere from a 1550-1590 on the old SAT scale.</p>

15

<p>wow impressive my man. and i thought i was loaded with ec's</p>

16

<p>Your weighted GPA is low for ivies. How could you only have a 3.9 if you got an A in all those AP's?</p>

17

<p>I think you could do better on your APs. If your AP scores are low and school grades are good like A, then the college might say that your school was easy and lose.</p>