Chances at Duke, Georgetown, UC Berkeley?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Heyy, I’m going to be a high school senior this fall and have begun my college search. My top three reach schools at this point are Duke, Georgetown and UC Berkeley, and I wanted to know what my chances at getting admitted to these schools might be.

ACT: 35
SAT: 1510
SAT Subject Tests: 790 Bio, 740 Chem, 730 World (waiting to hear back on US History and Math Level 2)
GPA: Not exactly sure but last I checked, unweighted 97 point-something and weighted 101.48
Extracurriculars: President of Model Congress, Vice President of Math Club, member of NHS, editor of school’s literary and art magazine, editor of the yearbook, Junior Class President (not senior class), member of Trivia Club,
Volunteer activities: Ran a cancer fundraiser, tutor through my church, tutor through NHS
Classes: Pursuing IB Diploma
-IB Biology HL, IB English HL, IB History of the Americas HL, IB Physics SL, IB Math SL, IB French SL
AP Scores: AP World = 5, AP Stats = 5 (waiting to hear back on AP Bio and AP Lit)
IB Scores: Waiting to hear back on IB Math SL

In general I get very good grades, but in sophomore year I got an 89 in chem homors and this year I dropped the ball with IB bio (haven’t gotten my grades back yet but I probably got somewhere in the mid-to-low 80’s). How much will these low(ish) science grades hurt my shot at getting into one of these colleges?

I’m planning on majoring in political science and minoring in statistics. I am also a white female, if that has any relevancy to my chances.

Also, follow up question: How much would my chances improve if I were to apply ED to Duke or EA to Georgetown? Which would you recommend? I really don’t prefer one school much over the other, and although I’m not certain yet that I would want to restrictions that come with ED applications, I’m really considering it.

2

ED helps quite a bit for Duke. Not sure about Gtown.

What is your class rank?
What region of the country do you live?
What is your intended major?

3

No, if your interest is in political science, somewhat lower performance in biology and chemistry will not really detriment your chances. The IB program is hard and you’re still doing well in it when it comes down to it.

Your chances at all three schools are pretty good (they’re still reaches). I would think carefully about ED/EA because you don’t want to be committed to schools you’ve never visited. I ended up crossing Duke off of my list way back when because frankly I hated North Carolina when I visited the campus.

Also, are you in-state for California? The COA at Berkeley is $60,000 a year for out of state students.

4

@sgopal2 My school doesn’t give definitive ranks - they give percentiles, and I’m in the top 10%. I live in New York and I plan on majoring in political science

5

@burdened no, I’m out of state for California. I know it’s very expensive and they aren’t particularly well know for financial, so I’m iffy about it. I’m visiting in August so that should help me decide if I really want to spend all that money if I got in

6

Cal is not merely “not known for financial” aid – they give none whatsoever to out of state students.

7

You have an excellent chance at Duke. Applying ED increases your chances nearly 2-3 fold. Go look at the last few class profiles for details.