Chances at Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Duke, Northwestern, Boston College, others

<p>I am a white male, I go to a large, relatively well-known school in Nashville, TN (sends about 20 to top schools every year). </p>

<p>GPA: Weighted:4.3 Unweighted: 3.9 (possibly 3.8+ not sure)
Rank: 13 out of about 400
ACT: 33
SAT: Have not taken, not planning on it</p>

<p>EC's:
-Various clubs, such as Habitat for Humanity, National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta
-Main EC is varsity baseball, where I will have lettered three years next spring (sophomore-senior year varsity, JV freshmen year). A very time consuming activity, we have workouts from August-February after school 2 hours every day, then practice about 4 hours after school for a month, then games until late May
-I'm almost positive that I can get a good letter of recommendation from my baseball coach, because I am one of the leaders of the team</p>

<p>AP's:
Euro History:4
Statistics:4
Bio, English Language, US History----Haven't received scores yet</p>

<p>Senior year schedule is filled with 4 AP's, strong schedule</p>

<p>The colleges I'm looking at are:</p>

<p>Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Duke, Boston College, University of Virginia, and far reach of Harvard</p>

<p>What are my chances????</p>

<p>Do you have any match or safety schools. All of those schools are reaches. What are your positions in your clubs. That can make a real difference.</p>

<p>All those schools are reaches with a 33? I'm not trying to be cocky or arrogant or anything similar, but I just figured that with that score I could consider a school like BC a match. Also, my dad teaches at Vanderbilt, and my brother goes there (he also had worse stats than I do), so I guess I consider Vanderbilt to be a match school for me</p>

<p>Vanderbilt and BC are definitely matches, with the rest except Duke/Harvard being low reaches.</p>

<p>Northwestern is not a match. It's a low reach. Your stats are pretty average there, and you don't have any major awards to set you apart from the majority of the applicant pool, so it's a reach. </p>

<p>BC - Match
Vanderbilt - High match/ low reach
UVA - High match/ low reach
Georgetown - Reach
Duke - High Reach
Harvard - High Reach</p>

<p>Also, what about volunteer hours and SAT IIs? You will need Sat IIs for Georgetown and Harvard, and maybe others.</p>

<p>I would also look into some safeties that you would be happy to attend just in case.</p>

<p>workhardplayhard: your 33 on the ACT is to be applauded. However, I'm just considering the facts: Georgetown has an acceptance rate of 21%(1 out of 5 applicants), Northwestern 27 (1 out of 3)%, UVA 35%(1 out of 3), BC 27% (1 out of 3), vanderbilt 33% (1 out of 3), duke 23 (1 out of 4)%, and harvard a whopping 9%(1 out of 10). </p>

<p>And the reason I asked about your ECs is due to the fact that they seem kind of bland. I mean, there is no leadership demonstrated. Lettering is awesome for sure, but are you captain of the team? Are you secretary of NHS? Are you a school leader in getting people to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity? The schools you are looking at may, at max, pick only one out of three people that apply. And trust me, because I am discouraged more often than not, there are millions of applicants with stats just like yours (and mine) or better. </p>

<p>That's all I was saying. Don't take it personal. Like everybody else. You have a good chance. I just wouldn't say you are a shoe-in, thus the term "reach."</p>

<p>I would say you have a very good shot at schools like BC, also a good chance at Duke / Georgetown / etc, but Harvard would be a reach</p>

<p>ivyleaguewannabe,</p>

<p>I was not offended at all, I appreciate whatever thoughts anyone may have. All I was doing was qualifying my own opinion that Vandy was a match, at least to me, because a lot of the sons/daughters of Vandy faculty have gained admittance with mediocre stats. As to my EC's, no I'm not a leader in any of my clubs, which is definitely my weakness. But, I'm almost positive that I can get a letter from my baseball coach that would outline my leadership skills, because we don't elect captains on our team, but I would say I am one of the leaders of the team.</p>

<p>bc and vandy seem like matches to me but uva will be tough since out of the 35% they accept, less than 30% come out of state</p>

<p>I think you have a good chance at your schools. A young man I know with numbers like yours got into both Vandy and NW. But he was waitlisted at BC. His sister who had higher test scores was also waitlisted there. However, you are out of area for BC which will give you an advantage. Don't know if the reverse does not work for you for Vandy since so many from your area go there.
A character letter from your coach would be great. Your EC's, however, are not real hooks for college. Though the letter from your baseball coach will be a plus, the sport will not be a strong plus unless you can play at college level on the NCAA team. </p>

<p>I suggest applying EA to BC and see what happens. IF you get in, it is your safety. You should be thinking about some safeties just in case you are deferred from there. The safety is the hardest school to find since you are looking for schools that are certain to take you that still fits your needs and wants.</p>