Chances at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Tufts, Duke, Amherst?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a white male from Massachusetts. </p>

<p>Grades, classes, and test scores</p>

<p>For grades, my school does not weigh GPA at all. That being said, my GPA is a 3.97/4.00. My school does not offer a ton of AP classes, but even in subjects that are not AP, my school is known for its rigorous curriculum (every year someone [and usually multiple people] get into the schools I listed above.) I've taken AP US History and AP Bio my junior year and gotten straight As in both (along with all of my other junior year classes), which were the only APs I could take.</p>

<p>My SAT scores are:</p>

<p>2290- Composite
800-Math
790- Writing
700- Reading </p>

<p>My SAT subject test scores are: </p>

<p>800- Math Level 2
800- Biology M
790- US History</p>

<p>and my ACT scores are:</p>

<p>35- Composite
36-Math
36- Science
35- English
32- Reading</p>

<p>Extracurriculars and Awards:</p>

<p>Speech captain for Speech and Debate Team. I won 5th in state for debate.</p>

<p>Chancellor for Model UN. At New York convention, I spoke in front of several thousand people.</p>

<p>President/founder of a tutoring program for elementary students in my community (for community service!) I started this last year, and in the upcoming year I expect it to expand to all of the schools in my town. I currently have 60 hours of community service from it.</p>

<p>Assistant editor for my school's newspaper</p>

<p>Governor appointed representative for Massachusetts youth</p>

<p>Winner of the Harvard Book award and Citizenship award (both given to superior character and academic excellence).</p>

<p>Member of my school's student government board, directly elected by students.</p>

<p>4 year member of my school's Concert Band (I play trumpet :)</p>

<p>I think that should just about cover it. Let me know what you guys think!</p>

2

<p>Many of the colleges you are applying to are reaches for anyone but you would be a competitive applicant for the schools you are applying to. I would consider submitting all of your test scores (SAT, ACT and SAT Subject Tests) because they are all good scores.</p>

3

<p>Agree with @metsfan27. I don’t feel confident in saying that you have a “good shot” to any of those schools, because they’re all tough to get into. Feel confident applying to them that you are qualified to get into any of those schools and that your application will certainly be very competitive with your very good ECs and test scores. I don’t think your SAT is as strong as your ACT (your reading is a bit weak but that’s the only “weak” part of your score), but really you shouldn’t feel that either of those will hurt your chances of getting into any of those schools. Students have certainly gotten in with worse scores.</p>

4

<p>Thanks! I know that these schools are all difficult to get into, but at least I can feel I’m qualified to get into at least one of them. @micmatt513‌ would you recommend I submit SAT scores?</p>

5

<p>@235423 (damn is your name annoying to type lol) I wouldn’t say that it would hurt you. Most colleges will look at both and see that you’re a good to excellent test taker and that should be enough. I don’t think it will negatively impact your chances of getting in. However, cost is also something to factor in. Do you feel like paying $12 (or whatever ridiculous amount College Board charges) per score report? If your parents don’t mind, there’s absolutely no reason not to. Definitely send your subject tests, but the SAT is up to you. If you’re applying to any schools that score on a 2-part system instead of three, I’d recommend not sending the SAT there. However, even then a 1500 isn’t exactly weak so it’s really up to you. The 700 is a bit out of line with the 800 and 790, but your scores are so good that there are very few schools in the country where a 700 would be outside their average accepted range (Caltech being maybe the only exception; possibly Stanford and MIT as well).</p>

<p>So just think about the money and if it’s not big deal to you there’s no reason not to. Cheers.</p>

6

<p>Without a hook, they will still be very high reaches. Tufts may also reject you because of yield protection</p>

7

<p>@AnnieBeats‌ Hook? And as for yield protection, I am taking a tour of the campus and will show “demonstrated interest”.</p>

8

<p>A hook is basically being legacy, low income, URM, or a recruited athlete.</p>

9

<p>@AnnieBeats‌ I don’t know if low income is actually a hook. </p>

<p>Stellar essays can override hooks so make sure that you write really good essays. </p>

10

<p>@Hawkace Low income students tend to have less access to things like private tutors, independent counselors, and test prep. Thus, colleges tend to be more lenient when it comes to certain things and tend to want to give the student an opportunity to succeed that they might not other wise had. That’s how a student on here got into Stanford with a 1700 on the SAT</p>

11

<p>@AnnieBeats‌ I wouldn’t call it a hook. More like an explanation of the grades that the person got. </p>

<p>Agree to disagree. (Psych quote) </p>

<p>Sorry, OP. Dropping is not something that I would usually do. </p>

12

<p>Nobody can make any guarantees for any of those schools, but you certainly have a decent chance.</p>

13

<p>You have great stats. If your recommendations and essays are outstanding, I’d predict you have excellent chances at getting in at one or more Ivies. Harvard likes kids from Massachusetts. Are you at a prep school, if so, what is your rank?</p>

14

<p>@fauve‌ No, I’m at a public school. We don’t do class rank, but instead break it up by GPA category. There are less than 30 kids (out of about 400) with a GPA in the range of 3.8-4.0. Considering that my GPA is in the top range of that, I think I’m at least top 5 in my class.</p>

15

<p>Great scores GPA and awards. EC’s don’t really stand out to me but I think you will be okay. You only have selective schools listed so reaches for all but if you had some more outstanding EC’s I think you would be looking at low reach high match for some of them. Best of luck.</p>

16

<p>I think you have an excellent chance. Also being from MA should help you since Harvard/MIT takes a lot of kids in state.</p>

17

<p>I think you have a really good chance :slight_smile: Your scores are great, you have awards, you founded a programme, you seem committed to your activities, you have wide array of talents (speaking, playing music, writing, math+science). I think the MUN incident (where you spoke in front of thousands of people) could make a great essay :)</p>

<p>Harvard - low reach (you won their book award!)
Yale - reach
Princeton - reach
MIT - reach
Brown - low reach
Columbia - low reach
Dartmouth - low reach
Tufts - high match
Duke - low reach
Amherst - high match</p>

<p>But like everyone knows, there’s no guarantee. Good luck! </p>

18

<p>Harvard Book Award = auto-admit at Harvard. You’re a god. </p>

19

<p>Your stats are amazing, but I still feel that these schools are mainly reaches just because so many people apply to them. Technically, you should get into Tufts, but they often reject the most qualified students to protect their yield. Also, I’d say send in your ACT scores because 35 correlates to approximately a 2350 or so on the SAT, which is slightly better than your score. Do you have any other schools you’re interested in that are less selective?</p>

20

<p>This sentence: “Also being from MA should help you since Harvard/MIT takes a lot of kids in state.” True? I always felt it would be the opposite…that they would try to <em>avoid</em> MA candidates simply for better geographic diversity. </p>