Chances at Harvard/Yale?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey, I just discovered this site in the midst of freaking out about college (I applied EA to Yale and decisions come out next week!) I was wondering if anyone could give their opinion on my stats:</p>

<p>Gender: F
Location: Boston area, MA
College Class Year: 2012
High School: Public
High School Type: sends some grads to top schools
Will apply for financial aid: Yes</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Weighted: 4.17
Class Rank: top 5 students
Class Size: 450
All AP/honors classes since freshman year (except for electives, like art and such)
Classes this year: AP Stats, American Govt Honors, Precalc Honors, AP English Lit, AP French Language, Honors Physics, Sociology, Current Affairs</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>SAT I Math: 780
SAT I Critical Reading: 800
SAT I Writing: 800
SAT II Literature: 790
SAT II U.S. History: 710
SAT II Biology - E: 710
SAT II World History: 620 (I know it's horrible...neither AP Euro nor my generic World class set me up well. I'm hoping most schools won't look at it too harshly, since I have 3 others?)
APs: US History (5), Euro (5), Bio (5), Psych (5)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Significant Extracurriculars: Music: violinist for thirteen years, concertmaster of two top youth orchestras in Boston (both of which tour internationally), winner of several state/regional competitions, three-time semi-finalist in international chamber music competition, active chamber musician, participant summer festivals and programs since 2000</p>

<p>Leadership positions: NHS Treasurer (senior year)
Concertmaster of the two top youth orchestras in the Boston/New England area (one since 7th grade, the other since senior year)
Concertmaster of school orchestra (sophomore yr)</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work: Volunteer at school library
Performances at several benefit functions each year in Boston area
Organized benefit concert sophomore year to raise money for Rainbow Fund (provides funding for orphaned children in China)</p>

<p>Colleges of Interest:
Harvard (top choice)
Yale (#2 choice, applied SCEA)
Columbia (#3)
BU
Rice
Oberlin College & Conservatory
Northwestern
New England Conservatory
Rice
Juilliard
Princeton
Brown</p>

<p>Thanks so much!</p>

2

<p>chance me, anyone?</p>

3

<p>Out of curiosity, are you planning on majoring in music?</p>

4

<p>You are a strong applicant, like many of those applying to these top schools. If you get into Yale, then that means you have a good shot at getting into Harvard. If you don't....</p>

5

<p>Harvard (top choice)
Yale (#2 choice, applied SCEA)
Columbia (#3)
BU
Rice
Oberlin College & Conservatory
Northwestern
New England Conservatory
Rice
Juilliard
Princeton
Brown</p>

<p>Good luck with your applications! I would guess your chances at all of those schools are better than average. Mind if I ask a few questions?</p>

<p>1) Would you be double majoring at Rice and Northwestern? How easy/hard is a double major at those schools? Performance combined with a science major or a hum/socsci major?</p>

<p>2) What do you think of performance opportunities/presence of other high-ability musicians at Brown and Harvard? (Slightly different situations; I guess you could look for 'playmates' elsewhere in Boston, or you might be counting on joint-with-NEC). </p>

<p>3) How would you decide between, say, Juilliard and Harvard? Actually, you say Harvard is top choice, so perhaps that choice is already made. At what point do you give up on the Liberal Arts list and switch to the Performance Degree List? </p>

<p>These nosy questions obviously impelled by having a child one year behind you considering similar options. Thanks for sharing whatever info/impressions you have gathered in your search.</p>

6

<p>I'm planning on double majoring in music and psych or English. At schools like Rice/NW with performance majors, it's a lot of work to double major, but not impossible.<br>
NEC and Juilliard are actually only on my lists because of their joints with Harvard and Columbia, respectively. The joint programs are so hard to get into, though, that I'd be fine with going to Harvard/Columbia etc alone, since there are a lot of options in and around Boston and NYC for musicians. Personally, I think that conservatories tend to offer more in their graduate programs, so if I were to go somewhere with no performance major, I would probably end up pursuing music more directly in grad school.
Thanks for the input!</p>

7

<p>Your stats are nice, but your ECs are terrible.</p>

<p>Slight-reach at all the top schools.</p>

8

<p>"Music: violinist for thirteen years, concertmaster of two top youth orchestras in Boston (both of which tour internationally), winner of several state/regional competitions, three-time semi-finalist in international chamber music competition, active chamber musician, participant summer festivals and programs since 2000"</p>

<p>The music EC is pretty good, I'd say.</p>

9

<p>just out of curiosity, castel - what are good ECs in your opinion?</p>

10

<p>Boston Latin?</p>

11

<p>Your ECs show that you're extremely dedicated to music... but that's about all. Your only leadership position is in the 12th grade, and it's only treasurer. Do you have any awards outside of music?</p>

12

<p>I've also gotten a lot of leadership through music, which I think still counts.
And I do have some awards outside of music: my school's History Award freshman year and Social Studies Award junior year, two-time National Laureate on the National French Exam, National Merit semifinalist, recognition from the APA, AP Scholar with Honor, etc. For some reason, the part of my original post with that stuff in it got erased - so good call!</p>