Chances at Harvard/Yale

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello everyone, I was wondering what my chances are.</p>

<p>My resume is as follows:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.8 UW, 4.75 W (out of 5)
SAT: 2320 total. (780 M, 780 V, 760 W)
SAT2: Hebrew 800, Physics 790, math IIC 780, World history 800, US history 790.</p>

<p>In highschool I will be garduating with 8 AP's and 6 Honors. </p>

<p>EC:</p>

<p>-Completed a four year curriculum at a Secondary school
(Hebrew College) specializing in Jewish Studies, with outstanding marks (4.0 GPA).</p>

<p>-Opinions writer of high school paper for 4 years.</p>

<p>-member of my school's Jewish Student union for 2 years,
officer during Junior year, and then president for my comming senior year.</p>

<p>-officer at my area's chapter of USY (United Synagogue Youth) for 2 years. Organized many Jewish events.</p>

<p>-member of the American Poetry society for 3 years, was
a finalist for a national poetry competitiion (out of 100 finalists nation-wide).</p>

<p>-rode horses for 6 years (not competitively, but as a hobby).</p>

<p>Awards/acheivements:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>recieved a national Jewish award for outstading acheivement in the hebrew school mentioned above.</p></li>
<li><p>received awards for highscore on the national Latin exam
3 years in a row. </p></li>
</ul>

<p>-received honor roll during every term so far in highschool
(expecting to have them all for my senior year)</p>

<ul>
<li>published a book of poetry at the age of 10 in Israel (where I lived at the time). The book sold ~3500 copies at
a fund raiser event for autistic children (my brother is autistic and was thus the theme of my book). My book received the Israeli National Award for Poetry.</li>
</ul>

<p>-received an award from my Jewish Community for "extraordinary involvement"</p>

<p>Community service:</p>

<ul>
<li>worked at a 6 week summer camp which involved much community service (about 40 hours).</li>
</ul>

<p>-joined a program in which I worked as an aid for disabled children during my junior year (the whole school year ~35 hours). </p>

<p>-did alot of community service at my temple (200+ hours).</p>

<p>That's it. Sorry about the length everyone.
Thank's in advance for your responses.</p>

2

<p>help would be appreciated.........</p>

3

<p>anyone?....</p>

4

<p>Your SAT, SAT II, and ECs are really good. Your UW gpa may hurt you a bit for Harvard though. But I'd say you have a little bit higher than the 10% average shot. Maybe like 15-20% shot.</p>

5

<p>What would my chances be if I apply Early decision though?</p>

6

<p>A more telling number would be your rank. A 4.75 W can be very good and may offset a 3.8 if your rank is really high (which demonstrates your school is very competitive)... I, for one, would rate your chances slightly higher than that. I've never been a fan of ED and I don't think it'll do you any good, anyways. Harvard might find another Jew even stronger than you and opt to accept him/her over you, and you might find yourself shut out. But if that's the case, I'm sure Princeton, Yale, Berkeley, or Stanfurd will take you in a second. Congratulations on all your accomplishments. Look beyond the Crimson! Best of luck,</p>

<p>TTG</p>

7

<p>thnx. My rank is 6/420.
I think my stats are pretty much solid.
Its my EC's im worried about for the most part.</p>

<p>Do you think I managed to create the image of a social activist in the Jewish world?</p>

8

<p>I've never seen the Jewish-Israeli-temple-Hebrew combination used so much before in my life. Yeah, I think that image should easily come across to the admissions officials... To offset what some may consider a "lack of EC's," you might get an extra recommendation from someone from your temple or from one of your Jewish activites who can attest to your passion in your extracurricular activity (plus, it adds to that "image" your trying to present yourself with). Your rank is top 2%- good enough. =)</p>

<p>TTG</p>

9

<p>bump..................</p>

10

<p>I would appreciate more responses please.</p>

11

<p>Here is my current college list:</p>

<p>Reaches:</p>

<p>Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Brown</p>

<p>Matches:</p>

<p>Boston U
Brandeis</p>

<p>Safeties:</p>

<p>U Mass Amherst</p>

<p>What, in your judgement, are my chances for those colleges on the list?</p>

12

<p>I think you've got a pretty nice list, except get some lower reaches (Brown is a good start)</p>

<p>About your earlier question about the jewish thing, the sad truth is that jewish kids are overpopulated at top colleges, because Jews (sorry for stereotyping) value education just as much as Asians do; that is why they are so successful at the corporate level.
Many Jews are overachievers in my school (private), and I would surmise that they are in other districts as well. The reason that I'm talking about this is to inform you that you will be facing a fierce competition with many other Jews who probably have done as much or more with their religion and background, which as a result, could dwarf your achievements</p>

13

<p>Yea, I'm pretty worried about that. But would an Ivy pick only 1 person like me? That is, would they only choose one applicant whose Jewish pride and activism are a dominant characteristic?</p>

14

<p>Not necessarily. What I'm trying to say is your activism and community involvement in the Jewish society is probably outstanding, but there is such a glut of people who are participating in events similar to yours (actually there is always a surplus of activists participating in all types of cultural affairs) that it might be overshadowed by others who have done more.</p>

<p>In other words, make yourself special and do something others haven't done yet and you are sure to shine :)</p>

15

<p>You have a chance to show the colleges your passion and spirit in the essays. With excellent essays, I think you have a great chance at most of these schools. Brown seems like a very good bet.</p>

16

<p>Also, I you saw in my list of EC's, poetry is also one of my major passions.</p>

<p>I published a poetry book at the age of 10, and received the ISraeli national award for it.
Would that be somewaht of a "hook" that would bring me up on the list of applicants?</p>

17

<p>You have very good stats (especially sat 2's) + interesting EC's. I think you have as good a shot as anyone.</p>

18

<p>It is more than 90% likely you are not getting into either. Has nothing to do with you particularly, except that you don't have a HUGE hook, you aren't a major athlete, or attend a traditional feeder prep, or a legacy, or a URM, or a developmental admit. Once you take those out of the equation, the odds are 1 in 20, so I'm actually assuming you are one of the better candidates. The odds are worse than that if you are applying for financial aid.</p>

<p>You sound like a wonderful, interesting, exciting person that any school would be lucky to have. It just isn't likely to be HY. Where else are you thinking about?</p>

19

<p>okay, mini, i don't get it. how are the odds worse if you are applying for financial aid? that is absolutely ridiculous considering they are strictly need-blind, and have been known to dish out excellent aid to a vast number of students. that argument sounds ridiculous to me.</p>

20

<p>First of all, look at the number yourself: within the 9% of applicants who are accepted (setting the basic odds at 11 to 1), legacies get a boost; developmental admits get a boost. They are quite willing to admit that themselves. Most Harvard and Yale legacies are not likely to require much in the way of financial aid, and developmental admits don't by definition. So, even on the face of it, you can throw out the "need-blind" bit and get real.</p>

<p>Then you can look at the rate of admits for the 15 or so top prep schools. Now there might be a couple of scholarship students among them, but chances are if the parents could afford $35k for Exeter, they can afford $45k for Yale. So get real with the need-blind bit.</p>

<p>I'm not even going to into the set of sports that both schools recruit where the participants are overwhelmingly wealthy. Then we can add in the sons and daughters of the Senators, Congresspeople, Ambassadors, and foreign dignitaries who also get a boost in admissions. Get over it.</p>

<p>I haven't even started on the link between income and SAT scores. As you can see from the above, I don't need to.</p>

<p>Last year, 58% of Yale's entering class received no financial aid, which means the families earned a minimum of $150k a year (and most more). 10% were Pell Grant recipients, with family incomes at $40k or below. Leaving 32% of the student body for all students with family incomes between $40k and $150k. (Harvard, however, says that of those, 70% are in the top quintile - family incomes of $90k or more.)</p>

<p>So do the numbers yourself. They don't need to know the individual need status of applicants in order to set the odds. But if it makes you feel better, set the odds between 11 to 1 and 20 to 1. Let's go with 11 to 1 because Orrican is a terrific, terrific applicant who is not a legacy, developmental admit, major athlete, URM, or hugely hooked.</p>