Chances at Ivies, etc...

<p>You should report any good AP score you get. You should probably report anything above a 3 that is self-studied. Report those scores, and mention that you were not offered those courses, so you took it upon yourself to teach yourself the course material and take the exam, and actually succeeded in doing so. Such stories of dedication and self-motivation are always popular amongst admissions officers. </p>

<p>And no, you can't assume that the college will have checked out your schools "situation." It's up to you to give them all the information that pertains to your performance. They'll be wondering why you didn't take more APs unless you tell them you took every single one you could have, and then you went out and took some independent of the school.</p>

<p>Uchicago a safety?!?! I doubt it.</p>

<p>"UChicago is my safety" is based on the average accepted students from my school over the past few years. I'm well above the accepted average in SAT/GPA numbers. My college counselor was an adcom at Columbia for five years. They know what they're doing. He's the one that told me UChicago is "looking like a safety." It's purely based on the numbers from my school, against whom I will be compared. </p>

<p>Any other opinions.</p>

<p>zspot- do a search for the thread "picking up the pieces" by andi- a very long thread about her son, who on paper was a fantastic candidate for any school in the country, but didnt have a sure thing safety school.</p>

<p>I do have a "sure thing safety school." It's called UF. I'm applying with Bright Futures scholarship just in case the money doesn't work out wherever else I go. Don't worry about my safety situation...</p>

<p>geez, no need to be rude about it, glad you are so self-assured</p>

<p>^hahaha. Dude, huskem was just trying to help you. Am I the only one that thinks this guys sounds too cocky when anyone refers to his safeties? I just hope he doesn't come back next year whining about how his reaches rejected him and his safeties didn't work for him... btw I think your UW GPA will definitely hurt your app. Besides that I don't see why you shouldn't get accepted into your schools, but you never know....</p>

<p>I'm not being cocky; I know I can get into UF, my safety is not the issue at hand. I created this thread to guage my chances at my reaches. Obviously, the schools I listed are no the only ones to which I will be applying. So don't interpret my tenative "list" as the only schools I want to go to; just give your opinion about my chances at those specific schools; I appreciate your concern, but I assure you that I am not so delusional to think that I can just apply to those four schools.</p>

<p>Wait...you have a cumulative 3.45 UW and emory is a SAFETY??? You need a reality check man...</p>

<p>The average accepted unweighted GPA at Emory ED from my school is 3.2. We're on a skewed scale, which is why I question the "universal" 4.0 scale. I don't know how to translate my grades to the 4.0.</p>

<p>Average w ED GPA accepted to Emory from my school: 3.8
Average w ED GPA accepted to Columbia from my school: 4.2</p>

<p>That should give you some sort of idea. I know how the numbers work at my school; I've seen the "scattergrams" and whatnot, so I know where my numbers are applicable. This went into constructing my list of schools to visit, and I put the schools I was interested in based on the visits on my list. I created this thread to see what people thought about the other items (ECs, scores, etc.). I don't need to be attacked for "sounding cocky." I don't need a "reality check." I know at what schools I would get in easily BASED ON THE HISTORICAL ACCEPTANCE FROM MY OWN SCHOOL. It's not guesswork or conjecture. The college counseling office at my school is composed mainly of former admissions people. My college counselor used to work in Columbia admissions. When they show me a scattergram for Emory ED, and I'm well above the accepted norm, and he tells me where I can go and where I might be a reach, I believe him. He knows what he's talking about to a far greater degree than anybody here or myself. If all I'm gonna get is trashed for asking for an honest evaluation and blasted for adding information about my situation, then why bother with this thread.</p>

<p>Well, I'm sure you can understand why people (myself included) found you being rather unrealistic by saying Emory is a safety with a 3.45 UW. Emory is not a safety for anyone except candidates who are hispanic, low-income, have written a book and have 4.0s/2400s. It's rather insulting for a top 30 school to be called a "safety" by anyone, especially one with average SATs and what appears to be a very low GPA. If your admissions counselors are so much better than anyone on these forums, why even post here? Just talk to them.</p>

<p>(in response to post 31):
then why did you bother asking us for our opinions?</p>

<p>ZSPOT ARE YOU SERIOUS? privatyes weight honors classes? look at your freshman year... 3.8 w? ***? which honors and advanced courses do ives/private schools weight??? do they weight hon english, geometry, trig/algebra 2??? history? Please reply! and um... columbia cmon... i've talked to 5 people and they had a 3.0-3.4 freshman and got in.. upward trend??</p>

<p>HELLOOOOOOOOO!!!! ZSPOT where are youuuuuuuuuuu you rated me on ****************.com</p>

<p>Columbia might look at the unweighted (and weighted, remember, technically the moment you start getting a weighted GPA your actual goal should be a 5.0, not a 4.0) GPA and get skeptical (and I thought my 3.76 unweighted, 4.7 weighted was nasty.) SAT's arent too fabulous either (especially for Ivies)
BUT!
Everything else looked fantastic. Just remember to be smart in this process, have those fall backs, and realize that occasionally colleges might adore "diversity" more than pure IQ at a certain moment. In that case, your in...</p>