Chances at Ivies, Johns Hopkins, MIT, and other really amazing schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a rising senior and I’ve already put together which colleges I really want to apply to. It’s a long list and I just want to know if I have a good chance, if any, at any of these schools. It’s been really stressful for me because I don’t really know what to expect so I just want to know if I’m on a good track and what I can do to make myself a better applicant.

I’m currently looking at:
Harvard
Stanford
Yale
Princeton
Brown
UPenn
Cal Berkeley
Georgia Tech
Duke
MIT
Columbia
UGA
Auburn
Johns Hopkins

Northwestern
University of Southern California

GPA: 4.0 (unweighted); 4.620 (weighted) My school uses a weighting system of +.5 for Honors and +1 for AP
Class Rank: 2 out of 489
School Type: public, highly competitive and nationally ranked
SAT: 2230 (740 CR, 780 M, 710 W)
ACT: Did not and probably will not attempt
SAT II’s: Chemistry, Math II, and US History (will test next week)
AP’s: Human Geography (5), World History (4), Environmental Science (5) Chemistry, US History, Calc BC, Statistics, Psychology, Physics C: Mechanics, English Language (waiting)
Classes: All honors and APs (except required prerequisite on level psychology) straight As

Extracurriculars/Volunteering/Work Experience:
-Soccer (Travel, ranked third in the state sophomore year, not too great of a season plus I got injured in my junior year)
-Track and Field (Rookie Season my junior year; made varsity and had shot at competing at Regionals but got injured yet again)
-Recent hire at Taco Bell (about 20 hours a week in the summer and might pick up about 10 hours a week in the school year)
-National Honors Society
-National Spanish Honors Society
-Science National Honors Society
-Beta Club (will be Vice President next year)
-Inaugural Chapter of Chickfila Leadership Academy
-Varsity Math Team (will be captain next year)
-27+ Club (to combat human trafficking)

  • Mathematical Modeling Club (Co-Founder and Co-President)
    -Student Government Association
    -Pre-Med Society

Awards:
-AP Scholar (hoping to be with Distinction after scores come back)
-UGA Certificate of Merit Scholar
-Hoping to be NMSF??? (PSAT Score of 223)
-AP World History Student of the Year my sophomore year
-Georgia Governors Honors Program Semifinalist in Social Studies Concentration my sophomore and junior years
-Atlanta Peach Classic and Chelsea Summer Classic Finalists (Soccer) my sophomore year
-Georgia All-State Band Semifinalist my Freshman year
-State level Recognition through Duke TIP

Planned Senior Year Course Load
-AP Biology
-Calculus III through Distance Learning with Georgia Tech
-AP English Lit
-AP Computer Science
-AP Economics
-AP Government
-AP Spanish

Race/Ethnicity: Black (first generation American from Nigerian parents)
Gender: Male
Desired Major/Minor: Biomedical Engineering and a possible minor or double major with linguistics or Romance languages with an eye towards medical school
Income: Around 200k
Location: Georgia

I’ve worked really hard to get where I am especially since I had to learn the American culture and educational system all on my own. Any advice, constructive criticism, or opinions would be greatly appreciated!

2

You’re joking right… Of course you have a chance to get in, next…

3

You’re a credible applicant for all these schools. You’ll get accepted to some, especially the lesser ones, and maybe even accepted at a couple of the reaches.

4

You are a great candidate. You need to know how much your parents can afford to pay. With their income, they probably won’t qualify for financial aid but still could have trouble paying $65k per year. You could be in the running for scholarships from some great schools but some of the schools on your list don’t offer merit aid. Check out Rice Univ.

5

That’s actually my biggest concern. Growing up, I never concerned my family exceptionally wealthy and always thought we would qualify for substantial financial aid. However, within the past year I’ve discovered that that’s probably not gonna be the case. My parents have a lot of financial responsibilities (we support a lot of my family in Nigeria financially but apparently we cannot declare them as dependents because they aren’t American citizens) and I don’t want to be a burden on my parents financially. Combined with that, my parents really don’t want me to have any debt as an undergrad because they anticipate med school being super expensive. It would just suck to get into one of these schools and then have to turn it down because of finances.

6

An family AGI of 200k is about the point where financial aid dwindles to nothing. As an African American with these stats your chances are great at a very wide range of colleges. 223 should make you a national merit finalist, certainly high enough for Georgia cutoff. You are a very strong candidate for the top merit scholarships at colleges that award a lot of merit money. As noted above money will be far more of a factor than anything else. Ideally you would leave undergraduate debt free as medical school may be $300k or more. Med school admittance is based on having a very strong gpa and great MCAT scores, right? Run some net price calculators. The Ivy league schools will probably cost $50k/year give or take and public in state might be as low as $28k. You would be a viable candidate for some national or full ride scholarships so that’s an avenue as well

7

http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html

Look around in these links. You need a couple of financial safeties on your list like UA. USC offers a full ride scholarship for top applicants. Duke, Vandy and Rice also have some scholarships. What about Tulane? Your great stats have set you up for some good opportunities. Your parents’ income is such that paying full freight could be tough and it is mature of you to acknowledge that.

8

I’m also looking around at scholarships both big and small to maybe try and offset an Ivy League education. Do you have any recommendations as far as that goes?

9

I don’t but try posting that question under the financial aid forum.

10

I just wanted to update this thread with my subject test scores to see if it makes any difference as far as my chances are concerned. I got a 710 in Chemistry, a 780 in Math 2, and a 790 in U.S. History.

I’m now also considering
Case Western Reserve
Rice
Wake Forest
Washington U in Saint Louis
University of Virginia
Vanderbilt
Harvey Mudd

(I still have some narrowing down to do on my list haha)

Any opinions or constructive criticisms are greatly appreciated!