chances at ivies, uc's, other top schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I am senior and trying to figure out where exactly to apply to, so thought i'd ask around about my chances in order to narrow down my list. This is what I'm looking at right now; I want to major in either political science or econ or some combination of the two:
(in no particular order)
Stanford, UCLA, UCB, Claremont Mck, UChicago, Michigan Ann Arbor, MIT, Wisoncsin Madison, pretty much interested in all the ivies to some degree, other than Yale and Dartmouth.</p>

<p>Here is my profile and stats and stuff:
Male, Hispanic, Homewood, IL
GPA: 3.72 completely unweighted, 5.66/6 weighting honors and AP the same, 4.05 weighting APs...all this adds up to a rank of 32/750ish.
Now, obivously, this is pretty weak. However, the reason I have been told I can still at least think in this ballpark is that I got straight A's junior year in a schedule with 5 AP classes, showing an upward trend or whatever.</p>

<p>Sr. Schedule: AP Lit/Comp, Honors Orchestra, AP Calc BC, AP Econ, AP Music Theory, AP Environmental Sci, AP French</p>

<p>Sat I: WR-800, CR-760, M-780
Sat II: M2-710, Spanish-800...taking M2 again asap
ACT-32
AP Scores: US Gov/Pol-5, Euro-4, US-4, Lang/Comp-4, Stats-5, Psych-5, Physics B-3
AMC- I think i got a 106 then like a 3 or 4 in the Aime, unsure if this is even worth telling about...
PSAT-226 so moving up the nat'l merit ladder or whatever</p>

<p>EC:
I'm a 3rd degree black belt in Taekwondo in one organization and a 2nd Degree in another. I've done this since I was five, compete and do well on a national scale, and teach weekly.</p>

<p>I've played volleyball every year for my high school. I'm nothing special, just going regularly from freshman team to soph team to varsity.</p>

<p>I'm in NHS, French NHS, and Music NHS and have racked up a good deal of service hours in them.</p>

<p>I've played the cello since 4th grade, take private lessons, and now in high school in addition to the school orchestra I also play in Symphonic Strings.</p>

<p>I belong to Investment Club and Business Club, but admittedly neither really does much.</p>

<p>My last EC is one that i'm really wondering about, if i should even include it, but i'm leaning towards yes since it has occupied a fair amount of my time. I also think that it can maybe make me a unique candidate. I happen to be a professional player in a card game called magic: the gathering. It is not considered gambling, but there are tournaments with nice cash purses. Basically, I travel to different places all over the world and play in tournaments. I've made about 90k to date. Additionally, I have been a feature writer for a website about this game for about 2 years now.</p>

<p>Additionally, this isn't an EC but it is worth mentioning that I am completely fluent in Spanish, which I speak at home.</p>

<p>That's about it...I would really like to know what people think about my weird mix of pretty mediocre grades but a profile that I've been told is very good otherwise. Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>Gadiel:</p>

<p>UCB/UCLA: Slight Reach (out of state)</p>

3

<p>Thanks flopsy.</p>

<p>Chances on any of the others? Are ivies just not in the cards, or can I still consider them? Can I look at Madison and Ann Arbor as safeties, or should I find something a little lower down the line? Aything helps. Thanks.</p>

4

<p>i think that if you apply ED to columbia, dartmouth, penn, or brown you would have a 50% chance or so. HYPSMC are probably reaches, but as a hispanic male with a 2340 its definitely worth applying. I wouldn't include Magic cards on the app. You could try to play up taekwondo as your major EC if you have national recognition, and Cello would be easy to embellish to make you look like a top tier player, though none of the rest of your EC's look good. Ann arbor is a bit too selective to have as a solid safety, but both madison and them are in the 80% likelihood range to take you...but apply at the top schools.</p>

5

<p>being hispanic will definitely help your cause, and with your high scores, i'd say you definitely have a good chance at HYPSMC...you should get into at least one...make sure your essays/recs are good, and you should have no trouble. as for the UCs, i agree with flopsy...state residency is a huge factor, and they dont consider minorities, but your stats are good enough that they might accept you anyways. good luck!</p>

6

<p>thanks, any more thoughts would also be appreciated</p>

7

<p>If I were you I'd mention the magic card. Schools say they like anyone with a passion, even one like competitive videogaming (heard it from an adcom). Magic the gathering isn't that far off from a card game. And if you made 90k, that's pretty impressive! But what did you do with the money eh?</p>

8

<p>UCB/UCLA are total crapshoots for OOS, definite reaches.</p>

9

<p>definitely include the magic thingy. that will set you apart from all the other applicants and its very unique.</p>

10

<p>"definitely include the magic thingy. that will set you apart from all the other applicants and its very unique."</p>

<p>Hahahaha!</p>

11

<p>im serious</p>

12

<p>I have a friend who made good money playing cards and got no financial aid because of it.</p>

13

<p>The main reason I'm leaning towards including it is that my only job experience comes from it directly. Even if the card tournaments themselves aren't considered work, I still get paid to be a feature writer for a website, which should definately count.</p>

14

<p>are you gadiel szliefer?</p>

15

<p>iostream: there aren't all that many gadiels :)</p>