Chances at ivies without being in Top 10%?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I applied to Cornell, Brown and Yale but am afraid I will be rejected at all because of my class rank. What do you all think? Do I have a shot at all?

Chance me for:
Cornell Dyson
Brown
Yale

STUDENT PROFILE:
White Male
TN Resident
First Gen College Student
Unweighted GPA: 3.82
Weighted GPA: 4.2
Class Rank: Top 20% (Very competitive high school)

TEST SCORES:
ACT: Composite 32 (English 34, Math 32, Reading 32, Science 28, Writing 9)

COURSE LOAD:
8 Honors Courses
AP Psychology
AP English Literature
AP Statistics
AP English Language
AP Microeconomics

EXTRA-CURRICULARS:

  • The extra-curricular that comprises the most time is photography. I portrayed my passion for photography in my essays.
  • DECA (2 time state champion, regional champion, Mentor position)
  • Leader of club that works to acclimate incoming freshman to high school environment
  • Leader and planner/organizer for a local community service effort
  • University of Pennsylvania Wharton online courses (Introduction to Marketing, Analyzing Global Trends in Business) (100% exam average)
  • Future Business Leaders of America club member
  • National Honor Society inductee (completed community service requirements)
  • 2 years of electric guitar lessons before beginning a rigorous self study
  • Level 3 Mandarin Chinese speaker, plan to continue to the point of fluency
  • 100+ volunteer hours with numerous organizations (accepted leadership positions whenever possible)

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS:
Submitted photography portfolio to Cornell, Yale, and Brown

ESSAYS:
I have gotten feedback on my essays saying that they are incredible. They should be the strongest component of my application.

TEACHER RECS:
Both should be GREAT! I have personal relationships with both, so they should be glowing.

COUNSELOR REC:
Not sure. So many students and the school is understaffed in the counseling department. May end up being generic.

2

I think the admissions people will take into account that it is a very competitive high school. I don’t think class rank should matter that much though because some high schools don’t rank the students (like mine) so they can’t really compare the students based on class rank.

3

Hmmmn, candidly unless you have presented some other compelling reason/feature, from a statistical vantage, you would be on the bottom quadrant of admitted students–as far as Yale is concerned.

4

Bump

5

Your objective measures aren’t compelling. But, they don’t quite make these schools out of reach, either. If your essays are as good as you say, and your recommendation letters, too, you stand a chance. But maybe not much of one.

6

Just curious - what are your match and safety schools?

7

A L-O-N-G reach, given your “numbers.”

8

to be honest Yale and Brown are kind of out of the question. Cornell is definitely feasible though. I have to be honest that Cornell is definitely still a reach. At my school, Cornell accepts a lot of kids with grades all over the place. Sometimes they deny kids with perfect GPA/SAT scores, and then admit kids that are average. Ivies are a blindshot even if you have amazing grades.