Chances at mostly southern schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey, I would like to know what my chances would be like at a few top schools in the southern areas of the US (and 1 or 2 in the north). I'm from NY but do not underestimate the importance of being in a warm, beautiful environment for the majority of the year. Thus, I am looking for strong academics-oriented schools in nice areas- I would not want to be snowed in New England for a good portion of the year (yes, i know i'm exaggurating but i just love shorts-weather).</p>

<p>I'm looking at </p>

<p>Crazyimpossiblereach: Princeton, Harvard (dad wants me to apply here...pointless), Rice/baylor combined-med, Stanford (sister wants me to apply- i would rather go to Duke)
Reach: Duke (brother/sister-in-law went here), Pomona, Rice, WUSTL, UVA, harvey mudd
Match: Vanderbilt, Claremont Mckenna College (sister went there/was class president)
Safety: RPI, SUNY Binghampton (all my safeties are in the NE... i pray i get into better schools)</p>

<p>Anyway- here are my stats, sorry for the long post and thanks for reading.</p>

<p>White male
Attends Competitive suburban New York public school</p>

<p>UW GPA: 3.97
W GPA: 4.49</p>

<p>Rank: top 5/350+ probably 3-5, not 1 or 2</p>

<p>7th grade:</p>

<p>Sequential 1 Math- A+</p>

<p>8th grade:</p>

<p>Sequential 2 Math- A+
English 9h- A
World History 9h- A
Earth Science 9h- A+
French 9h- A</p>

<p>9th grade:</p>

<p>Sequential 3 Math- A+
English 10h- A-
AP World History- A
Biology h- A+
Concert Band- A
French 10h- A+
Science Research A+ (1/2 credit)</p>

<p>10th grade:</p>

<p>Math 12h (precalc)- A+
AP Statistics- A+
English 11h- A-
American History h (could not take AP, scheduling conflict)- A+
Chemistry h- A+
French 11h- A+
Concert Band- A (1/2 credit)
Science Research- A (1/2 credit)</p>

<p>11th grade:</p>

<p>AP Calc BC- A
AP Language and Composition- A or A- (expected)
AP Biology- A+
Health- A+ (1/2 credit)
College Economics- A or A+ (expected) (1/2 credit)
AP Physics- A or A+ (expected)
AP French- A or A-</p>

<p>SAT: </p>

<p>1st sitting- 780m 730v 710w, 2220 composite
2nd sitting- 710m 730v 740w, 2180 (focused on writing, math is my best subject but i guess i didnt pace myself or pay attention)
Superscore: 780m 730v 740w, 2250 composite
Math1: 660 (hoping i dont have to submit this, took freshman year, first SAT2, hope it doesnt play big role)
Math2: 770
Biology:770
Chemistry:790</p>

<p>AP:</p>

<p>World History-5
Statistics-5
English Lang- 5
Calculus BC- 5
Biology- 5
Physics B- 4
French Language- 3 </p>

<p>Next year: European History, Art History, Chemistry, Physics C, and Literature (could be scheduling conflicts)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars/Honors:</p>

<p>Volunteer Ambulance Corps Youth Corps- First Lieutenant, President + Certified First Responder. About 300 volunteer riding hours so far
Varsity soccer- 4 years + Club soccer (traveled to minnesota, italy with team, traveled to brazil to train...unfortunately soccer isn't a varsity sport at rice)
Columbia Science Honors Program- selective science program through columbia, about 16% acceptance rate
CTY Summer program 6 years with strong recommendations
Science Research 4 years- going to submit paper to intel
New Jersey Science league- top 10% twice, level 1 and level 2 biology
RPI medal (60k scholarship to RPI)
Bausch and lomb award
Science Olympiad- silver medal in forensics, bronze medal in astronomy
Mu Alpha Theta- activities coordinator
Math league + New York State Math League- state qualifier
Chemistry Avagadro Exam- top 5%
Expect NMS commended student
Academic league
NHS
French club
Assorted honors societies</p>

2

<p>forgive me if i didnt find it in your post, but what do you want to do? that could help me understand what you are going for, besides a good academic school. I think you would get into Duke and UVA, Harvard and Princeton are a bit of a stretch but go for it, you are certainly a well rounded and solid student. Have you looked at other Ivy schools in the Northeast? You would almost definitely get into Cornell and the others don't see like too far of a stretch. I know the climate can be kind of rough, i live in NE myself, but if you are looking for a good school i would say stick out the snow. Hey, there is always global warming on your side :-P</p>

3

<p>You have a shot pretty much anywhere. I would expect you to get into at least a couple of your match/reach schools (though how many and which ones, it's impossible to tell)...it would be surprising to me if you were stuck at your safeties.
I wouldn't worry about your Math I score. It will get sent on the score report, yes, but colleges should ignore it (three is the most anyone requires), and even if they do look at it, they'll see the date you took it.
Good luck!</p>

4

<p>I'm looking to do something with biochemistry or chemistry. It would be advantageous to be at a research university i guess but i also like small, undergraduate schools, so i could go either way. I've looked at cornell but i feel like i'd freeze my butt off there and it feels a little too big for me. I liked dartmouth too but am kind of turned off by the fact that the students are snowed in for a good portion of the year.</p>

5

<p>Smaller liberal arts colleges can prepare you as well if not better than major research universities.</p>

<p>Elite LAC + good weather = Pomona (match to slight reach), CMC (match), and Davidson (match).</p>

6

<p>hm. Well i was thinking of applying ED to either duke or pomona because i loved duke, and i have heard great things of pomona and am going out to see it and see if it is my #1 school (that i have an ok shot at). The only thing holding me back from applying ED to these schools is the idea that were I to be accepted to princeton or harvard, i would probably matriculate there. Princeton/Harvard donot offer EA/ED, so i would have to apply to pomona or duke in the competitive RD pool, and i feel like i could end up compromising my chances at all of these places. Do i have a legitimate shot at princeton or harvard, or should i just apply ED to my top achievable school (pomona or duke)?</p>

7

<p>you've got a decent shot everywhere. if you honestly want to go to princeton/harvard (even if it's in the snowy NE...) then apply. however, you seem like you would be legitimately happier at Duke. if you applied to duke or pomona ED, you would have a very, very good chance.</p>

8

<p>Cool, thanks. Yeah... I just have this ingrained mentality that going to Princeton or Harvard makes you "set for life"...what with connections and all that, but i have the feeling that i'd have much more fun/be more comfortable at Duke or Pomona, and i know that i could accomplish everything just the same. I'd feel like a sellout if i got into/went to Harvard anyway... knowing that i compromised sweet weather happiness for a silly reputation.</p>

9

<p>I think you are better off applying regular decision to all of the schools this way you can choose where you would like to go. Honestly, your stats are good enough that you will probably get into multiple of those schools - most likely duke and pomona RD as they are very reasonable reaches. If you apply early to either of those schools and get in you could very well be happy there or you could wonder what could have been with harvard and princeton which are not complete longshots for you - you have as good a chance as any to get into those 2.</p>

10

<p>Makes sense... but i feel like it's hard to say that either of those schools are reasonable reaches... what with duke's 20% or so acceptance rate and pomona's 16% rate (which should drop, considering pomona is a "hot school"). Regular decision pools are getting increasingly more competitive, and I feel like i would be giving up a big advantage by applying RD to all those schools. If my chances were say, above 30% (which is never the case for H/P), i would consider it, but i really don't think so (also- it looks like i probably won't be able to submit a paper to intel- and science research was supposed to be a strong point on my appication). It's just hard to feel confident being a white male from the northeast with no rediculous EC's (eg. competing at national level/raising crazy amounts of money, prestigious internships, etc.) and sub 2300 SATs. Anybody else care to give expected admit percentages or evaluate reach/match/safety status of my schools. Thanks a bunch y'all.</p>

11

<p>update* junior year grades (i don't know how to edit the original post):
AP Calc BC- A
AP Language and Composition- A
AP Biology- A+
Health- A+ (1/2 credit)
College Economics- A+ (1/2 credit)
AP Physics- A+
AP French- A (got a 3 though...will this look bad? Should i take the French SAT II?)</p>

12

<p>anyone care to "percentage me" ? Thanks guys.</p>

13

<p>apply ed to pomona or Duke but personally I like Pomona more but either one is fine because you will have a much better edge over other students and you will definitely get in because if you apply RD to all and you don't get into Harvard or Princeton and unfortunately you don't get into Duke or Pomona then you would feel disappointed so at least this way you are being smart and not taking as big a risk and you are pratically guaranteed a slot at pomona ed</p>

14

<p>you're gunna go a long way don't worry.</p>

15

<p>Look, your academic index score is 225 or 8/9 on the summary total. You have good ECs as well, so if your recommendations and essays are good, your chances are better than you think (and I agree with your Dad that you should at least apply to Harvard).</p>

<p>Princeton, Harvard, Duke, Stanford--you will get into at least one of these in my opinion if you write a great essay, though no more than two (and Harvard is unlikely, but possible)--I'm guessing you'll get into Duke and possibly Princeton. </p>

<p>Rice/baylor combined med--match to slight reach</p>

<p>Pomona, Rice, WUSTL, Harvey Mudd, Vanderbilt, Claremont Mckenna, UVA--match at all of these </p>

<p>RPI, SUNY Binghampton--both safeties (no safe matches?)</p>

16

<p>What is a safe match? What do you define it as (%chance-admittance-wise) and would anyone care to list a few schools / that would be "safe-match" caliber. Sorry to keep bumping my dead thread...</p>