Chances at Selective Universities (Thanks!)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Greetings!</p>

<p>I am currently a senior. Frankly, though I would like chances, I also would really appreciate some practical advice about my application (which I'll ask about after I get through my profile). Thank you all in advance for your time and answers. :)</p>

<p>I am interested in applying to:
Stanford (early action)
Harvard
Yale
UC Berkeley
Georgetown University
Penn
Cornell
UCLA
USC
Pomona
Brown
Northwestern
Princeton
Washington University in St. Louis
University of Chicago
Columbia</p>

<hr>

<p>Male
Caucasian
Upper Middle Class
Public school
Live in a mid-sized town</p>

<p>SAT: 2120 (R 740, M 710, W 670). I know this is low for several of the colleges/universities I want to apply to, but I think I should be able to raise it by about 100 points altogether, if not higher. I took the SAT on a bad day for me, right after my school's finals, so I had no chance to study or prepare for it at all.</p>

<p>Subject Tests: 790 (US History) and 720 (Math II)</p>

<p>GPA: 4.00 Unweighted; my school doesn't weight GPA</p>

<p>Class Rank: 1 out of about 400</p>

<p>Course Load:
My courses are about as difficult as my school offers. Granted, this a very light course load compared to other schools. At this point, I've taken 3 AP's: Calc AB (4), APUSH (5), and APGov (5). There are some people in my school who have a more difficult course load for senior year (I'm currently in another 3 AP's), but I am taking the maximum that fit into my school schedule.</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:</p>

<p>Democratic Precinct Committee Person (11-12)
--Elected in my state’s Democratic Primary to serve as a Precinct Committee Person. This position has a few legal responsibilities; for example, in my house district, the Democratic nominee running for the state house dropped out, so I was one of about 10 other PCP's who got to pick a replacement nominee. </p>

<p>Student Government (11-12)
--Associated Student Body President
--Junior Class President</p>

<p>YMCA Youth and Government (Basically a model youth legislature which connects youth to the democratic process; 9-12)
--Elected as my state's Youth Governor(12)
--Youth Secretary of State (11)
--Selected to go to national conference of about 800 people, where I received a distinguished delegate award.</p>

<p>My County's Democratic Party (10-12)
--Served on my county's Democratic Party Executive Committee (10-12)
--Voting Member on my county's Democratic Central Committee (11-12)</p>

<p>Young Democrats Club (10-12)
--President and Founder</p>

<p>Speech and Debate (9-12)
--Parlay and Impromptu
--3rd Place in State for Parlay debate (11)
--3rd Place in districts for Impromptu (11)</p>

<p>Violin (9-12)
--All State Orchestra (11)
--All City Orchestra (9-10)
--Associate Concertmaster at my school's Orchestra (11)
--School Orchestra won State Competition (9-10)</p>

<p>Soccer (9-10)
--JV Captain (10)</p>

<p>Various Church Activities (9-12)
--3 different mission trips</p>

<p>I've done only extracurricular activities that I love, which, if you can't tell, is mainly politics. :)</p>

<p>Work Experience:
I work as the head intern for a local state house campaign. (Started in June and going until November). In this position, I've also been in charge of training 2 other interns, and it's about 10 hours per week (it was 15 hours per week during the summer).</p>

<p>Awards/Honors:
--National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist</p>

<p>Recommendations:
Both teacher recommendations should be very, very good. I am less sure about the councilor rec -- the councilor who I had through last year (and who knew me quite well) was laid off, so now I am left with a councilor who barely knows me. I'm going to try and set up meetings with her at the beginning of the next school year, but still, it will be difficult to get a personalized recommendation from her, unfortunately.</p>

<p>Additional Info:
I have legacy from Stanford, and I am interested in majoring in Political Science or some similar field.</p>

<hr>

<p>So, now for the questions. I feel that several of my extracurricular activities are pretty unique and may need a little more explanation than would be possible in the small space provided on the Common App. Should I attach a document in the additional information section with a brief explanation of some of my more unique EC's?</p>

<p>Also, I unfortunately only have 2 years of a foreign language (less than most of these colleges recommend/require) because my school cut the language I had been taking (German) after my sophomore year. How should I explain this, and should I maybe look into enrolling in an online German 3 class this year to try to make up for that deficiency? </p>

<p>Thank you for your help, and, if you are still in high school, best of luck in your college search!</p>

2

<p>The only thing you need to do is up your SAT Score and you will have a good chance, I guess.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for your input. Also, to any future would-be commenters, I know my list of colleges is long, so don’t feel the need to give a chance for every single one. Any little bit is appreciated. :)</p>

4

<p>Yeah up the writing score to at least a 700, other then that everything is strong. Obviously schools like Harvard and Yale are impossible to predict, but you will be a strong candidate everywhere you apply. Have you considered ED (I feel like your ED chances would be amazing)?</p>

5

<p>Yeah, I think I’m going to ED to Stanford, since I also have legacy there, so hopefully both of those factors will help. I guess we’ll just have to see. :slight_smile: Thanks for your chance!</p>

6

<p>you went to cona? ME TOO pm me</p>

7

<p>haha yes, I did go to CONA; I was hoping I would run into another CONA person on here. I have to say, that was perhaps the most amazing week in my life. :)</p>

8

<p>Everything is fine for these schools.
Yes attach and additional information document for the EC explanation. But also include WHY you only have 2 years of your language in the additional information packet.</p>

9

<p>Thank you MrSimpleSimple! I was wondering about those things.</p>

10

<p>It’s always difficult to tell at the Ivies, but I think you have a pretty good chance at Stanford and Georgetown. I’m not an expert, but IMO you’re basically in at UCLA, USC, and Northwestern (a senior from last year had way lower stats than you and got in.)</p>

11

<p>Thanks for your thoughts. Any more opinions? :)</p>

12

<p>Thanks for the double chance haha. </p>

<p>As I tell everyone whose profile does not mention essays or teacher recs, do not neglect these things! Especially at competitive schools, the grades and scores are pretty much given. Most (if not all) serious applicants will have those. It’s the intangibles, the essays that tell about a quirk that is unique to you, the glowing teacher recommendation from someone who has mentored you throughout high school, and the more than generic overview from a guidance counselor that truly make applicants stand out. </p>

<p>A new favorite quote of mine is something like “People think being Valedictorian is a ticket to an elite University. There are over 37,000 schools in the United States alone, and each one has a (or more than one!) Valedictorian”. I believe it was from an MIT admissions officer. The moral is that most everyone is QUALIFIED. It’s about being DESIRABLE and UNIQUE. However you do that is up to you. But doing that is key. </p>

<p>I find this kind of “chancing”, more advice giving, to be much more beneficial than “you have a good shot but nothing is certain”. That said, you have a good shot but nothing is certain. </p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

13

<p>Bestillandknow0, that was literally the best “chance” I have ever seen. Props to you!</p>

14

<p>I think you might want to narrow down your list of schools.</p>

<p>Sent from my MB865 using CC</p>

15

<p>Am I understanding you have straight A’s? You should calculate your UC GPA, and make sure you meet the A-G requirements ( language could be a problem, and don’t forget the arts requirement), but I think kids with that profile have at least a 50 percent admit rate at UCLA (see below). I think Cal is similar, but they don’t post their stats like that. You could try statfinder for the UC’s.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_fr/Frosh_Prof12.htm[/url]”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_fr/Frosh_Prof12.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

16

<p>Shrinkrap – thank you so much for that link. I found it incredibly helpful to find the breakdown of statistics. And yes, I do have straight A’s, and I have actually had 4 years of an arts class (orchestra has been my main elective in addition to the leadership class. In our school, at least the associated student body is actually a class period). Thanks once again! :)</p>

17

<p>Not that it matters, but it ( associated student body) may not count as an A-G, nor towards your gpa. And your welcomed! ( see what I did there??)</p>

<p>You know about "financial safeties, right?</p>

18

<p>haha yes, I do see what you did there! With that said, I must plead ignorance – I am unaware of what “financial safeties” are. By the way, thank you for all of your help so far!</p>

19

<p>Hey this is a little unrelated, but I noticed that you had a rather long list, and I was wondering why you were planning on applying to Pomona when it’s the only small LAC on your list?</p>

20

<p>That’s a great question, StoryQurl. Basically, the one thing I don’t want to do in the admissions process is to limit my opportunities, which is why I’m applying to so many places. At this point, I’m leaning towards a mid sized or larger college. However, I’m aware that that may change at some point, which is why I want to apply to at least one smaller LAC. Also, Pomona has the benefit of being part of the Claremont Colleges, and I was able to visit it last spring and it felt like a very comfortable atmosphere.</p>

<p>Basically, I don’t know if it would be right for me. With that said, I would rather not know for now and apply to Pomona rather than possibly regret not applying at all in the future.</p>