Chances at Stanford, Georgetown SFS etc.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a current junior at a very competitive high school in the CA bay area... Some of the stats are projected-ish assuming senior year extracurriculurs and that the straight As I have right now will hold for the rest of the semester.</p>

<p>= = =</p>

<p>Public school
Rank: ??? Our school refuses to disclose rank to the students... They do when asked by schools... top 25% is a safe bet, top 10% is iffy (in the land of the stereotypical Asians...)</p>

<p>Classes/Grades:
Freshman Yr. (bio, lit, spanish 2, geometry enriched, drama, speech elective)
Sophmore Yr. (chem H, Algebra2/trig, World History, World Lit, Law, Spanish 3)
Junior Yr. (APUSH, APBio, Am Lit, Pre-calc H, Law II elective, speech elective)
Senior Yr plans - (Physics H, APCalc BC, APEnglish, AP Gov/Econ, journalism)
weighted GPA soph/junior years (used in UCs, I'm told): 4.158
weighted GPA total years: 3.956*
unweighted GPA soph/junior years: 3.731
unweighted GPA total: 3.710-ish???</p>

<p>*My grades are a personal point of worry... I had pretty good grades, but not stellar ones in Freshmen year and sophomore year (freshmen year: Bs in geometry and spanish, sophomore year Bs in chem and spanish for first semester)... I got a C in Spanish 3, which was very disppointing... My junior year shows a strong upward trend, with straight As...</p>

<p>Tests:
SAT I new: 2310 (800 W, 800 CR, 710 M)
SAT IIs:
Chinese - 750, World History - 770 (taking Math 2C and US History in May)
(Will a PSAT score of 227 probably get me recognition of some sort in the National Merit program?)</p>

<p>ECs:
Tzu-Chi Youth Club (community service) - 9
Speech and Debate - 9,10,11,12
-Stanford National Forensics Institute - summer, 9
-CA State Semifinalist in speech (14th place) - 10
-Victory Briefs Institute debate - summer, 10
-Spontaneous Speech Captain - 11
-TOC (important in debate) bid round (double-octofinalist) at Berkeley - 11
-Victory Briefs Institute - 11
-???** Captaincy - 12
Model United Nations Club - 11, 12
Amnesty International Club - 11, 12
-???** Leadership Position - 12
???** Mocktrial - 12
Vertigo (School literary magazine) - 12</p>

<p>** I'm near one-hundred percent certain about receiving these positions...</p>

<p>Volunteer/Work Experience:
Volunteer at Vacation Bible School - summer, 10</p>

<p>= = =</p>

<p>The reach schools I'm wondering about:</p>

<p>Brown (How long of a shot is it?)
Stanford (see above)
Georgetown School of Foreign Service
Tufts
Johns Hopkins
UCBerk
Williams
Amherst
Pomona
Claremont Mckenna</p>

<p>Those are definitely not the only places I'm applying to (being that even if I hope not, they're probably all quite reach-ish) and I'm definitely not applying to all of them (I still have to visit east-coast-ish places)... So, er, please help me out by telling me what sort of chances I have?</p>

2

<p>bump-ish and slight addendum... I'll have two or three community college classes to add to the application, though I don't know how much effect that will have...</p>

3

<p>Oh my god... I just looked at the admissions profile for Georgetown in general - and I think I'm royally screwed, especially for the School of Foreign Service, because of that little problem in Spanish and what it did to my GPA... craptastic... Er, help please? (bumpish)</p>

4

<p>You may be at the lower tier of the applicants but you have a decent shot at georgetown and stanford.</p>

5

<p>dude. whats up with your seemingly low GPA and your incredibly high SATs??</p>

6

<p>Awww... My GPA isn't that low... But it doesn't match my test scores (In my defense, I'd have more 'weight' to add to it if my broke public school offered a couple more APs XD.) I had the most undistinguished sophomore year ever, between what could have been my dad leaving, never to return to my life; the district deciding that I was in violation of residency and trying for two months to disenroll me (the succeeded for about two days too). Actually, it might have just been my fault for the middling-blah frosh and soph years, because I'm doing well under pressure now...</p>

<p>As for the test scores - I don't know, but there are a slew of 2330s, 2370s, two 2390s, and a 2400 among my peers, so I was actually the tale end of the 'keeper' scores. That Chinese SATII is BAD for a near native-speaker (my reading is not... at an optimal level).</p>

7

<p>Stanford will definitely want top 10%. Even then, it's a tough admit. Take a different SATII if you're a native speaker, colleges hate that and no one does it anymore at my school.</p>

8

<p>Yeah... Our school has a strong track record with Stanford admits (four to five per year... They're probably all top 10%) and a lousy record with the Ivies (no one into Brown this year, one per school at most)... I'm taking Math 2C and US History to supplant the Chinese... </p>

<p>Talking to some other people I have a pretty good idea of how hard it'll be if I apply. Actually, at this point my choices in order would be:</p>

<p>Georgetown SFS
Johns Hopkins
Tufts
CMC
Pomona</p>

9

<p>Also, I believe Georgetown SFS requires an SAT II in a modern language--I don't know if they will like that you speak another language nearly fluently, or concentrate more on your Spanish grade.</p>

<p>I am not saying it's impossible at all! But perhaps you should address that in your application.</p>

10

<p>Hm... Would taking Spanish at the local community college help? (In which case, can anyone answer whether it would be preferable to go back to the level I truly crapped out at (Level III) or register for Spanish four when I can, and grovel at the feet of my Spanish III teacher to tell me where I can begin making up the Spanish III skills I lacked in preparation?</p>

11

<p>no the SAT II in language is not required. I didnt submit one and I got into SFS so dont worry about that.</p>

12

<p>I was accepted EA at georgetown, and I think you have two main problems. One- you are chinese, which is not good. Two- G-town emphasizes rank very heavily. </p>

<p>Your test scores show you are very intelligent, though.</p>

13

<p>Thanks guys... </p>

<p>Brenner87, do you mean it's bad to be Chinese for Georgetown in general, or is that just in keeping with an imperfect SATII score (that wouldn't matter anyway... which I admit it probably doesn't)... Or what?</p>

<p>Yeah, I sorta realize how much G-town values rank when I considered their admit statistics... I'll just have my fingers crossed for that one... Anyone have any comments for Tufts, JHU, and the rest?</p>

14

<p>I hate to be blunt, but any college that has stats that make you need to cross your fingers is unlikely for you in this highly competitive time in history. It's unfortunate, but it's better to accept it now rather than being one of the shocked and depressed the April of your senior year.</p>

<p>If you give these boards a good read, the surprise are who didn't get in with above average stats, not who did get in with below average stats. Why do people want to continue believing something will be overlooked?</p>

15

<p>Forgive me for maybe getting a tad defensive, but I think you're being just a little bit unfair, being that I've made it pretty clear that I, most of all, realize that most of the list is a reach... </p>

<p>I'm not saying anything will be overlooked - I mean, the definition of a reach (unless one ought not apply to those XP) is one in which your fingers would have to be a little bit crossed. Of course, I might want badly to go to Georgetown SFS, but right now is months before I'm applying, and I think it's safe to assume that I would be neither too shocked nor depressed come April regarding Stanford or the SFS... For now, being that the reach-status of these two has been established, all I'm really asking for is an assesment on the degree of reach-ness on the others...</p>

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<p>I think today's definition of a school (highly selective) you keep your fingers crossed for is one where you are above average in every respect but you know most kids in your range don't get in. I'm not trying to burst your bubble or make you defensive, but this is the new reality and you're better off understanding it from the get go.</p>

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<p>Sure, that's pretty fair - as a realist I'd even say I agree, and that I know what you mean, as in every time I hear people around school with generally lower stats talking about the topic of college admissions I feel a little bit bad or annoyed, because I've heard it all before (and also on the difficulty of admits, especially to places like Stanford and Brown) and often from people who beat us all out on most counts... My only problem with what you said was originally that I thought you might be unfairly singling me out as one specifically who had no clue how things were today.</p>

<p>I'll also speak bluntly. Trust me, after my sophomore year, I have a very intimate understanding of what I can realistically expect... My bubble has long since burst, through realizing how not up-to-par my GPA was after Sophomore and Freshman year... No reason why I can't still send in my app to one or two of the reaches on the list, write the essays, and be myself at the G-town interview, and then quietly nod and say 'it was worth a try, but I honestly thought so' if and when I receive the rejection letter.</p>

<p>Either way, no need for further discussion - I'm just trying to explain that because I have definitely thought about this, and that I understand the nature of admissions today. Also, I'm still curious about the others (Pomona and CMC especially, because what the GC at my school says and what people on other threads here say don't quite match up)</p>

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<p>Certainly throw in the applications at reach schools. CMC looks like a match. I would maybe throw in Pitzer and Scripps as safer matches and you can cross register. Good luck! I'm just really of the opinion that there has been too much pain this year.</p>

19

<p>750 on SAT II Chinese is low percentile wise. Your other scores seem good (though I took the SAT in 2004 so I'm unsure about the new SAT).....</p>

<p>Your GPA is kind of low , admittingly. I'd say it's the flip of a coin for Stanford--Our school's valedictorian --who got a 1580 out of 1600 on the old SAT didn't get into it, but some kid with a 1470 at another high school did.</p>

<p>I'd say Stanford looks for exceptional strength in one aspect--such as math, scie, english, etc. </p>

<p>Like my other classmate--got into Harvard with a 1510 (the person with a 1570 was rejected) because he's a genius in mathematics. Absolute prodigy.
However his GPA did have a couple Bs while the person with the 1570 was a 4.0 with 12 AP classes....However he got in,while the other didn't.</p>

<p>So i'd say exceptional talent/ability in one aspect is important.</p>

20

<p>At a Stanford info meeting last year the admissions rep said something like, "One of the things I'm most proud of is that fact that we only accept about 40% of applicants who score 1600 on the SAT I."</p>

<p>I can personally attest to the fact that nothing concrete like test scores, GPA, AP courses, or extracurriculars will get you into Stanford. In fact, it might hurt you too look too academically oriented (although I don't have a large sampling to prove this, only my own experience). People who do get in are accepted based on whims of the mysterious admissions committee.</p>

<p>I was a 1600-valedictorian applicant with 10 AP courses, 790/770/790 SAT IIs, and a variety of ECs and research experience, and I was flat-out rejected. Getting into Stanford is a complete gamble except for good athletes and people with social connections to the university.</p>