Chances at Stanford, Hopkins, MIT, Harvard, Duke, etc

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a tutor and I'm curious to see what people think of a client that I just worked with on ACT prep. He's a senior in HS and his GPA is 4.0 unweighted, with a 34 on ACT (35 math, 35 science, 33 reading, 31 english) after working with me, up from a 30. He wants to go into bioengineering and is applying to Stanford, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Harvard, Duke, Washington University in St Louis, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Cal Tech, in addition to the local state school. </p>

<p>His ECs are insane:
-President of Key Club, helped build his club from average size to biggest in the state (community service focused club)
-Captain and 1st in state in his section of Debate
-Captain of quiz bowl team, which won state
-President of Technology Student Association, won state competition, top 10 at nationals
-President of Future Business Leaders of America, won state competition, attended nationals
-Tons and tons of community service on his own
-Academic research in bone remodeling dating back to 8th grade. No publications in peer-reviewed journals, but has won several pretty cool awards for it
-1st place in state-wide science fair
-Solo pianist with local youth orchestra
-NHS</p>

<p>I've read his essays and they're extremely strong.</p>

<p>The downsides:
-Of 6 APs, so far, he's gotten mostly 4s (kind of surprisingly), with one 3 and one 5. He's taking 4 more this year.
-No sports.</p>

<p>He's really set on Stanford, if he can get in, but my experience is that it may be even harder to get into than Harvard, Yale, etc. Additionally, these top schools really seem to be a bit of a crapshoot for everyone, even for such outstanding kids. How much do those APs and lack of sports put a chink in his armor? Thoughts?</p>

2

<p>Anyone? 10char</p>

3

<p>He’s a strong candidate for those schools. However, they are reaches for everyone, regardless of their academic stats/ECs. Lack of sports shouldn’t hurt him in any way during the admission process.</p>

4

<p>I know someone who got into Hopkins with a 34 on their ACT as well. However, they are competing in sports there and got recruited so I don’t know how that factors into the equation.</p>

5

<p>20% chance at harvard/MIT/Stanford
30% chance at JHU/Duke
(assuming good teacher recs)</p>

6

<p>hey, can you tutor my kid? :slight_smile: those are good results! </p>

<p>As to chances, i’m with the other posters here…he sounds amazing…top-rate really…which means that he has about a 20% chance of getting in. :)</p>

7

<p>You either have a chance or you don’t. He has a chance.</p>

8

<p>^for the types of schools on this list, this is accurate</p>