Chances at UPenn/Harvard/Yale/Brown/Dartmouth

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Hey, I’m a senior and I’m thinking about applying to UPenn Undergrad, Reg. decision. My SAT’s are pretty dissapointing for an Ivy League</p>

<p>SAT I: 710 M, 630 V (retake in December)
SAT II’s: 630 MIIc, 710 Chem, 720 Writing
GPA: 4.14 weighted (4.22 senior yr so far); Rank: 6/80 (small, really tough college prep. private school)
ACT: took today, hoping for a 32</p>

<p>AP: Chemistry (4); Lit and Comp (3)
Senior courses:
Early American Lit, Film Lit, AP Biology, AP Art History, AP Calculus BC, Conceptual Physics, Latin 5</p>

<p>My counselors really liked my essays, so those are okay, I’m a National Merit semifinalist, student council representative, math club secretary, Mu Alpha Theta honor society, National Honor Society, Latin National Honor Society, Key Club, volunteer at Manatee Memorial Hospital (200+ hrs), 350+ hrs so far in all volunteer services, National Youth Leadership Forum Medicine (washington d.c.), might do Harvard Model Congress Russia if accepted, State Champions Varsity Tennis 2004, district champs. 10-12, regional champs. 11-12, Tutor students at my school in math, science (job)</p>

<p>So, thats some of my stuff, I have awards of excellence and things like that, but these are the major extracurriculars and awards. Also, I’m Indian from Florida- want to do medicine, trying for those programs too…i’d appreciate the honesty…im retaking my sat’s in december and im gonna study for this one…so, please, any advice, or any idea on how i’ll fare in applying to the ivies would be great…THANKS!</p>

2

<p>Hey, I have to be honest. Your stats are pretty average. Academic-wise, you don't seem to be taking the most rigorous curriculum available. Me, I'm going to have 12 AP classes by the end of my senior year, which i think is pretty average for applicants to the top schools. You're only going to have 5. You're rank seems good, but there are only 80 people in your class. SAT grades - you're definitely going to have to raise those if you want to stand a chance for Harvard and Yale. And your extracurriculars are pretty average too. I have to say that, depending upon how you present yourself, you have a decent shot at Penn, Brown, and Dartmouth. Harvard and Yale are going to be tough....</p>

3

<p>We're not allowed to take AP classes before our junior year, and we can only take 2 as a junior and 3 as a senior. A bunch of my classes are honors courses, I don't know if that changes anything, but...yeah. As far as SAT's go, I'm definitely going to try and raise them as much as possible. My class rank is actually really good in my school, and nobody in our graduating class has more than 8 AP's...the average is 2 or 3. But, anyways, thanks, Penn and Dartmouth are ranked higher on my list than Harvard or Yale, but I'll apply to all of them anyway, there can't be any harm in that</p>

4

<p>oh also, if anybody could evaluate my chances at these other schools, i know they're not exactly ivies, or upenn, but id still liek to hear from you...anyways, be brutally honest, i want to know my real chances:</p>

<p>Boston University, USF (FL), Georgetown, Tufts, Rice, Emory, Davidson, UF, U Miami (FL), Vanderbilt, Lehigh, Northwestern, Washington University St. Louis, University of Missouri Kansas City (accelerated med prog.) I'm obviously not applyign to all of them, so if anybody could tell me which ones I'd most likely get into, I want to make sure to include the top ones in my list. Thanks again</p>

5

<p>did you check go4ivy.com yet??</p>

6

<p>no...i'll check it now...but does anybody have any idea about my chances to the other schools on my list...you dont have to say somehting about all of them, but just see if i have a chance for a few...im so ****ed right now because of my sat's...im gonna have to study so much to improve those scores by december...i hope the colleges will take those sat's if i rush them...</p>

7

<p>dude you have a shot at all of the other ones</p>

8

<p>yea...but im just mad...our school offers like, 12 AP classes or something, but they only allow us to take 5...some people take the exams, but that's like, one person...whatever...if i have a shot at any Ivy league school, i'll be happy...we'll see how i do on the sat's again...thanks for the encouragement though...alirght, i better go work on those apps...</p>

9

<p>dont listen to bigjake. 12 ap's is A LOT. 5 is enough, especially if its the most youre allowed. tell you GC to emphasize that.</p>

10

<p>Haha chocoman...i didnt mean to offend anyone. If 5 is all you are allowed to take...then thats all it is...your school profile should say that...what i do know is most people applying to the Ivys from Long Island, which is really competitive, have completed around 12 AP classes by the time they finish high school...thats the truth.</p>

11

<p>My high school was small and didn't have enough students to offer a littany of AP classes.
In fact, I didn't take any AP classes until my senior year.</p>

<p>And I still got into Penn. They know what your high school offers and they will make sure you've made the most of the opportunities at YOUR school.</p>

12

<p>Small, private, elite prep schools present candidates that "look" different from similarly qualified kids from other schools. Private preps will come with less, if any APs. Preps with reputations for excellence don't need to have their kids take APs because colleges already understand the quality of the candidate and don't need the proof of the AP. Don't worry about APs if you school is very strong. You can probably also get away with a slightly lower GPA than usual, because of the difficulty of your school's courses. Again, the college would need to "know" you school and understand what they're reading on paper.</p>

13

<p>I always think it's a little ridiculous when people ask what their chances are to every single ivy league school. If you're seriously considering both Penn and Dartmouth, you should probably figure out what you want from a school a little better before you go worrying about chances. Just my $0.2</p>

14

<p>Actually I totally disagree. I think his list is great, I found Penn and Dartmouth to be in many ways vary similar. Both have strong on-campus social scenes, both have similar student bodies. Differences are size and urban vs. rural, but both have spawling green campuses. From what I gather, most Penn students end up hanging out on campus or in local bars anyway which is very similar to Dartmouth. Princeton is similar to these two as well. Columbia is closer in location to Penn, but farther in overall experience than those two, or even brown, for example.</p>