Chances at Vanderbilt (ED1), UNC, Duke, Wash u

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
1

Here’s a brief preface of my stats/achievements
Male; middle eastern
Academics:
ACT: 32 composite (34 E, 34, R, 31 S, 29 M, 10 W) 33 Superscore (34 E, 34 R, 32 M, 31 S)

3.8 unweighted; 4.45 Weighted (5.0 Scale)
Class rank: <12%
High School: public School in middle TN ranked top 10 in the state; extremely competitive (12 kids went to Vanderbilt last year)
AP Scores
Ap Human (4)
APUSH (5)
Physics I (3)
Ap Bio (4)
Ap Psych (5)
All other classes i’ve taken have been Honors.
Principals List/ Athletic Scholar

Senior Year Classes:
AP Physics C
AP Calculus AB
AP Macroeconomics
AP Microeconomics
AP US Government
AP Computer Science Principles
AP Literature and Compostition

Accomplishments/ EC:

Fluent in English, Arabic, and French

Varsity Soccer all 4 years and captain; Captained my club soccer team to win state championship this year

President and Founder of a county wide coding club in which i teach kids and students county wide different aspects of STEM (nominated for the student innovation of the year); through this club i invented a database that school uses to expedite early dismissals and late arrivals
Nominated for “Technology Student of The year” for the Nashville Technology council

Shadowed a vanderbilt surgeon and conducted research for 2 summers
volunteered at the same hospital for 2 summers (fetching wheelchairs and providing patient hospitality)

Division II fifa player

Organized a christmas drive in which students can donate presents that will be sent to the salvation army

Volunteer instructor for the Nashville Technology Council for 3 summers

National Honors Society- vice president
Science National honors society
Mu alpha theta (math honors society)
French honors society
math competition club
United Way

Youth in government and Model UN for 3 years
– i have also done some small community service projects and small clubs scattered throughout my high school career—

Proficiently play Alto Saxophone and Piano; perform concerts and at private events

Recs:
The surgeon i shadowed works at vandy and will write me a solid rec
the teacher that sponsored the coding club will also write one
decent relationship with counselor

Essay:
wrote about an experience i had in the middle east. Peer edited by my english teacher and college counselor: They said it was a powerful and unique essay

i know it may seem like a lot but i heard vandy is very stats focused and i fall in the 25th percentile for ACT.
If anyone can give me advice or let me know how my chances are it would be much appreciated. thanks everyone and good luck with your admission process.

2

12 kids went to Vandy? How many kids got in? Since you go to a school in TN, I’m assuming most of the students who are aiming for more competitive schools would apply there. Is your class size big and how many kids are in the <12% bracket?

3

our class size is 530 around 40 kids are 12%

4

Well, I would say depends on the history of vandy acceptances at your school and where you stand in those top 40 kids. But I’d say, do vandy ED1 if you want to go there. It would help if not a lot of kids from your school ED1 to Vandy. 17/40 is not bad (assuming everyone that goes is within the top 12%) of a chance. You would know better than I do, but I’d say you would have a decent shot at ED1. Goodluck

5

@Xatlas and @VandyBound2018 - this doesn’t make sense. If the class size is 530 then isn’t the Top 10% 53 kids? So the top 12% is more than 40 kids? Maybe I am missing something.

6

@LvMyKids2 Oh yea so like 63 kids. 17/63 still isn’t bad odds, but the op would know better than I would where he or she stands within those 63.

7

My fault, i was thinking top 10%. @LvMyKids2 is correct. Overall, I have a decent academic stature among the top students in our class. I’m hoping my recs, essay, and ECs help improve my chances.

8

All will be a reach with an ACT 32 and not in top 10%. High schools that send several students to top 20 U’s should be able to tell you what it takes to get into these U’s and what your chances are.
According to Niche. VU will be the most difficult to get into followed by Duke then WashSL, Business Insider also reports VU will also be the most difficult to get into followed by WashSL then Duke. Not sure about UNC but as an OOS student will likely be as difficult as the others to get into.

9

I agree that you need a safety match and that means economic safety (life is long and debt is a mistake) and an admission safety. This usually means the honors program in your state flagship. You have done a fine job in high school. There is nothing wrong with applying to reach colleges but students with 35 ACTs need match colleges, too. Seriously. That said, I believe your proficiency in Arabic is a strong suit, particularly if you have a plan to apply it that is interesting. Our nation needs strong Arabic speakers in many capacities in state department and related positions and in business.

10

Niche has limited sample size. They really are more or less the same difficulty of admission. You would be splitting hairs over like a couple of % when bringing Duke into the conversation (who seems to admit kind of different students now-a-days anyway. Its admissions scheme looks more like Penn and Stanford in terms of scores and tries harder to get higher class ranks. I think they take niche talents into account more as well which is kind of like Stanford. VU and WUSTL look more or less alike). I would not listen to any magazines that attempt to discriminate between one place that has 16-17% admit rate and then two places that have 11% admit rate (probably before WL activity at that). You better just apply, cross your fingers, and have excellent plan B schools (can be another elite, but should also include those that are just great academically, whether they are or not. There are many great places that don’t receive the “elite” label), looking at admit rate differences that are fairly subtle will provide little information or hope.