Chances at Yale and several others?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Any input would be greatly appreciated!</p>

<p>Background:</p>

<p>White male -- NY
Undecided major, interested in music, politics, humanities, etc.</p>

<p>Testing/Grades:</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.25 W</p>

<p>Medium sized highly-ranked public high school</p>

<p>Rank: N/A (We officially don't rank, although my counselor has told me I am #2 of about 375 and will be salutatorian barring an enormous debacle)</p>

<p>ACT: 35 (36 E, 35 R, 36 S, 33 M)</p>

<p>SAT: 2240 (790 CR, 760 W, 690 M)</p>

<p>SAT Subject: US History (790), World History (740), Chem (750), Bio (720), Math II (620, but was deathly sick and can retake, though I might just send the ACT)</p>

<p>AP: US History (5), Lang (5), World History (5), Music Theory (5), Chem (4), Bio (4)
Senior year schedule: AP Calc BC, AP Physics, AP Psych, AP Lit, Honors French V (Will self-study for AP exam), Music Theory Internship, AP Macroeconomics, AP Gov, AP Human Geography, Honors Band, Gym</p>

<p>ECs: (Grade in parentheses)
-Marching Band (9-12) -- Drum Captain, Section Leader, Band placed second at state championships last year. Probably my largest commitment as I devote roughly 400 hours during the school year solely to marching band.
-I marched DCA Drum Corps as a sophomore and was the youngest tenor drum player in their history.
-Science Honor Society (10-12) -- Vice President 12th grade
-History Honor Society (11-12) -- Treasurer both years
-French Honor Society (10-12) -- VP 12th grade
-Math Honor Society (11-12)
-Tri M Honor Society (10-12 -- President 12th grade
-English Honor Society (10-12)
-National Honor Society (11-12)
-Tutor for most of the above honor societies
-Key Club (9)
-Habitat for Humanity (10-12)
-Robotics Club (11)
-Fencing Team (12)
-Jazz Band (9-12) -- Only drum set player through audition
-Wind Ensemble (10-12) -- 1st chair
-I am a "Youth Ambassador" for the Arthritis Foundation, meaning I speak at events, meet with local and state legislators, and help raise awareness for the disease.
-I give weekly drum/percussion lessons to young children in the community.
-I work part time at my aunt's event decor business.
-I do house and yard work, shopping, mail, etc., for my 95 year old neighbors on a daily basis
-I spent a summer in Scotland and worked as a "sanitation officer" at the British Open golf tournament as a freshman.
-Not sure if this counts but I am in several bands, two of which play locally for pay. We write and perform original music and one of them is recording an E.P.
Hundreds of volunteer hours in the community as part of many of the above activities</p>

<p>Essays: Not finished yet but I have won several writing contests and am fairly confident in my abilities. First draft had my English teacher crying with laughter. She also said it was one of the best she's ever read and that I conveyed the point I was trying to make extremely well.</p>

<p>Letters: Obviously don't get to read them but am expecting them to be pretty great, I have had both teachers for 2 years and work with them in conjunction with the various honor societies. Also, my additional rec letter is from a relatively high profile former politician who is a Yale graduate and active donor. I came into contact with him due to my work with the Arthritis Foundation.</p>

<p>Awards:
-I am an All-State percussionist, also selected for the SCMEA All-County Orchestra and Percussion Ensemble
-Ranked 3rd nationally on Le Grand Concours French exam
-National Merit Commended (so far)
-High Honor Roll (9-12)
-Concert Band Section Leader
-"Pride Award" in Music and Social Studies (School award, 2 kids get these every year in each subject area)
-AP Scholar with Honor (Can't get distinction or National AP award until all exams are taken)</p>

<p>Possible Hooks? Not really sure:
-I was born and raised in London, England until age 9.
-I was diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis at age 5, and it has played a major role in my development.
-My cousin is a Yale graduate and currently works for them on a consultancy basis, and I have another cousin attending this year.</p>

<p>Also, I am interested in Brown, Cornell, JHU, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, and Northeastern, to name a few, if anyone would like to take a gander at my chances there as well.</p>

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<p>You have a good chance into getting in at Yale, Brown, and Cornell. You’re EC’s and rank will help make up for your moderate performance on the ACT. But back off JHU is mine!!</p>

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<p>@tryhardalay wait… What is wrong with OP’s ACT score…? It is one composite point from a perfect score… </p>

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<p>And OP, you can only list TEN activities on the common app. You have over double that. It makes anyone who sees your list of activities question your dedication</p>

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<p>I think your chances are very high for all of those colleges. You can’t put as many ec’s on there, so i would pick impressive ones that follow some sort of pattern and reflect who you are. Congratulations on being super amazing at life!</p>

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<p>Half of people have a 36 ACT at Yale, Princeton, and Harvard his score could be good enough but a 33 on reading could hurt @sallymeno11‌ @jmcnerns‌ </p>

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<p>@tryhardalay that could not be farther from the truth. You think those schools care about one subscore on the Act? You are sorely mistaken.
Also, no . Go look at the middle 50% and you will find that not even 25% of students at those schools have 36’s. do some research before you spread false information.</p>

<p>OP- you ACT is not only good, but spectacular. I am sure it is above average for your schools, but your score on one test is not why they would accept or deny you.</p>

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<p>@tryhardalay‌ by the way, this user’s 35 is about equal to your 2350. So really, i do not know what you are talking about at all.</p>

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<p>The act is so much easier I don’t know what you are talking about : / @sallymeno11‌ </p>

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<p>@sallymeno11 I’m not spreading “false” information I’m trying to improve his chances quit tagging me I don’t care what you have to say</p>

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<p>@tryhardalay‌ the ACT is not easier. You are clearly misinformed. It is a different test (some students find it easier, some find the sat easier, it tests different things in a different way) and that is indeed the correct conversion (its about a 2330 range on the conversion is 2290-2370, so take the average). In addition, many colleges only look at your composite for the ACT. And a 33 on math is very good, depending on the test form, that may only be 4-5 wrong.</p>

<p>OP, I think you are competitive, but most of them are still reaches (just because of the acceptance rates).</p>

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<p>Okay that’s just what someone else told me @guineagirl96‌ </p>

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<p>@tryhardalay you are very mean spirited. Good luck getting into johns.</p>

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<p>Thank you for the feedback everyone. I am aware of the 10 ec limit and I was wondering, do all of these individual honor societies count for separate ecs? Because if they do then I guess I would omit some that I am not so involved in.
Also, I do have some safer schools on my radar because I know that the admissions decisions of many of these top institutions are quite arbitrary.</p>

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<p>no, you can group things.</p>