<p>Hey guys, I’m a junior (well, barely in the summer between junior year and senior year), and I was hoping to get chanced. I’m thinking of applying to (not necessarily applying to all of them though, hahaha) Brown, Columbia, U Penn, Cornell, Emory, Georgetown, Stanford, Brandeis, Duke, NYU, Tufts, U Chicago, and maaaaybe Harvard and Yale. </p>
<p>My (public) school doesn’t have AP courses, but I’ve taken the most rigorous schedule possible, and my GPA is around 3.9-4.0. My school doesn’t rank, either, but I’m probably in the top ten or top five out of around 400 students. For the record, I’m in Ontario, Canada, in case that makes any difference, haha.</p>
<p>SATs: 2260
CR 740
M 770
W 750</p>
<p>I plan to take Chem, U.S. History and French SAT Subject Tests in October.</p>
<p>ECs:
- heavily involved in Student Council since Grade 9, elected as rep then, served as independent member this year, President next year
- played French horn in our school band since Grade 9
- founded, edit and write most of school newspaper/writing club
- professional actor out of Toronto</p>
<p>I’m not too worried about the application essay, as I’m a pretty good writer, and I’ll have some very good recommendations. I want to apply for political science.</p>
<p>What do you think? Let me know!</p>
<p>Let me preface this with the disclaimer: one can’t tell one’s chances. It’s a process that seems random to us. Who knows what the admissions officers look for specifically.</p>
<p>With that said, the pieces seem to be there - I don’t see anything specific that would keep you out. If you get waitlisted/rejected, it’s more likely because other candidates were stronger than because you were deemed incapable of doing the work. It’s changed somewhat, but when I applied, they said in an info session that of every 9 applicants, 8 can do the work. The trouble is selecting only 1.</p>
<p>It’s very hard for us to tell what the GPA means because we don’t know the school. We have no way of knowing how it compares to a comparable GPA elsewhere, and how rigorous the most rigorous schedule possible is. The SAT scores seem to imply the GPA isn’t inflated by much.</p>
<p>You have activities that, while not as numerous as those of others, seem to be your passions and things you’ve poured yourself into.</p>
<p>It’s certainly possible, but no one is 100% guaranteed admissions to very selective schools.</p>
<p>Thanks 
I know that Ivies are always a crapshoot, but who knows. Hopefully I can do the work, haha. Thanks again!</p>
<p>Since you are from Canada, that (I assume) means you are an international applicant. Do you need financial aid? Because Brown is need aware for international students, and that could affect your chances.</p>
<p>I did not know that. Thanks for the info, haha, that might shape my applications.</p>
<p>misterg, there are a handful of colleges that are need blind for internationals. Do a google search for them. And there is discussion elsewhere on CC about internationals and financial aid – there are schools that.</p>
<p>International students who need financial aid do get accepted to Brown and other need-aware schools. So it’s OK to apply to some. But every spring there are posts on CC from many international students who get rejected from a lot of schools, possibly due to their financial need.</p>
<p>Yeah, okay. Thanks for the info!</p>