Chances for Ivies in general + Stanford, Penn State

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Just interested in getting an idea as to how far of a reach any of the ivy leagues or Stanford or Penn State are for me. Here's my info:</p>

<p>From: Florida</p>

<p>ACT: Composite - 35, Reading - 36, English - 35, Science - 34, Math - 33, Essay/Writing - 32 (Essay: 9)</p>

<p>SAT: (not too great) CR - 650, M - 670, W - 800
SAT II: Not yet taken</p>

<p>GPA: Unweighted - 3.94, Weighted - 5.58
Class Rank: As of mid-year, I was ranked 30-something of 515... so top ~7%, but some juniors graduated early and such, my GPA changed, etc. so my rank should be different... higher if anything.</p>

<p>AP Classes: Bio (5), World History (4), Psychology (5), US History (4), Calc AB (4), English Lang (5), Spanish (x), Enviro (x), Calc BC (x).... x = AP's I'm taking my senior year</p>

<p>EC's:
-FBLA (9, 10, 11, 12), VP of FBLA (11), Pres of FBLA (12)
-Spanish National Honor Society (10, 11, 12)
-National Honor Society (12)
-National Technical Honor Society (11, 12)
-Mu Alpha Theta (11, 12)
-Rho Kappa (11, 12)
-Florida Public Service Association (11, 12)
-Senior Council (12)</p>

<p>-I've built and currently maintain websites and discussion forums that generate income.
-I've participated in two highly-selective week-long leadership camps this summer... one through the county's sheriff's office, which selects ONE student from each of the 26 high schools in the county. The other, Seminar for Tomorrow's Leaders (S4TL), selects about 160 students from various Rotary districts throughout west Florida. These equate to about 130 hours of intense leadership training, team building, and working on making oneself a better person.
-I plan to hold a job through my senior year, beginning the end of this summer.</p>

<p>[Financial aid is a huge need for me. EFC = $0. And FWIW, I'm Hispanic.]</p>

2

<p>Penn State should be a safe target for you, and would likely give you a big scholarship. The Ivy’s and Stanford would be far reaches, but ‘softer’ Ivys such as Cornell or Brown could be possible. But given that Penn State might give you a full ride, you might want to look there first.</p>

<p>Chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1177541-chance-rising-senior.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1177541-chance-rising-senior.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Thanks for the feedback. I’d chance you back but honestly have no knowledge of what it’s like to get into the colleges you’re looking into.</p>

<p>I was never aware that Cornell and Brown are considered “softer” Ivy’s… I find that interesting. Also thanks for the Penn State tip. Why is it that they are so likely, as opposed to other schools, to offer a full ride?</p>

4

<p>I wouldn’t say that Brown is a soft Ivy, because it only accepts 8% of its applicants. However I’d pick some of the other academically brilliant schools, like Tulane, Emory, Vanderbilt, University of Chicago, Northwestern and BC. FYI, Tulane is well known to give extraordinary financial aid packages. Also your credentials are very impressive, I would say that Cornell, UPenn, and Dartmouth are viable options for an individual with your grades and qualifications. A little piece of advice, most Ivies appreciate ethnic diversity, and Stanford is an insanely difficult school to gain admission to, if you can, try to register for a few SAT2’s and raise the SAT score to a 2200+, if you can. All the best with your college application process hope you do well.</p>

5

<p>^ I disagree on retaking the SAT. A 35 is not only an acceptable score but a fantastic score. No college has above a 35 in their upper 50% range (in fact, most only go to 34), so you’re definitely set there! CONGRATS.</p>

6

<p>Yeah, I’m definitely not dealing with the SAT again… not with my 35 ACT. Thanks for the advice guys.</p>