I have quite a few schools on my list and I wanted to hear some opinions on what my chances may be at some of the top schools on my list. I know that the Ivies are all reach schools for me, and perhaps for anyone really, but I was wondering if I could at least have a shot. Please be brutally honest I would really appreciate if anyone would take the time to give me their opinion. Thank you in advance!
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
ACT: 35
SAT II: 730 Bio (E), 720 Chem
GPA (UW): 4.00
Rank: 1/650
AP: APHUG (5), Bio (5), APLAC (5), APUSH (5), Chem (4)
Senior Year Courseload: AP Environmental, AP Psychology, AP Literature, AP Government, AP Spanish, Stats
PSAT: Commended Scholar (No National Merit)
AP Scholar with Distinction
Extracurriculars:
National Honor Society (Vice President)
Spanish Honor Society
Math Honor Society
Science Bowl
Key Club
Local Hospital Volunteer
Lots of Tutoring (High School & Middle School Level)
Essays: Pretty good
Letters of Rec: I’d like to think that they are stellar (from some of the most amazing teachers whose classes I have done extremely well in and I have really become close to over the last 2-3 years. I really believe that they captured not only who I am as a student, but as an individual as a whole)
UCLA and Penn are good matches considering your strong academics.
Columbia is a bit more of a reach, but it is well within the realm of possibility.
Stanford and Harvard are–of course–the biggies and are reaches for everyone, but you are competitive enough for consideration.
You are VERY academically qualified for your top schools. Wow! 4.0UW/35 ACT is tough to beat. Your SATIIs are not the highest, but that definitely won’t sink you.
I think your only issue is a lack of diverse extracurriculars. They are primarily academic with not a ton of leadership roles - if you can balance this with passionate essays and LORs, you should be fine.
Overall -
UCLA - match
Penn - low reach
Stanford/Harvard - mid-high reach
Columbia - mid reach
Best of luck this fall! I’m confident you will end up somewhere fantastic
@alecsanders@ShawnLooch Thank you guys very much, I really appreciate it! And yes, I would definitely agree that my ECs are a weakness since they are all primarily academic, unfortunately.
@philo123 The issue is less that the ECs are exclusively academic and more that they seem to lack depth. You will need to have very focused essays to make your application more memorable.
To be honest, your chances to those schools are not very high. I don’t know why someone would say UCLA is a match and UPenn a low-reach.
Although your ACT score and GPA put you above 75th percentile, they will be really HARD to get in.
First thing’s first. Your chance for Columbia, Harvard, and Standard are very, very low.
Now, your chance for UPenn is also quite low. Everyone at school I know who got a 35 and 4.0 GPA didn’t get into UPenn, and it’s not weird because the acceptance rate is very low. However, my friend with 35 ACT and 3.95 GPA got into UPenn because he applied ED, but ED doesn’t look like an option for you.
Finally, UCLA looks mid-high reach for you because it’s QUITE selective. Most of the applicants have 35 and 4.0 GPA like you, so it’ll be a tough egg to crack.
If I were you, I would only apply to UPenn and UCLA, but not the other Ivies. To increase your chance, I’d recommend you to take the SAT I test because it’s a better measure of your college-readiness (Don’t trust the universities that say we value SAT and ACT equally. Doing well on both tests will DEFINITELY put you higher up).
UPenn and Columbia are fair shots, but since they are Ivy Leagues, you may have a harder time getting in.
Harvard is also an Ivy League, but since it’s highly selective (5.9% acceptance rate), there’s a lower chance that you’ll get in.
Stanford is an automatic reach because of it’s 5% acceptance rate.
You should apply to some safety schools that have your major just in case you don’t get into any of the schools you mentioned. Also, it might be too late, but you should take the SAT Math II Subject Test because some schools require that you take this test before applying for a specific major (this happened to me when I was applying for Boston University and I realized that I never took the SAT Chemistry Subject Test, so I couldn’t apply for the Physical Therapy program). Luckily, I got into the University of the Sciences Physical Therapy program with the Founder’s Scholarship and that’s where I’ll be for the next six years.
Since you are such a strong candidate on the academic front I say to apply to all of these top schools and maybe some others as if your essays are good, at least one school will see you will be good in an rigorous academic environment. What do you want in an academic institution, do you prefer Urban or Rural. Because if you don’t mind being in a rural school I think you have a great shot at Cornell, as it is the ivy-league with the highest acceptance rate, and they have a great biology program.
Sorry but the @Mminjjae comment about you needing to take the SAT 1 is ridiculous and should be ignored. Your ACT score is excellent and doesn’t need to be supplemented with an SAT score. I honestly don’t know how kids think these kinds of comments up. Why should one not “trust” what a school’s stated policy is? Most accept the ACT or the SAT and treat them equally. My daughter only took the ACT and she’s now a junior at Harvard. Apparently, she wasn’t lied to about the ACT being as good as the SAT as far as testing goes. Good luck with your applications.
I’m also not quite sure about the comments that @Mminjjae made. For example, “UCLA looks mid-high reach for you because it’s QUITE selective. Most of the applicants have 35 and 4.0 GPA like you.” I wouldn’t quite agree with that at all. You’ll most likely get into UCLA.
Otherwise, your stats look about as competitive as is possible. I’ll echo what has been said by others, that your ECs are lacking some well-roundedness. However, I think you can use the extra space on the Common App or an essay to explain what exactly you have done in those activities. Most people have some sort of Key Club, but what did you do specifically in your Key Club experience that makes you value it and continue participating?
If you wouldn’t mind, would you mind looking at my thread? We’re in similar situations and I’d be interested to hear what you would say. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1830636-180-days-to-go-so-help-me-stay-sane-by-predicting-my-chances.html
@JMS357 Yes, I’ve already applied to several safeties, now I’m just trying to maybe narrow down my reach list. Thank you for your input and your advice on SAT IIs, I will look into that to see what majors I’d need to take Math II for. Thank you
@jman457 I actually do prefer urban schools, which pretty much explains my list. I have considered Cornell, but I wouldn’t want to apply simply because it’s an Ivy–I’d want to actually be happy there, and I’m not sure if I would be comfortable with its location. So that said, I would rather go to one of my safeties that is in an urban environment rather than an Ivy that I wouldn’t be happy at, but hopefully I can get into at least one of these. Thank you for your suggestion, though, I really appreciate you taking the time
@Falcon1 Oh ok, thank you for letting me know! That calms my nerves a lot!
@peytonmg Thank you, that’s a very good suggestion–I hadn’t thought of doing that, but I definitely could! Thanks!
Your subject tests are not on par with the rest of your stats and that can cause a problem for you with highly selective schools.
Also the fact that you avoided taking any math AP as well as math subject test could raise question for adcoms!
Ucla - high/match
Rest - reach
@uclaparent9 My school doesn’t offer AP math classes actually, so I’ve taken Calculus I & II last year (dual enrollment at a local college, and it’s not a community college), so I was assuming that admissions would see that on my transcript. And same with the Statistics class I’m taking this year, it’s not AP but I get dual enrollment credit. I’m not sure how the curriculum matches up with AP, but I suppose I could self study and take the AP exam if you think that that would help.
And as for SAT math subject tests, to be honest I’m not entirely sure why I didn’t choose to take one because I definitely would be able to. I think I just figured that I’m not going into engineering so it wouldn’t be necessary, but I can see why it can be a problem. Thank you for your help!
Also, @uclaparent9, sorry but I have another question regarding SAT II scores. Since my SAT IIs are a bit lower than the rest of my stats, would you recommend not sending them to colleges that list SAT II scores as optional? I know that it’s recommended to send them to strengthen your app, but since mine are relatively lower I’d rather not send them at all and have it make no effect on my application rather than sending them and hurting me. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!
Although subjects tests are not mandatory for UCLA, but without it your chances will be reduced. Atleast for UCLA I think you should send them as Ucla expectation for high score is less than those other schools in your list. If you have time to study and can score 750+, I highly recommend you to take Math II subject. By doing so you resolve any curiosity regarding math issue (that I mentioned earlier)…and by sending that with only “one” of the other 2 subject tests you can improve overall and average score of the submitted two (no need to send both of those low scores).
Regarding taking AP test, unless you are confident with scoring a 4+, and only for Math BC, do not do that!
I agree with Falcon1 and others above. In 2014, of the 1,845,787 who took the ACT, only 1,407 scored a 36, and only 7,175 scored a 35.
Even if every student who scored 35 and 36 applied to UCLA, they would represent fewer than 10% of all applicants.
UCLA is very competitive, but only about 39% of applicants had an ACT of 30 and above, and only 12.57% had a 4.0 UW GPA. In other words, OP’s chances for UCLA are excellent.
Note the official statement in the UCLA Freshman Profile: “SAT Subject tests are no longer required for admission, but if taken, we will use them in our review if they are to the student’s benefit.”
Your scores are more than fine for UCLA, by the way.
Stanford and Harvard- High Reach
Ucla- Match ( They like high grades )
UPENN: Match( Since you are applying as a bio major, it will be easier to gain admission compared to a business major)
Columbia- High Match/ Low Reach
I would recommend placing your science bowl elective higher up on the list because it will show the universities you are applying to show that science matters to you! Best of luck!
I would really appreciate if anyone would take the time to give me their opinion. Thank you in advance!
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