<p>I know I have already posted this in the Harvard thread, I just wanted some broader feedback from a different audience...So here it goes.</p>
<p>Schools:
Harvard
Princeton
Stanford
WashU
Bowdoin
Duke
UChicago
Notre Dame
Richmond
some safties</p>
<p>General Info:</p>
<p>White Male
North East
Very Competitive Private HS (does not rank/does not offer honors-only AP)
GPA: 3.8/4.4 (UW/W)
SAT I: 2280 - M(800)CR(730)W(750)
SAT II:</p>
<p>MathII(790)
Chem(780)
Bio(760)
Physics(710[took as frosh]/800[retake as soph])</p>
<p>AP:</p>
<p>PhysicsB(5 as a frosh)
PhysicsC both(5/took as a college class)
Euro(4)
APUSH(5)
World-self study(4)
Chem(5)
Bio(5)
Econ(5)
Calc AB(5)
Calc BC(5)
Statistics(5)
Spanish Language(4)
Latin Virgil(4)
Computer Sci(5)
Language and Comp(4)
AP Literature(4)</p>
<p>College Courses:I took and advanced physics course, economics, photography, and other courses at a local college-ranked top 25</p>
<p>EC's</p>
<p>Math/Science:
Founded rocketry club(10-12)
Team America Rocket Contest(9-12)
ARML(9-12)
AMC/AIME(9-12)
School Math League(9-12)</p>
<p>The Arts:
Preformed in professional operas(9-12)
Freelance Photographer - Published in local publications/pro-bono work for local non profits(Amnesty Intntl, etc...)(11/12)
Photo Editor of Art Magazine-nationally ranked/awarded(10-12) </p>
<p>Athletics:
Top Team Golf(not varsity but earned varsity letter)(9-12)
Ping Pong Team(not sure if I should put this on - it was just for fun)(10-12)
Boys Tennis(10-12)</p>
<p>Volunteer/Work Experience
Teach Summerschool classes(math and science) to city kids(summer 10-11)
Teach Golf to city kids(summer 10-11)
Out of State paid internship(summer 11-12)</p>
<p>Other:
Science Olympiad National Championship (Middle School - will write about in personal statement)</p>
<p>I sent you a chance via PM… can you reply it back to me? For some reason I don’t get a copy in my sent folder and I’d like to post it in the thread lol</p>
<p>Harvard- low reach
Princeton- low reach
Stanford- low reach
WashU- high match
Bowdoin- unfamiliar
Duke- high match, low reach
UChicago- high match, low reach
Notre Dame- match
Richmond- unfamiliar </p>
<p>I would say that you have a good chance at all of your schools. Your AP scores and college scores are impressive as well as your SAT I and II. I’m guessing that you’re planning on majoring in the maths/sciences cause of your EC’s, which is also a plus. However, I feel that you’re somewhat lacking in other areas of EC’s for top schools such as Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford. But you shouldn’t sweat it, you have great stats! </p>
<p>Great stats! Your UW is a little low, assuming that your school is not uber competitive however. Your EC’s are good with solid balance and your scores are great. </p>
<p>Harvard-reach
Princeton-reach
Stanford-reach
WashU-match
Bowdoin-low match
Duke-high match/low reach
UChicago-high match
Notre Dame-low match
Richmond-safety
some safties-safety</p>
<p>Thanks for the input, my school isn’t phillips exiter but its a very competitive small private school. about 3/40 kids go to an ivy each year. The GPA thing, I got a B in English as a soph, and a B+ in AP Euro. The rest were As and like a couple A-s.</p>
<p>Lol @ the UW GPA being low. It’s fine and his weighted shows he took a challenging course load, plus they’ll see the transcript and see that. 3.7 UW is where you start worrying (just look at the two GPAs and gauge your initial personal reaction and you’ll see what I mean).</p>
<p>You obviously have the stats to get in the “possible” pool, I don’t even know why you are asking for chances. Take anyone with really good stats/ECs (like you) and you can just follow this guide:</p>
<p>All Ivies(Minus Cornell)/MIT/Stanford: High Reach.
Cornell/Swarthmore/Amherst/Williams/Duke/Bowdoin/<insert college=“” here=“” that=“” might=“” as=“” well=“” be=“” an=“” ivy=“” but=“” isn’t=“”>: Slightly less high reach.
Everything else: Easily predicted just by looking at their stat ranges unless they’re a specialty case in which case you should know about that anyway or you probably wouldn’t be applying there.</insert></p>
<p>And if you can chance other people why can’t you chance yourself?</p>
<p>EDIT:</p>
<p>If you want advice, don’t write your essays about something you did awesomely in. It’s way more interesting to write about an experience that might seem mundane on the surface but that you can talk about in beautiful detail. Trust me, they get loads of, “So I worked really really hard and got first place in this competition” essays. They also get loads of people being faux-humble (“When I was 6 I forgot my lines to the play while on stage and it taught me the meaning of life,”). Pick something mundane and make it magical.</p>
<p>Harvard - reach for everyone
Princeton - reach
Stanford - mid reach to reach
WashU - high match to low reach
Bowdoin - match
Duke - high match
UChicago - high match
Notre Dame - match
Richmond - in</p>
<p>gutter, WOW great advice, but how mundane? You gave examples for the two bad essays, could you provide an example, doesn’t have to be personal, of a mundane but magical essay? Thanks for all of the input, it is greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>bump???any other advice?
I know people don’t like it when people pull out info halfway through the chances thread but some one’s post about how my EC’s are lacking in areas other than math made me think that maybe people were disappointed in the fact that I don’t have 12 clubs where I’m pres/VP/treasurer/other leadership position. I can explain, my school only lets kids join 1 club:(does this make my EC’s look better/worse/or does it have no effect. If I don’t submit all 16 of my AP’s and only 12 would this hurt my app? And my school calculates the GPA weird, i got a B, B+, 2A- and the rest A’s.</p>