Chances for Yale SCEA, UChicago, Georgia Tech, Duke. Will chance back!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey guys, I’m a rising senior and would love your input on my chances to for college! I plan on applying to a decent amount of top 20’s as well as some matches and safeties.

Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Asian American (Chinese)
School Type: Public
Prospective Major: Chemistry, Physics, Economics, or Business

ACT: 34 Composite (31E 35M 35R 33S 11-Essay)
SAT: 2190 (680R 800M 710W); Probably not sending
SAT II: Math II- 800, Chemistry- 800, U.S. History- 750
GPA: 3.93 UW, Weighted- Not sure
Class Rank: Top 5% (class of 350 students)

AP Classes: Physics 1 (5), U.S. History (5), Chemistry (4), Biology (4), Eng. Language (4), Statistics (5).

Senior Course Load
AP Physics 2
AP Physics C
AP Calculus BC
AP Comparative Gov.
AP U.S. Gov.
AP Microeconomics
AP Macroeconomics
AP Eng. Literature

Sports

Varsity Lacrosse (10-12): Team captain and won state championship sophomore year
Varsity Football (10)
JV Lacrosse (9)
JV Football (9): Team captain
JV Wrestling (9-10): Placed 8th in state for my weight class during freshman year

Extracurriculars

Beta Club (10-12): Secretary, 35 hours of volunteering
Math Honor Society (11-12): Secretary
Piano (4 years): Played in 2 recitals
Model U.N (11-12): Started junior year and my country placed 3rd overall at a large conference
Work experience: Working at Chipotle over the summer right now
Volunteering: 150+ hours, most hours spent serving cancer patients at Emory Hope Lodge.
NHS: 30 hours of volunteering

Recommendations
I am asking my AP physics teacher, who was also my JV lacrosse coach, to write one of my recommendations. We have a great relationship and I had the second highest grade in his class. Rec should be 8-9/10.

My other rec is from my APUSH teacher as he loved me in his class and he is the sponsor for model UN. Rec will most likely be 7-8/10.

Essay
I plan on writing about getting a concussion from football and my decision to stop playing because I wanted to be cautious about my future. I will talk about not letting it set me back in my other sports or school work and being able to overcome it. Not sure if this is the best topic but hopefully I can make it work!

List of colleges that I plan on applying to:

Yale
UChicago
Princeton
Harvard
Penn
Georgia Tech
Johns Hopkins
Duke
UNC Chapel Hill
UGA
Emory

My dream is to go to Yale, but I am not expecting much from most of the schools I’m applying to. I know I don’t have enough matches/safeties and have too many high reaches so I’ll probably edit this list later.

Thanks so much and I will chance back!

2

Yale- reach
UChicago- reach
Princeton- match/low reach
Harvard- reach
Penn- reach
Georgia Tech- match
John Hopkins- reach
Duke- reach
UNC Chapel Hill- low reach
UGA- high match/low reach
Emory- match/low reach

I would definitely suggest taking the SAT again and try for at least a 2250-2300. (Try to get your CR up to a 700 and your W to a 750.) Your ACT score is really good. Your senior year course load is very rigorous, which is a plus. It definitely wouldn’t hurt raising your GPA to a 3.95. Good luck!

Chance me back please?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1794122-university-of-delaware-in-state.html#latest

3

I’ll be honest with you. You probably won’t get into the Ivies because of your EC’s, which are good, but not outstanding (I’m saying this from experience with rejections). You’ll get into GaTech, UGA, UNC for sure. Also, for chemistry, apply to UC-Berkeley. It’s really easy to get in to their Letters&Science college since you’re not admitted by major. UCLA, for the same reason as UCB. Also, other schools good for chemistry that you’re basically guaranteed admission are UMich, Purdue, UIUC, and UWisc. These schools I mentioned (including UC’s), are all top schools for Physics and Economics as well.

4

I tend to agree with Dhruv97. It is possible you will get into one or more of the Ivy league schools and almost certain you will get into most of the others listed. However, for colleges like Yale, Princeton and Harvard your extracurriculars are very important. 3.93 and 34 are fine, great even but what sets you apart from the 10,000 other applicants with these scores applying?

5

Yale- reach
UChicago- low reach
Princeton- reach
Harvard- reach
Penn- reach
Georgia Tech- match
John Hopkins- reach
Duke- reach
UNC Chapel Hill- match
UGA- match
Emory- match

you still have a shot at the ivies if ur passion really gets through your essays :slight_smile:
chance me back? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18653678#Comment_18653678

6

YHP and UofChicago are going to be reaches as Asian applicant with your score. Your pretty solid for the other schools, although Penn and Duke can be very competitive even with the most qualified candidates.

7

Don’t retake the SAT as someone suggested. Your ACT score of 34 is sufficient. Keep in mind that some schools like Duke and Cornell require ALL test scores. Do not fool around by not sending you SAT scores to the ones that require all scores because they take this request pretty seriously and the consequences could be severe if they find out you’ve skirted the rules.

That being said, I concur that you will need to find ways to make yourself stand out for the very top schools. Good luck with everything!

8

Your scores and ECs are decent but not great. Can you get recruited for any sport? That would increase your chance for sure.
Yale-high reach
UChicago-reach
Princeton-high reach
Harvard-high reach
Penn-reach
Georgia Tech-match
Johns Hopkins-high match
Duke-reach
UNC Chapel Hill-are you OOS? If so, low reach.
UGA-match
Emory-high match

Chance back?: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1778302-chance-an-asian-yale-duke-williams.html#latest

9

ya got the goods boi!!!

10

Do you have any awards like in sciences or math (because those seem to be your strengths)?

Yale-high reach (unpredictable)
UChicago-reach
Princeton-high reach (unpredictable)
Harvard-high reach (unpredictable)
Penn-reach
Georgia Tech-match
Johns Hopkins-high match
Duke-low reach (match if you go with ED)
UNC Chapel Hill-idk
UGA-match
Emory-match

You’re in a difficult demographic (I’m Asian too) so like other people said, we need something to stand out in our profiles. I think that nothing in your extracurriculars will make you a sure shot admit or increase your chances so I’d say it really comes down to if you ace your essays or not. If Yale is really your dream, I suggest you make your essays the best (as in focus all your time into your essays esp the Yale one)

Chance back?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1792963-which-hypsm-college-s-should-i-try-early-action-for-p1.html

11

Pretty sure you’ll get into Emory, UGA, Georgia Tech, UNC, rest are reaches but you’ll make half if you’re especially lucky, most likely 2 or 3. Good luck!
Chance back:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18676261#Comment_18676261