Chances: Northwestern, UPenn, Ivies

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi! I'm full Asian, and about to enter senior year. Here are my stats:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.75 UW
SATs: 620 W, 690 V, 780 M (2090 total)
SAT IIs: 670 Physics (planning to retake), 690 US History, 800 Math IIC
PSAT: 216 (unsure about National Merit)</p>

<p>Classes:
9th: Introduction to Social Studies, Medieval History, Geometry Honors, English 1, Japanese 2H, Biology H, Band</p>

<p>10th: Chem H, Asian History, Alg II/Trig H, English 2, Japanese 3H, Band</p>

<p>11th: AP Physics B (4), AP US History (4), Adv Precalc H, Am Lit, Japanese 4H, Band</p>

<p>12th: AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, AP Euro, Economics, Senior English Honors, Japanese 5H, Band</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
30 hours community service
Track team (4 years)
Cross-country team (3 years, Varsity captain senior year, projected top 10 in state)
Hawaii Youth Symphony 4 years (french horn), principal 1 year
University of Hawaii Orchestra, 4 semesters
Band (4 years, principal 2 years)
Hawaii Select Band 4 years, 2nd chair junior year
Student Government Treasurer, 11th/12th grade
Summer job at a McDonald's, 1 year
Pacific Music Institute, 2 years </p>

<p>Awards:
Social Studies Award, 10th grade
Cross-country MIP, 11th grade</p>

<p>Looking at schools like UPenn, Stanford, Northwestern, Princeton/Yale, USC, and Washington University. I know my grades and my SATs are pretty shabby, but my ECs help?</p>

2

<p>your EC's aren't outstanding by the standards of the schools you're talking about. All the schools you listed are reaches, but USC is only a slight reach - if your stats improve a little and you have a good essay, it's a realistic possibility. Stanford, Princeton, and Yale are super reaches; Penn, Northwestern, and WashU are not too much better. You need to find some good match schools and a safety or two. What is your intended major?</p>

3

<p>All of your schools are reaches, many unrealistic reaches.</p>

4

<p>USC is slight reach.
For Northwestern, it's a reach based solely on stats but their admission seems to weigh essay (they have their own so can't just copy and paste from your common application) pretty heavily. So if you write an awesome one, it's possible.</p>

5

<p>i do not think that NWestern is a reach...he has a 1470 without writing, which puts him almost at the 70th percentile among the enrolled kids at NU. His writinig is kindaa weak...but NU doesn't really care about SAT IIs. With that said, NU is a high match/lowww reach and WUSTL is probably a high match.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for the replies! Princeton/yale/stanford are super reaches, haha, well, after reading some of the stats around here, I was figured so. And I was more interested in Northwestern, Washington, and UPenn because I wasn't sure how I measured up to their standards. As for USC, my counselor told me that it was a likely, but now I'm not so sure because it seems that everyone disagrees. </p>

<p>I was planning to retake the SAT and a few of the SAT IIs, and also hoping to raise my GPA to bring my stats up a little. I was also counting on music to help a little. And I forgot to mention that my schedule was the most demanding schedule possible, and that I come from a well-known, pretty prestigious private school. I plan to major in something like business/economics, psychology, or philosophy.</p>

7

<p>I think you have a less than decent, but atleast a chance to make some of the schools on your list. There's nothing that particularly sets you apart from people that will have the same stats as you. You SAT score is great(minus writing, but many aren't even weighing it that much). I would agree with most people about your chances at those particular schools, they aren't great but they aren't horrible. However, I would recommend selecting some match/safety schools just to be on the safe side.</p>

<p>Good Luck</p>

8

<p>I agree w/the rest, except I think you have a good chance at USC - if you're not applying for financial aid.</p>