Chances of Getting into an Ivy

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi! My dream school is getting into Stanford, but I’m interested to see what everyone thinks of my chances of getting into an Ivy school in general. Here’s what my application looks like as of now:

PROFILE

I go to an IB school in a low income area in Southeast Michigan. I am a Pakistani female and I’m Muslim, and I was born here. My parents both went to college but in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia so I’m the first kid in the family to go to college in America. I have a little brother but he won’t be in college the same time as me so that won’t affect much.

GRADES/SCORES

School: Washtenaw Intl. High School in Ypsi, MI
GPA: 3.98
SAT: I’ve had two attempts so far.

    1540 (Second attempt)
750 reading, 790 math

1440 (first attempt)
690 reading, 750 math

ACT: I do not plan on doing the ACT
Class rank: My school doesn’t do class ranks. (But I assume I am in the 99th percentile)
Class size: 120 kids
Classes: I’m in the IB Diploma Program and will be graduating with an IB diploma. In junior year, 6 out of 8 of my classes were IB classes. In senior year, I will take 7 IB classes out of 8. Here’s the ones I took:

Junior year:
IB Biology HL 1
IB Chemistry HL 1
IB Literature HL 1
IB History HL 1
IB French SL 1
IB Math HL 1

Senior year:
IB Biology HL 2
IB Chemistry HL 2
IB Literature HL 2
IB History SL 2
IB French SL 2
IB Math HL 2
IB Global Politics SL 1

EXTRACURRICULARS

I also have smaller ones here and there but I only added the ones that I had important leadership roles in and/or significantly impacted me as a person.

Student Council:
I have been on stuco all four years. My freshmen and sophomore year I was a representative, and junior year I was class president. Senior year I was student body president.

Forensics:

This club was my pride and joy lol. In freshman year I qualified for states, in sophomore year I was 4th in the state in Oratory and qualified for nationals. I took 4th in the State for Oratory in junior year again. I was also a student coach for my team during junior and senior year.

MSA (Muslim Student Association):
I was on board my sophomore year. I was president during my senior year.

Diversity Alliance:
A club built to spread cultural appreciation throughout the school. I was treasurer during my senior year.

OTHER

World Hijab Day: I lead and organized this for my high school all four years
French Honor Society: throughout junior and senior year
NHS: throughout junior and senior year
Internships: I did one with a bariatric surgeon, one at the legal affairs office of a university, and one with Michigan Radio/NPR
Volunteer: 50+ hours at a hospital and clinic

Thanks guys!

2

Your chances are lousy. Stanford has a rejection rate of 96%. After your grades and scores get to a certain point, all of them look exactly the same and it becomes impossible to stand out. They’re standard issue smart kids with zero diversity.

3

Unless your last name is Obama, Putin, Rockefeller, Gates, you-get-my-drift, your chances are NOT good. These are schools with single digit admit rates… so you can imagine how tough it is once they let in the rich kids, the legacies, the athletes, the International Olympiad champs, etc. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply. Just be realistic and apply to match schools and safeties as well.

4

Although these last 2 posts may be true, don’t let that discourage you. Work hard in school and hard in your extracurricular until application time. You may never know what could happen! Definitely apply and see. Also, be sure to find target schools and other reach schools. There are a lot of schools that you will be able to get into considering your stats. And be sure to write some great essays!

5

I think that you have a really good chance. You have an awesome story, and you never know when a little luck will swing your way. I got in with a 1400, and I’m not a legacy, rich, an athlete or a champion like the previous comments suggest. People say Harvard admissions is tough, but that is the school discouraging kids from applying. Actually talk to kids who apply. They all get in.

6

It’s not “people” who say Harvard admission is tough. It’s Harvard’s own admissions NUMBERS. In other words, it’s not some anecdotal stories we hear and repeat. It’s sheer DATA, aka FACTS.

7

Op’s low income status can be a hook, just as @HarvardBound2018 ?

8

I’d recommend that you give up the idea of dream schools and work to create a solid college list that includes reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (find out your parents’ budget and run the net price calculator for each school) and that you would be happy to attend. The people I see who get hurt by the college admission process are the ones who focus on the hyper-competitive schools and then don’t get in. Cast a wide net and recognize that (assuming no major hook) Stanford and the other top tier colleges are reaches for pretty much everyone. You need to expand your horizons and recognize that there are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life

9

Don’t “give up the idea of dream schools” but certainly be realistic. I see nothing in OP’s post that indicates she was limiting herself to Stanford and the Ivies. She was asking a question. Perhaps the adults on this site could answer that question rather than criticizing her for something she did not say and may have no intention of doing.

10

@AboutTheSame I don’t like the idea of “dream schools” because I’ve seen too many people on CC and who I’ve known personally who pin all their hopes and dreams onto the idea of attending one school or one small group of schools and then get deflated/disappointed/upset etc. if things don’t work out. Some people have difficulty moving on to other excellent options if they don’t get into that “dream school”. I guess we will have to agree to disagree on that point.

My comments were not in any way meant as criticism of the OP – I simply wanted to give the OP my opinion of the importance of developing a well rounded application list. Hopefully he/she will take the comment as food for thought. This is the same approach my kids and I took as they went through this process. Please do not read things into a post that aren’t there.

I thought I was clear in my post that the OP should absolutely apply to some reach schools – I believe that reach schools should be part of the process and sometimes things do work out as hoped. Clearly the OP is academically well qualified. I also did mean to insinuate that the OP has not considered other alternatives – that was not discussed in his/her post so I have no way of knowing.

As for chancing at Stanford and the Ivy’s – IMO it is impossible. With acceptance rates of 10% and less (some under 5%) it is impossible to chance an unhooked applicant at these schools. Strong academics are not enough to provide a meaningful chance. It comes down to how a particular application strikes the admission officers, if an essay/LOR or anything else makes an applicant stand out from the exceedingly well qualified crowd etc.

I certainly wish the OP the best as he/she moves on with the application process.

11

Speaking for Stanford your best bet is to have a hook that is really really unique. Otherwise as the other posters have said, it’s a real reach, not only for you but for almost everyone else as well.

12

The issue with having dream schools is kids think the big deal is that dream, how much they want College X. But that’s no tip, it takes a lot of awareness and savvy to master the app prep and process for a super elite. From what OP tells here, I suspect she doesn’t know yet what the various Ivies and Stanford look for. It’s more thsn stats, some ECs.

Start there.

What major and what ECs relate to that? If it’s stem, any math-sci ECs?

“Actually talk to kids who apply. They all get in.” Lol, obviously they don’t, with 90%+ rejected. And it’s not about a unique hook if the rest of the picture isn’t there.

13

You are a competitive applicant. Your stats are great and your ECs are decent. Write good essays, apply somewhere ED, and you could get accepted to any of these schools

14

I think that your chances of getting into a great school are excellent. Your chances of doing very well wherever you go are excellent.

Having one of the top 2 or 3 public universities in the country as your in-state flagship might also help. The people that I have known that have graduated from U.Michigan have ranged from very strong to excellent to world class at whatever career they have taken on.

The chances that the great school that you get into will be either Stanford or Harvard are rather low, as others have pointed out.