Chances of getting into Ivy Leagues?! HELP!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Here are the colleges I really want to get into, ranging from Dream School to "It Would Be Nice to Get in There":</p>

<p>Harvard (I'd apply Early Action)
MIT
Yale
Brown
Columbia
UPenn
Johns Hopkins University
Boston University
Emerson College</p>

<p>(Any more college ideas would be welcome (I know there's a huge acceptance rate gap between most of them and the last few), so long as they're in the Mid-Atlantic, New England area)</p>

<p>Now about me...</p>

<p>Rising senior
Female
African-American</p>

<p>Cumulative GPA: 3.92 UW, My school doesn't weigh them
SAT I: 2300 (R:730, M:790, W:780) I think this was a miracle from Heaven, honestly
SAT II: Bio M: 750 (Another miracle) and Math IIC: 800</p>

<p>Courseload:
All Honors Freshman year (Out for a few months due to medical leave but still got the credits)
All Honors Sophomore year, one AP class
All Honors Junior year, two AP classes
Planning on taking one Honors course, four AP classes, and one Enriched class Senior year (Economics to fulfill a requirement) </p>

<p>I haven't been pushing myself as hard as I probably should have because between freshman and sophomore year, I was trying to get back on track with tutoring, etc. and I was wary of AP classes for a while.</p>

<p>APs: World History (3), Biology (5), and BC Calc (5), Planning on taking AP Euro, AP Lit and Composition, AP Physics B, and AP French</p>

<p>Classrank: 38 out of 363 as of first semester junior year, I don't know if this is still accurate</p>

<p>ECs: </p>

<p>Marching Band Color Guard and Indoor Color Guard for 2 years, soon to be 3
Member of National Honor Society for 1 year, soon to be 2
Member of Black Scholars for 2 years, soon to be 3
Participant in North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad for 3 years, soon to be 4
Cellist for 5 years, participant in various school-run and independent orchestras, quit due to illness Freshman year</p>

<p>Community Service:</p>

<p>Assistant Teacher at Church for ages 2-4 and Grades K-4 for 6 years, soon to be 7
Counselor for summer and school year Bible clubs for Grades K-2 for 2 years, maybe 3
Teacher of missionary-run inner-city Philadelphia Bible clubs for ages 5-13 for 2 years, maybe 3
Counselor/mentor for a Christian Day Camp for a week for four girls ages 9-12 for 1 year, maybe 2
Participant in various church-related Christmas events, including an Angel tree party for children of incarcerated parents for 2 years</p>

<p>No recognitions or awards. I think I can get good recommendations, but I am neither a good writer nor a good speaker, so the essays and interviews could as easily hurt me as help me.</p>

<p>So... Personally I think I'm doomed. I'm not academically stellar and nothing in my extra-curricular activities is particularly special or speaks to leadership and innovation and all that stuff colleges look for in people. But my dad thinks I've got this in the bag and he's so excited for me and already telling people I'm going to be a Harvard scholar, and Harvard's been my dream for as long as I can remember.</p>

<p>Is there any hope for me? Anything I should rethink or redo or take up to try to increase my chances of getting into any of these schools? </p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>I think you’ll get to Harvard…you’re a URM with great SAT scores and a not-so-bad GPA. Good luck.</p>

3

<p>You’re in. A lot of people will say its because of your race, and while that may help, you could definitely get in on your own merit. Start working on your essays now!</p>

4

<p>You could get in on your own merit, but that URM status nearly guarantees you acceptance to one of Penn/Columbia/Brown coupled with those standardized test scores!</p>

<p>Or so I would think. I hope that didn’t sound racist, it’s a good thing! Obviously you’ve worked quite hard in school :)</p>

5

<p>You’re a URM with a good GPA and an amazing SAT score… The only thing that’ll hurt you is your lack of APs. You’ll get into some great schools, I think have a decent shot at getting into all of them except for MIT; MIT students aren’t even human… Unless you have USAMO or Intel or Siemens somewhere on your application, I’d say MIT’s unlikely. You have a great chance everwhere else, though!</p>

6

<p>^ MIT really likes females and URM’s, so I think she will probably get into MIT.</p>

7

<p>As encouraging as they are, I’ve seen a lot of crazy posts filled with 2400s, 800s, 4.0s and pages of ECs. Is what I have really good enough just because I’m a URM?</p>

8

<p>Yes. Those people are asian.</p>

9

<p>You didn’t get those scores because they were miracles but u were smart hahaha! Anyway, yes underrepresented minorities with ur scores most definitely get in to places like harvard. And ur ahead of these people by a lot! I know URMs with a 2100 SAT and semi-decent class rank getting into these schools. Being a URM helps a lot! While we can’t guarantee ur admissions into Harvard u have a very very strong chance. And if Harvard doesn’t accept u, some other top institution will. Don’t sweat it! Good luck!</p>

10

<p>You’re practically guaranteed at all those schools except for Harvard, Yale, and MIT. As a URM myself (Hispanic), I know that the boost that the minority receives is pretty huge (almost unfairly so). Your SAT and subject test scores are fantastic and are probably your biggest asset. Your UW GPA is also great btw. </p>

<p>However you also have a lot of things that are lacking or could hurt your chances. First of all, your rank is not quite up to par with the standards of HYM. Hopefully when you receive your updated class rank, you’ll be atleast within the top 10%, since it could hurt your chances if you were outside that percentile. Also the lack of difficulty in your courseload and only a few AP classes probably will be noticed, although it won’t be that huge a deal.</p>

<p>Probably your biggest disadvantage is lack of significant ECs. All of the ones you mentioned are mostly random clubs or activities that are not unique, and you don’t seem to have prominent leadership positions. The community service/volunteering that you did is okay as well, although again not all that impressive. While you show more ‘leadership’ with the community service, being a teacher/counselor for little children won’t seem all that spectacular to admission officers. But all the ECs/volunteering you’ve done is still pretty good, so don’t worry about it too much.</p>

<p>At this point, all you can really do is make sure to write amazing essays and get great letters of recommendation. You say you’re not an exceptional writer, but nonetheless make sure to spend plenty of time and focus on writing your essays and you’ll be fine. Interviews make little difference in the admissions process so don’t worry about those for the schools that even offer them.</p>

<p>I’m sure everything will turn out fine, you’re still very qualified!</p>

<p>P.S. I’m not totally sure if you should mention the ‘cello’ EC. I am also a fellow cellist, however quitting as a freshman, regardless of the reason, may not look too good. Unless their are some sort of significant awards or activities associated with your time as a cellist in middle school, I would only put it at the very bottom of your ‘activity’ list at best</p>

11

<p>I think your in. But, the only question I have: is did you take your HSs hardest course load?</p>

12

<p>I feel very encouraged by all your replies, to the point where, even if I don’t get into any of my dream schools, I know that at least I had a fighting chance. It’s probably too late to do anything about the ECs or the AP to course load problems, but I will definitely spend some time on these essays, and let the chips fall where they may…</p>

<p>Thanks a third time, and good luck to any other seniors-to-be!</p>