chances/recommendations for colleges! please help!

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi! I am thinking about to applying to Duke, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Brown, Amherst, Dartmouth, Harvard (just to apply lol), University of Washington (safety), and maybe a few more?? I would appreciate it very much if you guys can chance me and maybe also recommend other colleges that would fit me!</p>

<p>I am from Yakima, WA
unweighted GPA: 4.0 (Full IB diploma)
SAT: 2090 (aiming for around 2150-2200 this october)
SAT II: math2 - 750 (should i retake? i know i can do better if i studied...)
korean w/ listening - 800
spanish w/o listening - 610 (lol i just did it for the heck of it)
chemistry - haven't taken it yet, should i? i have books for it already...</p>

<p>EC:
Sports: volleyball (4yrs), tennis (4yrs), basketball (1yr), cheerleading (1yr)
Clubs: Key Club (Pres.), Interact Club (3yrs), Asian Culinary Club (2yrs), Drama Club (2yrs), Spanish Club (2yrs), National Honor Society</p>

<p>YouthWorks Council -treasurer (2yrs) : This is a student-led council at the hospital where we put on events and fund raise for the children with special-needs</p>

<p>One-to-One Mentor (2yrs) : This is also a hospital-run program where you attend fun classes such as basketball, yoga, dance, etc. with kids with special-needs and mentor/become friends with them. It is an amazing experience.</p>

<p>Kids On The Block (2yrs) : Also a hospital-run program. This is where a group of high school students go around to elementary schools and other events with puppet shows that sends the message that children with special-needs are the same as everyone and that they should be treated the same.</p>

<p>Tutoring at school library (2yrs) : I tutored during the school year and as well as during the summer. Everyone else who tutors gets paid, but I volunteer.</p>

<p>ASB- junior class officer, senior class vice president</p>

<p>School pageant coordinator (2yrs)</p>

<p>Jazz choir - piano player (2yrs)
Church choir/piano player (3yrs)
(I've played the piano for about 9 years now but only volunteered, didn't go to competitions or anything)</p>

<p>Follies (3yrs) -school talent show</p>

<p>Awards:
Nothing special... just typical most improved, most inspirational, etc. awards from sports and principal's awards, science department award,...</p>

<p>Jobs:
Swimming pool/concession stand (summer job 1 yr)
Motel front desk (1 yr): parents owned a motel, helped out
Grocery store/gas station cashier (3 yrs): also parents owned mini mart, woke up at 3am every morning during summer, woke up at 5am every morning during school</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

2

<p>bump! please help!</p>

3

<p>I think the majority of the schools you mentioned would be reaches even if you did bring your SAT score up, because while you’re strong application, there’s nothing that makes you stand out too much. You’ve got a strong shot at Amherst, but the rest are all definite reaches, especially Harvard.</p>

4

<p>You have the basic qualifiications for almost all of those schools.</p>

<p>It is such a crapshoot, however, given the low acceptance rates of these schools, that you may get into almost all of them, or none of them.</p>

<p>You might get into one or two for some silly reason, such as they don’t have enough people attending from the Pacific Northwest.</p>

5

<p>^ Getting into an Ivy League isn’t THAT random. :mad:</p>

<p>Anyway, find out what you want to do in college and work off of that. :)</p>

6

<p>thanks for the replies, can anyone suggest some match / low-reach schools for me?</p>

7

<p>Based on the numbers: Duke (High Match-Low Reach), Cornell (High Match-Low Reach), Vanderbilt (High Match), Northwestern (High Match-Low Reach), Brown (Low Reach), Amherst (High Match), Dartmouth (Low Reach), Harvard (High Reach).</p>

<p>The real problem is that all these schools have <20% acceptance rates, and some <10%.</p>

<p>With your numbers – as a rule of thumb – schools ranked 15-25 in USNW&R are in the (Match-High Match) range 25-40 (Match), 40-50 (Low Match) and once you get below 50 you’re beginning to get to safety school range.</p>

<p>Add 100 points or so to the SAT and everything bumps up a notch.</p>

8

<p>zaphyr15- thank you so much for your reply! i am studying really hard for the SAT now and hoping to get around 2200 in october. hopefully that will increase my chances somewhat to my reach schools. thanks again!</p>