Chances to Top Schools (Northwestern, Notre Dame, UMich, Cornell, etc)+Suggestions

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello all, thanks for helping me out!

I’m currently a Junior, and I’d like to find out my chances at some schools I’ve been thinking about, and I’d also like some suggestions on how to improve my list of colleges. Also, if you could advise me on what else to do in order to improve my chances, that would be awesome. Sorry for the long post (I was sure it would be really short, but I got a bit carried away).

Demographics: White, middle class, Maryland public school
Intended major: Not positive, but probably something in the social sciences/humanities. Economics, political science, maybe philosophy as a minor or something

Academics:
GPA: 3.95ish UW, 4.65ish W
Ranks: Don’t think my school ranks, but probably top 5% or better if they did
High school: Pretty average public school, about 1700-1800 students
I’ve basically taken the hardest courses available (lots of honors freshman/sophomore year)
Junior Year Courses: AP Economics (Micro and Macro), AP Calculus BC, AP World History, AP Lang, AP Seminar, also 1 honors class
Senior Year Courses: AP Comp. Gov, AP Human Geo, AP Lit, AP Research, AP Physics C, Multivariable Calculus (I’m also considering self-studying for AP Stats, but who knows, it’ll depend on how crazy my schedule is)
SAT: 1510 (770M, 740EBRW) One sitting. I haven’t gotten my score back from March yet, but I doubt I improved significantly (at the very best I got a 1540). Should I retake again?
SAT II: Plan to take World and either Math II, Literature, or both this year
AP Scores: Computer Science (4), US Gov (5)

Extracurriculars (definitely my weakness):
Debate team (officer), my partner and I were one of the 16 best pairs out of like 250+ in the county this year
Paid intern for a business executive launching a startup (only 3-5 hours per week, but might work longer hours in the summer)
Varsity golf (captain next year)
Model UN
3-4 other fairly minor things, don’t want to bore you all. Unfortunately, I haven’t been too interested in any specific activity, I just do kind of standard stuff, nothing that great. I will say that I’m pretty committed to the few things I do, I spend a decent amount of time on most of these (golf especially). I’m trying to find stuff to do over the summer.

Community Service: I have something like 80 hours, just random stuff (mostly for school)

Honors/Awards:
NHS, NEHS
1470 PSAT (selection index 220 I believe), so definitely National Merit commended, maybe semi-finalist (probably not though MD is a tough state)
Minor academic stuff for high grades

Schools:
I’m looking for a medium to large university, preferably fairly strong in everything because I could definitely change my mind about my major. Here is my list so far (tell me if these categories do not seem accurate)
Safety: UMD, Wisconsin (third-generation legacy), Miami of Ohio
Match: UNC, UVA, UMich, Boston College
Reach: Notre Dame, Northwestern, WUSTL, Cornell
Super Reach: UChicago

I’d be ecstatic if I were accepted at just one of my reach schools, and I will still be happy at basically any of the other places. For what it’s worth, according to Naviance, nobody with my stats or better has been rejected at UMD, Wisconsin, Miami, UVA, UMich, or Northwestern (I know that’s a fluke). I know it’s about more than just stats, but this is why I think that the schools I’ve listed are safe enough. My guidance counselor is extremely optimistic (said that Michigan was probably a safety based on Naviance, which I’m not too sure about). Trust me, I fully understand I don’t have much of a shot at Chicago, I might not even apply.

Thank you for your time!

2

Oh, one more thing I forgot to ask: is there any way I should be applying ED to Northwestern without having visited? It’s definitely one of my top choices, if not my first choice. I know their acceptance rate is like three times higher for ED (although I’m also aware that the ED applicant pool is likely stronger, and includes recruited athletes and other hooked students). So is it 100% necessary for me to visit either in the summer or fall and then apply early, or should I apply early but not necessarily visit, or should I just not apply early at all? Thanks again!

3

I would NOT apply ED to a school you’ve never visited.

I think you have a good list, although OOS for UVA and UNC may be more of a reach, particularly UNC.

Are all of the schools on your list affordable?

4

Thanks for responding! Yeah, I kinda figured I shouldn’t try ED. Also you’re probably right that those two are tough, they have so few spots for out of staters. As far as affordability, I’m looking into scholarships, I’m pretty sure I qualify for the yellow ribbon program (if anyone has any experience with that please give me some info on it) because I’m a dependent of an active duty military member. I am also hoping to qualify for financial aid… I know at a lot of private schools people in my income bracket get significantly reduced tuition. So average, I’m not going to say finances aren’t a concern, however I’m fairly certain that most of these schools will be affordable. Once again, thanks for your time!

5

So I’m just about in the same boat. 3.8-3.9-ish UW with a 4.25 W (this is really around a 4.7-4.8 on the standard scale I believe, as our school is a private Catholic school and it has a super weird AP/honors scale in GPA format). I’d say that UChicago is in fact a super reach, but don’t get yourself down about that, it’s a super reach for everyone with its 7% (yeesh) acceptance rate. As for UMD, Wisconsin, and Miami, those are in fact safeties I believe. Since your extracurriculars don’t show much leadership other than debate and golf, I’d say that UMich is more a reach than a match or safety (not trying to denounce your counselor’s decision on this, but this is just my opinion). Michigan is known to care about school interest, so be sure to be solid in your essays (and that you visit!!!), congrats on there being nobody rejected at your stats being you’re out of state! That’s a very impressive feat for your school, though you do in fact have great stats, pal. As for UNC and UVA, those are out of state public schools (unfortunately), so those would be placed in reach, particularly UNC because they’re very well known to reject even the best candidates out of state (my friend got into Harvard, Yale, and UMich, and got rejected by UNC). As for Northwestern ED, that’s a dangerous situation, definitely visit a school before choosing ED, especially Northwestern because they’re a very unique school, just like Carnegie Mellon in a way. As for your other difficulty placements, they’re pretty on spot from your profile/stats. I think you have a shot at a lot of these schools, especially with your PSAT/SAT and your national merit potential (definitely a plus on your application). Your safeties might even grant you some very large scholarships, so definitely work hard on their applications (specifically UMD because it’s a fantastic school + you get to stay close to home/family). I would try to add more in terms of extracurriculars (although you already know this), and my tip (this is what I did) would be to try and reach out to the upperclassmen who have those leadership/president positions and to inquire about maybe a position opening up in the organization, such as a director of communications, or even secretary, anything! If you could post back onto my “chance me” thread that’d be fantastic, my college counselor is a jerk and has no clue what he’s talking about so I’m just going off of what some people think of my profile to give me a sense of what’s goin on. Good luck!

6

@piffthemagic_dragon thanks for your time. Yeah once again I’m not too surprised that you’d categorize those OOS schools that way, they’re definitely tough! You’re scaring me a bit by telling me about the kid who got into those ivies but not UNC, that’s very eye-opening (and disconcerting). I will probably have to visit northwestern, it does seem foolish to commit without having seen the campus. Thanks so much!

7

Yeah the “ivy kid” as we all like to call him (he eventually got into Cornell and Columbia as well through defer/accept process) was also waitlisted by Emory, so honestly it just goes to show that the process is a crapshoot when it comes down to the nitty gritty. You’re definitely in a good position, keep it up!

8

@piffthemagic_dragon Thanks so much!

9

@piffthemagic_dragon why is Northwestern very unique? In what why? Just wondering

10

@ilosic well, Northwestern is kind of a mix of unique people, typically people that are uber-smart and “geeky” was the vibe I got predominantly. Just like CMU, Northwestern is kind of a melting pot of personalities. You have everything from the uber-geniuses to the stellar athletes of a big 10 school to the insanely talented theatre students, and everything in between. Northwestern isn’t like your typical college, which is what I loved about it, so you really have to go there to see what I’m trying to explain.

11

Update: thinking of adding Georgetown, Tufts, and Rochester. Is this too many schools now? Also, can tufts be considered a match or is it more of a reach? Thanks