Hey everyone! I’m new to College Confidential and was wondering if anyone with some experience in the application/admission process could estimate my chances at a couple different schools.
The schools I’m looking at are: University of Maryland, University of Virginia, University of North Carolina, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton University.
About me: Male, Maryland resident, parents attended college, middle class family (75k<income<100k), current IB Diploma Candidate, attends a school that is roughly 55% hispanic 20% African-American 20% White along with nearly 40% of students on free & reduced meals
SAT Superscore: 1500 English/writing:730 Math:770 (retaking later this month with hopes of an 800 on math)
SAT one sitting: 1470 English/writing:700 Math:770
Unweighted GPA 4.0 scale: 4.0
Weighted GPA (APs & Honors weighted out of 5): 4.69 (taken every advanced class possible)
AP exam results: APUSH 4(freshmen year), AP Gov 4 (Sophomore year), AP Lang 4(didn’t take the class-junior year), AP Calc AB 4(sophomore year), AB Calc BC 4 & 5 for AB sub-core(junior year). Overall could have done better if I wasn’t lazy and actually got review books and studied.
IB exam results: IB Math sl 5, IB SPanish sl 5
Junior Year course load: IB English HL, IB History of the Americas HL, IB Physics HL, AP Calc BC(counts for IB math sl), IB Spanish 5 sl, IB Theory of Knowledge, Journalism.
Extracurriculars:
Debate Team(captain)-all 4 years of high school
School Newspaper(Editor-in-chief for junior & senior year)-sophomore-senior year
National Honor Society(treasurer junior year)-junior/senior year
Cross Country Team(captain senior year)-all 4 years of high school
Lacrosse Team(JV 2 years Varsity 2 years)-all 4 years of high school
Bocce Ball (helping special needs kids)-all 4 years of high school
Summer Swim Team-past 10 years
110 community service hours
Getting rec letters from calc & apush teachers along with IB coordinator rather than counslor.
Have not written an essay yet.
Thank you for all that read this and took the time to give me some feedback/guidance 
You should have great shot at UMD and Johns Hopkins. Are you a minority, too? What major are you interested in?
Have you looked at NC State? Did you do well on PSAT, too?
I’m white, interested in business/finance sector, and did pretty poorly on the PSAT (i think like 1290 )
Also forgot to add that I have worked as a lifeguard for the past 3 years during the summer approximately 30 hours a week. This also means I’m certified in CPR and lifesaving by The Red Cross.
Also look at Loyola University Maryland for business and scholarships.
You may not have as good a chance at Johns Hopkins as I first thought. See their federal data on admissions
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Johns+Hopkins&s=all&id=162928#admsns
Are you interested in playing a sport in college? Just anecdotal, I only know legacies or recruited athletes admitted to Johns Hopkins out of local kids.
NC-Chapel Hill and Virginia are reaches as they have a mandate to take in-state students first.
Georgetown strongly suggests 3 SAT Subject tests, meaning pretty much requires.
Perhaps replace your reach Ivies with more reasonable targets like Case Western and Rochester. I might add BU or Emory.
Consider the University of Georgia Honors College in Athens, Georgia.
Merit scholarship likely at the University of South Carolina.
What do you want to study in college ?
it looks to me like you have a shot anywhere including Ivies. obviously they are reaches, as they are for everyone. but you have a shot. UNC and UVA are really tough for out of state, maybe as hard or harder than Ivies. I do think you need to add some 2nd tier schools, like maybe a Tufts, Brandeis, Rochester, Case…
Sounds like finances are modest. The best strategy would be to apply to all the merit aid scholarships you can. The more prestigious you go, the less you stand out, and the less they’re going to give you. Right now, as it stands, you’re already eligible for a full tuition scholarship at University of Alabama and University of AZ. If you can get that SAT up to 1500, you’ll get a full tuition scholarship at TCU, and possibly Baylor. Try applying for scholarships in your home state as well.
For the exception of a merit scholarship, a private school is always a reach school. This is because you have to plan that they’ll short-change you on financial aid, which happens most the time. Good luck!
University of Maryland, College Park is a match; UVA, UNC, Georgetown, Hopkins, UPenn and Princeton are reaches. I think that you’d have a chance at UPenn at large, but a much lower chance at UPenn’s Wharton School of Business. To stand out and thereby increase your chances, you might consider emphasizing your interests in journalism and history, instead of (just on) finance and business, and highlight your commitment to service (life guard and bocce ball for special needs kids). Princeton does not have a business school, but it is known for its expertise in journalism, finance, economics, operations research and financial engineering (ORFE)
-start writing the all important essays ASAP;
-sign up and study for the SAT subject tests right away. Georgetown highly recommends them, while Princeton recommends them; I’d interpret these as “required”, especially with the hope of augmenting other test scores. Princeton also requires a graded paper, preferably in English or history, and not an expository writing.
-For UMD, “All freshman applicants to the University of Maryland who meet the priority application deadline of November 1 and are invited to the Honors College are considered for nomination to the Banneker/Key Scholarship.”
https://www.bannekerkey.umd.edu/index.html
Note that this UMD’s deadline is November 1 and they use the coalition app; the essay and short answers are very important for getting into their Honors College and Banneker Key scholarship.
Thank you all for the advice! I will definitely sign up for the October 5th sat date for subject tests. After looking at average test scores I thought that I could consider UVA and Georgetown also a match but I recognize the influence of the in-state quota system and need for subject tests respectively.
Also, perhaps use your very strong activities in cross country, swimming and lacrosse to your advantage; it might be worthwhile to look at the NESCAC schools: Amherst; Bates; Bowdoin; Colby; Connecticut College; Hamilton; Middlebury; Tufts; Trinity; Wesleyan; Williams. Yes, they play in D-III, but are excellent schools.
You’re a strong candidate for these schools, and I’ve seen kids with your profile do well but it’s more anecdotes than data. They’re still reaches, but I would EA to Georgetown, Maryland (which should be your in-state safety) and UVA and RD one or two more reaches (Penn, UNC, Princeton JHU etc.) and some of the matches that posters have brought up, assuming you get into Maryland EA.