Chances: UPenn, NYU, Columbia, Georgetown, Swarthmore, Dartmouth, Amherst, Tufts, J.H

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Planning (most likely) to apply to:</p>

<p>-University of Pennsylvania
-NYU
-Columbia
-Georgetown
-Swarthmore
-Dartmouth
-Amherst
-Tufts
-John Hopkins</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.859
Weighted GPA: 4.5 (approx. - I only say this because I'm not entirely sure, as one of my grades this year will be changed from an A to a B due to an AP score)</p>

<p>AP courses so far: 8</p>

<p>Class rank/size: 32/</p>

<p>SAT scores:
-Math: 670; Reading: 660; Writing: 700;
Combined: 1330 (or 2030 on other scale)</p>

<p>ACT scores:
-English: 35; Math: 29; Reading: 33; Science: 28;
Composite: 31</p>

<p>SAT II scores:
-French: 800
-Lit: 660
-Math 1: 650</p>

<p>AP Scores:
-Human Geo: 5
-US History: 5
-Chem: 2
-French: 5
-Bio: 4
-Lang: 5
-US Gov: 5
-Comparative Gov: 5
-To be taken next year: Lit, Stats, French, World History</p>

<p>EC's:
-Theatre productions/Thespians/tech theatre (every year since freshman)
-Colorado Columbine Girl's State (summer of junior year, a leadership program designed around Colorado State Government; every state has their own Boys and Girls State)
-French Honors Society (Secretary)
-Voice lessons
-Community Theatre
-NHS (junior year)</p>

<p>Employment: 1 job so far with Panache Catering - worked as a caterer for about a year.
(currently looking for another job)</p>

<p>Awards/Honors:
-8 faculty-selected awards (the kind given out at an awards night)
-3 academic letters
-3 performing arts letters</p>

<p>Anything else:
I'm sort of lost at this point, so I figured that coming to this site would be a good step. I have just about everything in line, as far as applying goes. I have letters of rec taken care of, I'm drafting potential essay and supplement questions, and I'm hopefully going to work in a few visits by the end of the summer. The only school that I really know a lot about is NYU, and that's basically my dream school. Though some of the other schools I have listed are more selective, I'm applying to them because I've been told by others that I stand a chance there. Obviously, I would still love to go to any Ivy or more selective school, so I'm applying for that reason as well. Other than that, I'm not sure what else to say, other than I would love input. Thanks!</p>

<p>ps - I'm sorry if I did anything wrong on the formatting of this "chances" post... I got my advice from "How to improve the chances of chances" thread and came up with this. This is also my first time posting.</p>

2

<p>Welcome :). I’ll be your first ‘chancer’ for this evening…
?'s: Your rank is ‘32’ out of what? Do you have hook-type things (like legacy, URM status,etc.)
Moving on, without any hooks I say… </p>

<p>-University of Pennsylvania: low reach
-NYU: low reach
-Columbia: reach
-Georgetown: reach
-Swarthmore: low reach
-Dartmouth: reachier
-Amherst: low reach
-Tufts: low reach
-John Hopkins: reachier</p>

<p>Your SAT is kind of low for the reachier ones. I also wouldn’t send that ‘2’ on Chem, or the Math or Lit to top tiers. 600’s won’t help your case. Overall, good job, but I would add some safeties.</p>

<p>Chance back?: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/741629-chance-improvements-2011-urm.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/741629-chance-improvements-2011-urm.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Where are your safeties?</p>

4

<p>Oops, forgot to post those. My bad.
One of my safeties is CU Boulder, and the other is McGill University.</p>

5

<p>Sorry, Jayay90, I couldn’t find the exact size of my class and I had left it blank to come back to it. I do know that I’m 32/ 750-something. I’m also planning on re-taking the SAT and the ACT. I don’t have time to re-take the SAT IIs, but I need three for those schools, so I guess I’m going to have to send all of them.
What do you mean by “hooks”? I don’t know what your examples were…</p>

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<p>Hooks I mean like if your parents/relatives went to the school (legacy), if you are a underrepresented minority,URM, like myself (Note: NOT asian). There are other things, recruited athlete, famous movie star lol, those types of things.</p>

<p>Your safties look safe enough. I say you might get into one, maybe two, of the ones you’ve listed. It’s all pretty reachy. Good luck and chance me back if you can.</p>

7

<p>Jayay90:
Thanks for the input.
I forgot to mention that I was selected for the initial stages of the National Merit Scholarship Award.
I’m not a URM, but I am a Canadian citizen if that counts for anything (I have a greencard and everything). French was my first language. I don’t have connections to alums or anything, but I think that with my writing, I stand a chance. My test scores may not be perfect, but I think my grades count for something. This year I took 5 APs and got straight As. I know that for applying to an Ivy, let’s say, that might be standard, but do test scores really count for everything? The institutions themselves claim that they don’t (though I’m aware that they do consider them heavily). I’m not perfect, but I have substance. I plan to make that apparent and sell myself through my essays and application.
Pardon my ranting. I suppose I’m trying to reassure myself, because of all a sudden, I’m so worried about the college ordeal that I’m literally losing sleep…</p>

8

<p>Do you have Canadian schools you would be happy with as back ups? Despite the cryptic messages from adcom, score are very important. Your current scores do not make you competitive at ivies. NYU is even a reach with current scores, though a possibility if you are full pay. </p>

<p>If you are counting on a US school, you would be wise to add some where your stats are well above median.</p>

9

<p>Lol simmer down!
I wasn’t trying to discourage you at all. Those are just really selective schools. It’s reachy for 99.9% of people!
And you’re right. Applying to an Ivy, ‘taking 5 AP’s and getting straight As’ IS standard. That’s why their Ivies lol. 4.0’s are very usual if not standard.
You have a shot, but your scores DO limit you. Don’t lose sleep about it. I’d say shorten that list and apply to maybe one or two safer schools. But then again, what the hell do I know?</p>

10

<p>Wow those are mostly the schools that I’ll be applying to. So without comparing me to you, and from a totally objective view, I think that Penn, Dartmouth, and Amherst would be some of the highest reach ones because of your lower SAT score. If you retake them and get in the 2300s, then you can breath a sigh of relief (above 33? for ACT).
The really good thing, I think, about your app is that your rank is high, GPA is high, and AP scores are resonable very good. Plus the fact that you’ve taken so many. If you can, retake the SAT II’s, especially in subjects that you did well in (in AP), since the topics will be more familiar to you.</p>

11

<p>hmom5:
I have 1 Canadian school for back-up so far, being McGill. I suppose I’ll look at others.
I do plan on retaking both the SAT and the ACT, as I took the SAT a year ago and the ACT without any prep.
Do you mean to say that NYU might accept me if I actually paid full tuition? That sounds crazy to me. Not that I mean to question you personally, it’s just that I’ve had lots of other reliable sources tell me that I have a good chance at NYU. Ivies, maybe not, and I understand that, but whereas other sources have told me that I’m good enough, this site is the first where i feel totally underminded.</p>

<p>edit: I’m sorry if that came out rather firey. I get worked up sometimes, haha.</p>

12

<p>Jayay90:</p>

<p>Lol, sorry, I didn’t mean to get fired up. You’re right about shortening the list. I’ve had a revelation (in the past 5 minutes, haha) that I don’t really want to be in an Ivy atmosphere all that much… I want to go to a school where I can be with people who appreciate being there to learn, to grow… that might sound corny as hell, haha, but I don’t want to compete too much anymore. I DO want to be challenged, and that’s why I’m planning on applying to more difficult schools…
But I will definitely take your advice about changing my options to include more safe schools. Although, NYU is still going to be my top choice. I really have a feeling about that school.</p>

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<p>onewcandy:
Thanks a lot for the encouragement. i DO plan on retaking them as soon as possible.</p>

14

<p>-University of Pennsylvania: High Reach
-NYU: low reach
-Columbia: reach
-Georgetown: low reach
-Swarthmore: in
-Dartmouth: mid reach
-Amherst: low reach
-Tufts: low reach
-John Hopkins: mid reach
Can you chance me back</p>

15

<p>Sorry to be a downer… but most of these chance posts seem to be a bit off. It looks to me like your school is not very rigorous at all/seems as if your school may not be a “USA type” school…</p>

<p>That being said, I really can’t see Penn, Columbia, Dartmouth, Swarthmore or Amherst as anything other than reaches(Columbia, Swarthmore and possibly Dartmouth/Penn(depending on the major… business and engineering are very tough) as high reaches)… I would say NYU ED would be your best bet… being full pay there helps a lot but no where else really(On your list anyway). </p>

<p>I can’t say a single school on your list is a safety. Hopkins may be a match(None of the others are!)… Your SAT II scores aren’t that impressive either… You’ll want to retake all of the SAT tests and even the ACT. </p>

<p>Safety to me means ECs/Grades/Rigor/Scores are in the top 25%(75th percentile). Your Rigor is top 25% probably, grades are top 50%(brought down by your school I believe… the scores compared to the GPA don’t match up very well making your school look easy), I would say ECs are top 50% and scores are average/top 50%.</p>

<p>All of your achievements look to be in school(other then girl scouts)(NHS is not that impressive considering how some top schools don’t even offer it to their students)… Not very impressive for Columbia or Amherst or Swarthmore… I would put these as high reaches. If you were an international language Olympiad(seems like your strength) that would really help and give you that jump.(Example of a great outside of school contest award)</p>

<p>Best chance is at Hopkins(Low reach/Match) followed by NYU(Low Reach), Tufts-Amherst(Reaches), Dartmouth, Swarthmore(I don’t understand why jlighter put “in”… Swarthmore is more rigorous than any ivy except yale, harvard and Wharton(Penn’s B school) My school sent 5 kids there and they have on average a 3.8 GPA which is around the accepted average for HYPSM), Georgetown, Columbia, Penn(HIGH reaches)</p>

16

<p>oh, thanks for this, but I’m currently a freshman in the Honors Program at Seattle University. And after I posted this, I got a 34 on my ACT re-take, so I think I would have had better odds. That did get me 20K in academic scholarships though. But thanks anyways! Turns out I’m not an east-coast girl after all :)</p>

17

<p>scores too low for penn/columbia</p>

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<p>READ aston READ, especially the last post.</p>

19

<p>oh, and I did get accepted to NYU :)</p>

20

<p>good job. phenomenal job</p>