Chances Yale, UPenn etc - trying to decide about EA/ED

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>So I'm a rising senior and I thought I'd definitely apply early decision UPenn (I'm a legacy, I love the school) but I just visited Yale this weekend and I really fell in love. The problem is my chances at Yale probably aren't so great so I don't know whether its worth jeopardizing my chances at Upenn by not applying early so that I can reach for Yale.</p>

<p>Any input would be really appreciate</p>

<p>Colleges I'm considering: UPenn, Yale, McGill, NYU, UChicago, Brown, Northwestern etc
I also need to find some safeties</p>

<p>Female
Residence: Maryland
Citzenship: US and Great Britain
SAT I: Cr-800 M-730 W-800 C-2330
SAT II: US history-760; planning to take Math II and French in October
GPA: 3.8 unweighted
I went to an extremely competitive private high school in Washington DC freshman and sophomore year that I hated. I got a 3.52 freshman year (very worrying) and 3.85 sophomore year. I transferred to the local public school into the IB Program for junior year and got a 4.00 unweighted 5.00 (one of maybe 5 students to achieve this in IB). The classes at the public school are just as difficult I'm just trying so much harder this year.
Rank: school doesn't rank
Schedule: Most rigorous. I took the hardest classes offered while at the private school (no APs allowed for underclassmen tho) and junior/senior years i'm in full IB.
I self-studied APUS this year and hopefully got a 5</p>

<p>Senior Schedule:
IB Eng
AP BC Calc
IB Hist
IB French 7 (highest French course offered)
IB Theory of Knowledge (it's an IB requirement)
IB Psych
AP Gov
AP Bio (outside of school, online, got department permission to skip regular/honors bio)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
*Figure Skating: Figure skated competitively from age 8 until age 16. Took lessons twice a week and practiced 3-5 other days per week. Participated in the Pre-Olympic Training Program at Lake Placid, New York for four summers beginning with the summer before 6th grade.
Tested and passed up through USFSA Pre-Juvenile level.
Participated in the winter productions at the Wheaton Ice Arena from 7th-9th grade.
Passed Ice Dancing tests through USFSA Preliminary as part of the Wheaton Ice Skating Academy.
Passed up through and competed locally at the ISI Freestyle Level 7.
Bronze Medalist at the 2003 District IV Championship.
Spent summers '06, '05, '04 and '03 training at the Lake Placid Olympic Center under the coaching of 1963 US National Champion Thomas Litz and US Figure Skating Gold Medalist Tammy Lalande.
Took ballet classes once a week to improve skating
*after quitting figure skating last summer I tried a number of different sports:
- 2008-2009 Varsity Indoor Track
- 2009 Varsity Outdoor Track and Field
- now I play tennis and take lessons 2-3 a week. I'll probably be on the school team in the fall
*Staff Contributor and Member of Editorial Board for school Literary Magazine (9-10)
*Environmental Awareness Club member (9-10)
*It's Academic member (11)
*worked on the Obama Campaign fall 2008. volunteered 2-3 afternoons a week at the field office in my area for 2 months. also went door-to-door in nj twice.
*spent a lot of time at my local temple. Religious/Hebrew classes twice a week from ages 10 to 16. went on temple-sponsored trip to Israel and Jordan last summer. </p>

<p>Summer:
* before 10th grade: High School Intern at WJLA ABC 7 under medical reporter Kathy Fowler
*before 11th: volunteered at St. Albans Early Child Care Center - 150ish hours
*this summer: received an award from NIH based on grant proposal to work at the Pacific Institute of Research and Evaluation. study concerns teen driving and the increase in the female crash rate with the institution of the graduated licensing laws. hopefully will end up co-authoring a research paper to be published</p>

<p>I'm sure you can tell by now that I have really no idea what career I'd like to pursue</p>

<p>Awards:
Principle's Honor Roll 11th grade
Top 5 in the National French Contest both 9th and 10th grades
Assuming National Merit Semifinalist (got a 231)</p>

<p>Okay sorry that was so long. I'd really appreciate any feedback. Also, if you think of any good safeties I'd love to hear it</p>

2

<p>Test scores look great. Extracurriculars are varied and seem to show leadership and participation in your community. </p>

<p>Your GPA is a tad low, but I’m sure the rigor of the courses will make up for that.</p>

<p>You have legacy.</p>

<p>I’d say Yale is a good goal. It’s a reach, but it is for everyone.</p>

3

<p>Your GPA is on an upward trend; that is a very good thing. Most schools are willing to account freshman year with very little, if any, importance.</p>

<p>I can certainly sense that you are in a very difficult situation. If you applied to Penn ED, you are almost a sure-fire guarantee due to your legacy status and your highly-qualified profile. However, if you truly feel like you want to go to Yale, apply there. You still have a decent chance on making Penn RD if Yale doesn’t work out.</p>

4

<p>Your test scores are GREAT! :slight_smile: Take some more of those SAT IIs (Yale requires 3) and if you can stay in the range that you got for USH, you should be good to go. Your GPA is a little bit on the low side, but monstor is right, the upward trend thing works in your favor.
I’d say you have a GREAT shot at Penn (80%) if you applied there ED. Your chances at Yale I think are somewhat lower, just because you dont have the legacy and stuff, so my guess is you’d prooobably be deferred SCEA, in which case you could apply to Penn/Yale RD.
Just figure out which one of those you like better and apply ED there…easier said than done, I know :stuck_out_tongue:
Chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/736548-chance-me-top-schools-ivies.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/736548-chance-me-top-schools-ivies.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Fuzzyfirebunny, Yale requires 2 SAT IIs along with either the SAT or ACT :smiley: Yay!</p>

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<p>yeah I’ll probably have three by the time I apply anyways but at least if I do badly on one it won’t matter so much
i just really dont know whether or not to apply early. i have the same question as fuzzyfirebunny had in her other thread; how much does applying early improve chances for yale? because my gpa would probably be higher if i applied regular…</p>

<p>thanks for the comments! ill chance back</p>

7

<p>I say you have great chances at both!! I would do either one and, at this point, you need to see which one you love more. I had to do that between brown and yale. I chose Yale, even though my brother goes to Brown, because I kind of want to go to an area where I’m alone and it’s only me.</p>

8

<p>bumpppppppp</p>

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<p>You lose much of the legacy boost at Penn if you don’t apply ED. </p>

<p>I’d take a hard look at where you stand in your class. Yale and Penn figure out the rank where schools don’t rank. If you’re not at the top of your class Yale is a long shot and probably not worth the gamble if you like Penn. </p>

<p>The first two years hurt. There is little chance they will see your public school as being as competitive as a top DC private making Yaale unlikely without something special.</p>

<p>On the other hand, you have good stats for a legacy ED at Penn.</p>

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<p>I am in the same situation: I love both Penn and Yale, and I am a legacy at Penn. If you apply Penn ED, you have an astronomically high chance of being admitted because of your high test scores, strong extracurriculars, and legacy status. However, if you apply Yale SCEA and Penn RD, you risk not being admitted to either, as Penn often looks down upon Legacies that do not apply early. At least that’s what I’ve heard, and that’s the situation I’m in. I think you should just think about whether or not you would be willing to risk your Penn legacy status, and about how much more you actually like Yale than Penn. It’s all about where you’d rather be - you are qualified for both.</p>

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<p>I may be alone in this, but I feel like you would get into Penn, unless we’re talking Wharton, regardless of legacy status or ED, whereas I cannot say the same for Yale. I would apply Early to Yale if that is really where you want to go, and apply regular to Penn ecause you have a very good shot there anyways</p>

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<p>thanks. and no im not looking at Wharton. just the college</p>

<p>and hmom5 does it help that the public school is in the top 30 in the nation according to newsweek?
also how would yale and upenn determine the rankings themselves?
i will see if i can approximate my rank but my school does not give out that information. we dont have valedictorians etc.</p>

<p>thanks for the feedback</p>

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<p>bump. 10char.</p>

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<p>They use your school data and historical data from applicants from your school. Counselors also typically have relationships with adcom and will discuss who is at the top.</p>

<p>Top schools have a unique set of problems–they typically send many applicants to top colleges and your first line of competition is your own classmates.</p>

<p>I’m a Penn grad who has interviewed for 3 decades. The legacy advantage is mostly ED.</p>

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<p>Thanks hmom5
do you know if there’s any legacy advantage rd? or do they look down on legacy applicants who don’t apply early?</p>

<p>yeah i definitely understand. It’s just frustrating because I was in the top 5% of my class at the private school (there was serious grade deflation) but now that I’ve transferred I’m only in the top 10 or 20%</p>

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<p>Well, in my opinion, you have very good chances at UPenn. I wouldnt EA at Yale, even if I’d fell in love with Yale. It’s just too hard.
But finally you will have to decide, i think you are the only one to answer this question</p>

<p>Chance Back?</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/745578-what-colleges-should-asian-germany-look-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/745578-what-colleges-should-asian-germany-look-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Okay, here’s the breakdown. Mind you, the information that I am writing down is based on several college admission tomes and my experience with public and private admissions officers. </p>

<p>GPA: Low, compared to most of the applicants to these institutions. Unlike many previous posters, I am not sure if your ECs will be able to cover it, as I will explain later. However, since they are on an upward trend, it should not affect you at a significant degree, or at all. Very strong senior schedule, aim for a perfect grade for senior year, although I am sure you knew this.</p>

<p>Standardized Testing: Solid. You do not need a repeat, unless you really want to.</p>

<p>ECs: Here’s where it gets slightly tricky. Usually, colleges do not consider ECs that are discontinued in high school. No doubt about it, you are very accomplished ice skater, but considering the fact that there are hundreds of current high-level figure skaters at our age, a great consideration for your top EC is doubtful. In addition, other sports are not supremely important unless you are recruited. In addition, there is a lack of leadership positions in your current activities. </p>

<p>Focus: You’ve said that you do not have a singular focus for your career yet. This may be a problem, as top-tier institutions want applicants who are driven to pursue one goal and become the leading figure of that area. After all, it brings the institution prestige. If you can, try to decide before you write your applications. Based on your summer activities, I believe you demonstrate focus in a medical or research related field. </p>

<p>Awards: Placing nationally in French is impressive, but there is a dearth of other information that suggests this as your major hook. </p>

<p>UPenn – High Match, but you MUST apply to UPenn early to have the full benefits of your legacy status
Yale – High Reach
McGill - ?
NYU – High Match
UChicago – Low/Mid Reach
Brown – Mid/High Reach
Northwestern – Low Reach</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/746334-what-my-chances-these-liberal-arts-colleges-others.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/746334-what-my-chances-these-liberal-arts-colleges-others.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>

</p>

<p>How did your rank go down if your GPA went up? I’m assuming that very few people at your public school have a 4.0, and so I’m confused as to why you are not in the top of your class.</p>

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<p>monstor344 it’s because my freshman and sophmore year gpas are averaged in. Also, the private school I went to only weighted AP classes and so even though I took the most rigorous schedule at that school, it doesn’t transfer to the public school. As a result my weighted gpa is considerably lower than those of the top students who were in weighted classes throughout freshman and sophmore years. </p>

<p>Yeah I probably won’t bother applying to Yale EA but I’m still not confident I want to go to UPenn…</p>

<p>I’ve updated my list -
now the list is:
UPenn
Yale
Brown
UC Berkeley
Stanford
Oxford
Northwestern
Williams
Haverford
NYU
UMichigan
McGill</p>

<p>thanks for the chances!</p>

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<p>bumpppppppp</p>