chances?

<p>hey, I was wondering about my chances at:
brandeis, brown, CMU, grinnell, harvard, haverford, pomona/CMC, rice, reed stanford, tufts, yale...
prospective tripple major:
computer science, creative writing, linguistics(foreign language, modern languages, or the like)</p>

<p>my Stats:
female white Texan
GPA 4.08/4.6 (3.54/4.0?)
RANK top 11% circa #50 out of 450? who do i ask to find out what my rank actually is?
SATs:
720M 630V 670WR
ECs:
fencing-competative member-9-12/wk (3 yrs)
aikido-5th kyu (yellow belt)-5/wk (6 yrs)
german club - secretary - 1/wk (3 yrs)
latin club - member - 1/wk (1 yr)
programming team - member - 1/wk (2 yrs)
Student Technology Administrative Council - member - .5/wk (1 yr)
National Honors Society - member - 1.5/wk (1 yr)
AWARDS:
a ton of stuff for German
i am in the national junior classical league and on my school's certamen team; it is my first year in latin but i am in latin 3
ive been to some cs competitions but havent won anything
ive been published in my school's litmag every year
(any leads to making this section stronger would be greatly appreciated)
SCHEDULE:
Jr. (this) year:
physics (magnet (honors+)), latin 3 (honors), computer science 2
(AP), english 3 (AP), economics (AP)/gov't (AP), german 4 (AP),
precal (topics (honors++))
tentative senior year schedule:
physics C (AP), LitMag 2 (magnet)/Shakespeare (magnet), latin 4
(AP), networking 2 (magnet), english 4 (AP), german 5 (honors?),
AB calculus (AP) </p>

<p>so...do you think i have a chance?</p>

<p>I think you need to be realistic. You have low SAT's for pretty much every school in this list. You need some safeties. Anyways:</p>

<p>Brandeis: High Match
Brown: High Reach
CMU: Reach
Grinnell: Reach
Harvard: High Reach
Haverford: Reach
Pomona: High Reach
Claremont McKenna: Reach
Rice: Reach
Reed: Reach
Stanford: High Reach
Tufts: Reach
Yale: High Reach</p>

<p>Here's some advice, don't apply to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown - You won't get in and you'll be wasting a good 250 bucks. You're other schools are somewhat realistic. Why don't you apply to UT?</p>

<p>Those are some old SAT scores....i retook the SATs this year, and i can find out tomorow what I made... i am nervous, but i definitely think I did better this time; I was disappointed by my scores from last year (posted above).
What do you think is a decent range of SAT scores with which it would be less riddiculous to apply to the top Ivies? Do I have to have a perfect 2400, and if not what is the cut-off, more or less?</p>

<p>Realistic absolute bottom without a hook:</p>

<p>3.8 GPA
Top 10% of Class
2250 SATs</p>

<p>And those stats would put you in about the middle of the application pool for HYPS etc. with about a 7 to 10% chance of acceptance.</p>

<p>Don't tell any college you intend to be a triple major, it will probably have the opposit effect of what you think. Your scores are low for an nhooked candidate at all your schools, impossibly low for most.</p>

<p>amptron2x, that's a stange formula for "realistic absolute bottom without a hook."</p>

<p>It's stange because you say top 10% of class and then say a 2250, which is well above the 99th percentile on the SAT's!!! </p>

<p>I think a more realistic look at an unhooked applicant is 2100 and top 5%
(2100 will be about the 95-97th percentile)</p>

<p>2100 is way too low for unhooked.</p>

<p>Icedragonad - </p>

<p>Yeah, it does look a bit disjointed, but I think it does reflect reality. If you check out the stats posted by most top Ivies on their websites, what you see is 90% of the accepted applicants (or more, depending on the school) have GPAs in the top 10% of their respective classes. 50% of the applicants have CR+M scores above 1455 (I'm using Dartmouth here) which is roughly 2182 or so on the new scale. So, your median accepted applicant is in the top 10% (and probably higher) and has a combined SAT around 2182.</p>

<p>But, accepted applicants who have scores around or below the median are generally kids with hooks. If you don't have a hook, you're competing on GPA, SATs, general ECs, and maybe your essays with all the kids who have stats above the median, and that's lots of kids with SATs in the 99th percentile and 4.0 GPAs. True, the median is higher or lower, depending on the Ivy, and there's some other variability because the percentage of applicants each school accepts is different, but the real competition for kids without a hook is still all those kids above the median and at the top end of the SAT and academic charts. Consequently, I stand by what I said before.</p>

<p>Realistic absolute bottom without a hook:</p>

<p>3.8 GPA
Top 10% of Class
2250 SATs</p>

<p>okay! i got my SAT scores today... 2180 700V 710M 770WR
3.8 on what gpa scale... I go to a particularly difficult school, i think, so top 10% is going to be tricky, in a few weeks i am going to go find out my class rank currently...a 4.1 on a max 4.6 scale is roughly a 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. I am trying to being my grades up, i am somewhere between the top 8-12%</p>

<p>most importantly, what do you mean by a hook??</p>

<p>why would a prospective tripple major hurt my chances?
also, i think i will be able to go in as a sophomore, so i will still finish in 4 years...</p>

<p>Hooks: athlete, legacy, urm, rich/famous, prodigy. A white unhooked kid is highly unlikely to get into HYP without being top 5%, other ivies the unhooked will be at or near the 75% and also top 5%. Unless you go to a school that sends more than 25% to top 10 schools, and there are less than 20 swuch schools in the Country, the vast majority being top boarding prepas or large city day privates.</p>

<p>You look unrealistic calling for a triple major unless you were so bored in high school you got a 4.0/2400 while working 40 hours and running every club.</p>

<p>Also, keep in mind the writing portion on the SAT is not weighted equally with cr and math.</p>

<p>A hook is something you can bring to the college that the college really needs or wants. For example, if you're a college level athlete, a URM (Under Represented Minority), a legacy, if you're a celebrity or your parents are celebrities, if you have an outstanding talent, or a remarkable EC, if you're a development case (that is, your parents have lots of money to donate), etc. Most of us, of course, don't have a hook so we have to compete on GPA, SATs, and ECs for the most part.</p>

<p>OK, your new, higher SATs (nice going, by the way) help you for a lot of the schools on your list, but realistically, the Ivies, Standford and Rice are still reaches. Here's a re-estimate:</p>

<p>Brandeis: Low Match
Brown: Reach
CMU: Match
Grinnell: Low Match
Harvard: High Reach
Haverford: Match
Rice: Reach
Reed: Reach/Match
Stanford: High Reach
Tufts: Match
Yale: High Reach</p>

<p>I'm not familiar with Claremont Mckenna or Pomona, so I can't even guess.</p>

<p>pomona would be a reach, i think</p>

<p>hey! that's pretty neat, thanks! Wow, the rankings of those schools changed a lot, I am not SO worried now. How much does a hook (legacy) get you... I had not intended on applying to princeton, but if you thought a legacy would give me a shot, i would very likely apply, because it is a great school...</p>

<p>Brown: Reach
Harvard: Extreme Reach
Rice: High Match/Reach
Stanford: Extreme Reach
Yale: Extreme Reach</p>

<p>yeah, I know...but it couldn't hurt to try, right?</p>

<p>Of course :) go for it!</p>

<p>So what you are saying amptron2x is that for an unhooked applicant to have a chance at being admitted, he or she must be around the 70th percentile SAT wise but only the 10th percentile in terms of high school performance. (percentiles based on previously admitted applicants to the college)</p>

<p>if you have legacy to princeton...and you apply ED, i would not be suprised if you got in.</p>

<p>in that case, Icadragonad, what do you propose my stats should be, to make applying to my choice schools un-riddiculous :) ??</p>

<p>bobbobbob:
thanks! but, if I apply ED to princeton I would be obligated to go if i got in, and I dont know if that would be my first choice of schools... I will certainly think about it, though.</p>