chances?

<p>gpa 3.5-3.6
junior year
ACT : practice tests have been 28's
ethnicity : iranian
im from the west coast
i am enrolled in honors and AP courses
competitive private school
EC's
yearbook
newspaper
debate
sports
theatre (been in plays)
big brothers big sisters
i am thinking of applying to harvard, princeton, duke, cornell, johns hopkins, berkeley, USC, and northewestern.
can you guys please tell me what my chances are? or what i can do to improve my chances! thanks!!!</p>

<p>Your GPA is ok...but your EC's are a little vague, but the fact that you have honors and AP classes is really good. I think Harvard, Princeton, UCB are rejections. Duke, Cornell and USC are maybe's and i think you have a shot at JH.</p>

<p>what can i do to improve my chances for princeton and harvard?</p>

<p>the only thing that i think is really holding you back is your GPA, but since you are a minority, ur chances are better. Your essay is really important on your application. Write about something you are truly passionate about and relate it to what you have done in your EC's. DOnt worry about it tho..Good LUck tho</p>

<p>first of all be more specific we need more details - list your awards</p>

<p>unless you have a hook, you wont really be accepted into ivy league college (well most em anywayz)</p>

<p>and iranian qualifies as asian so ur in a bit of trouble for competitiveness</p>

<p>I'm sure that a skillfull integration of the Iranian heritage and culture angle into the overall application will up her chances. But the extracurriculars are blah. I'd say you should definitely try Harvard and Princeton, because you never know what will happen.</p>

<p>by the way my gpa is unweighted. also , do i have a chance at u penn as well
awards
national honors society
ive made the honor role every term.</p>

<p>i go to debate tournments and i place at most of them
i might do a summer program at an ivy league. will that help?</p>

<p>NOooo. Summer programs at a specific college don't help in admissions AT ALL. Find something really cool and different to do over the summer, though-an internship, volunteering, travelling, studying- that will help your application.</p>

<p>yea...NHS isnt really anything cause everyone who applies to those schools has it basically u have 2 have something special. But if u can get that GPA up u could have a shot at Cornell</p>

<p>Sorry college89, but based on your current GPA and ACT practice scores, Harvard, Princeton, Duke, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, and Northwestern are big reaches. USC is a reach, and Berkeley might be a high match because (I'm assuming) you're in state. </p>

<p>How can you increase your chances? Get your GPA above 3.8, score above 32 on the ACTs or above 2250 on the SATs, but even then you'd have no better than a 20% chance at Harvard, Princeton, Duke, or Hopkins (these are tough schools to get into for everyone), maybe a 30 to 35% chance at Cornell and Northwestern, and a somewhat better than 50% chance at USC. Berkeley would probably become a low match or maybe even a safety.</p>

<p>Truthfully, I think you need to look at some schools that aren't so difficult to get into. Here's a few you might want to consider:</p>

<p>Wake Forest
Kenyon
Connecticut College
Boston College
University of Richmond
Univ. of Rochester
NYU
Lehigh
Case Western
Trinity (in CT)
Bucknell
Dickinson College
Gettysburg College
Lafeyette
Franklin and Marshall
College of NJ
Sarah Lawrence
Union
Skidmore
U of C San Diego</p>

<p>the average GPA at JHU is a 3.67 tho</p>

<p>wow are my chances really that low for ivy leagues. ?? which ones would i have the best chance at?</p>

<p>Meh. Don't be obsessed with the ivy leagues. It's annoying.
(That said I think you might have a shot at some really good schools if your essays and recs are great)</p>

<p>But the median M+V SAT at JHU is 1395 - college89 isn't even close - and the admit % is below 30%. It's a tough school to get into.</p>

<p>Yep, your chances are that low for the Ivies. Click on the link below. It contains stats from last year's accepted Freshman classes at sixteen top schools.</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=150197%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=150197&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Number one lesson from these stats is even kids with absolutely top grades and SATs have, at best, about a 40 to 45% chance of getting into most Ivies. Kids with merely exceptional stats have, at best, about a 30% chance.</p>

<p>But doesn't college89 have a good hook what with the Iranian angle?</p>

<p>Probably not. Kids of Iranian decent are not URMs, so unless he has a special story to tell, it probably won't be of any help.</p>

<p>I don't know. Seeing as it's such a volatile region right now (and has been for a while) someone with an understanding of the language and the culture and who intimated that they might go into a foreign policy/ journalism/what have you field might have an advantage. I would think, at least. But that's just conjecture, of course.</p>

<p>It's a waste of money to apply to Ivy level schools with a 3.5/28ACT. Middle Easterners are over represented now, so that is no help. Many also have very high stats. There is no shortage of better applicants.</p>