Georgetown
Brown
Carnegie Mellon
Colby
Dartmouth
Duke
Harvard
Northwestern
Princeton
Providence
Rice
Stanford
Tulane
University of Chicago
University of Michigan
UNC Chapel Hill
Notre Dame
Penn Wharton
University of Virginia
Vanderbilt
Washington University in St. Louis
Cal Berkeley
UCLA
The question is: do you think I have the chance of getting into at least one of these schools?
GPA: 104.502
Rank 1 of 240
SAT: TBD (took in June)
ACT: 32 (taking again–aiming for 34)
Grades:
Freshman
French (Honors): 95 A
Geometry (Honors): 98 A+
English (Honors) 98 A+
Biology (Honors) 98 A+
World History (Honors) 97 A+
Chorus (Honors) 99 A+
Health: 99 A+
GPA: 101.954
Sophomore
Accelerated Algebra: 98 A+
AP Euro: 100 A+
Chemistry (Honors): 98 A+
French (Honors): 98 A+
English (Honors): 99 A+
Chorus (Honors): 98 A+
Health: 100 A+
GPA: 104.997
Junior
Accelerated Pre-Calc: 97 A+
AP English Lang: 93 A
AP Gov (U.S.): 100 A+
AP Statistics: 100 A+
AP U.S. History: 97 A+
Physics (Honors): 100 A+
French (Honors): 97 A+
GPA: 106.199
Senior Classes
AP Economics
AP Psychology
AP Calc BC
AP Physics 1
AP French
AP English Lit
Academically (disregarding my extracurriculars because whenever I list them, everybody just trashes on them), do you think I could get accepted to at least one school, or do I need one more really safe school?
You MAY get into Tulane, Providence, or Colby. You have 23(!) schools on your list and 20 are reaches/high reaches with a GPA & test scores like yours. 3 are high matches/low reaches so you may not get into those either. This is the second time you are posting, and like I said in your other post, you may not get into any of these and may be stuck going to community college. Look for some safeties to apply to. Also, if “everybody just trashes on” your ECs, then that suggests that they are probably not good enough to get you into most of these schools. Academically, you have 3 matches on your list.
You need to look at each of those schools to know specifically which academic programs interest you, and how you have shown that interest in your high school years. Then, you’re going to have to research the school more to look into social and academic life at that college; nowadays, colleges care about their yield rates and how well you FIT into their college individually.
Also, writing 30+ supplements sounds miserable; definitely narrow your school list down, because all of those schools are very different, and you will have a very difficult time writing why 23 very unique schools are each ideal for YOU in particular (HINT: not all of them should be a perfect fit for you).
Nice to see that nearly every school on that list is a reach. If you happen to score a 1550+ on your SAT, maybe then some of those schools can be high matches, considering the fact that you have perfect GPA. As of now though, you need more safeties, because you’ll be out of luck if all of the schools on that list rejects you (unlikely, but you never know). Also, without knowing your ECs, I’ll just automatically presume that they are below that of an average student, as there are plenty of college applicants who have perfect stats and still get rejected from top schools. Also, I advise you to narrow down your list, because your application will be absolute terror otherwise. Plus, the application fee would be pretty hefty as well (if you don’t have a fee waiver). Also, I just want to point out that your list right now looks like a “top 25 best colleges” ranking list, so definitely do more research to see where you fit in and which ones interest you.
Georgetown - Reach
Brown - Reach
CMU - Low reach/Reach (Depends on major, CS and Engineering might be a little harder)
Colby - High match/Low reach
Dartmouth - Reach
Duke - Reach/High reach
Harvard - High reach (Can’t really tell without ECs and such)
Northwestern - Reach
Princeton - High reach
Providence - Safety
Rice - Reach
Stanford - Reach/High reach
Tulane - Match
UChicago - High reach
UMich - High match/Low reach (Depends if you’re OOS or not; it’s getting harder every year to get into this school)
UNC - Match/High match
Notre Dame - Low reach/Reach
Wharton - High reach
UVA - High match/Low reach (Depends if you’re in-state or OOS)
Vanderbilt - Reach
UCB - High match/Low reach (Easier if you’re in-state)
UCLA - Same as UCB
Your main goal: Try to get a better score on your ACT retake, or hope that you scored a 1550+ on the SAT you have already taken. Regarding your ECs, I feel like it’s too late for you to make any improvements on it, so best of luck!
The UCs prioritize admission for in-state residents. UCB and UCLA are a reach.
Why don’t you have any instate safeties?
Can you afford full fees at these schools?
I’m not narrowing my list down. I just want to know if I should add a school like UMass Amherst. I can afford the fees–money is not a problem (also that wasn’t the question so I’m not sure why it comes up in every answer).
I guess that you put all your effort on maintaining exceptional grades, which is amazing. But, besides a good GPA and good scores (that tons of kids have), you desperately need a good hook (spike?) that get you above that group.
Your list of colleges looks imposible (you have no idea how much work an application implies; it is not about money).
My advise is to do a good research once you decide your mayor, and make your list according to that and not following the brand name of the school (Do you know that engineering in Harvard is ranked #34, for example?).
Find 4 reach, 4 match, and 4 safe schools. That should be be more than enough. Visit your 4 top choices, and “feel” them. Once you visit, you will have a better idea about the right place for you, and that is extremely important, after all, your are going to live there 24/7 for four years.
About the list, this is not about ego; you have to be very pragmatic and use your time wisely. Work on your spike instead. That makes more sense.
Good luck!
Your grades are truly exceptional and will get you very far with adcoms. However, I’d definitely recommend retaking the ACT because a 32 is very low compared to your amazing grades.
Also, if everyone keeps trashing your EC’s, then I guess it means you need to improve them? Your grades are outstanding, that’s for sure, but if you have little to no EC’s or many EC’s with little involvement, that’s a bad sign. Try getting 3-4 solid EC’s and maybe leadership positions in 1-2 of them/
FYI, to put it bluntly, your list of 20+ schools is not realistic, and you probably know that already. You really need to narrow down your list to <15, and 10+ colleges may even be a struggle because each school has different requirements. Sending a generic-sounding application to 10+ schools is not a good idea because you seem disinterested in that specific school.
