chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey everyone, I've been watching around for a while and I figured it's time for me to post something, so...</p>

<p>Public high school, but well known (Los Angeles area)
Rank: top 5% of 560
Grade: junior</p>

<p>Cumulative GPA: around 4.2, oy. this is the result of some difficult circumstances sophomore year
Junior Year GPA: 4.7 1st semester, looking at the same second unless i can get my history grade up- then 5.0
SAT: 2170 (780W, 670V, 720M)- will definitely retake
SAT 2: 650 mollecular bio (yuck), plan on taking literature, us history, & math IIc to make up for that
APs: 5's on european history, biology (10th grade), 3 on physics b (but not sure if this is going to be reported as it was taken pre-high school) </p>

<p>courses this year (junior year): AP calc AB, AP english lang, AP physics C, AP US history, 3rd year spanish honors, psychology work experience
courses senior year: most likely AP english lit, AP statistics, AP environmental science, AP government/politics, AP spanish, psychology work experience</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: volunteer on teen-to-teen hotline/helpline (3 years), literary magazine staff (2 years), FIRST robotics (2 years), peer mediator (2 years), 150-200 hours of community service per year
Awards/stuff: national merit commended (will find out semifinalists in september), presidents award for community service (3 years)
Other: parents are u penn alumni</p>

<p>I know it may be a long shot but I just wanted to know if I had chances at any of the Ivies...I'll probably apply also to ucla, uc berkeley, nyu, and some others. am I crazy for thinking about this now?
Wow-that was long. Hopefully somebody will sit through that...thanks for reading, if you did!</p>

2

<p>oh! I forgot:
ethnicity: mixed/biracial. I put 'other' on all my standardized forms though.
don't know if that helps, but it's worth a shot...</p>

3

<p>You are obviously a great person who will do well anywhere. I would say that your SAT verbal and math are low for the Ivy League, but it is only junior year. Your minority status would help. Your parents alumni status at U Penn would help if they have been active alumni either by donating time or money. Colleges care more about difficulty of curriculum than any thing else, and you are excellent there. Try to package your extracurriculars to show passion and long term commitment in one or two areas. The AP scores are reported by 'report'. The 3 in AP Physics would be on a different report than the others. The extremely selective schools are so selective that it is just nuts. For everyone accepted, four or five identical people (for all practical purposes) are denied. It is really a crap shoot.</p>