Class of 2021, chance me please?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

*Pretty long post but if you could read all of it I would be really thankful!

Hey everyone, this is my first ever College Confidential post and since SAT scores came out today I was wondering if any of you could chance me.

So I’ve taken the SAT three times (1940 -----> 2050 -----> 2070) but my super score is 2100

CR: 710
W: 710
M: 680

I will also be taking the ACT April 2016 and have not taken any SAT II’s yet.

The high school I go to is a 2015 Blue Ribbon School (won this award several times in past years as well) that was ranked the #5 top high school in NJ and #47 top high school in the US in 2014. It was ranked #3 in NJ and #31 in the US in 2015. Getting into this school requires a test consisting of math, reading, and essay writing, as well as an interview with the school itself. Around 600-700 students in all four grades in the school.

The school doesn’t give out rankings or class positions of any students to any school.

UW GPA up to 2nd marking period of junior year: 3.366/4

GPA will probably be the weakest part of my application next year although my counselor said that schools will know that our high school is very rigorous and top-ranked and judge the GPA accordingly.

Another thing our school does is when you apply you have to pick one of several programs they offer (fashion, law & justice, computer science, digital media, etc) and then take classes on it throughout your four years of high school like a college major, the program I chose and got accepted to was computer science.

We also have projects (kind of like electives: microcontrollers, 911 cooking, documentaries, SAT prep, etc) every Wednesday for 1.5 hours where you took a class on your chosen project and did activities focusing on it.

Freshman year schedule:

Algebra 1 Honors (93 average)
English 1 Honors (90 average)
Geometry Honors (85 average)
Intro to Object-Orientated Design (96 average)
Physical Education (99 average)
Physics Honors (89 average - all my marking period grades were A- or A, the final brought it down to 89)
Social Issues (93 average)
Spanish 1 (83 average)
World Cultures Honors (90 average)
Project School Climate (100 average)
Project Microcontrollers (98 average)

  • Our school offers no AP classes for freshmen

Sophomore year schedule:

Chemistry Honors (82 average)
Drivers Ed (93 average)
English II Honors (83 average - you need a 90 minimum in this class to take AP Lang junior year but my english teacher wrote me a recommendation to get into AP Lang since she believed I would be a good match for that class)
Intermediate Programming (94 average)
Math Analysis 1 Honors (basically pre-calc, 79 average)
Networking 1 (92 average)
Physical Education (99 average)
AP Physics 1 (79 average + 1 on the AP Exam)
Spanish II (77 average)
Project Spanish (95 average)
Project Cooking (95 average)

  • The only AP you could take sophomore year was AP Physics 1 if you postponed US History (which I did) and AP Government if you were in the Law & Justice program (I wasn't).
  • Sophomore year was my weakest year ever since I was required to take Spanish II (I can't do well in this class no matter how much I study) and all the time I spent studying for AP Physics 1 which ended up being a waste anyways. This year my GPA dropped to between 3.1 - 3.2 average for the two years and I've been using junior (and hopefully senior) year to bring it back up.

Junior year schedule (current year):

AP Lang (86 average so far)
US History 1 Honors (89 average so far)
AP Environmental Science (90 average so far)
Networking II (96 average so far)
Advanced Programming (97 average so far)
Math Analysis II Honors (88 average so far)
Biology Honors (92 average so far)
Physical Education (100 average so far)
First Aid (98 average)
Project Documentaries (95 average)
Project Documentaries 2 (95 average so far)

Senior year projected schedule:
AP Lit
AP US History
Cloud Computing
*Computer science class that hasn’t been determined yet
AP Calculus AB or AP Statistics
AP Biology
Physical Education
Family Planning
Entrepreneurship (easy boast to GPA) or Spanish III or Art (required to graduate)

  • Senior year we are also required to get an internship so I will be interning as well, on Wednesdays we go to our internships instead of school.

Extra Curriculars:
-JV Bowling (Varsity next year)
-Chemistry Club (10th grade)
-Physics Club (10,11)
-Computer Club (9,10,11)
-Turkish Cultural Center Tutor (6,7,8,9,10)
-Founding Member of Lemon Club (our schools chapter of the ALS Foundation)

Leadership Positions:
-Founder and President of C3 Club (11) - We’ve collected over 1000 books for students in low-income areas so far
-Founder of a neighborhood book club (10,11) - Weekly meetings with a kids in the neighborhood where we read books together and I help them with their hw and classes
-Founder, Owner, and Editor of a book blog (9,10,11) - Started a book blog back in freshman year where I review books and interact with the book community, over 15000 pageviews and thousands of followers in total over the blog and social media. I talk regularly with book publishers and get sent copies of books to read and review for them and I have attended multiple book events in three different states as well as BEA 2015.

Volunteering:
-At least 200-300 hours of volunteering already
-Volunteered at two relief foundations (9,10,11)
-Traveled to Haiti as a Relief Volunteer (10)
-Volunteered at local library (10,11)
-Volunteered in several cities in Turkey with a relief foundation

Work Experience:
-Working at Kumon since October 2015 (11) - tutoring and grading
-Possibly going to work at MEK starting in April

Other:
-Accepted to Harvard Summer School for the summer of 2016

Awards:
-Lots of awards in middle school but only a couple of minor ones in high school

*My family is Turkish (mom and dad graduated from Turkish universities for mining engineering and chemical engineering and came to America in 1998)
*I speak two languages: English and Turkish although I can read Arabic as well
*Dual citizenship (America and Turkey)
*Religion (Islam)
*Income: Between $60,000 and $95,000 yearly (not sure of exact number)

School:

  • The 5 schools I want to get into the most: MIT, NYU, Boston College, UCLA, UC Berkeley
  • Other schools I’d be happy with include: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Boston University, the UC schools, Rutgers, Syracuse University, University of Miami, Tufts, Northeastern, Cornell, UConn, Emory, Penn State, UPenn, George Washington University, Tulane, Vanderbilt, and similar schools.
  • My #1 school that I would LOVE to go to is MIT

Recommendations:

  • Guidance Counselor (expecting a really good one, I’ve been constantly talking with him since freshman year and I feel like he has gotten to know me pretty well and has helped me a lot)
  • AP Environmental Science teacher (Bachelors at Swarthmore College and Masters at Columbia University)
  • AP Lang teacher (not sure about school but she’s been pretty involved in the club I made)

Thank you so much for reading guys! Please tell me what you think my chances are, things I should improve/focus on, my strengths/weaknesses, etc

2

First of all I want to congratulate you on accomplishing so many things in such a short time. Your gpa however is very low for a highschool student even counting for your schools reputation, it just done’t fit into the average range from which MIT accepts. Your SAT score is decent, but once again is on the low end of the spectrum for MIT. Your EC’s are however amazing, so if you play up that angle and couple that with stellar recommendations and essays (I would recommend you talk about your religion as it is a minority on most college campuses), I would say some of the lower ranked UC’S (SC, SB, Merced and Riverside) could be within your reach. The Ivies, MIT, Berkely and L.A are very high reaches though. These types of schools look very heavily on academics and if you look at their averages, your stats fall short. The same goes for most of the private schools you have listed. I would say Syracuse and Miami would probably be the most realistic reaches from your list, and even than they are high reaches. My recommendation would be for you to start looking into schools that fall more in line with your gpa. Good luck.

3

MIT isn’t happening neither is UCB OOS is so hard and your GPA and test scores just won’t be good enough. UCLA will be a reach BC and NYU are low reaches/High marches due to low GPA. Harvard Yale Columbia Cornell Penn Vanderbilt tufts and Emory all are reaches with the first 5 being high reaches and tufts and Emory as a reach. Northeastern low reach GPA is low and it’s getting really hard to get into so you’d need an excellent test score to offset the GPA and 2100 while a good score is not enough to compensate for your GPA. Depending on the UCs they’re also likely going to be reaches. Rutgers would be a safety you’re in state you could have a decent shot at their honors program. Syracuse, BU, Miami, penn state, Uconn and GWU are matches but most would be high matches due to your GPA. Your college list seems short on research as a lot of these schools aren’t very alike it seems you’re just going after prestige try and think more about fit rather than rankings. I think you need a more well balanced list there are too many reaches and not enough matches and safeties. Your top 5 is especially reach heavy.

4

MIT, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Cornell, Penn, Harvard, Yale, Columbia- High, high, high reaches, as in I can’t really see you getting into any of them. The UC’s put a ton of weight on GPA and both UCLA and Cal are both notoriously tough for OOS applicants. I don’t think you’d want to come here anyways as OOS students have to pay some serious cash (55k+ per year) to attend.

Also, the Ivies require you to take two subject tests if you weren’t aware. If you do end up deciding to apply to an Ivy, you should take them as soon as possible to get them out of the way. However, even with perfect subject test scores the ivies will all still be extremely high reaches.

Vanderbilt - Honestly if you could boost your SAT 1 to 2350+, score well on your subjects, and win a significant award or two before submitting your application I could see it happening via ED or ED II. Vandy loves students from the New England area and is constantly striving for geographical diversity. They also put a ton of weight on SAT scores and are more lax on low grades than the ivies and UCLA/Cal.

Tufts, Emory - Reach. Not impossible if you have a great story to back up your grades, and of course boost your SAT score/ACT score and score well on subjects.

Boston University, Rutgers, Syracuse University, Miami, Northeastern, UConn, Penn State, George Washington University, Tulane - Low reaches/High matches. I’m pretty sure you’ll get accepted to at least two to three of these schools. Write a good essay and score well on that ACT you’re about to take. Your extracurriculars are above average for these schools, but your grades and test scores are holding you back. Do well your senior year and improve those test scores.

TL;DR - Ivies and UCLA/Cal are, in my honest opinion, out of reach at this point. A tough school only gets you so far - I attend a top 50 and we have tons of people who are rejected from the schools you listed. Improve your test scores ASAP and do well your senior year, because a 2000 on the SAT after taking it three times is only reinforcing the idea that you deserve the 3.4 UW GPA that you have. If you do decide to apply to an ivy, get your subject tests out of the way as soon as possible so they don’t take time out of your common app essay.

Good luck.

5

Well the schools I listed were just ones that I really like off the top of my head, I have a full list of about 50 schools that I’ll be narrowing down by the time I apply.

By the time I apply to schools my UW GPA will be up to 3.4-3.5/4, I will hopefully have a higher ACT than my 2100 SAT, get into National Honor Society, possibly turn my school club into a non-profit organization (already working on this with several people who said they can help)/start chapters of it in other schools, and travel to at least one more county for volunteering (South America most likely. Additionally, I have the option of going to Rutgers/NYU and taking a Turkish course there for school credits - as I already know Turkish this would be easy enough to pass but would it add anything to my application?

How would the addition of the above topics help my application? Additionally, how much will Harvard Summer School affect my application (since I’m going there this summer)?

Thank you guys so much for replying and giving me input! Obviously a lot of those schools are reach which I am aware of but our guidance counselor recommends applying to at least two ivies since our school has had several people with low GPA’s get into ivies and according to him, Rutgers loves our school and accepts almost everyone no matter their GPA.

Here’s the full list of school in case you want to see them/say anything about them:

*In no particular order

  1. American University
  2. Boston College (visited campus)
  3. Boston University (visited campus)
  4. Brandeis University
  5. Brown University
  6. Caltech
  7. UC Berkeley
  8. UC Irvine
  9. UCLA
  10. UCSD
  11. UCSB
  12. UChicago
  13. Columbia (visited campus)
  14. UConn
  15. Duke
  16. Emory
  17. Fordham
  18. George Washington University
  19. Georgetown
  20. Harvard (visited campus)
  21. LeHigh
  22. MIT (visited campus 3x)
  23. UMass Amherst (visited campus)
  24. NYU (visited campus 2x)
  25. Northeastern
  26. Northwestern
  27. Penn State
  28. UPenn
  29. Princeton (visited campus)
  30. University of Rochester
  31. Rutgers (visited campus)
  32. USC
  33. Stanford
  34. Stevens Institute of Technology
  35. Syracuse
  36. Tufts
  37. Tulane
  38. Vanderbilt
  39. University of Virginia
  40. Yale (visited campus)
6

@yinuos @hssenior27 @QueenA101

7

“Additionally, how much will Harvard Summer School affect my application (since I’m going there this summer)?” Zero. It won’t help you at all. I am assuming you are attending a program that is geared towards high school students but allows you to take actual Harvard classes from a very limited menu? Unless this is a free competitive program for a few outstanding students who are given the opportunity to attend free, then it is a “you pay” “you go” program. Just like summer camp, it probably won’t hurt but won’t help in any way. Hopefully you are attending because you think it will be fun and worthwhile and not just so that it looks good to colleges. I’m sure it will be a great experience for you.

8

Also, the Blue Ribbon designation means “The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States government program created in 1982 to honor schools which have achieved high levels of performance or made significant improvements in closing the achievement gap in schools where at least 40% of the student population is classified as disadvantaged.” But the ratings you list may suggest that the school is a high performing school. Just wanted to alert you to the fact that the designation does not necessarily mean that to be true. It may be, but not necessarily.

9

Lastly, I hope you are not contemplating applying to 40 schools!

10
  1. American University: match, I think you'd get in
  2. Boston College: reach GPA isn't too competitive for them
  3. Boston University low reach
  4. Brandeis University low reach
  5. Brown University high reach
  6. Caltech high reach/out of reach
  7. UC Berkeley high reach
  8. UC Irvine reach
  9. UCLA reach
  10. UCSD reach
  11. UCSB reach
  12. UChicago high reach/ out of reach
  13. Columbia high reach/ out of reach
  14. UConn match
  15. Duke high reach
  16. Emory reach
  17. Fordham low reach
  18. George Washington University low reach
  19. Georgetown high reach
  20. Harvard high reach/out of reach
  21. LeHigh reach
  22. MIT High reach/out of reach
  23. UMass Amherst high match
  24. NYU low reach
  25. Northeastern reach
  26. Northwestern high reach
  27. Penn State high match
  28. UPenn High reach/ out of reach
  29. Princeton high reach/ out of reach
  30. University of Rochester reach
  31. Rutgers safety
  32. USC reach
  33. Stanford high reach/ out of reach
  34. Stevens Institute of Technology don't know
  35. Syracuse match/high match
  36. Tufts reach
  37. Tulane low reach
  38. Vanderbilt reach
  39. University of Virginia reach
  40. Yale high reach/ out of reach

To be honest I wouldn’t waste money applying to ivies and other schools of that caliber (i.e. Stanford MIT cal tec etc) if you really love them then go for it but those schools would appear to be out of your reach. Besides the fact that your list is too big, there are too many reaches and not enough matches or safeties you need to take the time to compose a better college list. Come back with a smaller and more realistic list.

11

@lostaccount

Your assumption is correct: Harvard Summer School is a summer program that allows you to take real Harvard classes for the summer period. I have entered a similar program, “a you pay you go program” in your terms, and I have many friends who have attended similar programs over the past couple of years.

Your math on the other hand, is vastly incorrect. Harvard Summer School may affect his application by a number larger than zero (although I can’t give any definite numbers here since the last time I checked, there wasn’t any equation for calculating this…) IF he/she can use this summer camp to his/her advantage.

I will list things that you can do in order to use this camp to your advantage. These are either things I have done, things I have seen other people do or either:

  1. You have to challenge yourself. You should possibly take courses related to your future career (major/minor) and you should create yourself a rigorous course load. Try to take courses with college credit.

  2. I know that in some summer school’s like Harvard’s, you can take courses other than the ones they give to you once (in a menu, or a list) you are there. I did that, and I was the only high school student taking an Artificial Intelligence course.

  3. Once you are there, you should attend your courses regularly and make the best out of them (this also means getting excellent grades). You should keep contact with professors and TA’s. Even though the summer period may seem like a short period, I knew tens of people who managed to get recommendations from their professors (and they also got internships from them afterwards) which they later used in their applications as additional recommendations. This is definitely something useful and cool.

  4. The summer program itself will teach you a lot of things. Whether it is the final project you do in your electronics course, the presentation you do in your management course, or the notebook you end up in your theoretical mathematics course, it will definitely improve your interests and abilities in certain fields that will later on have a beneficial effect in your life.

  5. While doing these, of course as always, try to have fun. Do sports you like to do. Make new friends. Universities like Harvard have many great opportunities that you can explore. Don’t be limited to what the summer program offers.

  6. Don’t just stick with what you learn at Harvard! For example, if you developed yourself in programming, do something related to that in your senior year (this was just an example).

There by doing these, you will spend a beautiful, efficient, and useful summer.

You shouldn’t look at these as strict rules, but these are some of the ways in which you can use your summer more efficiently than other people think. Once you challenge yourself and excel in your courses, there is no doubt that
this will have a positive effect on your application process and even later in your life.

Programs like RSI and others are definitely amazing opportunities and application boosters, but so is everything in life once you do it perfectly (I mean, really perfectly). I would bet that any admission officer would agree with me on this.

12

50 schools? That’s a lot of essays you’ll have to write. I applied to around 20 and I thought that was overkill already. Try to get a good mix of reach/match when you start narrowing down colleges. Your list is very similar to what mine was last year, so it seems we share similar interests :slight_smile:

  1. American University: match/high match
  2. Boston College: reach/low reach
  3. Boston University low reach/high match
  4. Brandeis University low reach
  5. Brown University out of reach
  6. Caltech out of reach
  7. UC Berkeley high reach (all UC's care a ton about GPA and OOS enrollment is capped)
  8. UC Irvine high match
  9. UCLA high reach
  10. UCSD reach
  11. UCSB high match/low reach
  12. UChicago out of reach
  13. Columbia out of reach
  14. UConn match
  15. Duke high reach/out of reach
  16. Emory reach
  17. Fordham high match
  18. George Washington University high match
  19. Georgetown reach/high reach
  20. Harvard out of reach
  21. LeHigh (not sure about this one)
  22. MIT out of reach
  23. UMass Amherst safety
  24. NYU low reach
  25. Northeastern high match/low reach
  26. Northwestern high reach
  27. Penn State match
  28. UPenn out of reach
  29. Princeton out of reach
  30. University of Rochester high match/low reach
  31. Rutgers low match
  32. USC reach - high match if you up your SAT scores
  33. Stanford out of reach
  34. Stevens Institute of Technology don't know
  35. Syracuse match/high match
  36. Tufts reach
  37. Tulane low reach/high match. Match if you bump SAT scores
  38. Vanderbilt high reach/reach if you bump SAT scores significantly
  39. University of Virginia low reach/reach
  40. Yale out of reach
13

You sound really like a really interesting person with some unique ECs. Your grades and test scores are strong, but probably not competitive for the UCs, Ivies, and tier just below (Tufts, Vanderbilt, etc.)

What kind of experience do you want at college? Do you have an idea of a major. The only common ground I see in your list is that they are all relatively prestigious.

Have you talked with your parents about money? Most state schools do not offer much financial aid for OOS students and I don’t see how a family with a household income is 65-90K per year is going to be able to afford the UCs (50+K per year) or UVA, Penn State, UMass-Amherst, UConn. NYU is notoriously stingy with aid. If you look at state schools, look for ones that give guaranteed merit aid for students above a certain GPA/test scores. For example, with a 3.5 GPA and 1400 SAT (CR+M) you could get full tuition from U of Alabama)

automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com

I doubt you’d be competitive for Ivies or near Ivies. However, MIT does do holisitic admissions, so if that’s your dream, give it a try but keep your expectations low.

As for the rest, these are all worth a try. The only true safety I see among them is Rutgers and maybe Stevens although I don’t know enough about it to say for sure. I think that UConn and UMass Amherst would be possibilities, but maybe not financial matches.

  1. American University
  2. Boston College (visited campus)
  3. Boston University (visited campus)
  4. Brandeis University
  5. Duke
  6. Emory
  7. Fordham
  8. George Washington University
  9. Georgetown
  10. Lehigh
  11. UMass Amherst (visited campus)
  12. Northeastern
  13. University of Rochester
  14. Rutgers (visited campus)
  15. Stevens Institute of Technology
  16. Syracuse
  17. Tulane

You might want to take a look at Loren Pope’s Colleges that Change Lives, a book that is geared towards smaller liberal arts colleges that offer outstanding preparation and where you’d be on the higher end of admits, and therefore, more likely for merit-based aid.

Good luck!

14

@lostaccount @HSsenior97 @prestigemaster @yinuos @mamaedefamilia That’s my current list and I will at least halve the number by the time I start applying.

  • I'm not exactly sure what I want to do as a major yet but definitely not computer science (I've come to hate it after taking classes on it in school + the teachers), math, physics, chemistry, or art/theatre. I am interested in biology, pre-med, business, law, english, and environmental science which is why I haven't been able to pick one to major in yet.
  • For the payment my parents say they've been putting aside money since I was born apparently for at least part of my college tuition although we're also going to look into outside scholarships and apply for aid with getting a loan possible as a last effort depending upon the school.
  • I'll probably decreases the ivies to around two since my guidance counselor says to apply to at least two since apparently you never know how the admissions process may go.
  • For Harvard Summer School I've been talking with my Biology Honors teacher about their bio courses and he showed me 1-2 classes that would basically put me ahead of everyone in the school when I take AP Bio and make me very prepared for the class. Additionally, on the days without any classes I plan on interning somewhere, volunteering, and possibly getting a job. I'm not going to Harvard Summer School just to put it on my application but because I thought it would be a fun way to spend my summer where I would also learn and participate in the community as well as rest rather than just spending an empty summer at home. I also plan to make lots of new friends and depending on how close I can get with the professors maybe ask for a recommendation which people have done in the past before.
  • My GPA is currently showing an upward trend and I plan to keep it that way to maybe that'll help a bit? And I was planning on taking the Math 1 or 2, Biology, and history subject tests sometime this year.

Thank you!

15

Hi @bayramf
I’m also gonna apply to the class of 2021. You have amazing EC’s but your GPA is seriously lacking.
However, I am nothing compared to you in terms of EC’s. Best of luck.
I would too advice you to reduce your Ivy applications.
I was wondering, why not apply to the UK like me too? The UK is significantly cheaper and you get your degree in 3 years.
Also, have a look towards NUS in singapore and Yale-NUS which is also in singapore.