Columbia/Cornell/UPenn/MIT

<p>I really would like to know how good of a shot i have at these schools,and i know there are a lot, so even if you can tell me in general, that will help. Thanks!</p>

<p>Schools:</p>

<p>Cornell
Columbia
University of Pennsylvania
Johns Hopkins
SUNY Binghamton
SUNY Stony Brook Honors or Scholars for Medicine
Boston College
NYU
Northwestern U
Northeastern U
Notre Dame
U Rochester
Villanova
MIT</p>

<p>Here's my stats:</p>

<p>Academics:
102 weighted average, 97 unweighted, all honors and ap (no 4.0 scale at my school)
sat I: 720 math, 640 cr, 650 writing (a bit weak but am taking it two more times, this is my first) I hope to raise to 740, 670 and 700, respectively
sat IIs: chemistry 750, math 1c 680, will take math 2c and retake 1c
ranked 5/900+ at public school
National Honors Society
AP Scholar
AMC participant
Local academic olympics (one student selected to represent school in each subject every year) taken twice and won third prize for ap bio sophomore year.
National Chemistry Olympiad
Bausch and Lomb honorary science award
two years perfect attendance(not really important)
a few other little things here and there, but not too important</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Boys volleyball team for three years
1 year of chess club
2 years of environmental club</p>

<p>ecs is where i am weakest, volleyball takes a huge amount of time out of my day, 2+ hours every day, 6 days a week for one out of two terms(4.5 months).</p>

<p>Volunteer/Work experience:</p>

<p>local hospital volunteer for three months until swine flu outbreak when i was no longer allowed b/c i was too young
church volunteer
american cancer society fundraiser
newspaper boy for 2 years
Participated in Quality of Life, tried to educate public on alternative energies
numerous clean ups at local parks</p>

<p>So that covers most of it. Please help me out and let me know what my shots are thanks!</p>

<p>From what I’ve seen on the college board website, your SATs (mainly the reading) need to be higher…your math is very good.
The fact that you don’t have many ECs but seem to show a lot of commitment to volleyball could help…not sure what they’re looking for though.
Other things look pretty good!</p>

<p>^thanks! bump…</p>

<p>Might look at Holy Cross-great science programs with new $70 million science building. HC is one of the few top liberal arts schools to produce a Nobel Prize winner in medicine. HC has nice campus-near Boston- and is need blind for financial aid.</p>

<p>Virtually no shot at Cornell, Columbia, UPenn, JHU, Northwestern, and MIT (due to low SATs) but good chances at the others.</p>

<p>^^^^^^^agree</p>

<p>I’ve been practicing a lot for the sat and went up about 100 points so far and I still have a month and a half, so hopefully I will raise my score substancially. Would I have a chance at those schools then?</p>

<p>If you got all sections up to 750+ you may would have a substantially better shot.</p>

<p>SAT and ECs are not good enough for the Ivy league schools</p>

<p>as i stated above, I will retake it two more times, this time with thorough studying, unlike my first try.</p>

<p>ECs are lacking a lot. 2 hours a day isn’t that much taken out of your schedule…the main part of your ECs laking is not the amount of them. While they are low, you can suffice for that through showing dedication (as katie said). However, it isn’t just dedication that gets you the ‘points’, its the leadership. Like captain of the volleyball team, president of the chess club, etc. That is what colleges like to see. The leadership that you show…not just what you’re interested in.</p>

<p>As for your testing and stats, your GPA is competitive, but your SATs aren’t. You say that you will bring them up, which is fine; but be careful of schools that don’t superscore…also, your SAT2s aren’t competitive enough for some of those schools. 750 is borderline acceptable, 680 is not. escpecially for math 1…I know it might sound like i’m being super critical and very demeaning, but you need to think about the schools you’re applying to. MIT, Cornell, Columbia, UPenn, etc. These are ivy league schools, a 680 in math 1 won’t make the cut. things like that, which significantly bring down your stats are what you need to work on the most.</p>

<p>So:</p>

<p>Cornell- NO
Columbia- NO
University of Pennsylvania- NO
Johns Hopkins- HIGH reach
SUNY Binghamton- low reach
SUNY Stony Brook Honors or Scholars for Medicine- low reach
Boston College- match/low reach
NYU- match/low reach
Northwestern U- reach
Northeastern U- match/low reach
Notre Dame- reach
U Rocheste- match
Villanova- im not familiar enough to chance you on this school.
MIT- NO</p>

<p>Are you going to be recruited for volleyball? 'cuz that would change a lot of this</p>

<p>^ Thanks, i know my math score doesn’t look great but i will retake it, this time with studying. The ivies were meant to be my high reaches anyway, I really didn’t expect to be told i had good chances at those schools. Anyway, I do hope to join the volleyball teams of schools that offer it, though most don’t, however, I know JHU and MIT do have male volleyball. And 2 hours is usually the minimum per day. It may take 4 or more hours a day during game season and sometimes takes 14 or so hours out of my weekends.</p>

<p>Being in the top 1% of your class is a bigger achievement than most people in this thread are giving you credit for, but I would nonetheless still have to agree with the sentiments made by the 10 or so posters before me.</p>

<p>On a side note, it’s a little strange to see a list of schools that goes from MIT to Northeastern. You should try to refine your list.</p>

<p>well, I’m applying to northeastern’s pharmacy program, and don’t intend to go there unless I get into that specific program and I don’t get into better schools. Basically, I want to major in science and most of these schools are strong in the science fields.</p>

<p>Billabongboy does bing up a very good point that I overlooked. I did recognize your great GPA, but failed to acknowledge your class rank. That is SUPER good, due to your immense class size. I see that you definitely have some fall-back schools like NE, which allows you to reach for the ivies. The list is a little long with 14, but it doesn’t necessarily need trimming. mine is 12, and normally people apply to around 10…so its within reason</p>