Hello! I’m a second semester junior, and I’m planning on applying to either Princeton, Harvard, or Yale early next fall. I was hoping to get some feedback on what I need to improve, or what my chances are overall of admission. I know there’s no formula for getting in, but I want some realistic advice. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. I’ve enclosed details and stats below.
I'm from Chicago, IL
Gender: female
Private prep school (over 150 years old, large matriculation to Ivies every year)
Inteneded major: Pre-law (so, I guess political science, history, or English?)
My GPA right now is a 3.96 W (3.89 UW). I know it's a little low, but assuming things go well this semester, I should be able to raise it to ~ 4.05 for early admissions or ~4.1 for regular admissions.
My school does not offer class rankings (is this bad?)
I'm taking the ACT next month and the SAT this spring, but I got a 1320 on the PSAT
I have a private tutor for standardized tests, and he's very confident that I can get a 33-34 on the ACT by next fall and at least a 1480 on the SAT (my goal is a 1510)
Noteable classes (so far)
AP US History
AP Comparative History
Honors PreCalc
Honors Geometry
Algebra 2 self study
Classes next year: AP English, AP Chemistry, Honors Calc, AP Spanish 4...
Extracurriculars
10 years of private flute lessons (camps, masterclasses, competitions)
4 years of school symphony orchestra (1st chair flute, sectional leader)
2 years of school chamber orchestra (next year, hopefully I'll be 1st chair)
4 years of Model UN
4 years of ambassador club (I volunteer in my school's admissions office, give presentations, represent at high school
fairs, and host prospective students)
2 years of teaching Sunday school every week
Lots and lots of volunteer work
*Hopefully, I’ll be joining the National Honors Society later this year
Other Information
Family income is well over 200k/year
My parents are well connected and know a lot of alumni from Princeton, Harvard, and Yale
I can write a great essay
Recommendations should be very good
My parents/grandparents are willing to make a donation to only one school of my choice (Would this help at all?)
I'm also interested in Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, Vassar, Boston College, and Sarah Lawrence
I’m not exactly sure what @texaggie is saying but to offer a realistic perspective about Princeton, if you can answer yes to each of those questions (at 75% on scores, top GPA and class rank, rigorous classes), then your chances of acceptances are in the 10%, not the 75% range.
@mmshan691, I’d be concerned that your weighted and unweighted GPA’s are so similar, as this indicates that your course rigor has been on the weak side, although it’s hard to know how your school weights things. Does your school offer AP Physics, AP Bio, AP Calculus, etc.?
For elite schools,
It is all about number of items and how large is storefront.
Think like clothes store, you are one of color, size and shape clothe hanging in the front and there are much more similar items in the back. Customer(school) will pick out few items for this year and wait for new clothes for next fall.
Really, school is picking you, not the other way around.
You really don’t need to do ‘chancing’ threads on CC. Your school’s Naviance and your clearly well informed GC will be able to give you a better info than strangers on the internet.
I wonder at your lack of imagination: you want to be ‘pre-law’ (and surely you know by now that there is no such course or path at any of those schools?) so you go to the old trope of ‘political science, history, or English’. Law schools do not care even a little what you major in. You already know how to write a good essay (a huge help for college and law school, btw, but if you are going to that sort of prep school & couldn’t write a good essay by now I would be worried). So what would actually enjoy studying in depth for 4 years?
Imo, your biggest obstacle is that while you have been carefully prepped (literally) to tick all the boxes for the tippy - top colleges, so have many thousands of other white girls from privileged backgrounds (not to mention many thousands of other kids of various genders, ethnicities, backgrounds, etc.). What I don’t see from this (admittedly brief) summary is any sign of spark about you- and that is what makes the difference between ‘qualified’ and ‘admitted’. Most of your application will be as good as done by May- except the part where you show what makes you stand out. Conveying that is hard for most people, most students, most 17 year olds, and sometimes I think it’s hardest for the kids who have been carried along the prep school conveyor belt and haven’t had to really think very hard about who they are and what they want and where they are going.
(p.s., unless your parents/grandparents donations is in the many millions don’t count on it’s helping)
Yes, I know it looks kind of strange, but my school does offer a lot of APs. Credit is just counted differently. So far, I’ve taken 2 APs and 3 Honors. Next year I’m taking 3 APs so there should be a bigger difference between W and UW. Also, my school doesn’t let us take APs or honors freshman year, so that kind of explains it.
Collegemom3717, Did you really think that I would provide an in-depth analysis about my “spark”? That’s for my essay, not for a stupid post on a website. Secondly, who’s to say that I don’t want to spend four years studying political science? And as for the “prep school conveyor belt” that I’m apparently on, I’d say that’s in favor. My school’s one of the most well known Midwestern schools among the Ivies. We have a designated “Columbia Night,” “Harvard Night,” etc. when the actual dean of admissions visits. I doubt many mediocre, suburban public schools can say the same.
I think my grandparents are donating a statue or something like that…I don’t know how much that’ll cost, but at least it will have the family name on it.
Your GPA is fine. You want an ACT score of at least a 33 or an SAT score of at least a 1500 to be competitive. You also should consider taking two SAT subject tests. Your ECs look great. With amazing essays and if you apply early, you would be a competitive candidate, especially if you stress the importance of music in your application. Perhaps contact someone in the musical department at Princeton and ask if you could send over some of your playing, if that’s reasonable. A letter of rec from a faculty member would be fantastic
I don’t think this will help at HYP - first of all, the threshold for a major gift at those 3 schools is in the tens of millions of dollars and second of all, it’s a very transparent ploy for donors to dangle a gift in front of a school with which they have no previous relationship when their granddaughter decides to apply.
All of the schools on your list have wonderful programs and could provide a great education and experience, so keep an open mind and keep up the hard work on your academics and extracurriculars.
“My parents/grandparents are willing to make a donation to only one school of my choice (Would this help at all?)”
The donation would need to be well into 8 digits (tens of millions of dollars). Personally I don’t think that it is worth is unless someone was already planning on donating this much. Of course I also don’t have tens of millions of dollars.
In the absence of a hook (such as URM or tens of millions of dollars in contributions), even for a pretty much perfect candidate you should consider your chances at Princeton, Harvard, or Yale to be in the 10% range or less. Fortunately, there is no need to go to a “top 3” school for undergrad if you intend to go on to law school.
You probably don’t want to use up your entire university budget for undergrad.