Do I have a shot at any Ivy?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m not REALLY expecting to get into an Ivy, but I was contacted by two of Yale’s ROTC instructors, showing interest and leaving me with a direct contact, so now I’m curious as to whether I even have a shot at Yale or any Ivy to be exact. I am an Asian male, which may not help me at the Ivies, but will probably help with my NROTC application, since there’s very few asian officers in the military.
These credentials are current as of yesterday:

SAT: 2170, ACT: 34
I took these without any studying, but currently working my @** off to get a 35 or 36 ACT.

Chem Subject test: 800, Math II: 800
These I did study for, but I’m still probably going to go in as undeclared, if I get accepted.

GPA: 3.72 UW, 4.3? Weighted. 95th percentile in 9-12. 10-12 ranking is like 12 out of 800+ kids. I did get a C one semester in Computer Science though :frowning:
Varsity Tennis, Scholar Athlete
Varsity ROTC/Drill, Scholar Activities

Freshman year: All honors courses, took AP Chinese (5). Joined DECA

Sophomore Year: All honors + AP Euro (5). DECA Member, JROTC officer

Junior Year: All AP. AP Calc, Chem, US Hist, all 5s. AP Physics was a 4. Didn’t even bother to take AP Comp Sci test; teacher never even finished teaching the course to my online class.
Played JV then Varsity Tennis this year.
NJROTC Battalion Commander, Student government representative. Attended USNA Summer Seminar. Member of Red Cross, Chess clubs.
I finished up my private violin schooling in California’s MTAC Certificate of Merit program this year as well, passing my examination with honors.

Senior Year: Currently taking AP Macroecon, American Gov, Calc BC, Physics 2 (god help me), Art History. Honors English course.
NJROTC Batt. Commander, still in student government. Currently founded a new environmental club, so club president as well?

I have done around 200 hours of community service, never missed honor roll (which I guess is insignificant) and am an AP Scholar w/ distinction. I have also received national leadership awards, some small-ish national scholarships, and a commendation from my local Congressman. I think I have some good essay ideas, and I think I’m a half competent writer when I’m not rambling like right now, with a half-decent, if not cheesy sense of humor. I interact with my Junior year teachers a lot (everytime I visit my calc teacher, she asks if I’m still dating my girlfriend) and they like me, so I know I can count on them to give me at least a good recommendation.

My high school sends about 80% of our seniors into college, with the top ten percent going to UCLA/Cal consistently, and we usually send at least 1 to a few to Ivies.

Sorry for the horrendously long post. :blush:

2

GPAs are out of 4.00 for UW and 5.00 for W

3

While your GPA is on the low side for Ivies, there’s no point in retaking a 34 ACT score. Getting a 35 or 36 will only minimally help, and if you were to apply with those scores vs a 34 you’d probably yield the same results. It’s also important to know what you want in a school as each Ivy is very unique to itself. The ROTC will definitely help from what I’ve heard, but you have to make sure you’re committed to the program and serving. Good luck!!

4

@ap012199 I am definitely committed to ROTC and I’m really trying to subtly express my patriotism in my essays. Thank you for the reassurances though, but I already signed up for the ACT per the recommendation of my counselor lol. Oh well… RIP $60

5

Weird… I got a 32 the first time and my counselor told me I was good. I took it again anyways and now have a 34 SS so it worked out! But it’s weird that anyone would tell you to retake a 34…

6

@ap012199 Well my counselor is the kind of person that used to tell people to take the SAT no less than 4 times…

7

Hahaha

8

I think the only thing holding you back from any top place is your GPA. What was your unweighted GPA in junior year. An upward trend could help remedy a good but not outstanding GPA.

9

@classy2017 4.0 UW, 4.85 W

10

That definitely helps. Whats your UW GPA in 10-12?

11

@classy2017 3.87 W, 4.5 UW

12

I don’t think ROTC is any sort of tip, not the way athletic recruiting is… You’re taking the usual view that you have some accomplishments in hs. But top colleges will also be looking at your thinking and more, what you bring to their table that they want. You need to really dig into what Yale and others look for, so your app and supps can hit the mark.

Some of the gpa issue will depend on what classes were less than A grades. And what possible major. So, eg, the C in CS and no test score won’t help if you’re aiming at CS or engineering. The 4 in physics might also be an issue. These colleges have thousands of 4.0+ to choose among.

I know you said undeclared, but they will still look for some idea of your strengths, what patterns, and what you did to pursue those, beyond classes and a few school activities. So what might the major be? What “national leadership awards?” Some are based on hours, not responsibilities and impact.

13

Cornell reach, other Ivies high reach.

14

@beepybeetle
You are within range for Ivies, and you got a solid chance.
Apply for all of them, and apply early decision or action for 1.
I would be surprised if you didn’t get in Cornell or Brown.
34 on the ACT is the 75th percentile for many Ivies, and the 75th percentile for Cornell is only 33.
Go for it

15

family friend ( white male) got in Yale SCEA ( with ROTC backing) with lower stats than you just this last cycle, and my own D got into Stanford ( asian) with slightly higher GPA but lower test scores. You have the stats, focus on what you can control , which is to write stellar essays and packaging yourself well based on your strengths and passions.

16

@iska123 I see. I don’t know how I’m going to get my stuff ready for the SCEA deadline. I went to see if my math teacher had started my rec letter and she laughed and pointed to a basket overflowing with rec letter requests and stuff. I highly doubt my NROTC stuff will be boarded by the end of october.
@Shabeezy I’m definitely going for cornell but Brown kind of puts me off since it just seems to be extremely liberal, and nothing against liberals or liberalism but I just have some pretty different views.