Do I have a snowball's chance in heck of getting into HYPSM?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Male, Pennsylvania, White.</p>

<p>Junior, soon to be senior here. Looking at the top colleges but I'm not sure if I have what it takes to get in. So here goes:</p>

<p>SAT I: 2360 (Math 800, Writing 780, Critical Reading 780)
SAT II: Math II: 800, Chemistry: 790, US History: 780
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): ~3.9
Rank: 4/440
AP (place score in parenthesis): Chem (5), Calc BC (4), Macroeconomics (5), Lang. and Comp. (5), Comparative Gov (5), Psychology (5)
Senior Year APs: Bio, Lit. and Comp., Stats, World History, French, Physics C, Environmental Science, Spanish -apart from Spanish these will all be very nice scores</p>

<p>Awards:
-Envirothon, won states and finished first in my category.
-National Merit Finalist
-National Honors Society</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-Debate Team (Captain): 3 years
-School Newspaper (Editor in Chief): 3 years
-Environmental Awareness Team: 4 years
-Cross Country (Captain): 3 years
-Soccer: 1 year (as a freshman, I now play on rec teams)
-Track & Field: 3 years
-Student Council (Senator): 2 years
-I have sold short fiction to magazines (not Cricket, but in the same vein as that)
-School board student representative
-Model UN Club: 2 years</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: Private Tutor & Paid Public Speaker</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service: Over 500 hours in various charities, soup kitchens, and leading a community fundraiser to raise money for urban victims of sex trafficking (totaled over $10,000 raised).</p>

<p>Summer Activities: Private tutoring, research at a local college, volunteering, writing. JSA Summer School (Princeton, Speech and Political Communications)</p>

<p>Essays: They're going to be good. Writing is my thing and I want to describe how I learned from the sexual mistakes I made as a kid, and then started a fundraiser to focus my passion in that area.</p>

2

<p>Your grades look good, but your ECs are SERIOUSLY lacking for HYPSM. That could be a dealbreaker for you, because I don’t see how you can differentiate yourself from any other applicant with good grades/scores. </p>

<p>As far as your essay “idea” goes: you sound very conceited. Don’t try to competitive about college essays, just be yourself, because colleges can see right through a very “well-planned” essay. If you deserve to get in, you’ll get in, but if you don’t, you won’t.</p>

3

<p>Tbh, I just came up with that idea a few minutes before posting. Looking back it shows. I guess I’ll try and work with my ECs because right now they are weak. I thought maybe the 10k+ fundraiser might make me stand out, but besides that you’re right. I need to drive my passions forward.</p>

<p>Thank you for your honest help!</p>