<p>@prezbucky - thanks for the advice I definitely have some safeties and I will add more. Any advice for EC’s and presentation?</p>
<p>Glad to hear that you have some safeties lined up for the “just in case” provision.</p>
<p>I’m not really the person to ask about ECs and presentation: I’m a relatively old dude who applied to one school for undergrad (UW-Madison) and was accepted. My ECs were varsity sports, state honors choir, NHS, DECA, and Spanish Club. LOL </p>
<p>Sounds like you were really prepared! Any other chances or advice guys?</p>
<p>@Newkid1997 - I have not seen the Common App lately. When I made that comment, I was thinking more of the way people set up their resumes. Some students send a separate resume to admissions offices for exactly the reason that the Common App doesn’t let them include some things and doesn’t set up the way they would like to present themselves. But even if you don’t want to do that, there are other ways to make the point to admissions. Interviews, e-mail, somewhere within an essay, whatever. I don’t want to overhype the point, I am sure you will be fine. Just something to keep in mind if you see the opportunity to make the point.</p>
<p>Wait what point am I trying to make?</p>
<p>That your EC’s have a couple of common characteristics tying them together. The less random you can make them look, the more you can communicate these are things you care about and will continue in college, and therefore the more mature you come across. That you didn’t do these things just to “check the boxes” for your college application.</p>
<p>Colleges really are not looking for people that flit from activity to activity but don’t really get involved or show leadership in any of them. That is what looks like resume padding. They want the person that has a couple or 3 major EC’s that they are really into. Those are the two ends of the spectrum. Most people are somewhere in-between, but the more you are towards the leadership/dedicated end of that spectrum, the more they like it. Especially the very top schools that can afford to be the most selective.</p>
<p>heck, you’re freaking amazing - your ec’s are incredible! I’d be surprised if you didn’t get into at least 2-3 of those schools. I can’t believe people think it’s going to be hard to get in because you have no hooks. I think you don’t need hooks to have already had a really good shot.</p>
<p>chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1663134-i-m-amazing-chance-me-d-top-universities-intl-student.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1663134-i-m-amazing-chance-me-d-top-universities-intl-student.html#latest</a></p>
<p>@fallenchemist - I am going to find a way to tie them together on my app and make leadership stand out. I may also utilize the extra information portion of the app to give a short statement and connect all my different activities. </p>
<p>@econsftw - thanks I hope I can get into a few of them, but I’ll always have my safeties. I’ll chance you back. </p>
<p>@Newkid1997 I think you have are a very qualified applicant for these schools. Getting in is another story, but rest assured, your credentials are there to at least get the admissions boards to throughly consider your application. My prediction is that you’ll get into at least one (maybe a few) of these schools. On another note, how do you know you are a semi finalist for National Merit already? Best of luck, oh, and chance me back please!</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1662544-chances-at-harvard-yale-princeton-mit-brown-columbia-dartmouth-tufts-duke-amherst.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1662544-chances-at-harvard-yale-princeton-mit-brown-columbia-dartmouth-tufts-duke-amherst.html#latest</a></p>
<p>I scored well above my states highest previous cutoff. I also scored 99% in 2 sections and 98% in 1 section (for my state) so I am making the assumption I am a semi-finalist. And thanks I will chance you back</p>
<p>you have a chance at every one of them, but I’d say that Harvard and Yale is still a reach. Dartmouth might be possible. match or low reach for all else</p>
<p>Every Ivy is a reach if the definition of reach is that they admit less than 20% of all applicants, and less than 1/3 of applicants that appear qualified by stats alone. We probably need some new terminology to differentiate those students that appear to have the credentials, which at least gives them a chance even though the odds are still well less than 50-50, versus those students that have borderline stats or less and therefore have extremely slim odds. Could be as simple as saying they are a qualified reach, which this person is, versus a unqualified reach or an extreme reach, if we want to avoid a term like unqualified.</p>
<p>Not a bad idea. You should start the new terminology, and I’ll join you. You think I’m a qualified reach?</p>
<p>Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Penn Wharton, Georgetown, USC, U of Texas Biz Honors, Rice</p>
<p>So Harvard and Yale I would say are high reaches simply because they are Harvard and Yale. You have put yourself into a good position I’d say with those along with Dartmouth. I think Georgetown is a lower reach and definitely manageable. I really don’t know enough about Penn Wharton or U of Texas to comment but I’m assuming that would be matches based on your score and USC is a solid match with Rice being safetyish </p>
<p>@Newkid1997 - Yes, definitely, at least based on what I can see (as opposed to your recs and essays which I cannot) I would say so.</p>
<p>In thinking about the terminology, the word “qualified” is a bit ambiguous. Qualified as in perfectly capable, or qualified as in “I want to qualify that statement”? So now I am thinking “credentialed reach” because you have the credentials, but it is still a reach because, as @EKGCCO19 says, they are Harvard and Yale (and Stanford and others that are the lowest in acceptance rates). The students without the credentials would still be an extreme reach.</p>