Do I stand a chance of acceptance to these schools?

Student Lounge African-American Students
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<p>Hey everyone, I'm a black senior living in suburban Maryland. Freshman year, I had five A's and two B's. The summer before sophomore year, I took a course so I could move up a level in math, and got an A. Sophomore year was pretty great in general, and I ended up with seven A's. After sophomore year, my family moved into a new school district, although within the same county, and I ended up with 4 A's and 3 B's junior year at the new school. So, given all this, my GPA comes out to be 3.77 unweighted and 4.57 weighted, which should get me into the top 5% of my class of ~350 for weighted, and at least top 10%, if not top 5%, for unweighted.</p>

<p>I have taken six AP courses so far: Gov & Pol (5; sophomore year), Eng Lang & Comp (5), Biology (4), Calc AB (4), WHAP (4), and Physics C Mech (3; do not plan on submitting this one). I'm also taking six more this year: Stat, Environmental, Calc BC, Eng Lit & Comp, Chem, and Spanish.</p>

<p>My one and only SAT take yielded: 780CR/770M/680W(8E)... yeah, ouch on the Writing.
My SAT Subject Test scores are as follows: 780 Bio M (so close), and 720 Literature. I will be retaking M2 this October after a subpar 690 (very little studying beforehand as I was preoccupied with Bio, so I'm expecting mid 700's this time around).</p>

<p>Most of my honors are generic national honors like AP Scholar with Distinction, Carson Scholarship Semifinalist, National Achievement Semifinalist (Finalist determination pending), etc., but I do have a few school club honors for service and outstanding participation.</p>

<p>As for extracirriculars, I participate in both indoor and outdoor track during the winter and spring, respectively, and hold a Captain position on my school's FRC robotics team. I'm also current VP of the BSU at my school, and on the board for my school's National Technical Honor Society chapter. These are my only leadership positions, but much of my time is consumed by these three clubs as I put a lot of effort towards each of them. For example, I have headed Best Buddies, Big Brother Big Sister, Head Start, Project Alpha, canned food drives, and tutoring programs through BSU alone, and have helped create FLL teams at middle schools, organize STEM fair exhibits, generate funding, and moderate websites, etc., through robotics and NTHS. In addition to these clubs, I am also on the varsity debate team, part of the Math, Science, Spanish, and English honor societies, in MESA, and was, in the past, part of the YDA and Green Club, and a school newspaper section editor before moving schools.</p>

<p>As a non-academic extracirricular, I volunteer at a local nature center during the summer and school year where I lead groups on nature walks and help organize and supervise other related activities. I also began working at the local supermarket at the beginning of this school year.</p>

<p>What are my chances at the following schools? (I'm not necessarily applying to all of them): </p>

<p>All of the Ivies
Stanford
MIT
JHU
CMU
Georgia Tech
College Park</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

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<p>Can’t really help, but just wanted to know what county in Maryland you’re from?</p>

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<p>Yes, you have a good chance at all those schools. Now make sure your personal statements and supplements are also killin’ the game. Seriously.</p>

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<p>You have a solid chance. You shouldn’t only apply to your top 3-5 schools plus a safety. You are likely to get into one of your top.</p>

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<p>Did you apply to any of the fly ins? Too bad if you didn’t becasue CMU, JHU, and MIT all offered them and they would have given you some good perspective on your admissions chances.</p>

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<p>You should reach for the stars- your academic record is excellent.</p>

<p>Also consider that the less selective colleges on your list offer excellent opportunities. Apply to UMPC by the earliest deadline, write excellent essays, and you may be eligible for their scholarships. The same applies to Georgia Tech. The scholarships for top students at these colleges are noteworthy and worth considering. </p>

<p>Duke also offers some scholarships that you may be interested in applying for- Robertson and some are considered for all applicants. </p>

<p>I would expand your “safety” and “match” list to include colleges that have honors programs and competitive scholarships that interest you so that you have some possibilities you are happy with. You have a chance at all your reaches, but all reach schools are so highly selective that it is impossible to guarantee for anyone. </p>

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<p>Oh I didn’t notice you had “Ivys” at the top-Penn, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Cornell all had fly ins too!</p>

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<p>@mdclassof2017‌ I’m originally from Montgomery but went to high school in Howard.</p>

<p>Thank you to everyone who replied; your responses were very helpful. I am currently considering my choices for Early Action and I’m not quite sure what course of action to take. My dream school, Harvard, has only Restricted Early Action, which means I can’t apply to any other private schools, though I can apply to public schools. I’m trying to weigh whether or not to apply to Harvard and the two state schools I’m actually considering and then the rest in RD, or to apply to multiple private schools that aren’t necessarily my top choices but still very favorable, and then Harvard and other REA/SCEA schools during RD. Anyone have any advice or personal experiences they’d like to share on this matter?</p>

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<p>Do early action to Harvard. It’s your best chance at getting it.</p>

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<p>If you really want to go to Harvard, then apply REA. Then work on the others. Apply at the same time to your state, which in this case would be UMCollege Park. My D was in the same boat last year - though she did SCEA at Yale and UMCP. She got into Yale so she withdrew UM and did not apply to any other schools. She had two AA female students at her high school who got into Harvard REA. They’re all freshmen now and loving it.</p>

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<p>@Tperry1982‌ may I ask for your daughter’s stats? I’m applying to yale this saturday and I’m feeling kind of down about where i stand</p>

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<p>Hey guys, so I was recently deferred from Harvard (my number one)! It’s disappointing, but I’m not discouraged quite yet. Here is most of what went into my Common App. It’s been suggested to me that I send a “Deferral Letter” to Harvard in effort to appeal myself to them a bit more (keeping them updated with new volunteering, which I’ve done a lot of recently, and other things). I also plan on retaking the SAT in January to hopefully raise that Writing score. I think that if I can get it to at least the mid 700s, I can make it a bit more difficult to pass me up (but maybe not, who knows). This means I can’t retake my ML2 which sucks, but it’ll have to do.</p>

<p>I’m going to get my mentor for BSU to fill out an optional letter of recommendation which may help. NTHS has grown exponentially this year after its founding last year, and the robotics team is so large that we may be able to build three prototypes this year. I will probably have added another several dozen hours of volunteering since I sent in my early application by the time I send the letter too. I’m also adding my research paper (listed under summer activities) as a supplemental submission.</p>

<p>I heard from Harvard alum posting on CC that Harvard is generally good about answering counselor calls to see what a student may have been lacking for them to have been deferred, so I asked my counselor to call on Friday and I’ll hear back from her on Monday (she’s been very supportive throughout this process). Are there any outstanding weaknesses in my application that anyone can see? I don’t ask this rhetorically; I’ve evaluated it myself and spotted some weak points which I hope to mend as best I can before RD, but it doesn’t hurt to get outside feedback! Thanks.</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2230 (780 CR, 770 M, 680 W, 8 Essay)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Bio M (780), Lit (720), ML2 (690)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.77 (4.57/5.0 weighted)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 22/380
AP (place score in parentheses): Gov & Pol (5), English Lang & Comp (5), Biology (4), Calc AB (4), WHAP (4)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Stat, AP Environmental Science, AP Calc BC, AP English Lit & Comp, AP Chemistry, AP Spanish Lang and Culture, and a tech class for the requirement.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, Carson Scholarship Semifinalist, National Achievement Scholarship Semifinalist (Finalist determination pending), generic state “scholar athlete” awards, several club/school awards.</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Robotics Team (Strategy Captain and Webmaster), BSU (Vice President), Track & Field (Varsity Sprinter, County Championships), School Newspaper (Arts & Entertainment Section Editor), Policy Debate (Varsity 1AC/2NC), National Technical Honor Society (Leadership Board and Co-Founder).
Job/Work Experience: Working at nearby grocery store, tutoring.
Volunteer/Community Service: Volunteering at local shelter (Head Start, Big Brothers Big Sisters, canned food drives, etc.), participant in Best Buddies High Schools program, Project Linus, field day volunteering at local elementary schools, Black History Month assemblies, peer tutoring, ecological volunteering around the area (led efforts to help pick up trash, rake leaves; that sort of thing), JHUAPL Girl Power volunteering, founded robotics team at local middle school, manual conservation work.
Summer Activities: Volunteering at local nature center, working at grocery store. Also continued a year-long research project on the monetary restrictions on the American space program in which I was mentored and assisted by the host of a podcast show and a member of the NASA Advisory Council.
Essays: Discussed topics that meant a lot to me; I thought they were good.
Teacher Recommendations: Not sure how either of them were, honestly (didn’t read). Both teachers like me a lot and were more than happy to write them, so hopefully they weren’t problematic at the least, and very helpful at best.
Counselor Rec: Didn’t read, but I’m presuming they’re about as good as they’ll get. She knows me fairly well because of national/regional/state/school awards, and because of other applications for programs like MITES that have gone through her.
Additional Rec: N/A; definitely need to send one in the upcoming months. I know just the person.
Interview: Lasted for about an hour. Conversation seemed to flow well and my interviewer was very nice.</p>

<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes.
Projected Concentration: Bioengineering.
State (if domestic applicant): Maryland.
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: Public, mid-sized.
Ethnicity: Black or African American (<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube).
Gender: Male.
Income Bracket: N/A, but solidly middle class.
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, first to pursue STEM in my family.</p>

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<p>I am so sorry for your disappointment. I think you present an excellent “package” and were a realistic candidate. Thank you for sharing your information-it really helps other applicants temper their expectations. If you want to pursue the deferral that’s great, but I think you should really focus your energy on your other applications. I feel certain that there are other great schools that are going to be excited to have you. Where else did you end up applying? </p>

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<p>Hmm… interesting. Honestly, I really don’t think there’s any need to take the SAT again; your numbers are strong overall. Everything you’ve presented here looks great. What we haven’t seen is your writing, and I’d hope it’s just as strong because it’s just as important. Not to beat a dead horse, but… yea…</p>

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<p>First of all, feel good that you were deferred and not rejected. You’re still in the game.</p>

<p>Second, usually GPA and class rank mean more than test scores. Focus on whatever you can do (probably not much though) in those areas. I don’t know about new volunteering. How does a few months of an activity you are new to give you a boost? I don’t know. Re taking the SAT seems like a distraction.</p>

<p>Another couple really strong recommendations from educators would probably be very helpful at this point. </p>

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<p>Thanks for the advice everyone. I actually got off to a somewhat sloppy start the first quarter of this year, but I am projected for 6 A’s and 1 B this quarter, so perhaps showing Harvard that I’m not on a downward trend could help a little. As for new volunteering, I didn’t mean entirely new activities so much as I meant new opportunities that I have taken advantage of and created within current/past activities. Many volunteering programs that I kick-started in previous years are now ballooning. I agree that this may not help too much, but it may be able to show that I am definitely not slacking nor planning on slacking any time soon; I’m more busy than ever, really.</p>

<p>I do feel that some more recommendations could really, really help me out. My BSU mentor has nominated me for several “student of the month” bids which I have all won, in addition to multiple club-related awards.</p>

<p>Maybe raising my SAT score won’t help, but I definitely think that it could improve with a second take; I’ll have to think about it some. I have been advised to focus on my other applications by many of you now, which I will for sure, but I would also like to continue pursuing Harvard where I can. I really like the school for so much more than the academics (as do the other several dozen thousand people applying).</p>

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<p>Update: A Harvard admissions representative told my guidance counselor that there was “some concern about the amount of B’s” (my counselor’s words). I’m looking at potentially one B class this quarter, with the rest at solid A’s. Here’s to hoping that one little quarter of achievement is enough. It’s time to lock down and focus.</p>

<p>Thanks for the help guys.</p>

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<p>It’s nice to think that a better SAT score is the golden ticket. If you are in the middle 50%, you’re good. It truly is other factors in your application that you must work on at this point. Even then, staying in touch and communicating your desire in a passionate but not annoying or stalker kind of way is key while looking for gaps in your application.</p>

<p>Look at the Ivy threads now and you’ll see 2400, 36 score kids that got rejected and 2000, 30 kids that got accepted. I’m saying this because I think the majority of kids think it’s their test scores they need to improve or at least hope that it’s the test scores.</p>

<p>It’s good that your counselor got feedback for you. You learned that it’s not your scores that you need to work on to show you should be there. </p>

<p>My D is at an Ivy League school now. She did very well all through school and her SAT score was high. That said, she studies and works like a beast in college. It’s designed to stretch the best and brightest to their limits. And she’s is in about a dozen different extra curricular activities. That said, I can see why they would be concerned about a lot of B grades. You seem very smart but you may have to demonstrate a stronger work ethic as reflected in better grades. Keep it in mind if you write to them again so that you can dispel them of that notion.</p>

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I just received an invitation to VISION 2015 at Rice! I’m definitely going and am so excited to check out the school (this will also be my first fly-in program). Should I take this to be an encouraging sign for my admit chances?

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I got invited to VISION too!!! @ahawkins‌ I really hope this is a good sign rice is the only reach i have a shot at getting into