Evaluate My Chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>White Male, from illnois
GPA 5.93/6 class rank 7/696
National Merit semi-finalist (224 PSAT)
SAT 2240 780 M, 730 CR, 730 W
SAT II - 730 chemistry, 740 US history, 780 math
ACT (not taken)</p>

<p>APs- 3 this year and am taking 5/6 my senior year. My school only offers 1 before junior year and I was in a junior level accounting class instead.</p>

<p>Latin state qualifier, 2 time german AATG finalist</p>

<p>extracurriculars in school: 4 years habitat for humanity, german club board member</p>

<p>outside of school: 2 year varsity swim team (all conference 5 times)
2 years cross country 3 years track (hopefully cross country captain in 2009) and state qualifier in cross country. Scholar athlete as well.</p>

<p>5 year little league umpire (since 8th grade)
4 year cook at local country club
1 year cook at restaurant
3 year youth flag football head coach
2 year after school volunteer at a program for kids.</p>

<p>other credentials: school sports columnist for school paper. Also I write for 3 websites including cbssport.com and espn's thesportingtruth.com. In addition I created and run my own cross country and track website which is the 2nd rated website of its kind in Illinois.</p>

<p>since I know some of the schools ask how you spent your summers, this summer I was on a month long trip in belize and panama scuba diving and surfing and doing community service. I am currently certified as a scuba diver and as a life-guard. not sure if these make a difference, but I'll include them anyways.</p>

<p>here is what I am thinking in terms of schools right now. Please let me know if these seem reasonable. In terms of running I could run for all the schools on the list with the exception of stanford, and at the time being georgetown (will depend on my improvements).</p>

<p>3 categories: reach (would be difficult to get into)
hopeful (think I could get in but not a sure bet)
safety (pretty positive I could get it)</p>

<p>williams: hopeful (my sister goes here now and I have 4 other relatives that have gone there)</p>

<p>rice: hopeful
stanford: reach
georgetown: reach
duke: reach
cornell: hopeful
dartmouth: hopeful
pomona: hopeful
carnegi mellon - safety (dad went here)
USC- safety
vanderbilt: safety
harvard: reach
northwestern: safety (over 25 kids per year accepted from my high school)
princeton: reach</p>

<p>reaches: 5
hopefuls: 5
safety: 4</p>

<p>Do these seem reasonable, and what do you think are my chances of getting into my reach schools. Stanford is really my top choice, and would it be a waste of time to apply with their restricted early action program or do you think I have a shot?</p>

2

<p>Ok, I do not think that Vanderbilt and Northwestern are safeties for you. Although you have a good chance at getting in, I would not be so blunt to say that they are ““safeties.”” Your gpa and SAT look really good, as does your class rank. It doesn’t look like you have many leadership postitions in the clubs and sports you are in. Harvard and Princeton would be big reaches, and Cornell and Darmouth would be reaches but not as big (the ivies are reaches for everone.) </p>

<p>I would say you have a chance at Stanford (but it is still a reach), and if it’s your first choice then I would go ahead and apply EA (which is restricted)</p>

<p>I don’t really know about your “hopeful’s”, do you mean matches? I’m a little confused with your terminology, but if you mean match schools then I would still think that a lot of them are very high matches, definitely not safe bets.</p>

3

<p>^OK I agree that Vanderbilt and NU are not safeties for you. You cannot call these schools “safeties” for you … you may have the scores, but your EC profile will put you near the “match” range.</p>

4

<p>Dartmouth, Cornell and Pomona are reaches. You have average stats for them and no special EC’s. High math scores are common and our other scores are lackluster at ivies. 40% of the class at Dartmouth were number 1 or 2 in their class and when you factor in the 40% that are hooked it’s a significant reach if you’re not.</p>

<p>NU and Vandy are not safeties. If they take 25 from your school a year clearly many are legacies, staff kids or otherwise connected.</p>

<p>I would put chances at your reaches at 20% at HPS, 30% at Dartmouth and Pomona and 50/50 at Cornell and Georgetown. You’re white, affluent (guess-scuba diving) and from an over represented state putting you in a very tough pool for these schools and nothing you list differentiates you from the pack.</p>

5

<p>

</p>

<p>Further evidenced by</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I’d put those chances even lower for HPS, closer to 10% at each, maybe 30% at one of three. Your SATs, while very good for most of your schools, are quite commonplace for a HYPS applicant–coupled with your lack of ECs I just don’t see a HYPS accpetance. Also, Cornell’s getting more selective, so I’d put your chances there closer to 30%.</p>

6

<p>Hey everyone, thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it all even if some was more positive than others. As for the claims that I am an affluent white male, the community I live in is relatively affluent, but my family is not. By hopeful I think what I meant is match. Here is my explanation for each school I chose.</p>

<p>williams: I think early decision I would get in here. The coach will not help me here, but as with all small liberal arts colleges, legacy is huge, and I have a lot of it here. My sister is currently a Williams student, my mom went there, my aunt, my grandfather and my great uncle. </p>

<p>pomona: this may be a school that could be a hit or miss alone, but depending on how much pull the coach has with admissions, I could be one of there high end recruits. </p>

<p>cornell: Coach told me he would be shocked if I didnt get in here alone on my academics and activities, but that he would do what he could to get me in. He also said to apply to the regular arts and sciences school, as it’s easiest to get into, and that once I was in he would switch me to any of the other 6 colleges I liked. I don’t agree that it is getting more selective as the above poster said, I mean it is a school of 13 thousand or so undergrads alone. </p>

<p>Northwestern: Big journalism program, and I a nationally rated sports columnist which I think is pretty big for them. I dont particularly want to go to NU because it is very close to home, but it would not be a bad option at all if it came down to it.</p>

<p>All of the coaches told me to apply ED (the ones that had it) which makes me worry that they would not use their admission power if I applied regular. </p>

<p>As far as ECs, my sports writing is a pretty important thing. Like I listed, I write for CBS and an affiliate of ESPNs, and I have over 500,000 reads of my articles on over 15 websites. Some of you may say this is not a strong EC, but I spend 3 or so hours daily researching, revising, and writing my pieces. And as I mentioned earlier, I am a pretty strong runner, and Illinois is one of the strongest running states, so I am a fairly high recruit for DIII and lower DI programs. Finally, I am president and founder of a triathlon club, and am a nationally ranked triathlete (5th/500 in my last competition) I didnt include this because I’m not sure if the level of my abilities in triathlons helps at all considering most schools only have it as a club. </p>

<p>I am sorry if I am seeming arrogant, but I was a little taken back when told my ECs were weak and I was a rich white kid. Especially after all the coaches thought I had a great deal of ECs, and though I know coaches do not probably know that much about the admission process, I still feel that they have some idea of what they are talking about. </p>

<p>I guess my final question would be, should I waste my time going EA at Stanford, where I think I would have about a 20% chance of admittance, and then risk losing a schools like Georgetown, Cornell, Williams, Dartmouth, which I think I would have a good chance getting into if I applied to early, or should I go ahead and try Stanford. Thanks, your responses are appreciated.</p>

7

<p>By far, your best shot would be to ED Williams. Your mom alone makes you a full fledged legacy, having a sib there is just a small tip. But your legacy is probably enough to get you in there ED and chances of that legacy working for you go down RD.</p>

<p>Without coach support, Stanford is a major longshot, SCEA doesn’t help without a hook.</p>

8

<p>Thanks. Although many people would be shocked, thinking “how could you possibly pass up an opportunity like that” I personally am not a huge fan of a lot of the things a small liberal arts college has to offer. That is why my other schools are for the most part less isolated and larger (cornell is somewhat of an exception, though I found the 30,000 town of Ithaca seemed much larger than the 8,000 Williamstown, dartmouth also seemed to have more going on) and the other schools are in larger cities. At the same time, id think my shot at williams moves to 50/50 (im not sure really?) if I dont apply ED, and even though it is not my top choice, it is hard to pass that up and perhaps waste the opportunity.</p>

9

<p>Kids in your range have a tough choice. Trust me, my kids have been there. I don’t know where williams falls in the’ use it or lose it’ approach to ED admissions for legacies. Depending on how far down your list it is, you need to find out and adopt a strategy.</p>

<p>Take a good look at this years’ decisions on this board. Your original post suggests you’re not yet aware just how competitive the schools on your list are and what it realistically takes to get in.</p>

10

<p>bumppppp…</p>

11

<p>bumpppp again. can anyone chance me please. very appreciated</p>

12

<p>You have very good stats and activities, but I’d still put Pomona, Cornell, and Dartmouth as reaches-maybe low reaches if you’d split it up that way. I think you have a good shot getting in there, but wouldn’t want you to overestimate your chances. I think the rest are probably pretty accurate. I’d definitely try to play up the sports writing bit; that’s really cool!</p>

13

<p>Hey thanks</p>

<p>I appreciate it. For Pomona I am hoping my running will help me a little bit if I end up as one of their top 3 or so recruits which is fairly likely. I will also try to play up my sports writing, though its difficult on paper to show the time and committment it takes. I may include a portfolio along with my resume that includes various featured articles but I am not sure.</p>

14

<p>bumppppppp</p>

15

<p>hey i would say cornell, northwestern, and vanderbilt are not a prob with ur scores…</p>

16

<p>Your scores, GPA, ECs are all solid. Your courseload seems good as well. I definately think you should apply to the schools you’ve listed, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say schools like NU are reaches. You have a solid chance at most of these schools (the ivies are never sure for anyone), but if I were you, I would apply to one school that you’re 99% sure you could attend (possibly a relatively low-competition state school) just in case. Otherwise I’d say you’re good, just write some killer essays and hope for the best.</p>

17

<p>It is a very competitive world out there. There are no true safeties on your list - maybe CMU if they give brownie points for legacy. You need a couple of safeties/ The coach from Cornell is wrong. Arts and Sciences is one of the hardest to get into at Cornell. If Cornell really wants you they will actively recruit you. I would change your safeties to match and everything else to reach. Apply to at least one school that you have an interest in that is relatively easy to get into as a true safety.</p>

18

<p>bumpp. and to the above poster, cornell is actively recruiting me…</p>

19

<p>I think it is funny how some people are saying your matches are reaches, and some are saying you have a shot at all these places. I would say</p>

<p>rice: low match/match
stanford: high reach
georgetown: high match/low reach
duke: low reach
cornell: match
dartmouth: high match
pomona: match
carnegi mellon - safety
USC- safety
vanderbilt: low match
harvard: high reach
northwestern: safety/low match
princeton: high reach</p>

<p>all the ivies are not guranteed, right killer essays and get some good recs and all are possible. talk to the coaches at smaller schools *CMU, Pomona they could probably help you depending on how strong their programs are. Also really draw out your sports writing. It is something pretty unique and if you present it properly it could look really appealing to colleges.</p>

20

<p>Hey thanks a ton. does anyone else have anything for me. PLEASE</p>