Giving in to Myself and Posting my Stats

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Interested in: Columbia, Harvard, Penn (Huntsman), Chicago, Amherst, Pomona
Seeking hopefully positive reinforcement</p>

<p>(white male)
GPA 4.17 weighted, 4.0 unweighted</p>

<p>Class-rank: 1 or 2 out of 36 @ a somewhat selective small private school (midwest suburban)
(school officially doesn't rank but I'm hoping they'll sneak it onto my app.)</p>

<p>-I also spent fall semester of Junior year at an American School overseas, got 4 As and a B+ (in HnSpan4) but they won't go into my school's GPA</p>

<p>APs:
as a Junior: Eng Lit, Chem, US - should get all 5s
as a Senior (will take): World, Calc BC, Span, Physics B
-school generally restricts to 2 APs per year and says this on our aps</p>

<p>PSAT: 240, 236 (I know, it went down the 2nd year I took it cuz I misread 1 math question) - SAT will be similar</p>

<p>ECs:
Newspaper (Columnist & 2 yrs Copy Editor, 1 yr Editorials Editor, 1 yr Editor-in-Chief [hopefully])
Junior State of America (2 yrs treasurer, attended some conventions & co-founded and VP'd a chapter in my semester overseas)
Also involved in Young Dems overseas (elected to a debate post)
Mock Trial (Attorney 2 yrs, Highest Scorer last year)
Model UN (2 Superior Delegate Awards in 3 compeitions)
NHS (may be president next year, tell me if you think this helps)
Fall Play (sophomore year only, assistant director)
Junior Engineering and Tech Society V team - school reaches ntl level in our division, wins locally
AMC school winner, took AIME (4 in my school advanced to AIME, so I placed pretty high to win AMC)</p>

<p>Community Service - 40hrs in Costa Rica summer after frosh year, a few other hours here and there, tutor MSers for NHS
Last Summer - worked 25 hrs a week (food service) - for pay
This Summer - interning locally for a congressman</p>

2

<p>Dude, you're bound to get into at least a couple of them. Don't worry.</p>

3

<p>IMHO</p>

<p>Slight Reaches:
Harvard
Amherst</p>

<p>Match:
Columbia
Chicago</p>

<p>Safety:
Penn
Pomona</p>

4

<p>One question, your list is pretty scattered. What are you looking for in a school. Amherst and Columbia are VERY different places. Dartmouth is half-way between Amherst/ Pomona/ Penn in almost every way, look into it. I went to Columbia and transferred to Dartmouth.</p>

5

<p>Well, I think I want a fairly intense, big city school good in social sciences, etc (hence the first four)</p>

<p>Amherst is on there mostly cuz I'm a legacy (but I sortof wanted evaluation of my chances w/o that fact), Pomona b/c I might still decide in the end I want a SoCal experience - those two would be my top LA choices and so I just wanted an overall evaluation of my chances at a fairly diverse list</p>

6

<p>Definitely consider Amherst as a match then. -.-
And go for presidency of NHS. That would look really nice on your application.</p>

7

<p>Cool, I think you are solid at most these places. Maybe look into adding Northwestern too.</p>

8

<p>Dude nice PSAT, how did you study for that?
Anyway...you just need to do more community service and you are bound to get into some of those schools</p>

9

<p>mashimaroban- Penn is NOT a safety school for anyone, especially if they are applying RD!</p>

10

<p>Misread it for different PENN.
Sorry for my bad mistake, lol. Consider it slight reach/match in your case though.</p>

11

<p>Ali G,
you look like a great candidate, but your list is a bit top heavy. If you don't think that its possible to be rejected/waitlisted from every school on your list - take a look at the 'Picking up the pieces' thread on the parent's forum. </p>

<p>As a rough approximation of your chance of not being accepted anywhere on your list looks like this (using USNWR's figures from 2003 - these will likely be worse next year!):</p>

<p>.9 x .8 x .89 x .6 x .82 x .79 = .25 ~ 25%</p>

<p>If you are a better than average candidate, maybe your chances for rejection are less. But even at half the risk, I don't like a one-in-eight chance. </p>

<p>Applying to a good, rolling admissions school early next fall means that can be admitted, within weeks of applying. If you are accepted - as likely you will be - then you can apply whereever finances allow - since you will have a good fallback if the dice don't roll your way.</p>

12

<p>At your school - ask your GC let you see the gray book or scattergram to show how students from your HS have faired at the elites. It's useful to know if any are kindly disposed to your HS. Good luck!</p>

13

<p>Thanks, yeah, I think if nothing changes I'll prob apply to these 6 and maybe throw in Michigan (rolling) and Macalaster to round out to 8.</p>

<p>Also, ohio mom, im wondering what HS your child is/was at since you're in my area.</p>

14

<p>Oh, and as to the PSAT question - I'm just damn lucky (to be good at standardized tests,</p>

<p>first year no studying whatsoever, 2nd year studied these words about an hour the night before - it may have helped me that i took the SAT once in 7th grade so it wasnt a first time test experience - anyway, these words:
<a href="http://cgi.sparknotes.com/hlite.rmpl?words=words,sat,250&pd=0&page=chapter15section4.rhtml&guide=%2ftestprep%2fbooks%2fnewsat%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://cgi.sparknotes.com/hlite.rmpl?words=words,sat,250&pd=0&page=chapter15section4.rhtml&guide=%2ftestprep%2fbooks%2fnewsat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

15

<p>lol. </p>

<p>dang.. 240PSAT sophomore year is REALLY CRAZY, although it doesnt count for anything =\
SAT scores are out soon, post them in a couple days.</p>

<p>i think your bound for the top IVYs, though</p>

16

<p>You definitely will need to apply to more schools than that. NONE of them are safeties for ANYONE, and I'd hesitate to call any of them matches even. </p>

<p>Whoever called Penn and Pomona safeties has obviously not looked at any admissions stats lately. Columbia and Chicago are very selective too. </p>

<p>I do think that if you apply to all these, you will likely get in to one or more. Your stats are great, you have a great shot. But, as ohio_mom astutely pointed out, it is COMPLETELY possible that you might be rejected from the entire list.</p>

17

<p>Thanks for the input,</p>

<p>I'm wondering if you think this means I have a less than average chance at the schools or if you're just referring to the excess number of qualified applicants of which I'd be another one. But, I'll definately make sure to pick at least one school safe enough for you and my school's counselor.</p>

<p>Also if anyone knows, how safe is Michigan with these stats; I figured as a public they at least won't play yield games like some privates who hate to be safeties, but I don't really know how competitive admissions is.</p>

18

<p>Oh, your stats are fine for just about anywhere - it the number of applicants (with similar stats) and other factors (legacy, recruited althete, etc.) that come into play. That's where the designation of safety, match, reach breaks down - is being a match at a college that only accepts 25% of its applicants <em>really</em> a match (better than 50% of admissions). Well, maybe (if you could look inside the admissions black box) or maybe not. That is why some students - if they find an ultra-select match they really want to attend, and know they could afford, do early decision, which does help.</p>

<p>With Michigan, you apply way early, and get your result back in time to alter your admissions strategy if they lose their minds and don't accept you!</p>

19

<p>Ali, keep going with the MUN awards. Those will look VERY nice on your apps. </p>

<p>If you keep going strong with your GPA and ECs, I can say you have an 80% chance of getting into Chicago by ED. Of course, that's if you wanted to, but I'm just saying. You somewhat exceed most of my friends that have gone to Chicago in terms of GPA and ECs.</p>

20

<p>With a PSAT score like that (your sophomore year!), you should be a top contestant for a the National Merit Award next year. That will look really good on your apps.</p>