<p>Aside from stories of homeless URMs living in the Rocky Mountains who were raped and abandoned making it into Harvard with a 3.5 UW GPA and a 2000 on the SATs... (That's wonderful if you are or know someone who had that happen to them, but most of us are NOT like that, and so, it's not going to offer much solace.)</p>
<p>What are some stories you might have of getting into reaches?</p>
<p>My friend was a URM and a basketball player, though she wasn't a recruited athlete. She had average SAT scores like maybe 1880s or 1990s. Can't really remember. She got into Stanford with a full scholarship.</p>
<p>Anyone?...</p>
<p>Bump.. I'd like to hear some of these too :)</p>
<p>And, like I said, can we try and refrain from URM AA kind of stories? An URM getting into Stanford with 1900 SATs isn't really going to be of much help to any of us.</p>
<p>Last year this Asian girl in my school got into Harvard with no leadership positions in any of her extracurriculars, around a 2100 SAT, and took the Bio SAT 2 around 3 times for a max score of a low 700. HOWEVER, I am hearing that she got in because her father works there, but I am not so sure...</p>
<p>hookless Asian in at yale and stanford</p>
<p>I want to hear stories!!! One time, this girl, who was your typical applicant, who frequented CC a lot, who posted on this forum, and was really cool, got a full ride to Amherst! ...but we can never really be sure of the validity of these kinds of claims...</p>
<p>Be confident in knowing that a certain % of non-legacy, non-athletics, non-anything-other-than-academics, students will get into a commonly super-selective reach school.</p>
<p>It happens more than you think. I've seen kids with 2400s get dumped by UCLA but other kids with 1900s get accepted.</p>
<p>Nothing is certain...: )</p>
<p>I'm a semifinalist for Emory Scholars....</p>
<p>I don't think Emory itself was much of a reach, but I knew the scholarship program was a huuuuuuuuuuge stretch with my stats (top 5% ranking, 3.76 unweighted gpa, 33 ACT....above average for admission to Emory, but far below average for the scholarship program....go look in the Emory forum, most kids that make even semis have 35-36 ACT/2300 SAT's, 3.9something unweighted gpas and ranked in the top 5 in their class...godly stats basically).</p>
<p>3 of my friends got into HYP last year, but two of them had hooks and the other made it to the IChO...</p>
<p>Wait, that wasn't a hopeful story. Um, I also know two Asians who both got into Cornell this past year. They were good students, but they weren't amazing.</p>
<p>Hookless international (Ontario, Canada) Asian in at Cornell ED with 1800-1900 SAT scores, two other hookless Asians in at Cornell regular (2160 and 2260). It happens!</p>
<p>Definitely happens. Depends how bad you want it.</p>
<p>Hookless white in @ Penn ED with 2020 SATs.</p>
<p>Alright, a bunch of my friends got in ED to good schools, no hooks 2 into Emory with 3.3's or so, 1 into Tufts with 3.1, 1 into Johns Hopkins with 3.2, 1 girl into Penn with 3.6 and blah SAT's. None of these kids had stellar SAT's or any stand out EC's.</p>
<p>Asian girl into the University of Michigan with a 3.2 GPA and a 23 ACT. Only extracurricular was 2 years on Tennis, no leadership either. Only took 2 AP classes, got a 3 on 1 test, the other was as a senior. She was in-state, but still doesn't explain 1/100th of that.</p>
<p>that just ****es me off (person who got into michigan...no offense though). michigan was my dream school for my entire life and i had a 3.5 and a 28 ACT and got rejected</p>
<p>Hope is a dangerous thing.</p>
<p>Haha, yeah, I concur with GoldShadow.</p>
<p>It DOES happen, but that doesn't mean it will happen to you. It's not good to be completely hopeless, but even that is preferable to nursing that little glimmer of hope until that 'little glimmer' explodes and suddenly you're surprised that you didn't get in.</p>
<p>Really, "I'll never get in" is probably better than "I might might might have a chance... I wonder what I'll do if I'm accepted...?" If accepted, both of those people will be very happy. If rejected, the first will be prepared but the latter could end up crushed. </p>
<p>Best idea is to forget about your reaches for a bit and consentrate on the matches/safeties- take your time to fall in love with them so a rejection at a reach isn't such a sad thing (losing the 'dream school' etc).</p>
<p>Seriously, these days, who knows? Really, I think the essays play a HUGE role..I've heard of people with average/slightly below average test scores for their school get in because of their essay (most likely).</p>
<p>
[quote]
That's wonderful if you are or know someone who had that happen to them...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>How about getting a little perspective? Would you go through something like that to increase your possibility of getting into a reach school? Really?</p>
<p>I absolutely did not expect at all to get into MIT. I figured that of the 10 schools to which I applied, it was the one I was LEAST likely to be accepted to. Threw me for quite a loop when they let me in...and it was the first school I heard from too!</p>
<p>It turned out nicely that I figured I wasn't going to get in and thus didn't set my heart on it. That way, getting in was a pleasant surprise, and getting rejected would have been no different from my expectations.</p>