<p>Hopefully you are right murasaki even though I still think SATs don't matter so much. Best of luck to the OP.</p>
<p>Lots of schools with love that trend, but not Harvard. You have great scores, but if your school only sends 1 to an ivy yearly, your gpa doesn't look strong. Suspected not hard worker? Then there's average (not for HYP) ECs and school level awards. </p>
<p>Try some lower ivies for reaches and hope they miss the C.</p>
<p>Alright, i'll throw in the application not expecting anything.
Does anyone know if Princeton/Stanford(not looking at freshmen year), Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, MIT, Johns Hopkins University, or Tufts would be in my reaches?</p>
<p>Stanford and Princeton would be slightly more likely solely because of the GPA factor, I think, but they are still incredibly selective and your chances wouldn't be that much better (it's not you, it's just the process). I think you're good enough to have a chance and/or bother applying, just not that good of a shot. MIT and Columbia are both also extremely selective, a few percentages less though. UPenn, JHU, and Tufts seem noticably likelier.</p>
<p>Of course, I'd still like to clarify that you have really good stats and I'm not saying you shouldn't reach for certain schools and only bother with other ones, I'm just saying which ones I think are more likely, I wish you luck.</p>
<p>To answer your question, yes, I'd apply to H and any other school you're interested in. I just wouldn't expect HYPS. Not looking at freshman grades is overstated when we know they are looking at rank. Your better shot is at lower ivies and other top schools. Write a GREAT app and hope for great recs.</p>
<p>Well, is Columbia ED a reasonable option to spend my "ED" card? I'd go there over any other school, if accepted.</p>
<p>Ahhh. now we are getting realistic. Yeah. Very reasonable. I daresay it is 50/50?</p>
<p>Wowww, anyone else have any opinion on my chances in Columbia? I will ED there if it's really as good as you say it is.</p>
<p>The school you come from should have no place in factoring college admittance. It's the individual that works their butt off and consequently makes whatever reputation the school has. Unless your school is a really gloomy place where the priority is to get people to graduate in whatever way possible, you are fair in the game.</p>
<p>With all due respect to the previous poster, where you go to high school DOES matter. Some colleges have regional preferences and biases. There is a reason why parents are willing to spend an ungodly amount of money to have their son/daughter attend some of the prestigious prep schools like Andover, Choate, etc. out east. </p>
<p>Many colleges believe that these schools are academically better and if you look at the percent who get in to Ivy League schools, the percentage is quite high. Even for some of the public high schools in the Boston area, the percentage is high. Whereas if you went to a great high school in the Midwest, the Ivies tend to take a lower percentage. There really are regional biases.</p>
<p>Dejected Panda:</p>
<p>My suggestion: When you apply to schools, apply to several good colleges in the Midwest, where you are from. Look at Northwestern and University of Chicago. If you want to play to your strengths, I would include looking at top liberal arts colleges like Carleton and Oberlin-they would love to admit someone like you.</p>
<p>I'd give your Columbia ED chance 50/50</p>