HARVARD, STANFORD, and UPENN Chance Please!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>I am looking to get an idea of my odds of admission to Harvard (undergrad CS), Stanford (undergrad CS), and UPenn (1st choice is M&T program, 2nd is Wharton for business)</p>

<p>GRADES
Freshman Year
All on level classes... About 50/50 As and Bs, all "borderline"</p>

<p>Sophomore Year
2 honors, 2 APs... Again, about 50/50 As and Bs & "borderline"
3 on AP World, 4 on APCS</p>

<p>Junior Year
2 honors, 4 APs, 2 AP Self Studies
All As, in the 92-98 range, EXCEPT one B (an 89) during the second SEMESTER of an honors class (averaged as an A for the year, but my school reports both semester and yearly grades)
5s on all 6 AP exams (Micro/macro econ, us history, stat, human geo, environmental science)</p>

<p>Senior Year
Currently in AP BC Calc, AP Lang, AP Comp. Gov., AP US Gov., AP Physics C (although school doesn't report whether it's Physics B or C on my transcript), AP Psychology, and Advanced Topics (a post-AP math course which is highly advanced and focuses on abstract math... things like number theory, set theory, logic, etc.) I will have all As for my first semester report except for a B in Advanced Topics.</p>

<p>TESTS
34 ACT
800 SAT Math II
790 SAT Physics
740 SAT US History</p>

<p>ECs
Varsity track, XC freshman and sophomore years
President of Investment Club Junior Year (member all 4 years)
Elected SGA Treasurer senior year
Elected to Student Leadership Council senior year
Active member in INTERACT Club (community service)
Eagle Scout
Went to Wharton's LBW summer program last summer (between junior and senior years)
Started a business (more on this below)
In the beginning process of creating a charity with dozens of other high school students from around the world.
In the National Honor Society and Science Honor Society.</p>

<p>ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Started tech company in 8th grade (iPhone apps)
Self-taught programming from Stanford classes that are on iTunes U
Daily revenue has exceeded $4,000
Apps used by over 50k people daily
One app peaked at #2 in the entire Apple App Store (above Facebook, Groupon, etc.)
Over 4,500,000 downloads
Backed out of a 6-figure venture round for another company I was working on to focus more time on school
Company has been featured in New York Times and on the front page of my local newspaper
I had 2 full time employees at company's peak (have since scaled down to focus on school)
Recruited ex-CFO of major internet gaming company to sit on my board of directors
Recruited ex-SVP of business dev. at XBox Live to manage day-to-day operations of company while I was at school</p>

<p>CHARITY
Co-founded a non-profit with 2 other high school students from different parts of the country
It's a micro finance charity where we raise money and lend it to people in third world countries so that they can start their own businesses or get life essentials
Just raised $150,000
About to have a Huffington Post article about us published
Partnering with a child prodigy (started college when he was 8) to start an online site to improve the accessibility and quality of free online education.</p>

<p>OTHER
Did a TEDxTalk a few weeks ago
Was invited to the 20 Under 20 Entrepreneurship Summit in NYC (program run by the founder of PayPal)
Teacher recs will be awesome
Essays should be great too
Will probably get the ex-CFO that I recruited for my board to write a rec letter as well
School does not report rank/percentile (they do report mean standardized test scores though and number of APs, both of which I am in the top percentile in)
AP Scholar w/ Distinction
Received University of Rochester Xerox Award
Received $2000 Discus Scholarship for Outstanding achievement outside of the classroom
Went to Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference this summer for a week</p>

<p>What do you think my chances are? Will the schools overlook my freshman and sophomore grades? </p>

<p>Thanks so much for your time!</p>

<p>EDIT: I chance back. </p>

<p>Also, I'll be posting my results in April so future CCers will be able get a better idea of what colleges are looking for and how accurate (or inaccurate) these chance threads are. When you post your chances, please break it down by school and give your estimate as a percentage (i.e. Stanford: 30%). I will interpret >= 50% as you thinking I will get in and <50% as you thinking I won't.</p>

2

<p>If you don’t get into those schools, I have no idea who in the heck would.</p>

3

<p>I honestly feel like there is a VERY good chance I won’t make it into a single one of them. My standardized test scores & ECs are above average, but there are 3 huge things that hurt my application:</p>

<p>1) I’m a white male from the suburbs of a large city</p>

<p>2) My grades. Most students getting into these schools don’t have a single B. I have plenty of them (although nearly all from Freshman and Sophomore years). It’s good, though, that Stanford doesn’t even look at Freshman year grades.</p>

<p>3) Many other students (around 5-8) from my school are applying to these schools as well. These students are, for the most part, the people in my grade with the highest GPAs.</p>

<p>Any other opinions?</p>

4

<p>I think you’re a shoo-in for Wharton.</p>

5

<p>What about the M&T program at UPenn?</p>

6

<p>Lol you’re insane if you think your ECs are only a bit above average…you gave a TEDx talk!</p>

7

<p>Also, if you’re making more than 4k a day, why are you even going to college lol?</p>

<p>Sent from my DROID X2 using CC</p>

8

<p>Where did you apply early?</p>

9

<p>To reply to everyone’s comments:</p>

<p>1) I don’t currently make $4k a day. That was the <em>revenue</em> that my company peaked at. Keep in mind that revenue does not equal profit. The 5 figure ad campaigns I was running and 2 employees I had working for me took away a significant chunk of this 4k</p>

<p>2) I didn’t apply early anywhere. I was waiting on test scores, and applying early to Harvard or Stanford doesn’t help anyways</p>

<p>3) wassup, the time that I spend on here is marginal compared to the benefit that I have gotten from it. Also, even though it may not change the end result, it’s nice to have an idea of where you stand.</p>

<p>Can we please keep this on topic though? Back to chancing? (:</p>

10

<p>too bad. Harvard is making it really hard to get in the regular round. I think the admit rate was under 4 percent this year.</p>

11

<p>I predict you get into all three. I can’t give percentages since I am no admissions officer and the admissions process can be completely random, but you truly have one of the most impressive resumes I have seen and I highly doubt colleges will care about some B’s.
Amazing work, I’m sure you will succeed!</p>

12

<p>What’s your gpa?</p>

13

<p>My school does it based on the 100 point scale (like how it really should be since the 1 point difference between an 89 and a 90 shouldn’t have the drastic effect on your GPA that it does on the 4 point scale. My GPA this year and last year is about a 100.5 (weighted with +10 for AP and Post AP and +5 for Honors)</p>

14

<p>You have amazing ECs that show leadership and drive. My guess is Harvard is your best shot (at least 50/50) since I assume by CS you mean computer science, which is part of their new engineering school. Although Harvard is Harvard, this school being new does not have the rep of some competitors, thus (in my view) giving you a better chance here than at a place like Stanford that has the leading CS (along with MIT) in the US. I think Stanford will be tougher and give you a 1/3 chance. </p>

<p>Penn RD will be an interesting case. Your contact with the Wharton school last summer should help, but Penn may also wonder if they have a realistic shot at you. The more you can do to let Penn know of your interest the better and so I suggest sending in first quarter grades, news features on your business/charity etc. My guess re Penn = 50/50.</p>

<p>Overall, I do not think your grades will keep you out of any of these schools given the wow factor re ECs and charity. </p>

<p>What other schools are you applying to?</p>

15

<p>I think you have a great chance at all of them because you are a unique applicant. I’d say that you get into Harvard and penn and are wait listed by Stanford. You’re X factor makes you too much of an anamoly to out right reject. Good luck!</p>

<p>Chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1418125-chance-me-duke-other-top-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1418125-chance-me-duke-other-top-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

16

<p>You have a shot at Stanford. In the past Stanford has accepted students with imperfect GPA and SAT scores.
Penn is not as great, even with the summer program, Penn admits 90% of its students in the top 10%.
Harvard is unknown.</p>

17

<p>What iPhone app did you make? I might have it lol. Also you seem to be a strong candidate.</p>

18

<p>You seem like a shoe in! Chance back</p>

19

<p>Does anyone think that I won’t get accepted to ANY of them? From what I’ve gathered, the general consensus is that there is a very good chance I’m in at least one of them. Is this valid?</p>

20

<p>Harvard: ~40%</p>

<p>Stanford: ~80%</p>

<p>UPenn: ~90%</p>