harvard, yale, stanford, princeton....

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>heyy...so what do u think my chances are of getting in? like if i applied to all of them do u think id get into at least one of them?</p>

<p>here is my "resume", sorry if it seems kinda long!</p>

<p>PSAT-225 (National Merit Semi-Finalist, probably will be a Finalist) junior year </p>

<p>SAT Math-770 </p>

<p>SAT Reading-730 </p>

<p>SAT Writing-700 (9 essay) </p>

<p>Total: 2200 (I plan on taking it again) junior year </p>

<p>SAT II Biology-740 freshmen year </p>

<p>SAT II Chemistry-670 sophomore year </p>

<p>SAT II American History-740 junior year </p>

<p>(I plan on taking Math II and Spanish soon) </p>

<p>AP World History-4 (10th grade—AP World History was not offered at my school but I took the exam anyway) </p>

<p>AP American History-5 </p>

<p>AP Government-5 </p>

<p>AP English-4 (I did not take AP English but took the exam anyway) </p>

<p>GPA 7.75/8 or a 4.3/4 (weighted) </p>

<p>No grade below an A on entire transcript </p>

<p>Headmaster’s List entire high school careers </p>

<p>Only 2 other students have made straight A’s at my school </p>

<p>Top 5% of class </p>

<p>My school does not rank </p>

<p>Private school in a major Texan city </p>

<p>Taken the highest level classes offered except in English </p>

<p>Freshman Year </p>

<p>· National Spanish Exam Award </p>

<p>· Basketball </p>

<p>· Golf </p>

<p>· Ambassadors Club </p>

<p>Sophomore Year </p>

<p>· Mu Alpha Theta (math honors society) inductee </p>

<p>· National Spanish Honors Society inductee </p>

<p>· National Spanish Exam Award </p>

<p>· Ambassadors Club </p>

<p>Junior Year </p>

<p>· University of Rochester Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award </p>

<p>· Math contest (forgot the name) team winner </p>

<p>· Mu Alpha Theta </p>

<p>· National Honors Society inductee </p>

<p>· Ambassadors Club </p>

<p>· National Spanish Honors Society </p>

<p>· AP Scholar with Honor </p>

<p>Senior Year (this year so far) </p>

<p>· National Spanish Honors Society—Vice President </p>

<p>· Mu Alpha Theta—Vice President </p>

<p>· National Honors Society </p>

<p>· Ambassadors </p>

<p>· Model UN </p>

<p>· Youth and Government </p>

<p>· Frequent volunteer for the Democratic party </p>

<p>Other Random Facts: </p>

<p>o I’m applying as an engineering/physics major. </p>

<p>o My family is relatively low income and both of my parents work (this has been restricting in the extra-curricular activity area because I have had to watch my brother after school most days). </p>

<p>o Not a whole lot of community service, but some. </p>

<p>o Member of the Young Democrats. I plan to do a lot of volunteer work for the upcoming elections. Politics is one of my passions. </p>

<p>o No job experience, but frequent babysitter. </p>

<p>My letters of recommendation will be very good, especially from my physics teacher (im the first person in the history of his honors physics class to get above a 100 average). all my teachers love me and will write good recs. </p>

<p>and i plan to write AMAZING essays. haha or at least ill try too. </p>

<p>sooooo what do ya think? think i have a shot?</p>

2

<p>PHYS or HYPS or SHYP or whatever you acronym is, this is a crap shoot.</p>

<p>Unless you are an underepresented minority, you don't have a hook. So it comes down to will your essay stand out versus someone else. Will your recs? I don't think you need to retake the SAT, as long as its 700 in each section you are in good shape, and scores won't keep you out of anywhere.</p>

<p>You may get into one (that one being the one your apply early) or its very likely you may not. You are the type of applicant who could get some real merit money at very dencent schools a little bit further down the USNews list.</p>

3

<p>Are you a competitive applicant for HPYS etc.? You bet. Though, as said above, getting into those schools, even for highly qualified applicants, is a crap shoot. Figure you've got between a 15 and 20% chance at each.</p>

<p>The real question is, though, do you want to go to those schools? If it's engineering and physics you want, Harvard and Yale, for example, should not be on your list. You need to take some time and do some research, and select schools that fit your interests, style, size requirements, location requirements, and so on. First thing, find a copy of the August 28, 2006 edition of US News - the college listing edition. In the very back, there is a list of schools with the top undergraduate engineering programs. Here's the top 10 whose highest degree is a doctorate:</p>

<p>MIT
Stanford
UC - Berkely
Cal Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
U of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
U of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Carnegie Mellon
Purdue - West Lafeyette
Cornell</p>

<p>Princeton is ranked 11th, in a tie with U of Texas, Austin to which, because you will graduate in the top 10% of your class, you are automatically accepted (and which would obviously serve as an excellent safety). Harvard is rated 30th and Yale 43rd. Need I say more? Expand your horizons beyond the Ivies and other big name schools and most likely you'll find a school that really fits.</p>

<p>And by the way, your sex would definitely be an advantage at any engineering or physics program you applied to.</p>

4

<p>Odds are you will not got into one. Weak ECs, average SATIs, below average SATIIs.</p>