Have I any chances for ANY top uni in the USA or England?

Chance Me / Match Me!
21

<p>Nick, you need to be more realistic. Yale, MIT, Stanford, Princeton and Harvard have official acceptance rates that hover around 10%. However, for your typical applicant, like you or I, its more like a 2%-4% acceptance rate. The reason why the acceptance rate jumps to 10% is because H,P and Y and even MIT and Stanford have three types of applicants by the hundreds each year. They belong to one or more of the three categoriesL</p>

<p>1) Children of important alums (those who give back loads of money to the university) and people (sons and daughters of heads of states and CEOs of Global 500 companies)</p>

<p>2) Already established celebrities (like Natalie Portman, Brooke Shields and Jodie Foster) </p>

<p>3) Perfect people (straight A students with 1550+ on their SAT, accomplished athletes AND accomplished artists all in one). </p>

<p>I doubt you belong to any of those three categories...as such, your chances with Harvard, Princeton Yale, Stanford or MIT, even if you were a very strong candidate, aren't good. </p>

<p>But not all is lost. There are many excellent universities that are more realistic that are almost as good. Schools like the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Northwestern, Michigan-Ann Arbor etc... Those schools are all ranked among the top 15 in the US and are very respected internationally.</p>

<p>What you need to do from this moment forward is change your attitude about life. There are literally thousands of geniuses from around the world who apply to top universities around the world...and those geniuses are busting their behinds to gain admission into a top university. If you do not work very hard, you will not make it into most, if any, top universities. A university will not look at your potential. A university will only look at your accomplishments. So telling a university that you could have graduated in the top 5% of your class will mean nothing to them...not when they can accept a thousand students who are ACTUALLY ranked among the top 5% of their class.</p>

<p>Good luck and I hope you apply yourself to the task at hand from now on so that in a year's time, you inform us of an acceptance into a top university.</p>

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<p>You really think I could make it to Cornell? Wow! If I work hard, of course. But you think I can get there?
And if I get there can I work my ass off and then after 4 years of undergraduate study apply for Harvard, if I have an excellent track record of undergrad studies at Cornell?</p>

<p>Cheers for the input.
And to the guy/girl who said I used French idioms.. Yeah maybe I do, a bit.. But I'm not like the cliche of a typical frenchie, i.e I have a London accent (lived there practically my whole life) and am actually native (ie more than fluent) in English.</p>

23

<p>Nick, you are going to have to buckle down, study hard, ace the SAT etc... in order to have any chance of getting into those schools, Cornell included. But yes, if you do well on your SAT and external exams, do well over the next year, write good essays etc..., you have a shot. </p>

<p>As for your chances at Harvard, if you do very well at almost any respected university, and score high on the LSAT, sure. But for now, focus on the next 12 months. Get your SAT and SAT II out of the say and then come back to us with your results. </p>

<p>In the meanwhile, good luck.</p>

24

<p>I've gotten to thinking the same thing Alexandre is geting at. The ivy leagues usually aren't for the normal student. They are for the following person who could post on CC.</p>

<p>John Doe
4.2 GPA
Legacy: Mom(State Senator), dad (CEO of GM), Grandfather (founder of Some Random Company).
Extracurriculars: Playing crochet and drinking a lot.
SAT: 1400+ (except president Bush 1210)</p>

25

<p>Texasmathwhiz, it is not entirely the case, but by and large, to get into H,P or Y, you either have to perfect or you need a real hook.</p>

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<p>Yeah, there certainly are many exceptions to that. I'm just saying if you don't have insane connections, you better be perfect.</p>

<p>I'm surprised you told me I could go to Yale and Harvard.</p>

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<p>Is Cornell an Ivy-League school? Because if not Harvard or Yale I might be shooting for something like Duke, Cornell, Columbia (stretch?), and any other prestigious university like that. I know that as long as the school is prestigious, then I'm happy. The environment etc are secondary to me, frankly.
Might change my mind in a year or two, but I know I'm going for a pretigious university.</p>

<p>Anyway... Long rants, but I got to work and just finished a long essay for English about Lynndie England and the Abu Ghraib events. It's controversial, but I think it's good.</p>

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<p>Cornell is Ivy. as is Columbia.</p>

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<p>Nick, concentrat on your classes for now. The rest will fall into place if you take care of the essentials. </p>

<p>As far as prestige goes, the word is so vague, it has virtually no meaning. Generally, the higher up you go, the less "prestige" is likely to matter. Top executive at top Companies, Corporate Recruiters and graduate schools admissions committees do not care about prestige, nor do most educated people. You are best served going to a top university that suits your needs rather than chosing blindly on what you preceive to be a "prestigious" university. </p>

<p>This said, there are 8 universities in the US that belong to the Ivy League. It is important to understand that the Ivy League is an athletic conference...nothing more. Ignorant people think that all good universities are Ivy League or that it is simply a term to describe a good university. That is not the case. The Ivy League are all located in the same geographic area (the Northeast). They are:</p>

<p>Brown University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Harvard University
Princeton University
University of Pennsylvania
Yale University</p>

<p>That is it. No other university ever has or ever will belong to the Ivy League. </p>

<p>So, by that reckoning, the following schools are Not members of the Ivy League:
Duke University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stanford University</p>

<p>Those schools are easily as good as the Ivies, but they are part of different Athletic Conferences. For example, Stanford belongs to the Pacific 10 Conference and Duke belongs to the Atlantic Coast Conference.</p>

<p>Other excellent universities that are just as good as the schools listed above that you will probably want to look at are:
Johns Hopkins University
Georgetown University
Northwestern University
Rice University
University of Chicago
University of California-Berkeley
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor</p>

<p>You may not have heard of some of those schools, but in academic circles and the corporate words, they are all pretty much equal. </p>

<p>But like I said, you will probably not have a chance to get into any of those schools unless you seriously improve your grades and do well on the SAT and the SAT II.</p>

30

<p>I am actually planning on becoming the captain of the School rugby team, and join some other ECs which I will quickly 'take over' (i.e, attain a leading position in). As I said, that's what I'm planning to do. It ain't done yet.
Anyway Cornell university looks pretty good as well, so does Georgetown which is in the D.C area, which is interesting location-wise... New options popping up all the time, eh!</p>

<p>Anyway just finished one of three English essays I have to do for Monday, and my first (the Iraq war one, controversial but good) I hope deserves an A.
So I'm working!</p>

<p>I am also planning on taking a professional course on how to take the ACT and SAT, which I will do this year. I'm going to have to practice like hell though, on top of everything else, all the work etc...</p>

<p>But hey, I discovered something today as I was stressing over my essay and panicking about university applications: I really like the feeling of working and actually achieving something! Especially under pressure, which I thrive in, I think. I really like hectic schedules and lots of work, come to think of it. I'm weird like that.
Whaddaya know, learn something new every day!</p>

<p>Anywho, I guess with all this going on I can say goodbye to my free time...
But you know what? I'm kinda glad I am.</p>

31

<p>Nick if you are only looking for prestige/ivy league education go for Cornell Early Decision, its possiblely the easist ivy to get into with early decision, something like 1/3 acceptance rate compared to the ~20% ED rates of other schools. </p>

<p>However, keep in mind, generally Ivies don't make people sucessful, its the sucessful people that make the Ivies :).</p>

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<p>"However, keep in mind, generally Ivies don't make people sucessful, its the sucessful people that make the Ivies ."</p>

<p>True that! But, the Ivies being successful means they only accept successful people, which means that successful people further cement the Ivies reputation of being successful.
Its like the chicken and the egg.</p>

<p>Anyway Cornell might be my undergrad. If i work hard enough. And so might Berkeley. Then I'll use those as a stepping stone to get higher into schools like Harvard or Stanford.</p>

33

<p>Frankly, Nick, your attitude on prestige tells me that you really don't know what you're talking about.<br>
Cornell and Berkeley as stepping stones? Granted Cornell is the easiest of the ivies to get into, the term easiest is entirely relative. Cornell is by no means easy to get into. It is a top school, as is northwestern, stanford, mit and many that have already been listed on this thread. </p>

<p>Is it correct to say you're an international student? This generally reduces your chance. </p>

<p>I say this with a persepective, however, as I am in a situation slightly similar to yours. During freshman and sophmore years I cared a great deal more about the engineering and math clubs that I had founded, and the science olympiad club than about GPA.</p>

<p>I am officier of three clubs, founder of two. I have gained national awards in both TSA, and the presitigious;) National Science Olympiad. Unlike you, I have many ECs and a hook, however my late start on my GPA is like yours.</p>

<p>I have always taken all honors/AP courses, however in 9/10th grade I got a couple of Cs, and a bunch of Bs. This year (junior year) I have maintained straight As in all of my courses (2AP/4honors). My PSAT score was a 202.</p>

<p>My goal is Princeton, however I like it because of the level of classes, the professors, and the atmosphere, not just because it is prestigious. </p>

<p>I realize that if it not for my mom being a professor there, I really would have no chance. Do I even have a chance now?</p>

<p>Nick: Keep your ambitious attitude to work harder, but don't get caught up in prestige. You could end up going to a place you hate (Cornell has one of the highest suicide rates of any college).</p>

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<p>lol highest suicide rates? Seriously?
Well frankly, no I fdon't know much about colleges and universities. I only have a slight knowledge of which are prestigious and which are not...
However I never even implied Cornell was easy to get into. It is one of the top 15 schools in the US and has a relatively tough admission policy, like any other top college.
Anyway notice that I said with Straight A's, loads of EC's, and great SATs and ACTs, I plan to make it into Cornell or something like that. Notice that... Doesn't seem someone would do all that if he/she wanted to get into an easy college...</p>

<p>I realise I have quite a few challenges ahead of me... However I am (or think I am) prepared to face them.</p>

<p>By the way I just got my FRENCH GCSE RESULTS BACK... I GOT AN A! And so far this year my French average is A.
And in Chemistry I got a C (66%). That's bad, but then again I thoughtI'd do worse since I seem to have an unfathomable hate for chemistry.</p>

<p>Do you think if I keep these grades up I'm on the right track?</p>

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<p>The right track to personal satisfaction prehaps. The fact of the matter is most ivy leaguers work a lot harder and achieve more than just "i plan to get great SAT" etc.</p>

<p>A 66% in chem? That's one point off an F by American standards (60/65).</p>

36

<p>Oh my God how can you Americans even live through childhood. I just realised I wasted mine, and perhaps my whole future life, by slacking off for fourteen years.
It's about time I whipped myself back into shape, however I fear it is too little too late... Every second I spend in this forum makes me lose a grain of hope from my hope sandcastle.
Excuse the laughable attempt at poetic imagery... I suck.
Anyway I fear I am aiming too high... Right now I feel like I'm at the bottom of the Empire State Building, I'm looking up and it's towering above me... My task is to climb it (there is a "Yale" flag on the summit), however I don't have any climbing gear... Only my hands, my feet and my head.</p>

<p>It's gonna be a long climb. Pray I won't slip off</p>

37

<p>Keep in mind that Cornell is not only known as the easiest Ivy to get into, but also as the hardest to get out of.</p>

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<p>i thot MIT had the highest suicide rate....</p>

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<p>"Oh my God how can you Americans even live through childhood. I just realised I wasted mine, and perhaps my whole future life, by slacking off for fourteen years.
It's about time I whipped myself back into shape, however I fear it is too little too late... Every second I spend in this forum makes me lose a grain of hope from my hope sandcastle.
Excuse the laughable attempt at poetic imagery... I suck.
Anyway I fear I am aiming too high... Right now I feel like I'm at the bottom of the Empire State Building, I'm looking up and it's towering above me... My task is to climb it (there is a "Yale" flag on the summit), however I don't have any climbing gear... Only my hands, my feet and my head.</p>

<p>It's gonna be a long climb. Pray I won't slip off"</p>

<p>Take the elevator. </p>

<p>okay seriously, you better start looking for a major hook now. If you get anything below a B - much less a D, you are generally out of the running for the ivies unless you have a major hook or something like that. </p>

<p>You have to understand, there are people out there who get 1600 SATs, 4.0 GPA, AND ECs who still get rejected. Unfortunately, unless you have a major hook like finding a cure for cancer, I see your chances of getting in as rather slim.</p>

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<p>Shrek2004, MIT may very well have the highest suicide rate, however I said one of, not the highest.</p>

<p>"(Cornell has one of the highest suicide rates of any college)"</p>