Help me out! Chances at Cal, UPenn, and others?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi I'm going to be a senior this year and I want to get a general idea of my chances at the schools of my choice.</p>

<p>I am Asian (bummer), I live in Southern California (another bummer), and I attend a large public school (2000+ students). My mom doesn't work and my dad is a businessman who makes $250,000+ a year.</p>

<p>GPA:
- 4.7 weighted GPA (rank 10 out of 700)
- 3.9 unweighted GPA</p>

<p>SAT I:
- 2240 (720 critical reading, 750 math, 770 writing)</p>

<p>PSAT:
- 220 (National Merit Commended and pending, hopefully become a Finalist!)</p>

<p>SAT IIs:
- 790 on Math II
- 760 on US History</p>

<p>AP Tests:
- 3 on World History
- 4 on US History
- 4 on Environmental Science
- 4 on Psychology
- 5 on Language and Composition</p>

<p>(taking 5 more my senior year: Calc AB, Gov and Econ, Lit, Statistics, and Physics)</p>

<p>Sports:
- 2 years on Varsity Golf
- 1 year on JV Track and Field (100 meter dash)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
- 1st place for Public Speaking I at FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) Inland Conference
- 1st place at Science and Engineering Fair for RIMS County
(Yale Science & Engineering Association, Inc. 2012 recipient for Most Outstanding Eleventh Grade Exhibit)
- Founded the Centennial Investment Club at my high school
- Kukkiwon Certified 1st degree black belt
- Organized soup kitchens to the homeless areas of LA
- Been to several missions trips to Mexicali and Tijuana, Mexico
- Interned (unpaid) at a State Assemblyman's office over summer (over 100 hours)
- Shadowed the CEO of an Inc 500 company (500 fastest growing private companies) on his business trip to China and Korea</p>

<p>Based on the information I have provided, please chance me for the following universities:
- University of Pennsylvania (Early Decision)
- University of Chicago (Early Action)
- University of Notre Dame (Early Action)
- Berkeley
- Northwestern University
- Duke
- University of Virginia
- University of North Carolina</p>

<p>Also, if you guys have any suggestions on how I can improve my chances at any schools, please give me some insight on that too!</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>If you’re applying letters & sciences berkeley you’re probably fine, same with UVA and UNC. For penn are you applying for wharton? cuz it makes a huge difference. Uchicago is a reach, could go either way. Idk about the others.</p>

3

<p>Yes, I want to apply for Wharton. I know it’s super competitive, but I hope that applying early decision will give me a boost?</p>

4

<p>good ecs/great scores. </p>

<p>i think you have a chance at Penn; however, you can never be sure. </p>

<p>You will definitely get into at least a few of those schools. Keep up the good work.</p>

5

<p>Your extracirriculars are impressive for a business major, however, I feel like your chances at wharton are low because that is an extremely tough school to get into even with early decision. UChicago seems accurate but being asian doesnt help, berkeley and northwestern are good matches for you, and in my opinion i really think you will easily get into uva. Duke and Chapel Hill are tough to get into, since Duke is a top notch school and Chapel Hill is really tough for out of state students; I think you will get into Duke and Chapel Hill however.</p>

<p>UVA-yes
Duke-maybe
Chapel Hill-maybe
Berkeley-probably
UChicago-maybe
Notre Dame-maybe
Wharton-low maybe</p>

6

<p>Thanks for the feedback guys! If you need a chance back, just ask :slight_smile:
I was surprised to hear that my ECs are impressive. I always thought I had subpar ECs!</p>

7

<p>Your EC’s seem to be really good. You overall seem like a strong candidate. Are any of your awards national. GPA is very strong. However, I suggest you retake the SAT if you can. I know my sister got into UNC and her stats were not as extensive as yours but her SAT was like 2280. I think the SAT score makes a major difference. In terms of anything else, you have really good stats and you should just focus on your essays. Write really descriptively and passionately the essays make a significant difference. Ivies are a crapshoot and even ED you never know but you seem to be a very good candidate. </p>

<p>Colleges*
UPENN ED - mid-reach
U Chicago - reach
U Notre Dame - low reach
Berkely - reach
Northwestern - mid-reach
Duke - reach
U. Virginia - match
UNC - low reach</p>

<p>Although I may seem to be discouraging, colleges as my sister learned are a crapshoot. I may be wrong but I don’t want to give you false confidence. This is just my opinion.</p>

8

<p>You have awesome numbers. However consider what you want to major in and what ECs you’ve done. Your ECs kind of don’t make sense to me. A lot of students want to be a Jack of all trades and master of none. Sorry if a bit harsh, but i really think you should consider that. However since your numbers are impressive, I wouldn’t doubt you getting into those schools or at least some.</p>

9

<p>Everything is fine, but not wharton. Your sat is a little low and meh ecs. Isn’t calis cutoff 221? If that’s true you won’t even be a semifinalist.</p>

10

<p>Thanks for the feedback. Regarding my “meh” ECs, how should I market myself to colleges? I think shadowing an Inc 500 CEO to China is pretty cool and my internship is notable, even though it’s political and not business. But I’ve been trying to think how to package myself. </p>

<p>And California’s PSAT cutoff last year was 221 but last year was a difficult year so most experts are predicting scores to drop nationally.</p>

11

<p>All around good applicant, and you have a good, though not certain, shot at pretty much all of these schools. Beyond that, though, you will need great essays/teachers recs and some luck. You need 1-2 safeties. I would add UCLA as another match and a couple safeties. If you want business, BC and USC might be good matches/almost safeties. And then 1 real safety that you will definitely get into - perhaps one of the lower UCs.</p>

12

<p>I really do think that you will be a competitive applicant because of your ECs, particularly if there’s one that you were very passionate about. Boost the sat even more for more certainty on upenn Wharton but otherwise it seems like you’ve got a fair shot. UC Berkeley I think would be the lowest though because of such a high Asian population. Otherwise I think it’s a low to medium reach for other places. UNC and UVA seem like schools that you would most likely get into though along with notre dame</p>

13

<p>^UNC is extremely competitive for out of state applicants. It is almost as much a toss up as duke, northwestern, etc.</p>

14

<p>Bumpity bump</p>

15

<p>You have a good shot for Berkeley cause of your scores and gpa imo</p>

16

<p>Anyone else?</p>