<p>I'm aware that an abundance of focused EC's are very important at schools of this caliber, but what are my chances at schools such as Cornell, Brown, Duke, MIT, Princeton, Yale?</p>
<p>GPA: 5.11 (highest is 5.3)
School does not rank
SAT: superscored 2400 (taken twice), not superscored 2350 (800 CR, 800 W, 750 M)
SAT II's: 800 Math II, 780 Chemistry</p>
<p>I have taken the most challenging classes available (ex. all AP's this year)</p>
<p>My EC's are mostly focused on music. I have won several regional awards and participated in many regional and state-wide orchestras/bands (which I auditioned to get into). I have had the honor of being the section leader for many of these orchestras. I have also taught and mentored several students in music.
Misc. clubs include Math Club (regional competitions) and Key Club.
Volunteered at hospital, library, church.</p>
<p>Misc. awards: National Merit Commended, Harvard Book Award, Academic Honor Roll, National Honors Society, Academic Achievement Awards in Math and English</p>
<p>I lack leadership and strong EC's - I'm curious how much this will affect my chances at these top schools. Any input is appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>Well you certainly have the academics.I believe that all of the Ivies superscore their SAT’s so you have no worries there. As for the EC’s, your music certainly shows that you do have some diversity i.e. music and academics. I suppose that it would be better if you had EC’s in other areas like athletics or research but i believe that you have a fairly strong application. I think the most important thing to understand in a situation like this is that its an Ivy. Lets face it…all of the Ivies are just crapshoots. I am applying to several myself and i know that there are hundreds out there like me and you. I have a 34 ACT, am an Eagle Scout, am a Top 20 Bass (for choir), and won an award for Excellence in research. However, I doubt that I have any more of a chance of getting into an Ivy than you do. At this point, its all chance. We just have to cross our fingers and pray. We have a strong application but there are many more like us.
Best of Luck!</p>
<p>Thanks Boyscout44!
Yea I’m aware. It just seems like, at least from what I’ve seen on CC, that most of the qualified applicants have built shelters in Guatemala or researched at Yale’s lab or something of the like. That’s definitely impressive and hard to compare with.
But I guess all of their students can’t be that ideal. hopefully.
You’re right, I suppose it is mostly up to chance now. Fingers crossed! Good luck to you too!</p>
<p>bump - I’d appreciate any more comments/opinions</p>
<p>if you send an impressive music supplement with that GPA and SAT score, you have a really good chance. If you are exceptionally talented at music, that’s better than a bunch of crazy ECs like I have.</p>
<p>Great academic performance. Yale is the only Ivy not to super-score (I think), but that shouldn’t hurt you too badly unless you retook a 2340 to get a 2350…but at worst, they’ll think you’re obsessive. They demand to know all your scores anyways, so it doesn’t matter at this point.
Your ECs are going to put a bit of hurt on your application. Unless you have high state-level or national-level musical accomplishments (apart from being in an orchestra), music is a bit too common, sorry to say. It’s almost guaranteed that an Ivy applicant will have played instruments, and some applicants will be exceptional. If you want to stand out, you should probably send in a music supplement, but once again, only if you are sure it is going to please even an arduous professor. The lack of leadership will be made up by such, and it is certainly better than having a swarm of ECs. I wish you the best.</p>
<p>Thanks for your replies, AnonymousStudent and JustAnotherTry!
I realize that my EC’s fail to stand out, but then again, I had never thought I’d even be considering schools like Yale and MIT had my SAT score not surprised me by increasing by 1000+ points the second time. These schools are definitely high high reaches. I’m mostly looking at schools like Duke and Cornell - do they put as much emphasis on EC’s?</p>