High State/Ivy League Chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

SAT Score of 2270, intend to take SAT 2 US History, and either Bio or Literature, possibly both

Laughable class rank at the 25% percentile with an upward grade trend, I slacked off my first 2 years because I felt more attached/committed to creating music

Junior Year-

AP US History- C+,A
AP Lang- A,B
AP Psych- B,A
AP Macro/AP Micro-A,A
Algebra 2- A,A
Marine Science- B+,A
TV Prod 2- B+,A

Senior Year-
AP Comparative Gov- pending
AP Music Theory- pending
AP US Gov- pending
AP Biology-pending
AP Stats-pending
AP English Literature- pending
Debate 2- pending
Tv Production 3- pending

Extra Curricular-

Was just accepted to intern this fall at the Office of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, my primary interest lies in politics and I have written a few bills with accompanying research papers, I would submit one of these if possible as supplement.

Was accepted this summer to attend the Berklee School of Music’s 5 Week Summer Program, however it wasn’t affordable for my parents. My secondary interest is music and if possible I would submit a composition of mine as supplement.

Founded my school’s “New Ideas Club” junior year as a network for people of various passions to coalesce consisting of 6 categories, domestic reform, international reform, arts, entrepreneurship, technology, philosophy

Captain of Chess Team, VP of Chess Club, we plan on hosting a fundraiser tournament to send chess sets to areas of destitution

Volunteer at my temple every Sunday, over 250 service hours from various organizations, i.e; I raised $2,000 for North Korean refugees.

So what are my chances at the Ivy’s, at the UC’S with a low GPA, at schools like Vanderbilt, etc. I have a renewed vigor to learn, and achieve, and I mean not to offend the kids who have worked harder than me for ALL 3 years, while I have only for one, I just want to know if I have a shot to get in beneath those kids.

2

In all honesty, I do not think you have a shot at any ivy league schools. UCLA and UC Berkeley might give you a bit more consideration, but I’d say that those are high reaches as well. Anything in the ballpark of Vanderbilt will be a big reach too. Sorry, but your GPA and class rank make most basically all high level universities out of reach. Check out the common data set for these schools. You’ll see how few students they accept that aren’t in the top 10% of their class. I’d recommend you lower your sights to something more realistic, and look for schools where you could thrive. Best of luck to you in your search.

3

@JPhilly99 Are admissions that heavily weighted upon ranking? Would straight A’s in the midyear report with a challenging senior schedule help? Would submitted a bill with a thesis paper help? The 2270 means nothing?

4

@JPhilly99 I appreciate your being frank with me.

5

UC’s look at 10th and 11th grades, GPA and test scores.

It sounds like you are not instate for California. Can your parents afford $55K for the UC’s?

FWIW: ivies get students at minimum, 2300+ on their SAT’s.

6

@“aunt bea” Ivies don’t need 2300+ SAT’s, plenty get in with scores under 2300.
But I think the main issue is class rank. At basically every Ivy, over 90% of the kids were in the top 10% of their class.
Straight A’s on the midyear report would help, but we’re judging your chances based on your current circumstances, not based on hypothetical situations.
What is your race? Did you have any circumstances besides slacking off that resulted in poor grades Freshman/Sophomore year?

7

no @rdeng2614, I agree that there are students who get into the ivies with less than 2300, but it sure makes a difference with the AO’s, and this OP seems to be relying on his SAT score to get him in. Low GPA and rank are going to adversely impact him as well.

8

@“aunt bea” Oh ok I see your point. Is there really that big of a barrier between a 2200 something and a 2300 something?

9

I’m also a composer, my primary interest for 2 years was music, my academics were always important as my favorite artists tend to have also been educated, but i didn’t really equate educated with my GPA. I think it’s evident, I am not qualified this year as an Ivy League applicant, and I think a fair plan is having my strongest year in all senses this year, and going for it in the next application cycle. I think after 12 years of Public Education a gap year filled with travel and independent learning will have a net-positive effect on me, and while it is difficult to step away from all my peers in life-path, it seems to serve me best.

10

oh and just a note on the SAT, only 9,600 ish students get higher than a 2270 on their SAT yearly according to the score distribution published by the college board. With 8 ivy leagues taking about 2,000 kids per school, they would be forced to take quite a few kids with in fact lower scores than myself. The published average at Harvard is 2260, with the publish average for Indian kids (my ethnicity) being 2300. Of course, beyond scores one needs to distinguish themselves as not only outstanding students, but outstanding humans, not always in terms of morality but always outstanding somehow, i.e; stock investing prodigy or bone-chilling composer or promising mathematician or brilliant scientist, even a passionate poet, this I understand, so to clarify I don’t believe I will be granted admission based on a 2270. My hope is my political awareness and inclinations, in coalition with my music will be the things that distinguish me and my SAT scores of 2270 will verify a stellar intellect in a way my grades fail to do.

11

I think that is all the SAT is, a empirical verification of intellect. Grades are an empirical verification of how well one applies that intellect, and if one is able to prove they do apply their intellect, then a holistic college would be able to see past poor grades, as they know the student they admit will still be intelligent both in terms of potential and concrete knowledge.

12

Keep in mind that some colleges will filter applicants based on their gpa and test scores. If they aren’t good enough it’s possible that the college won’t even review the rest of the application at all

13

Well lets hope my SAT and SAT 2s keep me in the pool, 'm hoping those along with stellar senior year grades will keep me in the mix.

14

@aurthur From the US News Best Colleges 2015 book (using stats of high school students who graduated in 2013), the only top 20 schools that had less than 90% of their incoming freshman in the top 10% of their high school class were Johns Hopkins (84%), Cornell (87%), Vanderbilt (88%), and Rice (87%). UC Berkeley had 98% of their freshman from the top 10% of their class, while UCLA had 97%. UCSD, UCD, and UCSB are all listed as having 100%. I hope this information is useful! Yes, your 2270 on the SAT is really really good, but unfortunately it won’t reverse the effects of your grades in core academic subjects. By all means, apply if you really want to, but understand that it is unlikely for you to be offered admission to the majority of top schools.

15

Did I miss what your cumulative HS GPA is right now? It is not your rank, it is your rank in conjunction with what you call a low GPA. On CC, that could mean 3.7 for all we know…what is it?

16

The UCs are very GPA-focused. You should try to figure out your UC-weighted GPA, but I doubt it’s competitive for UCLA or Berkeley. It needs to be over 3.4 for you to be eligible for consideration at ANY UC campus. It should be over 4.0 to have a chance at UCB, UCLA, or even UCSD. Your senior grades will not be considered. Period. They will look at academic grades from 10th & 11th grades, weighted for rigor. Vanderbilt likes high test scores, and so a knock-out senior year might make it a long-shot for you. Maybe you’d have a better shot at Tulane. Did you take a foreign language? Although not all colleges require it, it’s expected at most. Have you taken any AP tests? Although they aren’t required, and usually don’t play a role in admission, they can demonstrate your school’s rigor and your mastery of the subject matter.

A gap year might be your best bet, but you should check out some colleges (I believe there are dedicated threads) with automatic admission for high-scoring students. Florida is pretty competitive for National Merit scholarships; do you have a chance based on your PSAT score? UF is an excellent college. Depending on your family’s ability to pay, you could take a stab at McGill: they like high scores, also.

17

look for schools that will provide you significant merit aid based on your sat score. You indicated music camps were outside your family budget. Perhaps your list should include schools that won’t put you deep in debt.

18

@aurthur -A few points on the SAT.

  1. The SAT doesn't really say much about intellect past a certain point. There's a difference between 1400 and 2400, that's true. The difference between 2100 and 2150 is negligible. The test's ability to predict success in college is spotty at best, which is why most colleges place a greater emphasis on your grades and SAT II scores. A 2270 is good, but most colleges won't ignore a 25% class rank (and what would, I assume, be a poor GPA) because of one SAT score.
  2. It's true that your SAT score is above-average even for the Ivy League-last year, it would've been higher than all but 11,760 students' (as per the College Board's own data-link below).

https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/sat/sat-percentile-ranks-composite-crit-reading-math-writing-2014.pdf

Unfortunately, most of the kids who got into top schools with a 2260 or a 2200 or any other score below 2270 had something else working in their favor-many had top grades and were in the top 5% or 10% of their class, while the rest either had an impressive slate of extracurricular accomplishments, one or two hooks (e.g. being a heavily recruited athlete, a member of a URM, etc), or a 5-generation history at (insert Ivy here).

If the rest of your portfolio doesn’t match the 2270, and you’re an Indian kid to boot, you may want to look at more reasonable choices.

19

^^ 11,760 test takers who are college seniors may have scored higher in a single sitting but it doesn’t take into account superscoring which would probably add quite a bit more higher scores. Also, OP is competing against kids who are submitting scores of 34, 35, or 36 on the ACT. Bottom line, there are a lot of great test scores out there and a weak GPA pretty much takes them out of contention.

20

Ivy leagues enroll about 14,000 students a year. Back out athletes and legacies and that number is well below 10,000 - the spots you are aiming for.

28,000 students have 2200+ on their SAT.
If an equal number have similar scores to submit on the ACT, that’s another 28,000 students.

So there are more than 56,000 students with very high test scores potentially looking to fill 10,000 spots.

Even if only 40,000 of them apply to the Ivy schools, that’s 4 for every seat.

Then there are all the kids in the bottom quartile of Ivy scorers who also enroll…

So if the odds seem to be 10-20:1 depending on the Ivy - they can easily fill their seats with all kids with your scores - without sacrificing grades… The percentage of non legacy and non athlete at Ivy schools who were not in the top 10% of their graduating class is a very small number.

There will be plenty of schools that are strong fits for you. Probably not ivies.