I am a senior...who really needs an evaluation on my IVY Chances

Colleges & Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>Stats:
SAT Math: 750
SAT Verbal: 740
SAT Writing: 790
SAT Total: 2280
SAT II: 780 Physics, 770 Math Level 1, 760 Biology Molecular, 750 US History, 740 Chemistry, 700 Math IIC
ACT: 34
AP taken/scores: Physics B (5), Biology (5), United States History (5), English Language and Composition (4), European History (4), Statistics (4)
Senior Year- AP: Chemistry, Psychology, United States Government and Politics, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Calculus BC, English Literature,</p>

<p>GPA weighted: 101.2
GPA unweighted: 95.2
Rank or % estimate: Top 5%</p>

<p>[ b]Subjective:**
Essays: Very touching...personal experience..the essay has won multiple awards
Teacher Recs: Great
Counselor Rec: Probably good
Hook (if any): Publishing neuroscience research in academic journal (I will be primary author of paper)</p>

<p>1000 hours of community service...summer medical internships</p>

<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: Long Island, NY
School Type: 300 students in my grade....very competitive..ranked 5th in nation
During E.D., our school had (1) Yale (2) Harvard, (7) Penn (9) Cornell (3) Dartmouth (1) Columbia (4) Duke VERY COMPETITIVE
Ethnicity: Indian
Gender: Male
Legacy Yes/No: No
Recruited Yes/No: No
Leadership:
Quizbowl Club: Vice President, Captain
Youth Global Organization of Peoples of Indian Origin (GOPIO): Co-Founder, Vice President
Science Research Club: Co-President
Debate Team: Co-Vice President
National Spanish Honors Society: Secretary
Certamen(Latin) Team: Captain
Awards:
Semifinalist in Intel Science Talent Search
Finalist for Neuroscience Research Prize
Long Island Science and Engineering Fair- 3rd Place Microbiology
Certificate of Excellence Commending Honorable Mention North Shore Reading Council Personal Narrative
Certificate from Senator Schumer recognizing excellence as semifinalist in Intel Talent Science Search 2007
Advanced Placement Scholar with Distinction
Rohm and Haas Invitational Science Fair 2nd place 2006
GOPIO Certificate of Achievement 2006
American Mathematics Contest 12 (3rd Place in school)
American Mathematics Contest 8 (1st Place in school)
Qualified for American Invitational Mathematics Examination 12
Suffolk County Mathematics Teachers Association American Mathematics Contest(1st on Level D)
Latin Certamen Contest Certificate of Honor
Certificate of Merit Nassau Reading Council Young Author?s Contest 2005
Certificate of Recognition presented by The Town of Hempstead and the Indian American Culture Group
Certificate of Appreciation presented by The Town of Hempstead
GOPIO Recognition and Appreciation of Contributions and Community Service Award
National Merit Commended Student
Toshiba Exploravision Honorable Mention
NYSSMA Classical Piano Excellent Award Level I, Outstanding Award Level II
NYSSMA Jazz Piano Outstanding Award Level I and II
Johns Hopkins University Center of Talented Youth Placement with Distinction in Mathematics and Verbal on the SAT as an 8th Grader (score of 1160) and as a 7th Grader (score of 1080)</p>

<p>What do you think my chances of gaining acceptance to these schools are?</p>

<p>Yale ?
Penn?
Columbia?
Dartmouth?
Cornell?</p>

2

<p>if you dont get in.... there is little hope for the rest of us.... good god!</p>

3

<p>I think it is kind of late to even wonder about this now. Just let us know in 2 weeks!</p>

4

<p>one word....wow...dude i thinkk u got a great chance cause u seem well rounded....but with these schools u never know but good luckk</p>

5

<p>I'm sure you have the exact same chance as when you posted this 6 other times.</p>

6

<p>sorry for posting this a bunch of times....this is my first time on this site and i didn't know if i would receive replies or not....you guys are great for lending your advice and suggestions</p>

7

<p>you seem a little neurotic. if you end up at dartmouth, you are going to need to chill out. we are pretty relaxed up here.</p>

8

<p>Finally, someone I can ask...</p>

<p>I noticed you have a lot of stuff to do with neuroscience and I really want to know how in depth your knowledge of that area is. You have an article published in a professional academic journal, but what kind of comprehension of neuroscience do you have relative to, say, a professional neurologist who's been in the field for years and years? Are you really on their level, or is it kind of a token "here's-a-young-kid-who's-really-interested-in-neuroscience-so-we're-gonna-give-him-a-page-for-his-article" kind of thing? I'm not trying to be offensive, because if you're really this knowledgeable about neuroscience at 17 or so, then I respect you for it; I just hope to understand at what kind of level you and all of these other teens are that have articles published in scientific magazines.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance</p>

9

<p>Many high school students are published in articles. I understand what you are saying. I believe that many who are published do not actually deserve such an acknowledgement. I personally compiled and carried out all of my own research of which none is my mentor's. I worked for more than two years in a molecular laboratory. I even hope to be a neurologist in the future. Neuroscience is a field that I am passionate about. If you have any further questions, you can PM me.</p>

10

<p>You are quite accomplished, and you are clearly very intent on getting into one of the top schools, much like I was at your age. I've got some bad news for you, though. Admissions officers are going to look at your application and yawn. It really isn't any fault of your own - you've obviously worked hard and made the most of your high school years. However admissions officers aren't paid to be impressed at every applicant with a laundry list of activities. For one thing, they are going to look at your 700 Math IIC (which is always heavily curved) and wonder why it is 50 points lower than your SAT I Math and between 40 and 80 points lower than all your other SAT IIs of math-based subjects. They will be a little surprised at this in light of your accomplishments in mathematics (math contests, etc) and your aspiration to(and already achieved success in) neuroscience. As for your essay, I don't know what it's about, but adcoms like essays that are randomly, a bit eclectic, and tastefully humorous. Like they would "remember" an essay that was about, say, baking a cake, over a lot of other stuff because they think that it tells them something positive about the personality of the person that wrote it. Which, you know, it may or may not.</p>

<p>What I'm trying to say is that when an admissions officer looks over your app, nothing will stand out. That alphabet soup of clubs and activities won't stand out, because no particular thing will stand out. I do like the neuroscience research getting published in a journal, but I can also tell you that one of my friends co-wrote a Comp Sci paper as a senior with a Princeton prof, even had an office at Princeton, and got rejected from Rice.</p>

<p>I've thought long and heard about this, and I've concluded that, despite what they may claim, what schools really want are well lopsided people. Like, somebody who is ridiculously skilled, talented, and/or accomplished in one area. I imagine that the thinking goes that if you get a ton of people that are all well-lopsided in different areas, you end up with a well-rounded class. People that do well in school and do a lot of different stuff but aren't being "recruited" for something (be it sports, musical ability, winning Intel, whatever) aren't going to appeal to most schools because in these days of obscenely qualified applicants and huge lists of extracurriculars I think what adcoms ask is, "What particular skill set are you going to bring to the school that no one else or very few people here have?"</p>

<p>Having said all that, I actually think that the school you have the best chance at (still a low chance overall, because the entire process is a crapshoot) is Dartmouth, because Dartmouth doesn't seem to run its admissions this way. That may explain why, to to quote somebody from a couple years ago, "Athletes that are waltzing into Harvard couldn't get into Dartmouth," and why, despite Jimmy Freedman's infamous quote, Dartmouth seems to have far fewer of the "people who study in their rooms all day" types than some of our rival schools.</p>

<p>I'm not trying to be harsh, but this is the reality of college admissions and I think a lot of people who are used to success in high school have exaggerated expectations regarding how they will do in the process and it's nice to prepare them for the very real possibility of a lot of rejections. Read the price of admissions by Daniel Golden for a REAL letdown - he gives examples of some insanely qualified kids who got turned down from these schools.</p>

11

<p>^^^and this is why i am hoping that my slightly awesome artistic career will save me. :D</p>

<p>BUT i have to say that it is OBVIOUS you worked really hard so no matter where you get into, if you keep up the persistence, you'll do fabulously. so many admissions people have told me that on some level, we never had any control over the process (which sucks to tell us know when we've done the work! :p) and that there is nothing any of us can do now. before they even start looking at your app, they know what type of person they want and as the poster xanatos said, that's a particular lopside. </p>

<p>so join me in totally chilling for a while and accept the fact that you may not get in even though you are the smartest person in the world. the fact that you care so much speaks well to your character :)</p>

12

<p>Just out of curiosity, is that your entire college list or are there safeties that you just didn't bother mentioning?</p>

13

<p>You should really just wait for the official decisions. Why will posting your information here help you? None of us have ever worked in an admissions office.</p>

14

<p>Too bad you're Indian or it'd be a done deal.</p>

15

<p>Yeah I left that out but, sadly, it is true.</p>

16

<p>I got into UChicago early action. Thanks for the input guys. Doesn't seem I'm gonna make it anywhere though :-(.</p>

17

<p>Oh boo hoo. You know you will end up somewhere great, suck it up for 15 days.</p>

<p>(I think your stats are GREAT, by the way)</p>

18

<p>Ditto Mallomar. Let us know where you're accepted. It won't be all of them, but I bet it'll be at least two out of the five. That's my prognostication.</p>

19

<p>Cmon ... you have a really good shot , especially at Dartmouth ... and I dont think it matters if you are an Indian at Dartmouth ..... At Penn or Columbia it may be a factor ... but at D, I don't think so ....
Good luck and let us know where you are accepted</p>

20

<p>thanks guys you are awesome....i havent received any likely letters yet...i really want to get one of those :-) i would be so much more at ease. I AM SO STRESSED RIGHT NOW and i know everybody else must be too.</p>