IB Student Applying for Harvard, Yale, Stanford, WashU, JHU, Columbia, Wharton, Duke, NYU, UChicago

Yes, I know several students who were accepted to several of these schools including my own children. How does this play into your situation?

@BldrDad‌ (post #46): I agree with your post; I would respectfully suggest, however, that the most “hooked”'group, with relatively substandard credentials, to be regularly admitted are not legacies, athletes, or the children of celebrates; rather, they are the kids of long-serving, respected, and liked senior staff and faculty at the institution. It’s mighty hard to deny a kid when you will necessarily have to deal with his patent(s) for years thereafter, especially if you like/respect the parent/colleague (and probably the kid, as well).

I also think it’s important to note that the random, outlying test scores might reflect individual students’ discrete strengths and weaknesses. You might have applicants with perfect Math scores whose first language isn’t English testing lower than the typical range in verbal subjects, and gifted artists or writers with desultory Math scores. I saw nothing in the OP’s profile that suggested any of those qualifiers. On the contrary, the OP comes from a group which probably faces the most brutal competition: Asian (especially Indian) students applying from abroad. My sympathy goes out to the OP for what was obvious inept, or even non-existent, counseling about American college admissions, because knowledgeable sources would have made it clear that he was not competitive at top-tier universities, and directed him toward other alternatives. As a point of reference, OP, my son was in a full-IB program here in the States, at a respected private school, with an impressive resume of extracurricular and service activities. He had solid grades, and his SAT was 2060/2400; 1440/1600. His ACT composite was 31. He did not consider applying to any of the schools you list, because he knew that they all (with exception of NYU Arts & Sciences, NOT Stern) were way, way out of reach. He knew, without anyone having to tell him, that he would be wasting time and money applying.


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-SAT: 1600 ( of possible 2400)…

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Err.

I’d try to get recruited for soccer, tbh. By itself, it’s a solid hook and would contribute to getting an otherwise amazing applicant accepted, but your SAT is very low (retake it?) and so the only way I can see you at HYS, or even JHU is through recruitment.

Get called arrogant, then proceeds to list his accomplishments to prove that he isn’t arrogant. Classic.

I understand that you’re proud of your accomplishments, but people at this thread isn’t trying to downplay what you’ve achieved; they’re just pointing out the obvious weakness of your application, your SAT score, and what it may imply about you as a student. Granted, there have always been outliers who made it in the colleges you have listed with scores as low/lower than yours, but it’s currently unrealistic for you to claim that slim chance as your own.

Personally, I agree with the poster who said to take a gap year. If you truly want to go to these colleges, it may be a good idea to retake the SAT after a year or so of solid preparation. Also, as other posters are saying, there are also plenty of other colleges which are excellent.

I wanted to amend my prior post (#172): I must have confused this OP with another when I inferred that he was Indian. I reread his introduction, and nothing indicated that ethnicity. All my other remarks still hold. I think test-optional colleges might be one way to go, since those SAT scores are the weakest element in his resume. A gap year might be advisable, but I think that the likelihood of raising his SAT scores to a level where they would be competitive for the schools he wants is very slim.