<insert attention-grabbing title here>

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a rising senior at a pretty good public school on Long Island (NY) - by "pretty good", I mean "we send 3-7 kids to Ivies and 10-15 to other top 25 schools each year, and I'm surprised that we're not ranked at all by USNWR". Class size is about 375 or so.</p>

<p>THE SCHOOLS (in general order of preference):
Harvard
Stanford
Yale
Princeton
Penn
Columbia
Georgetown
Northwestern
Johns Hopkins
Tufts
NYU
U Michigan
SUNY Binghamton</p>

<p>SCORES, STATS, AND OTHER INFO:
SAT I: 2380 (800 CR, 780 M, 800 W with an 11 essay)
SAT II: 790 Biology, 790 US History, 740 Literature (most of these schools only require two though)
PSAT: 227 (80 CR, 67 M, 80 W) - almost certainly going to be a semifinalist/finalist for National Merit Scholarship
GPA: 4.19 W (3.96 UW on our system, but our school only sends the weighted GPA - in the UC system calculations I have a 3.90 UW)
Class Rank: None (my school doesn't do class rank, or Valedictorian/Salutatorian for that matter)
APs: 5 on Bio, 4 on world, pending on US (probably 5), pending on Physics B (probably 4), pending on English Language (probably 5), pending on Human Geo (probably 5)</p>

<p>My school changed its grading policy after my freshman year from As being anything above a 90 and counting as 4 points, B+ being 87-89.9 counting as 3.5, B being 83-86.9 for 3 pts, etc... to a system where A+ is 97 and up for a 4.4, A is a 93-96.9 for a 4, A- is 90-92.9 for a 3.6, B+ is 87-89.9 for a 3.3, B is 83-86.9 for a 3. AP classes are weighted by adding an extra point (so an A- in an AP class starts as a 3.6 and becomes a 4.6).</p>

<p>My lowest grades were all in sophomore year (my friend died in a car accident, and it was a traumatic experience that I'm considering writing about for my essays). I had a B in AP Bio (although I got a 5 on the AP Exam and a 790 on the Subject Test), a B+ in Math 10 Honors, and a B+ in the second semester of Computer Science. Everything else on my transcript is an A+, A, or A- (there are only two A-s, also in 10th grade - English Honors and AP World). The highest GPA in my class will be somewhere around a 4.35, and I estimate that between 10 and 15 people will have higher GPAs than I will. A lot (but not all) of them will be applying to many of the same schools. However, I have the highest scores on the SATs by far.</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS:
- Political Awareness Club President next year (9, 10, 11, 12)
- Eagle Scout, Senior Patrol Leader of my Boy Scout troop 10th and 11th grade, probably close to 300 or so hours of community service (9, 10, 11, 12)
- LifeSmarts Team Captain, 2nd Place in the state as a team, 1st place individual, 3rd place in "wild card" national competition (11, 12)
- DECA state medalist for an event in sophomore year, Officer this year (9, 10, 11, 12)
- Mock Trial team (9, 10, 11, 12), advanced to regional semifinals in 10th grade and quarterfinals in 11th
- Academic Quiz Bowl (9, 10, 11, 12)
- National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society (11, 12)
- JV Tennis (9), Varsity Badminton (10, 11, 12) county champions in 11th grade
- volunteered for local kids' summer program the summers before 9th and 10th grades.
- internship with local politician this summer</p>

<p>AWARDS:
- 4th place All-County Math Teachers' Association Award 2009
- Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Participant 2010 (nominated by school, selected by the Rotary club)
- WISE Financial Certification Exam 100%, 99.7th percentile nation-wide (11)
- US Treasury's National Financial Capability Challenge, 95% (11)</p>

<p>SENIOR YEAR COURSE LOAD:
AP Calculus AB
AP English Lit
AP Chemistry
AP Government
AP Economics
College Spanish
College Business Law</p>

<p>OTHER:
Ethnicity: White
Income: $100,000 (need significant financial aid)
No legacies/hooks/etc...</p>

<p>I'm interested in studying International Relations and possibly economics or business as a double major or minor. Please chance me, and I'll try to chance right back!</p>

2

<p>If it helps, I’m leaning towards applying Early Action to Harvard, although my other options are EA to Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and Georgetown. I can’t afford to do ED because I desperately need financial aid and ED locks you into the school without knowing exactly how much aid you’re getting or in what form.</p>

3

<p>Wow. Everything looks pretty impressive. I think you are definitely qualified, but admission in to the ivy league is a crapshoot for almost everyone. At this point, it is up to your essays and evaluations.</p>

<p>Good luck :)</p>

4

<p>Before I say anything else, please know people on CC are a bit crazy… </p>

<p>Your SAT and SAT II scores and GPA are OFF THE CHARTS. You have a very good shot at any of those schools. The Ivies are really hard to get into, but you have a good chance at getting into AT LEAST… AT LEAST one of them, but I think you’ll get into a few… Probably one or two (if you’re lucky) of the higher reaches, and you’ll get into the majority, if not all, of the lower reaches. The Non-Ivies you got a good almost a definite chance of getting in. I’d say Binghamton is a safety for you. </p>

<p>Highest reaches:
Harvard
Stanford
Yale
Princeton
Columbia</p>

<p>Lower reaches… better chance of getting in:
Penn
Georgetown
Northwestern
Johns Hopkins</p>

<p>Match/in:
Tufts
NYU
U Michigan
SUNY Binghamton</p>

<p>Chance back… <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1165818-chance-incoming-senior-fordham-nyu-barnard-ivies.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1165818-chance-incoming-senior-fordham-nyu-barnard-ivies.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>Right now, Binghamton is your only safety;
Tufts is a match;
NYU (Stern), Johns Hopkins, and UMich are high matches;
Georgetown (International Relations) and Northwestern are low reaches; and the rest are reaches or high reaches. </p>

<p>You may want one more safety in there unless you would be entirely happy to go to Binghamton if that’s what it comes down to. </p>

<p>Good stats, but nothing stands out.</p>

<p>Where on LI are you, if you don’t mind my asking? I’m from LI too.</p>

6

<p>As a general concept, the Ivies are complete crapshoots (just being honest) but I’d say you have a shot, especially with those standardized test score statistics and extracurriculars. The only thing you could improve on would be your grades. I do, however, understand what happened to you during sophomore year (my grandfather passed away this past November after a long, 5 year battle with cancer. the miraculous recoveries he made allowed me to really get to know him.), and definitely think you should try writing about it for your essay. Sort through your pain and suffering in a traumatic experience, and talk about that journey, the lessons you learned, and how you came out a better and stronger person because of it. Sometimes the hardest stuff to discuss is the best because it reveals the most about you and who you are as a person.</p>

<p>Please chance me back?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1172672-chance-me-barnard-ed-others.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1172672-chance-me-barnard-ed-others.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>Need significant financial aid with 100k income… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!</p>

<p>Do you have any idea what other kids are going through?</p>

8

<p>@bsmd11: It really depends what part of the country you’re from. In my town/area, the average income is probably around 120-150k, so I’m considerably below average. Housing prices are through the roof, and nearly half of our income goes to the mortgage on a very moderately sized home. We lost what little money we did have in the financial collapse, and have incurred a ton of credit card debt. I know my income seems very high to be hoping for financial aid, and that the rest of the country (on average) makes about half of that, but I can only realistically afford about $30k or so spread over my entire four years without needing loans (and this would still be a huge burden on my parents). Considering that most of these schools, without any financial aid, would cost about 8 times that…</p>

<p>Before this thread derails into a discussion of finances and economics, however, I’d like to continue discussing my chances.</p>

9

<p>Born2Dance94:</p>

<p>Others have told me that I should consider NYU and UMich to be safeties (or at least very low matches). What makes you say that they would be “high matches”? (genuine question, not trying to be argumentative) Would my chances be lower at UMich because of some sort of in-state preference?</p>

<p>Also, I’d prefer not to say where on LI I’m from, since I’ve already given away a lot of personally-identifying information in this thread.</p>

10

<p>Those are both very tough schools and while you have good stats, they likely wouldn’t file under safety (aka almost a definite acceptance). Especially since the major you want is very competitive, and you also don’t have many ECs that show an interest in those fields. </p>

<p>UMich is also out of state, so if you were in Michigan I’d say it was a safety for you, but out of state it’s not, especially because, as I already mentioned, your major.</p>

<p>NYU Stern is extremely competitive, so you have a chance, but it’s not definite.</p>

<p>But like I said, they are matches (albeit high) so who definitely have a chance, but it’s certainly not guaranteed.</p>

11

<p>OK thanks for explaining - is NYU Stern really that much more competitive than the rest of the school for admissions? I always think of “strong credentials” for NYU being around a 3.80, 2000 or so - I guess it’s a lot higher for the business school? And yeah I guess that does make sense for UMich as an OOS applicant. Thanks!</p>

12

<p>I visited Brown today, and really liked it. What would be my chances there? I knew their admissions were very competitive, but I didn’t realize that they had (according to the admissions officer running the info session) a 6.8% RD acceptance rate!</p>

13

<p>I think that you should be competitive at all of the top schools that you listed. Your GPA and SAT are amazing! Congrats! I honestly think that you have a great chance at getting into at least one or two Ivies.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1173642-new-member-chance-me-please.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1173642-new-member-chance-me-please.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

14

<p>Brown should be a low reach - that is, nothing can be certain, but unless you screw up your interview or your essays you should get in.</p>

<p>I know it can be hard to talk about painful episodes in our past - I started crying while writing one of my essays. But it allows the reader a window into us, a way for the reader to understand how our minds work and how we react when faced with the unbearable. If you write a poignant, human essay about how your friend’s death affected you, it allows the admissions officer to see you as a human, not just your numbers. After all you’ve been through, allow yourself to tell your story - you might be amazed at what can happen.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1177541-chance-rising-senior.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1177541-chance-rising-senior.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

15

<p>Thank you, I’m now leaning towards using that topic! I understand that it has to be very well-done though, because I’ve heard that “death essays” can become rather generic if you’re the hundredth kid to use one that day. Any specific advice?</p>

<p>Also, since I was told that most of the schools I had been considering to be safeties were not, in fact, safeties, I’m thinking about adding one or two of the following to fill that role:
American University
Boston College
Boston University
George Washington University</p>

<p>Does anyone have any recommendations that would be good fits for me and my list (even if it’s not one of those four)? Should I even be considering those schools (especially Boston College, with a ~30% admit rate) to be “safeties”?</p>