Is Stern a Match or even a Safety?

Colleges and Universities A-Z New York University
1

<p>Im currently a rising junior, and college applications are already on the horizon. Its truly terrifying. However, i was hoping some of you guys could tell me if i really stand much of a chance applying to some of these schools. I know there's really not any safety schools, in fact, there's mostly reaches! So if anyone can recommend some decent safeties i'd appreciate it! I'm interested in Law and Business, so im thinking about majoring in something related to Business Law. One thing i have to mention is that my gpa isnt as high as it should be because i had a horrible freshman year; i was totally overwhelmed by some of the more difficult classes and thus, ended up with 3.5 uw, 3.83 w gpa, in addition to not doing many EC's. After that, i really got my act together and started getting very high grades and got much more involved in EC's. Please chance me for the following schools:</p>

<p>Harvard
Columbia (probably ED, has been my dream school for a while! I'll apply to Columbia College)
UPenn (Applying to Wharton)
Brown
Princeton
Stanford
Georgetown
NYU (Stern, Dad's a Stern Legacy)
University of Chicago
Tufts
Williams
Swarthmore</p>

<p>Asian Male from Tri-State Area (Toughest Competition :( )
Unweighted Gpa: 3.85 Weighted Gpa: 4.25
SAT: W(770) CR (730) M (750) = 2250
SAT ll: 2260 Cumulative
Rank : Top 10%
Besides Dad at Stern, No Legacy
Family Income >$150,000
Semi-Competitive Public High in Wealthy Town, Sends about 2 to Ivies, a few to good privates like Amherst, Uof Chicago, BC, Tufts)
No Real Hooks</p>

<p>Senior Schedule: AP Lit, AP Chem, AP Calc AB, AP Spanish, AP Gov't, PE+ Health (Mandatory) AP Euro, Psychology </p>

<p>UW gpa- 3.5 (9), 4.05 (10) 4.0 (11)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: (Not too strong, but shows commitment)</p>

<p>FBLA - 9,10,11 (VP) 12 (hopefully president)
Debate Team - 10,11 (VP) 12 (hopefully president)
Varsity Swim Team -10,11,12
Varisty Tennis - 10,11,12 (wont show up for 12 because its a spring sport)
Jazz Band Guitarist- 10,11,12
Member of National Honor Society and Tri-M Honor Society (music)
Non-Paid Internship to local law firm </p>

<p>Jobs:
Guitar Teacher to younger children (since summer of grade 10)
Lifeguard in the Summer (since summer of grade 10)</p>

<p>I do consider myself very well rounded, but my problem with EC's is this: Im good at what i do, but im not nationally ranked for these EC's. I enjoy everyone of them, but im no recruited athlete, professional musician, or competition winning speaker. However, i think colleges will like that i use my talents (swimming, guitar) to help others. Anyways i hope you guys can help and tell me my chances to these schools that im dying to be accepted to! I'll try to chance back!</p>

2

<p>If your school only sends 2 kids to Ivies per year, then Stern is definitely NOT a safety for you. Anyways, it’s hard to judge you because different high schools have different expectations from colleges. It looks like you will get in, but no guarantees.</p>

<p>For all the Ivies you listed, you best be top 5% to have a decent shot judging by the fact that your school sends only 2 kids to Ivies…</p>

3

<p>No offense obutto, but i dont think the amount of kids that go to ivies affects my chances at stern and wheather or not it is possible for me to get in. Sure, some private schools may be feeders, but for all you know, i might be that 1 out of 2 kids that ends up going to a top college. Can you please evaluate my stats instead of my school? thanks :)</p>

4

<p>This is what you want to hear:
Generally, students with your stats will get into NYU Stern with ease. Your GPA allows you to be competitive with those applying to Columbia/Harvard as well.</p>

<p>Reality:
Although you might not see it at this point, your high school is one of the most important factors in the college application process. Being in one of the feeder public/private high schools allows you to confidently apply to some schools (not to mention it overall increases your chances of getting into schools). Normally, I would say that you are extremely likely to get into Stern (enough to say possible safety); however, if only TWO out of XXX amount of kids are going to Ivies, then, bluntly, your school is not good. Your 3.85 GPA will be the equivalent of a 3.6 GPA (estimate) of a student that attends Stuyvesant/Bronx Science not to mention all the top tier Long Island public schools. And not to kill your mood even more, there are a lot of kids with 3.6+ GPA’s from these specialized high schools taking double digit AP’s that have been rejected from lots of the colleges that you listed. Looking at your list, you obviously have been influenced by your parents (Asian, yeah I know). You have WAY too many top tier schools in that list. Might want to fix it up a little and add some decent safeties. Just to give you a statistic, the high school I attended had about 10-20 kids going to Ivies every year. All of these kids (except athletes) had 95-98 UNWEIGHTED GPAs with 12 AP’s 2300+ 750+ SATII’s Crazy EC’s (except the Cornell ones). Now imagine a college rep comparing applications. Would they want the kid from a school that’s been proven to produce successful students, or take the risk and pick the kid that’s from a relatively mediocre school?</p>

5

<p>I understand what your saying about competition and even get the feeder school thing but, what makes it so that its a “risk” to take a kid from a semi-competitive (there might not be lots of ivy-bound students, but plenty of kids do get accepted to good, well known privates) rather than another kid from a well known high school? Are there any good safeties you can recommend?</p>

6

<p>I think you’re a match for Stern, definitely not safety, but for the ivies you listed, they are high high reaches. If your school sends only 2 to ivies and you are top 10% (which is a great accomplishment in general), ivies are definite a high reach for you. The only good safeties I can think of are BU and Northeastern.</p>

7

<p>I think you’re a really good candidate for NYU and all your choices are all right.</p>

<p>But honestly, you REALLY need a few safety schools. Safety as in schools you KNOW you will definitely get into. Don’t get so cocky and think you’re too good for state and city schools. I went to one of the best public high schools in NYC and pretty much everyone applied to a SUNY or CUNY. It didn’t matter if our GPAs were a 2.7 or a 4.0. Our counselors made it clear that we NEED AT LEAST TWO SAFETY SCHOOLS.</p>

<p>Once you really start the application process, you need to be realistic and humble yourself. You’re an amazing student with amazing extracurriculars, but that doesn’t guarantee that you will get into one of the schools you listed. Be humble and make room for few safety schools. You’re not competing with just your school for these spots, you’re competing with the hundreds of thousands of students in the rest of the country and extremely intelligent international students.</p>

<p>I’m being a bit preachy, but take the advice. It’s what many college counselors tell you. Even counselors and advisers at top colleges recommend that you apply for safety schools.</p>

8

<p>Ok thank you for the advice. Would you say BU or UConn are safeties for me?</p>

9

<p>Yes, I would say those are your safeties. If you want to study business, IU has a pretty good business program and should be a safety with your stats.</p>

10

<p>To answer a question, let’s use an analogy. You want to buy an iPod. You can go to the Apple store, or there’s a store right next to it called E-Mart. Both stores sell iPods for the same price with taxes included (like you said, you have no real apparent “hooks”). Which one would YOU pick?</p>

<p>Northeastern/BU are really good safety options but they are expensive. You can consider SUNY Geneseo (I prefer it over Bing). Boston College could also be a good match/safety depending on how many people they accept per year from your school(Check Naviance?).</p>

<p>Also, you might want to think about your school choice. What type of school do YOU want to go to? Is it Liberal Arts? </p>

<p>And FYI, UoC is mainly essay based so you better have a crazy essay + supplement if you want to get accepted. It’s one of the few schools that isn’t so number-based.</p>

11

<p>I hope im not coming off as defensive but I still cant agree with your ideas about the high school, even with the nice ipod analogy :slight_smile: the thing is, sure the ipod’s might be the same price but what you aren’t thinking about is what if im just a better candidate than the other kid? Say some kid from a respected private school has near identical stats than me and college admissions have to choose ethier him or me. However, my record indicates an addition of one more EC, plus i have numerous awards in that field. Are you saying that even if im a better candidate than someone who is practically a clone of me but with lower credentials, the admissions office will pick him just because he is from a highly respected school? Oh and the thing about BC is that i heard its ties with religion are very strong. Is that just a myth? Because i really dont want to go to a school where i might be left out because i dont follow the religion. I know my list seems kind of just like a top 10 list, but every one of the schools on the list satisfy my needs (non-rural, not too conservative, strong departments in what im intrested in studying)</p>

12

<p>That is exactly the case with the high school. My high school is a decent feeder school to top 25, with 30+ into the ivies. Someone from my school with lower stats can get into a top school than someone from another school with higher stats (minimal difference, not saying 1900 sat vs 2300 sat) just because they come from my school. It’s the same thing when it comes to jobs and internships. Some companies prefer some schools over others. And although BC is a catholic school, your religion/race will not hinder your social life (that’s what the admissions person said at my school anyways). Also I was accepted into Stern but waitlisted to BC, so I can’t really say that Stern and BC are on the same level in terms of admission. It’s okay to have a list that is comprised of top schools but you must have a few safeties. As I mentioned: BU, Northeastern, IU are your safeties but they are on the pricier side. But you can expect a lot of merit aid from these schools based on your stats.</p>

13

<p>Wow, sorry to go somewhat off topic, but I’m pretty amazed by how much more knowledgeable the users on this board are about relativity compared to the users on the College Admissions and Search forums. I don’t think the majority of CC knows how GPA is possibly the most flawed statistic in college admissions.</p>

14

<p>Superexcited is right. Why would you ask for the opinion of others if you won’t accept the advice? Safeties are a must for everyone…</p>

<p>BTW, my school sent 13 kids to Princeton last year… but I still have safeties…</p>

15

<p>The fact that you are asian doesn’t play in your favor. Your SAT score and ranking are very average for an Asian Male in the tri-state applying to Stern.</p>