Is this a realistic list?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi, I am a rising senior. Please chance me for Tufts, WashU, Duke, Barnard, Stanford, Northwestern, Boston University, UPenn, Wesleyan, and Georgetown.</p>

<p>My GPA unweighted is a 3.89 and weighted is a 4.82
(My grades took a dip, I got two B's my first semester sophomore year while my parents were getting divorced. My counselor will talk about it in her letter.)
I have taken or will have taken by graduation 6 AP classes. So far, I have earned a 5 on APUSH and I am waiting on AP Psych and AP English. My senior year course load is AP Gov, AP Stats (better for psych majors), and AP English Lit, Honors Environmental Science, Spanish IV, PE, and a leadership class so I can be a mentor to incoming freshman! Seniors can take 3 or 4 AP classes, but fitting in a 4th is really difficult (I would not be able to do the mentorship program).
I have taken the most rigorous course load allowed. All of my classes are honors or AP. Sophomores can take one AP class: US History. Juniors can take two or three (but the administration RARELY lets students take three unless it's bio which is two periods and two credits, so I took AP Psych and AP English Lang)
I got a 750 on the SAT Subject Test in US History. I took SAT Subject Tests in Literature and Math 1 and am expecting a score in the high 700s for both.
My ACT score is a 31. English: 32 Math: 29 Reading: 35 Science: 28 Writing: 9
I retook it last weekend and I think I got a 32, maybe a 33 superscored.
I go to an inner city public school, one of the most difficult in the state and country.
I am a Jewish, white female.
As far as compelling stories go, my sister has autism which was the basis of my interest in the field. I will be writing my essay about her and our relationship as well as how my interest in psychology has grown over the years. She is my inspiration.</p>

<p>As far as activities go, I started a few clubs at school and am president:
Model UN (Founder and President)
Book Club (Founder and President)</p>

<p>I have just been elected as the president of the National Honor Society at school. Our project next year is tutoring young students at the neighboring elementary school.
I have over 300+ community service hours.
I have been asked to start a Best Buddies club as well (a club to connect mainstream students with students with severe disabilities). For three summers, I was a volunteer counselor at a camp for children with disabilities.</p>

<p>I have been on varsity tennis for four years. I will probably be captain for my senior year season.</p>

<p>I have an internship this summer in a psychology lab at University of Chicago, which is the career path I plan to pursue. I want to major in psychology, focusing on developmental psychology and autism research.</p>

<p>I have gone to three summer programs at Brown, Stanford, and Northwestern. Brown and Stanford were in psychology courses. All three were highly selective summer programs.</p>

<p>I have visited all of their campuses, if that makes a difference. I am a triple legacy at Northwestern, if that helps much. My uncle went to Wesleyan for undergrad and UPenn for medical school. Another uncle went to WashU for law school. (I'm not sure if these count as legacy).
Fortunately, I don't need to worry about the finances in paying for college.</p>

<p>I think I want to apply ED to Tufts or WashU. Will that improve my chances?</p>

<p>Please give me advice!! What more can I do? Thank you!!</p>

2

<p>Your course load seems low… regardless of what your school permits.</p>

3

<p>I disagree that your course load is too low, I think it is fine and so is your GPA. If your next ACT score is higher than 31 that will help you. Your choices are ranging from possible to super reach (Stanford, UPenn, Duke- chances are very small at these colleges for anyone) but all your choices are all very selective schools for any candidate. </p>

<p>What more can you do? Start working on the best application possible- essays, and then, continue to do well in school. One thing you can’t do anything about is the number of qualified candidates that are also applying to all of these schools. This is just plain statistics. Applying ED to Tufts or Wash U will increase your chances as I think colleges take a higher percentage of the ED pool. I think your chances of acceptance ED at those schools is better than your super reaches. </p>

<p>All of your colleges are quite selective. I hope you add some less selective ones on your list, so you don’t risk getting shut out of all your choices due to the large number of qualified applicants who apply. </p>

4

<p>Don’t forget to have a real safety… BU is the only non-reach on that list but it’s not a safety either.</p>

<p>I hope you like childhood development if you’re going to ED at Tufts.</p>

5

<p>@eFlick‌ remember that all of my classes are honors and the school will not allow more APs than what I have taken. Therefore, I have taken the most rigorous course load allowed at my school, and a college cannot hold that against me. Also, my school is one of the most challenging in the state and city. We are ranked nationally as well. I am trying to find safety schools, but it’s difficult. Would University of Pittsburgh be one? @Catria‌ @Pennylane2011‌ I LOVED the child development program at Tufts! </p>

6

<p>UPitt: Safety</p>

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<p>If you are full pay, then your list is very reasonable. I think BU is almost guaranteed, if you don’t get in ED to Tufts or WashU, which I think you will.</p>

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<p>@jcpgirl10 Every school is ranked nationally, and it is practically illegal to hold someone back from education. Besides, I doubt a “nationally” ranked school would prevent students from taking AP.</p>

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<p>Don’t worry about your course load, @‌eFlick doesn’t know what he/she is talking about. ^This post doesn’t even make sense. My kids went to a school with limited AP options (none til senior year). Last year my D2 was admitted to U of Chicago, Swarthmore, and Harvey Mudd. In fact, she got in everyplace she applied. A stack of APs is NOT the be-all and end-all for college admissions. </p>

10

<p>Thank you @intparent‌. The school has a policy where students cannot take more than a certain number of AP classes per year (none freshman year) so I can’t be held accountable for that by a college! Each school is different. And 6 AP classes is not shabby, it was a very difficult course load! @eFlick‌ </p>

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<p>I happen to know what I’m talking about, because I personally complained to my counselors throughout sophomore year about getting into particular classes that weren’t available, and they eventually let me take classes online that weren’t offered, and audit additional classes that put me over the credit limit (7 credits max each year). Granted this is just my school, I also talked to my aunt (a psychologist at a diff. school district) who said that there were instances where students brought in attorneys/mediators to meetings and took the school to court for certain cases where they weren’t allowed to do something. I can tell you one thing: the students always win when they complain about being held back by the school, especially in today’s world when there are many alternative types of education such as free cyberschools that offer courses.</p>

<p>Even then, you state in your post that your administrators “rarely” let students take 3, which means that some students have taken 3 their junior year and do have a harder course load than you. It’s a shame you didn’t push it, because biology this year was kind of fun. Hopefully a batrachotoxin molecule doesn’t allosterically bind to a sodium channel on one of your neurons and permanently (and irreversibly) paralyze your entire body with a constant release of acetylcholine and cause death by cardiac arrest.</p>

12

<p>@eFlick Not really. A student can’t be expected to pay for an attorney to sign up for one more AP class… seriously?</p>

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<p>Eyeroll… if colleges ever got wind of a student who went to court over not being able to take a class, they would reject them. Nobody wants that student (or their parents) on campus if they know about it ahead of time.</p>

<p>@eFlick, go read the book “How to Be a High School Superstar: A Revolutionary Plan to Getting Into College by Standing Out (Without Burning Out)” by Cal Newport. It does not matter if the OP takes any more APs, at all.</p>

14

<p>I can’t tell if you guys are trolling or you genuinely don’t understand… xD</p>

15

<p>I think that when it comes to “trolling” it’s pretty easy to tell the difference between a no-nothing poster with history of 20 posts and a “Senior Member” with 11,000+ </p>

<p>jcpgirl looks like an outstanding candidate for a lot of excellent schools. </p>

16

<p>@eFlick nationally recognized schools do place limits on the number of ap classes you can take. My school is ranked 10th in my state and we recently changed to a 7 period day and your not allowed to take more than 6 honors or AP classes per semester. My class isn’t ranked since so many of us have 4.00 but the number of AP classes we take change our GPAs. But the kid with the highest GPA in my grade waiver to take 7 AP’s and they wouldn’t let him because a heavy courseload can negatively impact other parts of your highschool career like volunteering or going out for sports because you don’t have time. I took 2 Honors and 4 APs this year and I barely managed all A’s second semester due to varsity track. So if jcpgirl10’s school puts a limit on the number of APs they can take then its probably for a reason.</p>

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<p>@tola2015 I know, but people are making it sound like I’m insulting jcp or telling her that she has less of a chance because of her courses. I haven’t done that at all. I just said that her course load is low in comparison to some applicants (including myself), and based off what she is saying she definitely doesn’t have the highest load offered by her school and she most likely hasn’t tried to negotiate getting into higher classes. Considering it is a fact that schools (public schools that abide to law) cannot limit the courses you take when you meet the full qualifications for a course you want, it is complete nonsense what they’re saying. I can barely stand it, especially since I’m VC on varsity LD debate.</p>

<p>Going on to your school’s reasoning, it is obvious that moving up in ANY course (for example, moving from regular to honors) will negatively impact your time if you can’t handle it. The logical fallacy to this is the fact that some students are much more qualified than others, and no matter how little you move up (going from 0 AP classes to 1 AP class), there is always going to be a negative impact on your time. So using your logic, shouldn’t they have all students abide to ONE schedule that does the best to make life easy for them and gives them the most time possible to volunteer and play sports? Of course not, because then they would be lacking academically.</p>

18

<p>Good grief! @eFlick‌ why would I hire an attorney to change my classes at school?! In fact, WHO would do that? Like @sallymeno11‌ said, that’s absolutely insane!! Great for you that you took initiative and took more classes, but not all great and academically motivated students have to be just like you. You sound like an arrogant braggart,
“It’s a shame you didn’t push it, because biology this year was kind of fun. Hopefully a batrachotoxin molecule doesn’t allosterically bind to a sodium channel on one of your neurons and permanently (and irreversibly) paralyze your entire body with a constant release of acetylcholine and cause death by cardiac arrest.” Was that necessary? I think not.
so please stop commenting on my post. The school puts a limit of APs for a reason; so kids can focus on other aspects of life besides academics. I have really invested time in my ECs as well as taking a rigorous course load @tola2015‌ . Thank you to @intparent‌ for your comments, eFlick should really read that book! And thanks to @calmom‌ for your comments as well. </p>

19

<p>A scholarship would be nice, but it’s not necessary, thankfully :slight_smile: @Sakacar3‌ and thank you!</p>

20

<p>Schools can vary with number of AP courses offered and allowed schedules, but this can be explained by the guidance counselor on that part of the application. The regional college admissions reps are usually aware of the differences in the schools in their region. The OP’s schedule is considered in context of her school and is not a problem. The mentorship program seems to be something the OP is very interested in, and it shows that aspect of her.</p>

<p>I agree with UPitt as safety. It seems the OP really likes Tufts, and if that is the first choice, then ED to Tufts looks reasonable to me. </p>