Ivies - What are my chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello! So, this is my first post here. I think I just tell you about myself and ask if you think I have a chance of getting into certain schools? This may be long but please bear with me and help out! I would love some unbiased opinions from people who aren’t friends + family and don’t know what I’m like in real life. (Tired of hearing “you work so hard, you’ll get in wherever you want”… working hard will get me nowhere if it doesn’t pay off ya feel?)

I’m a Puerto Rican girl who’s been living in the states for a couple years now. I go to a small Catholic school in Miami (my school is mostly conservative but I am very liberal).
Some stuff about my schoolwork:

  • I’m a member of a rigorous program of studies for the top of the class that not only takes the most challenging courses but we do certain ‘enrichment activities’ meant to prepare us for college
  • GPA: 4.8 (W), 3.8 (UW)
  • SAT: 1410 (first time with no studying, I’m taking it again in June after tutoring)
  • ACT: haven’t taken it yet but from the Aspire my predicted score is in the 32-36 range
  • All A’s except for 1 B+ (AP bio :/…)
  • APs:
    -jr year: U.S. history, Biology, Computer Science Principles
    -before: Spanish Language, English Language, European History
    -senior year(next year): U.S. Government, Comparative Government, Calculus, Macroeconomics, English Literature,
    Spanish Literature
  • Every other class (except some electives) is honors
  • awards:
    -honor roll
    -APUSH outstanding achievement award (highest average in my grade)
    -AP scholar award
  • Honor Societies: National Honor Society as well as English, Spanish, Math, History

Extracurriculars:

  • been a member of the varsity tennis team since my freshman year
  • captain of varsity tennis team junior and senior year
  • i created a service project along with a good friend of mine to help tutor the children of low-income women in Miami
  • my clubs are somewhat of a mess because i thought i wanted to be a doctor so i joined clubs related to that, but now i’ve realized i’m more passionate about government, yada yada

My family is very well off financially (>200k$), but paying for college is still a hassle because of limited financial aid for people who make that amount of money and we still have other stuff

Some schools I’m looking at are: Cornell (I have legacy), Columbia, Georgetown, and schools like Harvard and Yale just for fun lol.
Also, if uncles/aunts/cousins count for legacy then I have legacy in most of these schools.


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2

You are a competitive applicant. Your stats and ECs are pretty good. Your URM hook will probably help your profile. Write great essays and you could get accepted to any of these schools, especially Cornell

3

Your hooks are URM (minority female) and maybe tennis, depending on your ranking and if you are recruited to play tennis. Your academic and EC’s are strong, but not distinctive because the level of competition is intense for the schools on your list. Nothing in your credentials stands out above the typical successful candidate to those schools. The admission’s rate for Harvard is under 5%, which includes everyone (Early Admits, recruited athletes, legacy, etc.). So consider the schools you mentioned as reaches - far reaches. There are so many other top schools to consider beyond the ones of your list.

4

Agreed that you are competitive but if you are going to need aid, you probably wont qualify for need and those schools don’t give merit based scholarships. Run the Net Price Calculators to see for sure. Google schools that give merit scholarships based on test scores (and work hard to prepare for the ACT/SAT). Also, the legacy status is not a hook at Cornell anymore. At best, it’s a slight nudge. Being URM will be more of hook.