Ivy league - chance me please!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello there! So I'm new to College Confidential, and I'm looking at ALL Ivy Leagues, plus top schools like UChicago, Northwestern U, WashU, Stanford, Duke, Johns Hopkins, etc. My safeties are Boston College, NYU, Brandeis, Syracuse U, And Boston U.</p>

<p>If you could please chance me, I'd greatly appreciate it! It doesn't have to be each school specifically, but a general idea of where my chances lie and what I can do to improve my resume would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>I am a Senior who currently resides in the very sparsely populated region in South Dakota.
Both of my parents are physicians, and both are originally from countries in the South East/Middle East.</p>

<p>I am a a future double major: Biology and Journalism. I am debating a minor in Studio Art, preferably Photography.</p>

<p>Here are my credentials:</p>

<ul>
<li>4.0, class rank of 1, & in the running for valedictorian.</li>
<li>Have taken all Honors/AP classes and have thus far attained A's in each class. I have not taken any AP exams, as we are not allowed to take APs until our senior year, and I have not even completed a semester of each class.</li>
<li>Have 6 credits of a foreign language, 4 of which were taken at the local college</li>
<li>2130 SAT, 31 ACT (if superscored, then I would have a 33)</li>
<li>Just took my SAT II tests, Literature and Math Level I, have not gotten results back yet but I'm feeling a 770 in Lit, and a 680 in Math. :/</li>
<li>300+ hours of community service, have recieved various award for my volunteering</li>
<li>Copy Editor of school newspaper for 3 years, have recieved national recognition 4 times for my articles</li>
<li>President and founder of Health Occupational Students of America chapter at my school</li>
<li>Selected as my school's delegate to the Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership seminar, attended a second year as Junior Faculty Member</li>
<li>Selected as my school's delegate to compete in the NASA Space Settlement Design Competition</li>
<li>I do photography as a hobby; I also have made a small business out of it as I take people's senior portraits/family portraits, etc, for profit.</li>
<li>I have been my school's Future Business Leaders of America Club's reporter for two years, I recieved 5th Place in the Marketing Contest at the State Competition</li>
<li>Member of National Honor Society for 3 years. Have recieved the award of having the msot volunteer work hours out of the members</li>
<li>Been on the Scholastic Honor Roll 4 years, 3 Academic Scholar Award Winner, Student Of the Month Award</li>
<li>Co-Captain of Quiz Bowl team for 4 years</li>
<li>Knowledge Masters Participant for 4 years</li>
<li>Volleyball - played for two years</li>
<li>Golf played for four years, two years in middle school, 2 in high school</li>
<li>Cheerleading, particpated for 1 year</li>
<li>Boys Basketbal Team Manager for 1 year</li>
<li>Acted in the Three-Act-Play for three years, and recieved a letter award each year</li>
<li>Acted in the One-Act-Play for one year</li>
<li>History Club Member for 3 years</li>
</ul>

<p>My essays are pretty strong too. I know my scores are nothing too impressive and tons of applicants have my GPA, I'd still like to know my chances. Brown, Columbia, Harvard, and UChicago are my dreams, but I'd be happy to get into any Ivy League, I've visited practically all of them and it's been so hard for me narrow down to just the four.</p>

<p>Thank you, and please let me know if there is anything else I can do to improve!</p>

2

<p>Buuuuumppppp.</p>

<p>Also wanted to add I spent the summer of my Junior year in Spain.</p>

3

<p>Seriously, no one can help me out? :(</p>

4

<p>i think you will have a good shot with 2200+ SAT score!</p>

5

<p>Boston COLLEGE as a safety? Don’t count on that. Boston U, Brandeis and Syracuse maybe, but not BC.</p>

<p>Overall, you are a competitive applicant at all those schools. Test scores aren’t everything, and you have good consistent EC’s; as long as your application is balanced overall (which it seems to be) I don’t foresee you being an unimpressive candidate to any of those schools. Good luck! :)</p>

6

<p>Agree w/BC as safety! No way! The fact you are from SD will be a hook! not a big one but w/schools very big on geographical diversity this will be a plus for you.</p>

7

<p>Being from rural South Dakota should really help you. Bring up the scores a bit and I would think you’ll get into several top schools.</p>

8

<p>Might look at Tufts and Holy Cross both very good in biology and in the greater Boston area. Both schools have strong alumni networks.</p>

9

<p>HOW could you possibly be interested in ALL the ivy’s? Do you not care about FIT at all?</p>

<p>Seriously mane, no one can really tell you your chances. People here only think they know what r goes on behind admissions doors</p>

<p>TBH you don’t need the extra 70 points, when officers evaluate your scores they don’t see 2200 Sat 1
they see
SAt 1 : 750 750 700 (and they really don’t care to add that up)</p>

<p>Do you think 730 700 700 really looks that different? REALLY?!?!</p>

<p>A bit of friendly senior-to -senior advice: prestige isn’t everything. Why don’t you do more research on the schools to see which ones you think you’ll fit in?
All Ivy Leagues do not fit all students, and they have some real fundamental differences.</p>

10

<p>I wouldn’t view Brandeis as a safety either. Record applications. Brandeis enrolls plenty of Valedictorians. Your credentials may be a match. As others have noted, school popularity is not the issue. You need to delve deeper into whether a school is the right fit for you.</p>

11

<p>Agree with other posters that BU and Syracuse are safeties, but not NYU, Brandeis, or BC.
The Ivies and Stanford are reaches, but maybe being from SD will help.</p>

12

<p>Thanks for all the input guys!</p>

<p>The only thing I can do is to bump up my scores? Should I focus on bumping up my SAT or my ACT?</p>

<p>The thing is, I would have had a 34 on my ACT when I last took it, my test proctor put the incorrect Time Start and Time End on the board, so I paced myself incorrectly for the Science Section, which got me a really low score which brought my composite down. If I take it again, I think I can get a 33 or 34, but should I focus on the SAT?</p>

<p>So BC is not a safety? Are they really that selective?</p>

<p>And I am looking into Tufts. However, I know top schools are so unpredictable, but what about the lower ranked Ivies, like Brown and Dartmouth? Are those a high reach for me as well?</p>

<p>Again, thank you for all of your useful advice! It is much appreciated!</p>

13

<p>Also, my essay is about being in an area devoid of diversity and how I had to struggle through a lot of adversity because of my different faith/culture (I am the only student in my grade who is not a religion of some form of christianity), and how I would bring diversity to a college community.</p>

<p>My college recommendations are from teachers that I consider more as friends than as teachers. I’ve developed incredible relationships with them and I’ll miss them terribly when I graduate!</p>

14

<p>Oh, also! My dad attended what was considered the Harvard of Pakistan, King Edward Medical College, and then attended Boston University for a masters program.</p>

<p>My mom attended Tufts University at one point as well.</p>

15

<p>Very generic essay topic, especially with those who immigrated to US, and for the recommendations: same goes for everyone else.</p>

16

<p>BC is highly selective.</p>

<p>And even Brown and Dartmouth are high reaches.</p>