I am an Asian male high school senior from a lower income family (Reduced lunch) in a half-Hispanic half-Asian (interesting mix) high school that has pretty low standards with little to no students ever attending (or even applying) to Ivy League schools so I do not have a threshold to compare myself to locally.
Will Apply: UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UCSD, UC Irvine
Old SAT: 2130 (720 CR, 710 M, 700 W)
New SAT: 1480 (720 CR/W, 760 M)
+SAT II Bio (E): 790
+SAT II Chemistry: 750
Rank: 2/540 (school with only 41% Math proficiency and low income)
Unweighted GPA: 4.0/4.0
Weighted (10-11) GPA: 4.8
AP:
Environmental Science: 5
Biology: 4
World History: 4
Chemistry: 5
English Lang: 5
US History: 5
Calculus A/B: 5
Taking:
AP Statistics,
AP Calculus B/C,
AP Economics,
AP US Government,
AP Physics: Mechanics,
AP English Lit.
Extra-Curriculars:
Appointed member of City’s Youth Committee
President of Impact Club (community action/service)
President of MERITS (STEM) Club
Vice-President and co-founder of AWARE Club (government/world affairs)
Upward Bound Student Rep
Young Senators (Sen. Lou Correa) Program Graduate
Contacted UCI professor to let me do volunteer research in her Chemical Biology Lab
Cancer Research Institute Youth Science Fellows Program during summer (180 hrs of research + presentation to profs)
Volunteer at local wetlands to restore native habitats
JV tennis (co-captain) for two years then I quit…
Awards:
AP Scholar with Distinction
Various school dept. awards
Special Recognition by City Council for volunteer work
Special Recognition by LA Neighborhood Housing Services for my work in a Compton neighborhood event
National Merits Commended Scholar
Upward Bound Academic Achievement Award
Letters of Rec:
Teachers: AP Eng Lang and AP Chemistry Teacher who are amazing writers, wrote often for Gates Millennium!
UCI Professor of Chemistry wrote me one
Hopefully my request for Congressman Lou Correa to write me one will get through
Essays:
Normal trials and tribulations, related to family and mental illness as well as my experience doing scientific research
There have been many people from my school with amazing community service experience, leadership, and AP scores who do not even consider Ivy Leagues so I am a bit discouraged but I want to have a baseline on what to think about my chances beyond admit rates.
You’ll be a competitive applicant, but without a hook at HYP, Wharton (for a soft or hard science?), and Columbia – all with single-digit admit rates and high-stat kids – you’re a reach.
Cornell and JHU aren’t much easier to get into – reach or low reach.
Advice:
If you are ok with a UC, your list is fine. But if you are more keen on a private school experience, i suggest looking at some more low reaches and match-range schools – as tough admissions-wise as Georgetown or Notre Dame through schools like Tulane/Lehigh/Wake Forest/Brandeis, and then to schools like Miami(FL), GWU and SMU. You might also look at some LACs ranked roughly 25-70 on the US News ranking. (check all schools for available majors and other fit variables, obviously…)
Point is, if you want a private education, you will greatly increase your chances of getting into one by applying to some lower reaches and matches. You might get into HYPPCC or JHU, but it’s far from guaranteed.
The Ivies you've listed (and JHU) are different from each other in multiple fit areas. For instance, would you be most comfortable in the rather rural Cornell setting, the urban Harvard/Penn/Columbia/JHU settings, or the suburban Yale and Princeton settings? Does the Princeton senior thesis appeal to you? How about Yale's residential colleges, Columbia's core, JHU's reputed rigor? These schools differ, so be sure to research them according to the things you feel are most important and stick with schools that most match your preferences (if you haven't already figured it out....).
I agree with most of the previous post. You are a reach for most of the Ivies, but so are most of the people that apply. In many cases it’s a total “crap shoot” on who gets in because there are so many quality applications.
Your SAT scores might be a little on the low end, but the rest of your resume is VERY impressive. It’s obvious you have pushed yourself to do your very best in a high school that you said has “low standards” and you have challenged yourself with what looks like the most difficult schedule that you could take.
With that said, IF you have sincere interest in the Ivies, you should definitely apply. Don’t let the fact that other kids from your school haven’t applied stop you. You are a competitive applicant. Many kids apply to the Ivies simply out of a desire to see if they can get admitted. The Ivies are very good at identifying which applications have sincere interest and those that are simply applying seeking something for their “trophy case” of accomplishments.
Just make sure you believe you would enjoy/thrive in all of the colleges that you would apply to. I’m guessing most of the Ivies would be a completely different learning environment whereby you would be leaving a school that isn’t very competitive and jumping into an environment that would not only be very competitive, but in many cases cutthroat. Many kids thrive in that kind of environment, because it pushes them to do their very best. Other kids don’t because they need a more collaborative environment to succeed,