<p>2260 SAT (740 reading/730 math/790 writing)
34 ACT, would be 35 for colleges that superscore (Brown, Cornell, Amherst)
SAT IIs- 790 US History, 740 Literature
3.81 UW, 4.47 W- (8 APs, 2 honors)
My counselor gave me these numbers, and I'm not sure whether they include freshman year or not. If not, both would be slightly lower. Somewhat of an upward trend, except for a blip in my junior year (3.67 semester GPA). I haven't taken the absolute toughest course load possible, because my brain turns to mush in the face of math or science. For that reason, I decided against taking Calculus or Physics.
- NMSF</p>
<p>Solid extracurriculars:
- experience with writing and receiving grants ($6500)
- president of four clubs
- VP of school's honor and service society
- on a committee that successfully petitioned the district to put a salad bar in our cafeteria
- 200 hours spent volunteering for a non-profit organization
- participated in a week-long writing camp last summer
- have held a job since 2006</p>
<p>Other random factoids:
- Asian, female, Californian
- First generation
- huge magnet school (I'm in a class of 750 students. For a rough idea of how many students my school sends to top schools, 4 ended up at Harvard last year.)
- doesn't rank, but I'm in the top 10% (UC's ELC)</p>
<p>In rough order of preference:
Dartmouth
Haverford
Amherst
Brown
Tufts
Oberlin
Cornell
Vassar
Wesleyan
Middlebury</p>
<p>Dartmouth - Reach
Haverford - Match
Amherst - In
Brown - High Match
Tufts - In
Oberlin - ?
Cornell - Match
Vassar - Match
Wesleyan - ?
Middlebury - ?</p>
<p>I hope this helps. Your information is stellar, it should make for an excellent app.</p>
<p>I really hope you have safeties too because while you are very qualified a lot of these schools pretty much flip a coin.</p>
<p>That said…
wesleyan Vassar cornell haverford middlebury and possibly oberlinwill be your least challenging (though still challenging hah)
dartmouth, amherst. brown and tufts are crapshoots - personally i feel its like a lottery after a certain point haha</p>
<p>Dartmouth and Brown are about on par. If you look at acceptances for the last few years, Dartmouth has accepted a smaller percentage some years, Brown others.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this is one of those threads with a lot of people posting who don’t have a clue.</p>
<p>You are in a super competitive category at any ivy–Asian from California. The average CR/M scores (slightly below for Dartmouth and Brown, but that includes all the hooked) and the dip junior year makes these schools big reaches.</p>
<p>I’d say you have a better chance at Amherst which does not see as many applicants in your demographic, but it’s still certainly a reach.</p>
<p>With a strong app and excellent recs you should get into several of the others.</p>
<p>Thanks, hmom. I will be sorely disappointed if I don’t get into Dartmouth, as it’s my first choice, but I’ll try to remember that I’ve been lucky enough to even have the opportunity to apply.</p>
<p>Dartmouth - Match
Haverford - Match
Amherst - Match
Brown - Match
Tufts - Match
Oberlin - ?
Cornell - Match
Vassar - Match
Wesleyan - ?
Middlebury - ?</p>
<p>Well, you’re clearly very accomplished; the main problem is that you don’t stand out, unless your essays are amazing. Can you explain your grant-writing experience?</p>
<p>Dartmouth - Low reach
Haverford - High match
Amherst - Low reach
Brown - Low reach
Tufts - Match
Oberlin - Match/High match
Cornell - High match
Vassar - Match
Wesleyan - High match, I think?
Middlebury - Match</p>
<p>@ proletariat: The reference to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy might go over their heads, but otherwise, I felt it was a pretty solid piece. A little on the quirky side, as you’ve probably guessed. I wrote about my love for psychology, which fits into the rest of my app, since my psychology teacher wrote a rec for me and I’ve taken a psych course at my local CC.</p>
<p>Dartmouth - Low reach, Doable
Haverford - Match
Amherst - Match
Brown - Low reach, also doable
Tufts - Match
Oberlin - Match
Cornell - High match
Vassar - Match
Wesleyan - Match
Middlebury - Match</p>
<p>Maybe the reference will go over their heads. I’m a little worried about that, since I just naturally make cultural references all the time. But a quirky essay will definitely make you stand out, if it’s tasteful. It’s better than a generic dead-grandma essay, at the very least.</p>
<p>most of these schools have acceptance rates of 10-25%. anyone who lists you as a match at most of these is pushing things a bit. you have a strong chance at all of these, but your numbers aren’t much higher than the average at these schools.</p>
<p>you will definitely get into some of these schools, but don’t be surprised by rejections or wait lists from many. I wouldn’t worry, though.</p>
<p>(p.s. to other posters - when a school, i.e. Brown, has a 10-12% acceptance rate, it is not a match for anyone, really. the percentage is simply too small.)</p>
<p>@smartalic: I know that straight-A students are routinely rejected from and waitlisted at Brown and Dartmouth as well as a couple others on my list… God knows that I’m bracing myself for rejects and waitlists, too. Everyone doing chance threads ought to take responses with a huge grain of salt, but that doesn’t stop them from being fun for easing the tension until April rolls along. At the same time, I have the feeling that chance threads are made by plenty of masochists. :D</p>
<p>Dartmouth - Low reach
Haverford - High match
Amherst - Low reach
Brown - reach
Tufts - Match
Oberlin - Match
Cornell - low reach
Vassar - Match
Wesleyan - High match
Middlebury - Match</p>
<p>Dartmouth - reach
Haverford ?
Amherst-match
Brown - reach
Tufts ?
Oberlin in
Cornell - high match
Vassar - in
Wesleyan low match
Middlebury match</p>