Junior Chances for Ivies, Georgetown, American U, and More

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello. I’m a Junior who wants to get some advice about chances to the following schools:

Safeties:
University of Illinois @ Urbana Champaign
University of Illinois @ Chicago
George Washington University
American University
Boston University
Boston College

Match?:
Amherst College
Cornell College
Georgetown University
Brown University

Reach:
Harvard University
Princeton University
Yale University
Yale/NUS (Singapore)
University of Chicago

Intended Major: Political Science
Double Major/Minor: History, Economics, Mathematics (Applied Economics), Foreign Language like Korean or Mandarin
Career Goals: Lawyer, Foreign Service Oficcer, Legislative Aid for Congress

Here is some of my info:

Demographics:
Illinois (Suburbs of Chicago)
Male
Gay
Latino/Hispanic (Mexican/2nd Generation Immigrant)
50-55K Income Bracket
School doesn’t rank or give percentiles

Statistics and Scores:
SAT: 1480 (740 RW/ 740M
Will take SAT at least two more times
SAT 2: Spanish (800) World History (800)
Will take Literature and US History in June
SAT Essay: 22/24
GPA: 4.0 UW/ 4.66 W out of 4.0

AP Classes (Scores or year taking):
Human Geography (5)
World History (5)
Spanish Language (5)
Calculus BC (Jr.)
Physics 1 (Jr.)
US History (Jr.)
English Language (Jr.)
Spanish Literature (Jr.)
Microeconomics (Jr.)
Macroeconomics (Jr.)
Environmental Science (Sr.)
English Literature (Sr.)
European History (Sr.)
US Government (Sr.)
Psychology (Sr.)
Art History (Sr.)

Dual Enrollment:
Intro to Engineering (A)
Computer Integrated Manufacturing (A)
Took these classes thinking I wanted to go into engineering but now I don’t
Calculus 3/DFQ (Sr.)

Extra Electives:
Criminal and Civil Law (A)
Constitutional Law (Jr.)

Extrascurriculars (Years include senior year):

Congressional Debate (3 years): I will be Debate Captain next year. I have received MVP award and various 1st and 3rd Place awards. I placed 12th at State during Super Congress (Top 16) this year. NSDA Degree of Excellence and Ranked 25th based on career points.

Speech (3 years): I compete in Extemporaneous Speaking (Domestic and International) and Original Oratory. I have won some tournaments in OO. Ranked 12th in State (Top 20) for Extemp based on preliminary scores. There is no leadership positions on the team.

Scholastic Bowl Team (4 years): I was JV captain for 2 years and will be Varsity captain for 2 years. Our team is small and we do not win often. I did individually qualify for the All Star team for the Mid Suburban League. I have received the MVP award for two years.

Estudiantes Unidos (4 years): This is a service club to offer mentoring to Latino middle school students and provide service projects and retreats to them. Every year we have a student led summer camp at my mobile home park where we bring books and activities to elementary school kids. (Since I live in a mobile home park we can’t acess the library or park district)

Mexican Folkloric Dance (3 years): Helped start the dance group at my school. We have performed multiple times at school and at other venues like a Native American art gallery.

Awards/Recognitions:
AP Scholar
National Spanish Exam Level 4B (9th In Illinois)
Skills USA Illinois Additive Manufacturing (4th In Illinois)
National Honor Society
National Spanish Honor Society
12th In Congressional Debate State
12th In Extemporaneous Speaking State
Member of College Board Youth Advisory Council
Member of District 214 Talent Development Comittee (1 Jr. Per school)

Summer Programs
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Jr. Alumni (Selcted and completed R2L Next Gen Summer Program in DC)
Just found out I will attend SCS Noonan Scholars program at Amherst University.
Both programs are free and for underrepresented social groups.

I’d love to hear your opinions and advice. If you have any questions don’t be shy to ask.

2

Your URM status should provide a nice boost to your admissions chances. Even so, elite schools like Amherst and Brown can’t really be considered matches for anyone, especially with a sub-1500 SAT score (unless you are a movie star or the child of a Washington insider).

Of course, your odds of getting into your “match” schools are better than at your HYP reaches, but if I were you I would re-adjust my expectations and begin considering your current matches as “low reaches” or “reaches” and your current reaches as “high reaches.”

I think that BU and BC might be realistic matches for you at this point. Good luck!

3

American is not a safety unless you apply ED. They have been brutal in rejecting/waitlisting high stats applicants this year, some of whom (judging from their comments in the results thread) made this same mistake. If you are going to apply there, do your best to express interest (tour or meet with AOS when they visit your area, attend webinars, etc).

GW, BU and BC are not safeties with your stats either, but they are matches. I don’t know enough about the UI campuses to comment on those, but I suppose you have an advantage being instate.

Brown, Cornell and Georgetown are not matches for anyone, they are reaches (i can’t comment on Amherst).

Don’t get me wrong - you have what looks like a very solid application profile. You just need to shift your expectations of what constitutes safety, match and reach, and include some “proper” safeties. (I have a suspicion you won’t need them, but you should have a couple, just in case…which is the point of a safety, after all.)

4

You need to calibrate your expectations a bit:

Your safeties (at least BU and BC - not familiar with the others) are more like matches. Your SAT scores put you at about 75th percentile there, that gives you a good chance, but not at a slam dunk, safety like level.

Your matches should all be considered reaches to high reaches. At Brown, for example, the SAT 75th percentile is a 1570. They turn down the vast majority of kids who apply who have better stats than yours.

Single digit acceptance schools are high reaches - for everyone. That includes URM applicants.