Junior. Where do you think I can apply (top schools)/advice? Will help in return.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a junior in an extremely, extremely competitive NYC high school (test to get in; send 30+% to Ivy Leagues and many others to top LACs; etc), and after seeing many of my friends get accepted to HYP/etc early, I'm getting a bit nervous about where I have a chance.</p>

<p>GPA: 95 (avg at my school is ~92; we don't weight)
Rank: we don't calculate
SAT: 2270 from October; planning to retake in March to get my math score above 700. (800 writing; 780 cr; 690 math)
PSAT: 224</p>

<p>Junior Schedule: AP Latin, USH, Precalc, Chorus, Physics, English. ALL courses are considered honors or above, and USH/math/physics/English are mandatory and the same level for everyone. So basically, most rigorous selection possible.
AP Latin: A/A+
USH: A-
Precalc: hopefully A-, definitely B+
Chorus: A...
Physics: A
English: hopefully A, definitely A-</p>

<p>Planned senior schedule: James Joyce elective, English teaching internship, Organic Chemistry, either AP Stat or AB Calc, International Relations, Ancient Greek Independent Study</p>

<p>Main extracurriculars/the ones that best represent who I am:
-lots of (selective) stage managing/theater stuff; will most likely have a professional internship this summer
-mock trial for four years
-piano for 12 years; I don't do competitions because I don't like them but I've gone to chamber music camp and I'll be sending in a (decent) arts supplement to some schools
-founding member of Proust Club
-Latin Sectional Editor for foreign language magazine
-50+ hours as volunteer at National Multiple Sclerosis Society</p>

<p>Awards:
National Latin Exam - various
Scholastic Art and Writing Awards - various</p>

<p>Major: probably Classics.</p>

<p>Where am I, and will straight B+/A- in math be a huge problem for top LACs and Ivies? Any recommendations for good safety schools? Right now I'm thinking about UChicago as a reach, but I really have no idea. I'm starting to get worried, so any advice would be welcome!!</p>

2

<p>Applying from a top prep school is a game of it’s own.</p>

<p>At schools like yours, there are oodles of legacies, very connected kids, kids whose parents are happy to give a million dollars to get them in, recruited athletes and very top URMs.</p>

<p>If you don’t fit into one of those categories, college admission is tricky.</p>

<p>You need to figure out where you really rank-colleges know what a GPA means at schools like yours. You need to get the absolute best scores you can, colleges expect uber high scores from those who’ve had great schooling. Then you craft a list that isn’t HYP focused unless you’re very
top of class and step up to a 2350.</p>

<p>And in your case you really need to work on ECs, because they are looking very light right now for a top college.</p>

<p>NYC has the largest number of high schools like yours in the country. It also has many good magnets. That makes the competition brutal at T20 schools. Standing out in the pack is essential.</p>

<p>The good news is you will have an advantage at schools ranked below T20. Your excellent preparation is much sought after. I’d say almost safeties will be LACs ranked under 15.</p>

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<p>What would you advise for ECs? There aren’t really competitions available in the fields I’m interested in (English, Latin, theater). I do theater 25 weeks a year, 10 hours a week (and 60 hours a week during production weeks); I’ve been having trouble finding much else to do that would stand out.</p>

<p>By the way, I’m not at a private school, so there aren’t actually that many legacies/rich kids/recruited athletes. </p>

<p>The best I can do in terms of rank is tell you that the average GPA admitted to Ivies/top LACs is around a 95 at my school – that’s the only data I have. Average GPA for Yale and Harvard is of course higher (96.5ish), but average for Columbia/Princeton is usually below 96. Every college knows my school and says things like “oh, _______, that’s different.” So who knows…</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

4

<p>Does one of the magnets actually send 30 plus percent to ivies? I’ve never seen one make the top 10 list. Where did you get that number?</p>

<p>Well then for you it’s just an all out academic and EC battle.</p>

<p>For ECs, think outside of the box, you don’t need to enter formal competitions. Get some of your writing published, raise money to give underprivileged kids access to theaters…it can be anything.</p>

5

<p>Maybe it’s a 30% admittance rate to Ivies. I don’t want to give more information, because it’s definitely identifying, but we’re way up there in the rankings, and I can PM you if you’re curious.</p>

<p>And I’ll consider that for ECs – thanks!</p>

6

<p>Please do, I’m very curious.</p>

7

<p>bump? any other opinions?</p>

8

<p>bump?? anyone?</p>

9

<p>I think you have a good chance. Pretty solid academics and considering your high school sends 30% to Ivys. The only thing that might set you back are ECs but that’s my personal opinion.</p>

10

<p>Do you go to Stuy? Anyways, you don’t seem to be a standout academic wise (ie competitions, max scores), but at the same time, you seem to against the mathsciencemathsciencedidisaymath vibe that permeates its walls. I guess the key to getting into HPY in your case is to 1. set yourself up as interesting as possible (ie future interviews/essays), 2. try to standout even more in what you enjoy doing (ie win some competitions/leadership roles), 3. make sure all your scores, be it grades/standardized testing from here on out are perfect.</p>

11

<p>I’m not even that interested in Ivy Leagues other than maybe Yale/Brown, anyway; other top schools I’m looking at include Swarthmore, Williams, Chicago, and Amherst. But yeah, hopefully being a humanities person will help…although I find that it’s harder to do competitions/etc if you’re not doing Intel-type stuff. I think I can portray myself as an interesting candidate, though…at least, I hope…</p>

<p>thanks!</p>