To be honest with you, I’m one of the top students at my school and because of that I don’t feel like people are very realistic when it comes to my chances for top colleges. I try to ask for some advice and all they say is “Oh op you can get in anywhere you want”. It’s kind of too late to change my list now (I’m at peace with it), but just wondering what the legendarily vicious cc commentators have to say about it.
Colleges Applied To:
Northwestern, Stanford, Harvard, Pepperdine, Santa Clara University, Pomona College, and USC
Also applied to several state schools and already got accepted to some, but I’m not super concerned with those. I’m
from CA btw
Numbers:
GPA: 3.98 UW/ 4.19W
Rank: 1/220 couple of students tied for this though
SAT I: 2220 (790 CR 700 M 730 W)
SAT R: 1500 (770 EBRW 730 M)
SAT II: 740 Lit 640 Bio E
ACT: 34
Extracurricular:
President of two clubs. One is really just an honorary position though. The other is the second largest club at my
school and I’ve been president for two years.
Two other clubs with leadership positions. One is drama, and I devoted many hours to it.
Very few volunteer hours. I had a job this year and the last, but it was only a couple of hours a week
Pretty Average Overall really. Not bad at all for my school though.
Awards:
National Hispanic Scholar
AP Scholar with honor
Statewide education award
Honor Roll, and Departmental Awards (All my classes except 5)
State level finance awards
Application Stuff:
My letters weren’t that great. The one from my English teacher was probably the best. My math teacher isn’t good with
words but she likes me. A coach did my last one.
My essays were about my parents being immigrants to the United States
Hooks:
Hispanic, First-gen, low-income
Pepperdine- accept
SCU- accept
USC- accept
Northwestern- waitlist/reject
Pomona- reject (but really depends on fit and demonstrated interest)
Harvard- reject
Stanford- reject
My reasons:
- ECs aren’t competitive for top schools
- “recs weren’t that great”
- your essay was about your parents being immingrants and not about you (based on what you said)
But, in reality, URM status could give you a boost, and with your very good stats, you never know! Best of luck!
PS I applied to Pomona and Harvard (lol), so maybe we’ll see each other on campus next year!
@ap012199 Thanks for taking the time 
It’s what I kinda figured too, but it can’t hurt to apply right :)) Good luck to you too
Your test scores and gpa are very good. With that being said, three of the schools are very competitive (although you probably knew that as well as I did). I would more or less agree with @ap012199 list. As someone who was rejected from Stanford last fall, all I can say is best of luck (ngl many tears were shed even though I expected it lol). No matter where you go, it’s really up to you to make or break your college experience. I ended up going to a state school for financial reasons, and I was actually really sad/upset about it at first. However, I’m having the time of my life thanks to all the new people I’ve met. Rooting for you!
P.S. Hoping you update the thread later to show where you end up!
Scu would be a match except ou’re low income and they don’t meet need at all - they ranked as among the worst college’s for lower income students.
Pepperdine is a possibility, but are you comfortable with their religious obligations and creed?
For the others, unless you held a job and made it clear how many hours etc, your odds are very low because they want extraordinary achievements.
I would add ages colleges to your common app: Macalester, St Olaf, perhaps Carleton and Grinnell, Whitman? All of these 'meet need’for lower income students and are highly ranked. Deadlines January 15.
What the previous posters may have not fully considered is that you are Hispanic and extremely strong academically. You’ve also worked and had strong EC leadership roles. I’d say Pomona accept and between Stanford and Harvard one of them will accept you. It is true that there are more high schools in the U.S. than admission spots at all the Ivy League schools combined but most number one students are not first gen URM
You probably won’t get into harvard and stanford. Even if you do you might not be able to me aid. Match for Northwestern and Pomona. SCU is safety. Really good shot at USC say about 50-60%. You have about 10% chance for h and s. Good luck!
I think you would be accepted into all except Harvard and Stanford and even at those you have a better shot than most.
Thank You all so much! Taking a good look at it I do see that some of my choices weren’t the most low-income friendly around ) I’ve added two of your suggested choices @MYOS1634. If worst comes to worst I don’t have any problem going to a state school for financial reasons.
@LindsayHarvard I just noticed that you got into Stanford! Can you update where else you got in? Congratulations to you! :-bd
@lkg4answers Yeah!!
So my Update:
I was waitlisted at Pomona and rejected at USC but accepted everywhere else. In addition to my earlier list I also applied to Grinnell
Congrats again. It sounds like your friends were right! For what it is worth,we know a USC double legacy who was rejected by USC and then accepted at Stanford. Best of luck in your future!