Looking for Some Honest Feedback Concerning the Upper-level Schools

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I've managed to go two years of high-school without setting foot on College Confidential. I'm now a junior, however, and the whole concept of college admissions has become so exciting that posting here, specifically in one of these mundane "chance-me" threads, was no-doubt inevitable. Feel free to literally rip me to shreds. </p>

<p>Objective:
SAT: N/A
SATII: 760 World History; will take Math 2 and US History this year.
APs: World History 5; will take others this year and next (see below).
ACT: 33 composite - 35E 34R 33M 29S. Hoping to improve science second time around, for a composite of 34 at least.<br>
GPA: 99.05 Weighted; school doesn't report un-weighted grades to students, but assume 96.7-97.5.
Class Rank: officially, my school doesn't rank; unofficially, top 3-5 students of around 300.
Region: Overrepresented.</p>

<p>Subjective:
Junior State of America: national debate club of sorts, where students can discuss the political, economic, and social policy of the United States, and create / vote on legislation concerning those policies - Member</p>

<p>Bridges to Community: a service club that sends students to build homes for impoverished Nicaraguan families; I will be taking my second trip there next week - Member </p>

<p>Jazz Band: Baritone Sax - self explanatory; I preside in the upper-level of two jazz bands.</p>

<p>Junior Varsity Bowling Team: I assure you it is less lame than it sounds. </p>

<p>Various no-doubt silly awards for "Excellence in Global History" etc. throughout high school. </p>

<p>National Spanish Honor Society and National Honor Society (I know, I know). </p>

<p>Work Experience:
Camp Counselor at local day camp.</p>

<p>Tutor / Assistant at local math and reading center called Kumon.</p>

<p>Course Rigor:
In the context of my school, my class schedule is nearly as rigorous as it gets. A student here can feasibly take 4 APs by the time he/she has reached senior year; I've taken 3: World History, US History, and English Language. I have taken the honors-version, if offered, of every other class available. Next year, I'm taking AP Calc AB, AP Chemistry, AP Macroeconomics, and AP English Literature. </p>

<p>Taking all this information into account, how would you gauge the likelihood of me having a shot at some of the upper level schools; not in the Harvard, Princeton, Yale tier, mind you, but at the Dartmouth, Columbia, U-Penn, and Brown level?</p>

2

<p>Dartmouth, Columbia, U-Penn, and Brown level…your definitely competitive…your stats are on target your ECs are interesting. I would call all but Brown a high match and brown would probably be a low reach. </p>

<p>WHy not try for the upper level ivies. they are always a shot in the dark…though you mayneed to improve your ECS</p>

<p>I would also apply to Northwestern, Berckely, Caltech and UChicago…as some mid matches just to make sure you cover all your bases</p>

<p>please chance me
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/881656-chance-me-new-york-university-northwestern-university-3.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/881656-chance-me-new-york-university-northwestern-university-3.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Columbia and UPenn are not in Dartmouth, Brown tier… rofl</p>

4

<p>im pretty sure columbia upenn brown and dartmouth are all in the same tier…</p>

5

<p>There is no real difference into getting into some of these schools…
Columbia is not easy to get into at all (9%)…neither is Brown (11%)</p>

<p>You will have to work hard on application to have a chance just like most of the other applicants are. There is no sure way to get into these schools because of the numerous insanely smart applicants.</p>

<p>Harvard: Reeeeeach
Princeton: Reach
Yale: Reach
Columbia: Reach
Dartmouth: Low Match
U-Pen: Low Match
Brown: Low Match</p>

<p>Any Ivy is basically a reach for everybody</p>

<p>My advice to you would probably be to try to get some Academic extracurriculars.</p>

6

<p>I was under the impression that Columbia, U Penn, Dartmouth, and Brown were roughly equivalent. At least there’s certainly a much more noticeable difference between, say, Yale and Columbia than Columbia and Dartmouth, no?</p>

7

<p>Yes…kind of.</p>

<p>They are all hard to get in and I would say it really just matters how much prestige you give these schools when comparing them to others seeing as they have very close acceptance rates.</p>

8

<p>I just found it interesting that people tend to think of Dartmouth as more of a match than Columbia. At least according to my school’s Naviance graphs, which are indeed limited in many ways, those admitted to Dartmouth have notably higher GPAs and ACT / SAT scores than those admitted to Columbia.</p>

9

<p>There are schools out there with higher scores than Ivy Leagues that are nowhere near that caliber outside of U.S. If you really see test scores & GPA as the measurements, you are better off looking at places like UChicago or Caltech.</p>

<p>Yale and Columbia to Columbia and Dartmouth? The differences are rather close. Let’s take US News rankings, for instance. Yale and Columbia are in top 10, Dartmouth & Brown in top 20. </p>

<p>Each of the schools have their own pros and cons. What really matters is that you pick the school that is stronger in the area you want to go into than all others. Overall doesn’t really matter quite as much other than the name of the school.</p>

10

<p>columbia, yale, brown, dartmouth, penn…they’re all on the same tier. it’s not like it’s that much easier to get into a school that has an 8% acceptance rate instead of 11% lmao. if you improve your ec’s, you’ll be fine.</p>