Match Schools and Advice?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>OK, I'm a junior in high school right now, and I got the no-Ivy's-for-you talk from my counselor. So I'm wondering what good match schools and safeties I should visit during winter/spring break. I have pretty good grades/SAT scores, just not many outstanding extracurriculars. </p>

<p>Grades/Tests</p>

<p>GPA: 4.00 UW, 4.025 W, will go down to 3.8/3.9 UW after this year
SAT I: 2350 (790 M/790 R/770 W)
- Lucky day, not retaking this :]
SAT II: Biology- 750, Chinese- 780
- Will take Math IIC, Physics, US History, expecting low to mid 700's
- Might retake Biology if I mess up the above tests
PSAT: 222 last year
AP Biology: 5
-AP's this year: US History, Physics, Calc BC, French Language (4's and 5's)
-AP's next year: Government, Chemistry, French Literature, English Lit (4's and 5's)</p>

<p>Main Activites/Awards</p>

<p>Science Club: Historian
National French Honor Society: Secretary
Class Cabinet<br>
Violin- district orchestra, regional orchestra, and chamber music programs
Volunteer at Hospital (year), Aids Ministry (year), Children’s science museum (summer)
AMC-10 and AMC-12- ok/good scores, didn’t qualify for AIME
National French Exam National Laureate
Piano- National Piano Playing Auditions- 97/100, 98/100, Superior rating at Spring Festival (I'm actually not good at piano- I just started and I play easy pieces)
National Honor Society
Chinese School- random academic awards for getting A’s</p>

<p>Hobbies: Chinese Calligraphy (don't know what I can do with it, though), drawing</p>

<p>Teacher Rec's and Essay: Average</p>

<p>Reach Schools: Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Duke</p>

<p>So any suggestions for match schools/advice to get into reach schools? Thanks in advance ^________^</p>

2

<p>I don't see any weaknesses whatsoever. Why are you not an ivy candidate? If you can get solid rec's and write a good essay.. go for it.</p>

3

<p>well... my counselor's questions/diagnosis</p>

<p>"You play violin right? Have you ever played with an orchestra like the NSO?" </p>

<p>"You haven't won any national or international awards."</p>

<p>Which is true. It might just be my school, but most people have got some sort of amazing award/experience under their belt.</p>

4

<p>Id say your ECs are too generic and narrow</p>

<p>not playing a sport in high school hurts alot more than people on this board like to believe</p>

<p>you still do have a good chance though</p>

5

<p>With a 4.00UW and a 2350(!!!) on your SAT's, I can't begin to figure out why you wouldn't have a great shot at any Ivy. Princeton, MIT, and Stanford are incredibly tough for admission; if you didn't get in the only reason would be because there are other people as qualified as you...can't get much more qualified. It's also got a low admit rate, but I feel you're a great match at Duke University. As for other match schools, what are you looking for regarding size, location, etc.? It would help us to suggest other schools....</p>

6

<p>Yeah, I did sports freshman year, but really hated/sucked at them. </p>

<p>For match schools, I'd prefer non-liberal-arts, anywhere on the continental US, mid-large size. State universities are fine too (I live in Virginia).</p>

7

<p>I'd totally go for UVa also if you like it.. such a great school.</p>

<p>You could most likely get into Cornell .. the other ivies are reaches.. but they're reaches for anyone.</p>

8

<p>I totally dont see why you can't apply to an ivy - i say go for it. youre just as qualified as many of the other ivy candidates.</p>

9

<p>Thanks everyone. Still, Ivy's are all reaches, and I need some good matches. And if there's anything I could do to improve on what I have up there, pleeeassse tell me.</p>

10

<p>bump bump bump</p>

11

<p>your damn good.</p>

12

<p>bump bump again ...</p>

13

<p>First of all, if you want to apply to an Ivy, go ahead. Your grades, SATs and SAT2's put you in or close to the top 25% of applicants. But be realistic about it. Even kids with stats like yours are accepted at only about a 25 to 30% rate (but that's 3 times the average rate).</p>

<p>Second, the Ivy doesn't have to be Harvard/Princeton/Yale/Dartmouth. Take a look at Columbia, U Penn, Brown, and Cornell. You are more than a match for any of these schools.</p>

<p>Other top schools you might want to consider:</p>

<p>Amherst
Swarthmore
Middlebury
Washington University in St. Louis
Rice
Univer. Of Chicago
Duke
Williams
Brown
Northwestern
Wesleyan (in CT)
Johns Hopkins</p>

<p>Schools that are somewhat less selective:</p>

<p>Carleton
Vassar
Carnegie Mellon
Tufts
Washington and Lee
Emory
Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
Georgetown
Bowdoin
Haverford
Macalester
Davidson
Colby
Univer. Of Southern CA
Colgate
Brandeis</p>

<p>And in state you have William and Mary. These are all great schools and most of them would crawl on their hands and knees (OK, I'm exagerating a little) to get a kid like you to attend.</p>

14

<p>i think you have an awesome shot at all great schools... i mean you cant have such great grades AND play 2 varsity sports and be team captain or something. it just doesnt work</p>

15

<p>AiLove, your GPA dropping as a junior could hurt you considerably - try to keep that up up up if you can. You don't want to look like a slacker junior year.</p>

<p>Other than that everything looks good; ECs could be better but great essays/recs could put you over the top with your stats. </p>

<p>The list amptron2x posted is great: the first list contains some slight reaches and some matches; if you picked 4-5 of those I would expect you to be admitted to at least one if not more. List 2 ranges from safeties to matches: choose a couple of those, add William & Mary, and stick w/ your reaches & you should be good to go.</p>

<p>What do you want to major in? Or at least, what general category (math, science, english, history, language, etc.)?</p>

16

<p>habdragon08,</p>

<p>You say that not playing a sport in high school is somewhat of a disadvantage. Would you say, then, that playing a sport is an advantage or just "expected"? It seems to me that students, who play sports, get little to no credit for participating in sports, especially varsity sports. This is, at least, what I have found on these boards. Anyone care to comment?</p>

<p>Sorry for any potential hijacking, but I'm really curious as to what others have to say about this.</p>

17

<p>KRabble, Varsity sports carry considerable weight - especially relative to nonvarsity sports. However, the impression I've gotten is that the effort to compete at the Varsity level isn't given just compensation in the admissions process. Perhaps this is because they have enough athletes through the recruiting program that the 3 sport Varsity non-recruit doesn't add much to the school's diversity. </p>

<p>However, as you probably know, recruited athletes experience tremendous advantages over other applicants.</p>

18

<p>There is alot of misinformation here. I have noticed almost no correlation between participation sports in sports and admissions success outside of recruited athletes. Sports is looked at as an activity, if you have an awesome talent in another area (music, acting, painting, whatever), sports will be largely irrelevant. If you don't have an EC focus, sports will help but are far from a pre-requisite. Schools are looking for well rounded classes, not just well rounded individuals. I have noticed that if you are good at a few things, it is much better than just participating in many things. I know what I am talking about, I was a senior interviewer at an Ivy and I know many admissions officers. Also of the 20 kids in my senior class who ended up at Ivies, literally 2/3 of them didn't play sports.</p>

<p>As for your chances they are good for HYPSM but not amazing. You have a shot, but my opinion is that a waitlist is more likely. I know of plenty of 2350 4.0 kids who were waitlisted or rejected at the top. If I were you I would focus on Duke, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, Penn category of schools. Here your chances are about 30-50% per school, apply to all of them and chances are you will get into 1 or 2. Apply to only one of these and you are taking a risk.</p>

19

<p>I would also suggest Oberlin College. They have an excellent music department, and you are more than a match for them.</p>

20

<p>i would definitely apply to ivies if i were you.</p>

<p>dartmouth, brown, penn and cornell are definitely attainable for you.</p>