<p>Son asked me to post this to see if he can get some good advice... </p>
<p>Son's SAT scores took a jump upwards in October (1350, 2020 to 1510, 2260). The rest of his record (gpa, class rank, ap's, SAT 2's, ec's, etc.) had always been strong but he had purposely avoided considering any of the upper Ivies because they hadn't seemed realistic. He attends a small private school and his guidance counselor is now urging him to reconsider and add one upper Ivy to his list. This was partially based on these scores and also the fact that he had done a "poem-essay" for Chicago, which she found unusually compelling. </p>
<p>Some background information.....he is a potential biology major (pre-med) with a strong interest in the humanities. He has strong ec's in theater and creative writing, and started the first jazz ensemble at his school in which he plays lead flute, plus has had considerable community service involvement. His top choices for schools are Chicago (EA application) and Brown (legacy, RD) because he spent time as a summer student on both those campuses and loved the intensity (despite the vastly different curriculums). He also has a strong interest in Emory because of the presence of the CDC (a legacy there as well) and is considering Amherst and Wesleyan. He has other realistic match and safety schools so that is not a problem. </p>
<p>In general he likes small to mid-sized schools. If I had to describe him, he is a quiet and intense kid, generally unpretentious and sometimes stubborn, who opens up the most with close friends, and is somewhere midway between preppy and crunchy, perhaps leaning a bit more to crunchy. He's not into fraternities and is a vegetarian. I suspect he'll be involved in both Hillel and theater during college and continue to do his writing on the side. He's not interested in applying to any of the HYPS merely because they are highly ranked schools. He's trying to figure out if any of them actually match who he is. He's visited all his other schools, but likely won't have the chance to take a look at any of these upper Ivies in person. He's poured over the guidebooks and websites, but can't seem to get any feeling for what matches and what doesn't. </p>
<p>I am posting this in the Harvard, Yale, and Princeton forums since hopefully this is where I can get advice from people who actually know these schools. (He doesn't want to go to the west coast.) Does anything "stick out" that suggests son should look more closely at one particular place? At the same time, we do understand that RD admission is a giant long shot for a "mere mortal". Moreover, if nothing "matches", he will continue with his present list of schools, which would also be fine.</p>