My chances at Stanford, Cornell, USC...?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.97
Weighted GPA: 4.4
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 3%

ACT: 32 C 35 E 29 M 34 R 31 S W 23…

AP (place score in parenthesis): Will have taken 11 APs by end of senior year. Freshman: Biology (3) Sophomore: World (4) Physics B (2) Junior: US History (5), Eng. Lang (4), Chinese (5), Calc AB (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Com Sci, AP Gov, AP Comparative, AP Calc BC, AP Lit, Chamber Orchestra, PE/Foods Nutrition.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars:
Violin 11+ years, 4 years of Chamber Orchestra (principal player), Orchestra leadership team, District honor orchestra 3x, Solo & Ensemble (1st violin),
Tennis 2 years
Piano 7 years
aced 2 classes in local cc
played violin for retirement homes
summer swim
HOSA, Key Club 2 years, Red Cross 2 years
Fluent in Chinese and English.

Job/Work Experience:
Interned at a high-tech chemical wafer manufacturing company last spring, committed over 90 hours. Learned a variety of work management techniques and ethics.
Babysitting count?

Volunteer/Community service:
100+hrs. from Key Club. Red Cross. NHS.
Chinese Mandarin Camp.
Hospital Volunteer

Teacher Recommendation: From AP US and Lang teachers. All had really good things to say (top student in US, and lang teacher exaggerated a lot)

Counselor Rec: Talked to her a few times, not super close, but should be decent.

Essays: 100% me. Gave up trying to sound impressive and just went with it.

Other
Applying for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Biology related
State (if domestic applicant): WA

Schools (in order of preference for top 5): All RD.I know many of these are probably reaches, but there were few matches/safeties I am willing to attend.

  1. Stanford (LEGACY)
  2. UW Honors
  3. Cornell
  4. USC
  5. Pomona
  6. UChicago
  7. Northwestern
  8. WUSTL
  9. Boston College
  10. Stony Brook (LEGACY)
  11. Northeastern
  12. WSU
2

Did you apply early anywhere?

3

Hmm… sadly I don’t think you have much of a chance for Stanford. With a median ACT score and a lack of unique EC’s, it’ll be tough. UW Honors is a low reach to me. Cornell is also a low reach. USC should be a slight match, same with UC and NE. Northwestern to me is another heavy reach. And I do not know the rest well enough to comment. Good luck!

4

@Falcon1 Nope. The only early I wouldve applied to was Stanford, but at the time I had absolutely crap scores so I didn’t bother. Someone else with double legacy at our school applied early, so I knew she would be accepted instead.

@tigerrocks13 That’s about what I expected. But, UC is a slight match? I thought it was more of a high reach. Thanks!

5

First double-legacy doesn’t mean 2X your legacy at Stanfiord. You’re either legacy or you’re not. You generally lose the edge if you don’t apply early and Stanford, like many top schools, appears to be considering legacy less and less each year.

If you are Asian, you will have more of an uphill battle. There are many such applicants with ECs that include tennis, piano, violin and swimming, for whatever reason, so it’s hard to differentiate yourself in that demographic pool. The same goes for biology as a choice of intended major, especially if you are female. It’s an overrepresented major at most top schools.

You are applying with 7 AP scores, 2 of which seem to be subpar, so I don’t see that as any kind of boost to answer your question. It also depends on how many APs your school offers.

The way I see it almost half the schools on your list will be high reaches, but you anything can happen. Jut hope for best! Good luck!!

6

AP Scores aren’t a big deal. Admissions counselors all over the country at the biggest schools say they don’t even check the scores until enrollment. They just want to see that you took the class and took the most rigorous course schedule available.