My Class is Really Intense

Applying to College
1

<p>My year in my large, public high school is really intense, compared to other years. Would this make it harder for me to get into a top school, such as HYPSMC? Would I be compared to the others? For example, we have 4 extremely qualified people: </p>

<li><p>half asian girl, extremely poor (dad does not live in country, mom is going to grad school, lives in small apartment, family does not have a car, makes about 5K, doing Questbridge), rank 11, president of key club, speech and debate captain, state qualifier+nationals, NHS, 2290 SAT, NMSF</p></li>
<li><p>indian guy, speech and debate captain+state qualifier+nationals+Tournament of Champions, American Legion winner, winner of many speech contests, Boy’s State, science research (submit to intel, siemens), CSF Prez, NHS, rank 2, 2350 SAT, NMSF, ASB member, paid to teach debate, piano, helped start debate program in Mexico, knows three languages fluently</p></li>
<li><p>me- asian, rank 1, 2260 SAT freshman year, NMSF, ASB member (2 years), school board district student member, Summer Science Program (legit summer program that sends >50% to HYPSM), COSMOS summer program, theoretical math research (attended numerous undergrad conferences and will publish in journal), math club president, robotics club captain, JETS Team 1st place+national finalist, AMC 12 school winner, AIME qualifier, low-income (parents can’t speak english, tutor sister in school, have to help with family chores, applying to Questbridge)</p></li>
<li><p>black girl- nationally/internationally ranked in track and field, went to Junior Olympics…as a sophomore. also ASB government member+dance team+good grades</p></li>
</ol>

<p>However, our school usually only sends 1-2 to HYPSMC. I don’t think our school has been this competitive for a long time. Would it be harder for me to get in, since our school historically doesn’t send many to top tier colleges? Just curious, thanks!</p>

2

<p>TJITM - You can waste a lot of time and energy worrying about things you can’t control (or influence). My advice is that you don’t. Accentuate the positive and you’ll be fine.</p>

3

<p>How do these people affect YOUR admission? Do you think the university is really going to look up the histories of every other person from your school?</p>

<p>What depends most is YOUR credentials.</p>

4

<p>Don’t worry about the black girl, since she will likely not go to HYPMC if she is serious about track. I looked at her on the internet, and she is the best hurdler in the nation for both hurdles races. I would assume she wants a serious track program, and she’ll find that at Stanford if her grades are as good as you say. She would finish third in the PAC-10 with her 11th grade times; that is, she is above Ivy League athletics.</p>

<p>Otherwise, don’t worry about others. Just try to package yourself properly by communicating your love of math as well as your personality, and hope HYPSMC likes you enough to admit you. There isn’t much more you can do than that.</p>

5

<p>wow all those people seem very very qualified for HYP</p>

<p>I am so screwed</p>

6

<p>I know! It sucks, all the other years at my school were not as competitive. But my year is sooo competitive :[</p>

7

<p>dont worry…you are equally if not more competitive than all the ones you listed</p>

<p>Colleges are not supposed to have quotas for different schools, so it should not matter, their competition only matters in the larger context of the thousands of applicants</p>

<p>Basically if HYPSMC likes everyone that you listed, they will admit them…they dont care that you are from the same school</p>

<p>I am sure you will get into at least three of HYPSMC given those stats, val, and your circumstances (and the fact you are QB)</p>

<p>I personally feel screwed after reading those peoples’ stats, given that I will be applying to HYPSM too
That Indian guy’s stats scare the **** outa me</p>

8

<p>Thanks!! This gives me a lot of encouragement.</p>

9

<p>Of the three HYP schools, you should feel most secure about Yale though, considering your strong interest in math. Caltech is also a good bet, considering it is more meritocratic, and you have the merits in your math ECs to get accepted. As long as your SAT Math and subject test Math IIC scores are above 770, you should be well off and competitive for admission.</p>

<p>Edit: As a note, don’t get fixated on one school in the summer before applications, because there is a good chance it won’t be the one you attend. I didn’t even consider Yale until November, and not seriously until early December; its now where I am going. Just remember nothing is sure in college admissions.</p>

10

<p>Yea, of course. Thanks dude! Yale and Princeton are actually my top choices. And yea, SAT Math- 800, Math IIC- 800, AP Calc BC- 5, sub-score 5, AP Stats 5, Calc 3 Honors- A, Linear Algebra- A-, taking Diffeq and Real Analysis next year. </p>

<p>And why would I feel most secure about Yale? Just cause I would stand out as a non-humanities person? This is great news, I really really want to attend Yale :] Though I’m almost positive I will get rejected, I mean, my school only sends 1-2 to the ENTIRE Ivy League + Stanford + MIT + Caltech each year…and considering the competitiveness of my year, as well as the fact that I am asian, I don’t think I could even stand a chance.</p>

11

<p>Good taste with your top choices (although clearly Yale is better than Princeton ;]).</p>

<p>Anyways, your math pedigree is clear, so I think any college will interpret you as a math interested person who is legitimately strong in that academic concentration. It should help more at Yale than at Princeton because Yale usually doesn’t attract the same levels of math and science oriented people as Harvard and Princeton, and thus likes those people a bit more. You can’t just say “I am going to major in engineering or theoretical mathematics” and hope to get in, but if you establish yourself as a person wholly interested in them through your ECs, test scores, and essays, Yale will, I believe, be more inclined to admit you. Princeton doesn’t experience the same perception as a humanities university that Yale does, so it attracts more people in science and math, and thus being such a person does not give you as much of an advantage. I’m glad you have Yale as your first choice, though. I think you have a good chance of admission.</p>

<p>As a note, your class’ intensity will not have any detrimental effect on your admissions chances, if my school is any indication. Our class this year was stronger than any of the previous years - we had a lot more intelligent, motivated and involved people than normal. Although our school had historically sent few people to any prestigious colleges, and had never sent anyone to HYP (I don’t think any acceptances either) we sent five kids to one, and had two with HYPS acceptances. The class of 2006 had no one going to any Ivy League college, the Class of 2007 had one to Stanford and none anywhere else, and the Class of 2008 had Notre Dame and Reed. For the Class of 2009, we have one going to Stanford (with a Harvard and Dartmouth acceptance), one going to Yale (I think you know who this is), also with a Dartmouth acceptance, one going to UCLA (but was accepted at Brown), one going to Amherst, and one going to Notre Dame. If your class is better, your college admissions results will be better. I don’t think they look at you against your classmates as much as you think they do. Focus on your applications, writing a good essay (you can either use the optional essay for Yale to show you are not completely disinterested in the humanities, or you can use it to further establish your math credentials; it depends on what you do with your Common App essays), and doing goo in your final year of school. You will end up somewhere good.</p>

12

<p>Your first line of competition at top colleges are your classmates. Colleges absolutely compare candidates from the same high school. HYPS and others will often take a few if it’s a large, competitive high school. Talk to your counselor about how many have been historically accepted. </p>

<p>At top high schools with many kids applying to the same top colleges, especially top private schools that also have lots of legacies and athletes, it’s a typical strategy to apply ED to a school not getting as many hooked or better qualified candidates from your school.</p>

13

<p>Sweet, that’s great news! Yea our Class of 2009 had one to Stanford (5 person legacy), one to Yale (super low income Mexican), one to Columbia (American Indian). Class of 2008 had one to Stanford (4 person legacy, the other guy’s big brother =p), one to Columbia (Asian with unique personality), Class of 2007 had one to Yale (for violin), another to Yale (Mexican), one to Stanford (Mexican), Class of 2006 had one to Stanford (super crazy smart Indian who did research at Graduate university), 2005 had one to Harvard (school record holder for track, debate captain, cross-country, math competitions, black), one to MIT (immigrated here freshman year, super crazy math asian), one to Stanford, 2004 had one to Harvard (super crazy white debate programming nerd). </p>

<p>I just think that my non-mathscience ec’s aren’t really distinguishable. I do varsity cross country and track (captain). I also do ASB (small position), volunteering, etc. Nothing big that I could write for an essay. Nothing state/nationally renowned. Thank you for the tips though, I feel more confident now. I guess I will just have to work hard in the summer, and see what happens. So it goes.</p>

<p>To hmom5: so, you are saying that colleges WILL compare me to my peers? hmm…
Would applying through Questbridge (and thus, earlier than everyone else) make a huge difference? Though there is another girl who is doing QB as well…</p>

14

<p>I’m sure all of these people, who very well may go on CC too, love that you’re describing them on a public forum…</p>

15

<p>Lol yea, but I don’t care.</p>

16

<p>My son’s HS had very competitive senior class this year, and the top kids all did fine: 1 Princeton, 1 Columbia, 1 Harvard, 1 Amherst, 2 Brown, 1 Penn… as compared to typical years when there would be only 1 or 2 acceptances at that level, so I think you have no need to worry about competition from yor classmates.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

17

<p>Yes, if schools generally take one from your school in a good year they will only take 2 or 3 if they are VERY compelling candidates. If you are seeing, for example, that a competitive URM is applying RD, you might consider applying ED. If a recruited athlete is applying ED you might choose to ED another school for that reason.</p>

<p>There is no question that classmates are compared to one another and a sound strategy is a good idea.</p>