New here, will chance back!!!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a senior, applying to GA tech, University of Illinois engineering, Umich engineering, Rice, Northwestern, uChicago, Cornell, Columbia, Princeton, will consider a couple more.
Engineering major of some type, maybe a minor in business or statistics.
ACT: 35 (35,33,34,36)
SAT Subjects: Will take Math II, Physics, and Literature in October
PSAT: Likely only commended :frowning:
GPA (UW): 3.9ish
GPA (W): 4.6ish
GPA has upward trend from freshman year semester 1 (All A’s since)
Class Rank: School stopped ranking, but I’m in top 10% for sure
AP:
10th:
Calculus BC, Physics B, CompSci A, all 5’s
11th:
Language, Physics C (both), Macro, USH, all 5’s but a 3 in USH (terrible, I know)
12th tentative: Stats, Micro, US Gov, Spanish Language, Psychology, Biology, Literature

Also took MV Calc and Linear Algebra junior year.

EC’s:
Varsity Swim (will be 4 years varsity and possible captain)
NHS
Freshman Leader (pretty hard to get in, and it’s a pretty big leadership role)
Work as a tutor
Band
not too much bc of swimming…

Volunteer: hours
Chinese School ~40
Community Events/NHS ~50
Freshman Leader ~ 60 per semester

Recs:
Teacher 1: 9-10/10 but didn’t teach me junior year. I went from a B student to an A+ student, and came in every day before class to help students.
Teacher 2: 8-9/10 I was definitely one of the better students but not the best, only reason why I would rank a 9 would be I wrote a personal essay as an assignment that resonated well with him.
Counselor: 8/10 Counselors here are very busy so it’s difficult to “form a friendship” because you can’t set up an appt to “bond” or something. That being said, my counselor was well aware of my struggles freshman year and we are on good terms.

Other notes:
Common App is pretty unique, definitely something a reader will remember. (I just have to polish to make this good essay a great one)
Toying with the idea of being recruited, d3. (I have 1 IHSA state cut)
Should I omit USH AP score??
Internship 10th grade at Northwestern University through school program
Broke a JV record for swimming (I was varsity but swam in a junior varsity division for a meet)
Both parents went to GA tech if that matters.
Overall: I think I’m a good applicant with some definite flaws in ECs and grades. I know Columbia/Princeton are high reaches and even Cornell/Northwestern for that matter. My essays are kind of my hitch for all my top schools. My “safety” option is that, hopefully worst case, I only get into Illinois as a general undecided student (they can reject you for engineering and accept you as a general student right?) I’m also deciding in between Columbia, NU, and Cornell for ED. (Columbia is dream but I think I have a good shot at the other two ed)

I will also do my best to chance back!!! Best if luck to all HS class of 2016 students in their college applications! :slight_smile:

2

how are your grades flawed i sometimes feel as if new posters come on here just to make othe rpeople feel bad

3

I got 3 Bs (one in a college prep elective) freshman year. Sorry if I came off that way! It has definitely bogged my GPA down since, and since I go to a top public HS I guess I am sensitive to any flaws I have. (There are kids in my class that are practically guaranteed for Harvard/MIT so I’m pretty hard on myself to motivate me.)

4

I think if you become the captain of your swim team your ECs definitely stand a chance. Your grades are pretty good, especially since you’re on an upward trend. Really make that essay stand out.

5

Bump

6

your ECs are not weak. i’ve seen people with very similar stats and ECs get into lots of top 20 schools. you don’t have many activities, but it seems that you’ve been highly involved in what few you do have, and that’s what counts.

do not omit your APUSH score; lots of kids didn’t score too well because the 2015 test was all new, and it’s better to send a bad ish score than to omit a score because then at least adcoms know you tried. if you take an ap course but don’t submit a score for that test, adcoms will assume you weren’t motivated enough to take it at all.

GA tech- match
University of Illinois engineering- match
Umich engineering- mid/high match (will be easier to get into if your SAT IIs are strong)
Rice- high match/low reach- have seen plenty kids with similar resumes get in
Northwestern- mid/high reach; this school is kind of a crapshoot imo
uChicago-largely depends on essay and SAT IIs. mid/high reach
Cornell- a little less of a reach than Uchicago
Columbia- reach; i think you’d probably at least get on their wait list
Princeton- mid/high reach

7

Are you saying that Northwestern is a higher reach than Columbia? I was toying with the option ED between the two my initial thoughts were that Northwestern was probably a little harder to get in to than Cornell. I interned at NU my sophomore year through a school program if that affects anything.

8

bump

9

You have good test scores and a GPA but you need more extracurricular involvement. You should try really hard to be captain of the swim team so it looks like you’re more involved in EC’s.

10

cornell, columbia, and princeton seem up in the air but you are obviously competitive at the least for these schools+u of chicago. the others I think you will be a solid canidate for

11

Do you go to IMSA?

12

You are in the range of acceptance for all these schools. However, many of them are still reaches at different level. What engineering are you thinking about? UIUC admission would depend on that. Also, are you sure you want to apply to UChicago for engineering major???
Are you from IL? Your home state is needed for chancing at public schools.

For UMich CoE from OOS, the admission rate should be in teens since the OOS admission rate to the whole UMich is around 20% this year. So it is as competitive as some Ivies. With 3 semester Bs, your UM recalculated GPA would be ~3.9 which is right around the admission average but your ACT is good and near the 75th percentile. They do not require SAT2 but a good score would not hurt by help. It should be a very high match for you. I have seen some ACT 35 from OOS and ACT 33 from in state got rejected this year. So it cannot be a match.

13

@billcsho to be honest I’m unsure of the type of engineering I want to go in. I invested so much time and effort into swimming that my engineering experience is practically zero - I only have grades/classes to back my interest up.
I live in Illinois, and I actually wanted to apply to uChicago for Statistics, just to clarify

14

@Ksty1098 I do not.

15

The Ivy Leagues will be your reach, for sure, but everything else looks good. Study hard for the SAT IIs and get a little more involved and you’ll have a better chance :slight_smile:
Please check out my transferring thread, thanks :slight_smile:

16

UIUC would be a safety for you as they have very high admission rate for in state students. Your GPA is around their engineering admission average while your ACT is around or above the 75th percentile. If you don’t know which engineering major to study, you may choose General Study (undecided) major. But you should really think it through before applying. Also, ChemE (actually ChBE) is in LAS at UIUC in case you are considering it too. Lastly, UIUC does not need/read LOR.

17

Bump

18

Your grades are great! Don’t worry about 3 Bs from freshman year! When admins look at your transcript they’ll see an upward trend and not really pay too much attention to your freshman years grades. Some schools, like the UCs, don’t look at freshman grades at all. Other than that, the only place you need improvement is your ECs. If you become a captain, that will be help a lot. It will show leadership and that you don’t just go home everyday and study to get your good grades. It’ll make you more dynamic. Other than that, your essays will be important as well.

Chances:
GA Tech - safety (your a double legacy and have great grades, should be no problem)
UIUC - low match
UMich - match
Rice - low reach / high match
Northwestern - low reach / high match
UChicago - low/reach (depends on your essays)
Cornell - reach
Columbia - reach
Princeton - high reach

Could you chance me back? Thanks!
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1796213-good-test-scores-and-leadership-but-average-gpa-chance-me-for-these-schools-please.html#latest