Please chance for Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, BC, Tufts...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Please chance me for the following schools (safeties not included):</p>

<p>Reaches:
Dartmouth (ED, #1 choice)
Brown
Cornell</p>

<p>Matches:
BC (#2 choice... both parents attended, 2 brothers there who had much lower scores... low match?)
Tufts</p>

<p>Me:</p>

<p>-Ethnicity: White
-Location: Boston suburb
-High School: top 20% in state, sends a few kids to top schools (3 to Cornell, 2 to MIT this past year, etc.)</p>

<p>Academic:</p>

<p>-GPA: 3.81 UW, 4.27 W
-Rank: 12/324 (very strong class my year :( )
-Course Load: All honors, 2 APs as a Junior (kind of the max for a junior w/o an AP language), all APs Senior year</p>

<p>-SAT: 2140 (800 M, 680 CR, 660 W, will try to bring CR/W to 700 in October)
-SAT IIs: 800 Math Level II, 780 US History
-AP Scores: Statistics (5), US History (5)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>-Varsity Cross Country, Captain
-Varsity Ski Team, Captain
-Varsity Outdoor Track, Captain</p>

<p>-300 hours on retreats to Mississippi to rebuild after Katrina
-300 hours at a local camp for the mentally/physically disabled
-50 hours as a Eucharistic Minister at my Church (leadership-ish?)
-Co-founder of a recreational, local running club (we won our first race :D )</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>-Fairfield University Book Award (top 10% of class and exceptional ECs)
-National Honor Society (not really an award...)
-High Honor Roll all semesters so far</p>

<p>So that about sums it up. For my reaches, I realize my academics are only average, if that... what can I do to make my app stand out (emphasize that I'm a three-sport captain, or my love for running?) Also, I know my matches and reaches, so what do you think my chances are? (Not "College XXX: Reach," like most replies, but "XX% chance at XXX college.")</p>

<p>Thanks, SuperFanMike</p>

2

<p>Also, having visited some LAC campuses, I’ve removed them from my list. That said, what other colleges in the Northeast (no farther south than New York) would make good reaches from an academic standpoint? (It looks like I’m applying to Ivies for the hell of it when I am actually genuinely interested in D/B/C.)</p>

3

<p>GPA and SAT are definitely on the weaker side. Your sports show some dedication, but since you don’t seem good enough to get recruited, they won’t add much more than that. </p>

<p>Dartmouth, Brown and Cornell are all going to be big reaches. Cornell would obviously be your best shot, so I think you should capitalize on that instead.</p>

4

<p>Dartmouth, Brown no, rank and scores too low for unhooked from Boston. Cornell no for CAS, maybe for other schools. BC in.</p>

5

<p>^ So you honestly think that I don’t stand a chance at Brown or Dartmouth? Sure, my CR/W scores are a bit low (~bottom quartile), but my M is above the top 75%. Sure, I’m not Val, but the GPA I currently have is above the GPA of many of the admitted students from my school (especially Cornell) according to the handydandy Scattergrams. And not very many of those people had the leadership I do (trust me, I know quite a few of them). I just didn’t expect such pessimistic responses…</p>

6

<p>Here’s what I’ve seen over the years. Brown and Dartmouth get a ton of applications from Boston and MA in general. There are many legacies in this pool and lots of recruited athletes who their scouts are following. They are only going to take so many kids from the region and by the time they accomodate the hooked, there are very few seats left for the unhooked. So to be unhooked from Boston you need to be a rockstar–2350 plus a great EC. A wow candidate.</p>

<p>Both of these schools will probably be admitting fewer than 10% next year. They have become what HYP were just a few years ago-places so extremely competitive, any chink puts you out of the running and 2350 vals are routinely turned down. Most unhooked at Dartmouth have been top 2 in their class for several years. Their median SAT scores are mid 700s per section. 800 math scores are common. It boggels the mind to think what it’s going to take to get in going forward.</p>

<p>Some fun facts on Brown:</p>

<p>8% of applicants with your CR score got in and only 20% of those with 800M!</p>

<p>[Brown</a> Admission: Facts & Figures](<a href=“Undergraduate Admission | Brown University”>Undergraduate Admission | Brown University)</p>

<p>So you’re in good company and be thankful for the BC legacy, it’s getting crazy there too.</p>

7

<p>^He speaks truth. If you think it’s hard to get in now, just wait, in a few years it’s gonna be even more impossible</p>

8

<p>Bump; any other opinions? :D</p>

9

<p>Most likely rejection at Dartmouth</p>

<p>Also, Redroses is a female.</p>