Please chance me for Stanford, Cornell, Brown, Rice, USC, WashingtonU...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>[ul]
[<em>]I have already run a net-price calculator for all of these schools. They are affordable.
[</em>] Do I have even the slightest chance of getting into one reach school?
[<em>] Should I retake the Math II subject test in November?
[</em>] Should I bother applying EA to Stanford or just go regular decision?
[<em>] I expect my SAT and ACT score to go up, since I didn't study for them the first time around.
[</em>] Thanks in advance for your help!!</p>

<p>College List:
Safeties (all EA):
[list]
[<em>]Purdue (in-state)
[</em>]UAlabama (qualify for presidential scholarship)
[<em>]IU- Bloomington
[/ul]
Matchy-Reaches:
[ul]
[li]Washington University- St. Louis [/li][</em>]Cornell
[<em>] USC (Southern Cal)
[</em>]UNC- Chapel Hill
[/ul]
Reaches:
[ul]
[<em>]Stanford (Planning on applying EA but not sure if I should since my 10-11th GPA is a 3.73)
[</em>]Columbia
[<em>]Brown
[</em>]Duke
[<em>]Yale
[</em>]Rice University
[li]University of Pennsylvania [/li] [/ul]</p>

<p>Objective:
[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): C: 1920 CR: 720 M: 630 W: 570 E: 8 (retaking in October)
[</em>] ACT: 32 (retaking in September English score was bad)
[<em>] SAT II: Chemistry: 780 Math 2: 740 USH: 750
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.81
Freshman: 3.96 (got a B+ first semester Algebra I in 8th grade)
Sophomore: 3.60 (2nd semester was BAD)<br>
Junior: 3.86<br>
10-11th: 3.73<br>
[<em>] Weighted GPA (out of 5.0): 4.30
Freshman: 3.96
Sophomore: 4.28
Junior: 4.72
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 5%
[<em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH: 5 Psych: 5 Chem: 4 Human Geo: 3
[/ul]
Senior Year Course Load:
First Semester
[ul]
[li]AP Calculus BC[/li][</em>]AP Statistics
[<em>]AP Physics C: Mechanics
[</em>]AP Economics
[<em>]Composition
[</em>]AP Biology
[<em>]AP Government
[/ul]
Second Semester
[ul]
[li]AP Calculus BC[/li][</em>]Advanced Sociology
[<em>]AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism
[</em>]World Literature
[<em>]Anatomy and Physiology
[</em>]AP Biology
[<em>] AP Statistics
[/ul]
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
[ul]
[li]Spell Bowl 9-10, 12 (Captain)[/li] [</em>]Varsity Track and Field 9-12 (Captain)
[<em>]National Honor Society (mostly volunteering and tutoring) 11-12
[</em>]Best Buddies 11-12
[<em>]Project X (volunteering club) 11-12
[</em>]DECA 10,12
[<em>]Spanish Club 11-12
[</em>]Snowflurry (volunteer at middle school): 11-12
[/ul]</p>

<p>Other
[ul]
[<em>] State: Indiana
[</em>] School Type: Public (Sent 2 to UPenn, 1 to Columbia, 1 to Emory, and some other top schools)
[<em>] Ethnicity: African-American
[</em>] Gender: Female
[<em>] Income Bracket: > 200,000
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM
[<em>]Intended Major: Chemistry or Biology. Minor in psychology
[</em>]Professional Goals: Pre-medicine
[/ul]</p>

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<p>bump</p>

3

<p>Your self-evaluation is quite accurate (I am assuming your scores will improve after you retake ACT). Rice and Cornell should switch spots on your evaluation.</p>

<p>If you really badly want Stanford, go EA. However, admission rates are much better for Cornell, Brown, and Penn ED- so if you will be happy with those schools, I would say they are better uses of your early opportunity. I think you can almost pencil in an admission to Cornell ED if you get a high 33 or 34 on the ACT. </p>

<p>Don’t bother with Math II or the SAT, working on your ACT and essays is much more important. Don’t submit your SAT score. </p>

4

<p>@puzzled123 thanks for your input. The only reason why I’m wary of applying ED anywhere is because I don’t know what the financial packages will be nor have I visited any of the schools on the east coast yet. </p>

5

<p>Excellent resource for determining what you will likely pay: </p>

<p><a href=“http://projectonstudentdebt.org/ncoa_chart.php”>http://projectonstudentdebt.org/ncoa_chart.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>It is a bit outdated (09-10), but has been very helpful!</p>

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<p>@puzzled123 I ran the net price for Cornell and it was about $39,000ish if I got a grant, but then again I put $0 for a lot of categories. </p>

7

<p>w/ your numbers I would be hesitant to catagorize either WUSTL or Cornell as any less than reaches. You’re in the bottom quartile. If you want to maximize your chances of getting in, ditch REA at stanford and do ED at one of your other schools. REA doesn’t yield in quite nearly as much boost as ED>RD. </p>

8

<p>@hagzzz OP is not in the bottom quartile ACT wise. The 25th-75th percentile ranges from 30-34. OP got a 32 on the ACT putting him/her closer to the 50th percentile. Keep in mind that the OP also plans to retake the ACT to get a higher score. </p>

<p>Not sure what the GPA percentile is for either of these schools is since I cannot locate the number on their common data set or class profile. </p>

<p>I think the OP realizes that WUSTL and Cornell are both reaches as he/she made a category labeled matches-reaches. </p>

9

<p>@tola2015‌ For WUSTL, she is. 25th-75th is 32-34. As for cornell, seems that I made a mistake.
unw GPA must be looked at in the context of the school and based on her rank she is fine. </p>

10

<p>Being a URM will help, so you have that going for you</p>

<p>Washington University- St. Louis: low reach, don’t send SAT unless you get it to a 2200+
Cornell: mid reach, try to raise scores a little
USC (Southern Cal): should get in
UNC- Chapel Hill: should get in
Stanford (Planning on applying EA but not sure if I should since my 10-11th GPA is a 3.73): high reach but never know
Columbia: reach
Brown: mid reach
Duke: reach
Yale: reach
Rice University: mid reach
University of Pennsylvania: low reach</p>