@Alfonsia, the way the IB Program is structured (at least at my school), I couldn’t have done much to change my HLs to better reflect my interests in math & science. Chemistry HL is not offered, I only came into high school with one math credit, and my schedule my junior year did not permit taking SL Physics or Bio.
Affordability is a factor but not a large one (my parents have told me that they can afford, albeit not comfortably, to pay for me to go anywhere for 4 years). I applied to Tulane EA and was accepted. I have not heard back from any colleges except Tulane yet (no deferrals). My safeties are Tulane, RPI, and Carleton (although I know that Carleton’s admissions are fairly competitive).
@intparent, very true, but I only had to sent my fulling testing history (i.e. SATs) to Harvey Mudd, Stanford, Upenn, and Cornell. Hopefully the other nine will look at the testing history I sent them (2nd ACT + 3rd ACT) and consider me at about the level of an applicant with a 33 on the ACT. Also I’ve heard that Stanford simply inputs everyone’s test scores into an algorithm that plops out one’s best scores (so they’d see my composite as 32 but my subscores as 35/32/34/32).
Your 33 is reasonable for the most selective schools, but I see nothing distinctive about your ECs. Your essays will have to be more than excellent. They will have to be memorable, the kind that really stand out from a pile of essays that are also excellent.
@Hawkace, I’m not saying that they superscore per se. I never claimed that. Out of curiosity, when did you apply? And yes, I’m aware that most of them are reaches/high reaches. As stated in my first post, I’d be overjoyed to get accepted to a single one of the 11 super competitive colleges I applied to.
Okay… you just want to argue with everyone who says your chances aren’t so great at the majority of your schools, which are reaches. Not sure why you even posted, as your apps are in and you can’t do anything now except wait.
@intparent, how am I arguing? I’m genuinely sorry if I was portraying that tone. I acknowledged that what you said is “very true” and only said that I will “hopefully” be considered at the level of an applicant with a 33 on the ACT. I’ve also been agreeing with everyone that the colleges I applied to are reaches. Sorry, my only intention was to have a discussion but I acknowledge that I probably subconsciously began lobbying for myself even though I’m agreeing with what everyone is saying.
@Frazzled503. If you had read what @Hawkace wrote…he was rejected by Stanford REA (not even deferred) and he had outstanding credentials far more impressive than yours. So you need to to know who your competition is going to be…and he will be competing with you for the other schools in the regular round…
RPI didn’t make it to my kids list as it would be a reach not a match for merit aid (no FA for us). If you are hoping for merit, any of these schools it is going to be a stretch, Tulane is already a $$ school with the merit they offer you, if you had applied to more match schools you would have had merit, as you come in the engineering pretty green (no APs or credit applicable science or math classes), 4 yrs is also not a given. So your true composite is 32 and the 33 is a red herring?
I should say that their is a bit more to how I assigned and grouped the chances. First, when I say probable, and failed to preface initially, I mean it’s probable for 2 or more of the schools I have grouped together. Thus, a low reach juxtaposed against say the Ivy schools listed, means while you certainly have scores to legitimately be considered, you are more than likely in the lower 50 percentile, and it’s going to have to be made up in some other area in your application.
So is Tulane a financial safety? You don’t have any safety schools? Not a local school? Your parents are totally happy to pay the 36k a year to Tulane? Just to clarify?
Your legacy will help you a lot at Stanford: Reach
Harvard: High Reach
Yale: High Reach
Cornell/Upenn/Brown/Dartmouth: Low reaches-reaches
Harvey Mudd: High Match
WUTSL:High Match
RIT: Low match