Please chance me for the Ivies

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey everyone! Sorry for another typical chance me post, but any feedback from a fresh set of eyes would be really appreciated. Here’s my resume:

Schools to be chanced for: Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Brown, UPenn, UChicago, Northwestern, Duke (or just one or two from the list)

Grade level: Rising senior

Race: Asian (Indian)

Test scores:
ACT: Composite 34, Superscore 35 (should I retake?)
(1st time: English, 35, Math 35, Reading 34, Science 33)
(2nd time: English 35, Math 35, Reading 35, Science 31)

SAT II: Math II: 800, US History: 760

AP:
Freshman Year: Human Geography (5)
Sophomore Year: World History (5)
Junior Year: English Language and Composition (5), US History (5)
Senior Year: Economics (Macro & Micro), Physics C (Mechanics & E,M) , Calc BC, English Literature, Computer Science

GPA:
Weighted: 5.46/5.00
Unweighted: 4.97/5.00
(I have taken the most rigorous classes my school offers each year - all honors and AP)

Extracurriculars:

Journalism:

  • Editor-in-Chief of my nationally recognized school newspaper - This is by far what I spend most of my time on. It’s really important to me and I’ve learned a lot and been a great leader through this.
  • 1 of 20 students selected for a program with the Goodman Theatre. 8 month program where I watched all their season shows for free, wrote reviews on them, received mentorship on my reviews, and met every other Saturday to discuss social issues, theater, and more.

Math and Science

  • Founder and President of Women in STEM Club - I find and reach out to women in the field and try to get them to come to speak to students at my school. Gotten a dozen speakers this year and have about 30 members too.
    -Science Olympiad & Math Team since sophomore year

Jobs, athletics, misc.:
-4-year member of high school tennis team
-Work as a youth tennis instructor and youth softball umpire since end of sophomore year

  • Have done bharatnatyam (Indian classical dance) dance since I was six
  • 130+ hours volunteering at my school as an academic tutor. Tutor fellow students in all subjects.

Summers:

End of sophomore year:
Attended a 1-week-long, highly-selective, all expenses-paid nuclear physics camp

End of junior year:
Attended a 2-week-long, highly-selective, most-expenses-paid engineering program
Attended a 1-week-long, highly-selective, all-expenses paid journalism program

Awards:

  • Awarded the $20,000 scholarship through my engineering summer program
  • I was also awarded best essay and best final presentation through the summer program out of the 30 other participants
  • 2 state-wide journalism awards
  • 1 sectional journalism medal - qualified for state
  • 1 2nd place science olympiad medal - pretty competitive meet

Thanks again for taking the time to chance me – I will chance back!

2

Looking at your stats, I think you are in a very good position for all of these schools. Of course, these are reach schools for everyone, regardless of stats, but I think you are very competitive!

3

Definitely have a good shot. Especially if you are looking in the humanities like journalism (makes you stand out a bit). Either way, I think you have achieved a lot and the colleges will recognize that

4

Don’t retake the ACTs, your academics are strong enough as-is and what’s going to make you shine are those ECs !

I think UChicago, Northwestern, and Duke (yes, I think Duke is a good shot for you) should be safeties-low reaches for you assuming essays are good, recs are good, and the interview (if you do them) doesn’t bomb. That said, the rest are reaches for everyone, but I agree with the @andyis and @almody: you’re in a good position.

What are you intending to major in?

5

These are safeties for no one.

6

@Alamody @andyis @tenderp @jym626 thank you all for your responses - I really appreciate your feedback

7

@tenderp something in the humanities, but I’m still exploring

8

bump

9

Competitive, but as has been said, the Ivies are a reach for everyone.