Please Chance Me!

I am a brown Indian male studying at a prominent CBSE school in Bangalore, India. I will be entering the 12th grade this year. I am currently studying Physics, Chemistry, Math and Computer Science. However, I intend to pursue Economics/ Business for my undergraduate degree. Here is my profile:

9th Grade: 9.4/10 CGPA
10th Grade: 10/10 CGPA
11th Grade: ~70% (Rigorous Grade Deflation! *)

Predicted 12th Grade Board Exam Percentage = 90% +

*Note: Our school consistently ranks among the top 5-10 CBSE schools in the country based on the 12th final board exam results. However, through 11th grade and 12th grade, a rigorous grade deflation is put in place. This deflation is acknowledged by the school.

SAT: 1540/1600 (English - 760/800; Math - 780/800; Essay - 6|6|6)

Predicted AP scores:

AP Chemistry - 4/5;
AP Physics C: Mechanics - 5/5;

AP Calculus BC - 5/5;

Predicted Subject SAT scores:

SAT Math Level II - 800/800;
SAT Physics - 800/800;

SAT Chemistry - 760+/800;

Extra-curricular Activities:

  1. Founder of a city wide initiative - -> Has engaged over 700 youth across several schools and colleges; -> Has partnered with over 5 NGOs and other regional and national-level organisations; -> Has received appreciable media coverage - few newspaper articles by reporters and me; -> I was interviewed on a major radio network for this effort; -> Received Ashoka Youth Venture recognition (Ashoka is a prestigious international organisation that supports social entrepreneurship across the globe) -> Pitched this initiative to Google India for a potential partnership; however, this failed due to Google's internal policy; -> Convinced and worked with senior software engineers to build a special software for this initiative, free of cost;
  2. Founder of a student-focused writing platform - -> Partnered with a large national creative writing organisation; -> Tried to build out an economics category in collaboration with a think-tank;

3, Working with a very senior professional at one of the largest global mutual-fund companies to research the larger picture of economic and policy insights ground-up by making field visits and interviewing a number of people.

  1. I have also written blog posts on Indian banking, Small and Medium Enterprises, Skill Training etc.
  2. Duke of Edinburgh - International Award for Young People - (Bronze and Silver Award)
  3. Member of the Change-maker team of my school.
  4. Received the Change-maker award from my school.
  5. Selected as one of 35 participants from my state to attend a workshop for high-schoolers conducted by Indian software company Infosys.
  6. National Science Olympiad (Science Olympiad Foundation) -> Class 7: NSO Level II - State Rank 21; -> Class 8: NSO Level II - State Rank 5;

    -> Class 9: NSO Level I - Won a gold medal at the zonal level;

I am planning to apply to the following schools:
Yale, Columbia, UPenn (Wharton), UC Berkeley, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Duke, NYU (Stern), UVA.

Please Chance me for these schools. I would sincerely appreciate any feedback or advice. I look forward to hearing from you all. And, apologies for the insanely long post!

Cheers,

Hi @bestthor, and welcome to College Confidential!

Your Board Exam % may be very important. Do you have a class rank?

If you really want to study in the United States, you should add some match/safety schools to the mix. You have listed all reaches.

Thanks @yikesyikesyikes ! Our school doesn’t publish or share class ranks or percentiles with us. However, approximately 95 out of a 125 students at my school scored 90% or more in their board exams, thereby making our school one of the highest ranked schools in India based on board exam results.

What may be some reputable safety schools for me given my interests?

Once again - what are my chances at these schools like?

Thanks

Are you taking a gap year? It is my understanding that CBSE 12 scores are not sent until after admission (so they have minimal or no consideration in admissions unless you take a gap year).

I do not know enough about your school to understand your Class 11 grade. Generally, that is kind of low for the schools you mentioned, but you said your school has major deflation. That is fine, but that means that with your 70%, you should be performing the same when relatively compared to your peers as you did for Class 9 and 10.

Your test scores look fine.

Your extracurriculars seem competitive (but I do not know enough about them).

I am a little surprised you are not considering Michigan or Cornell (both have phenomenal undergraduate programs in what you are interested in, although both are admittedly reaches).

I have not “chanced” anyone in the true sense of the word on CC, because it is a ridiculous thing to do when it comes to elite college admissions, but what I will tell you is that all the schools you have listed are reaches. You are a competitive applicant, but I would have a backup plan since it is completely possible for you to be turned down from every school.

Some potential “safer” schools (these include “lighter reaches”, “matches”, and potential “safeties” - I am uncomfortable labeling any of them as “true” safeties since you are an international student), they all have pretty good business and/or economics programs (not tippy top, but still okay) . This is by no means an exhaustive list. I also do not know your financial situation, so that needs to be taken into consideration as well:

-Villanova
-Boston College
-Boston University
-UC San Diego
-University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
-Wisco Madison
-Ohio State University
-Michigan State University
-Rutgers University
-Babson College

Thanks a lot for your detailed response.

As you mentioned above, the Indian 12th grade board exams are not conducted soon enough for me to submit the scores in my application. However, the norm for several thousands of Indian students such as me who intend to apply to the US, is to send colleges “predicted” board exam scores attested for by the school. These “predicted” scores are more often than not unusually accurate.

From what I’ve heard from my seniors who have been through the application process is that these “predicted” scores are given a considerably larger weightage for they represent the student’s true “un-deflated” academic potential.

This is all something that most admissions officers are aware of, especially given the sizeable applicant pool from India.

As for as Cornell and Michigan are concerned, I have actually happened to have done a fair bit of research on them. However, for a number of reasons I don’t feel they are a right fit for me in terms of certain preferences.

Once again, thanks!

Your resume is impressive. Both your objective and subjective stats are great. I think you definately could get in any of these schools. Though, keep in mind that they are reaches for everyone, so add some safer schools to your list, like @yikesyikesyikes mentioned. Maybe chance me back? http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2081007-chance-me-for-elite-schools.html#latest

Thanks @constantdoer.