Please help, I feel as I've screwed up

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>So to date I have gotten accepted into my safety schools, Indiana University and UIUC, but have gotten rejected for Stanford SCEA, knew that would happen, UVa, slightly surprised, and deferred at umich with the good deferral letter.</p>

<p>-Unweighted GPA 3.85</p>

<p>-Weighted GPA 4.3</p>

<p>-UC GPA 4.15</p>

<p>-3 AP and all honors classes besides english, my school doesn't like AP's till junior year and don't have the widest selectio0n.</p>

<p>Senior Year course load AP physics C Calc BC AP Lit AP Micro/macro and Honors spanish 3</p>

<p>-No rank</p>

<p>-31 ACT(m-35 e-31 r-29 s-28 w-10)</p>

<p>SAT 2 Math 2-750 US History-710</p>

<p>-APUSH-5 PHYB-4 GOV-4 Calc BC-? Micro/Macro-? Lit-? PHYC-?</p>

<p>-ECs NHS, 2 years; MECS(environmental club),3 years and leader of club; CEC(helping children with mental disabilities) 2 year; intramurials basketball 4 years; disk golf club, 3 years; Yearly Recycle event in my community, big helper</p>

<p>FOR DUKE EMORY NYU AND CORNELL EC's include everythig about but I started my own business of selling wholesale office supplies to small businesses, made a 1000 dollars+ over a summer and creating a stock portfolio</p>

<p>-employment Dominick's Bagger over the summer</p>

<p>-honors/awards AP Scholar, NHS, High Honor Roll every semester, Illinois State Scholar</p>

<p>-Hopefully good Rec's and essays are okay</p>

<p>-The lack of EC's is freshman year I was unable to do any because I had to babysit my sister everyday because my mother passed away and sophomore year was difficult till I had my car.</p>

<p>The school list is
Umich(Deferred)
UNC-CH
Duke
Cornell
NYU
Emory University
UCLA (more realistic first choice)
UCB
USC</p>

<p>After these terrible results I believe I have overestimated my abilities. If anyone feels I have all reaches is there any schools you would suggest besides ones that would give scholarship money because that is irrelevant to me?</p>

<p>PLEASE HELP I'M DESPERATE</p>

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<p>oh and first semester outcome for senior year was
AP Physics C- A-
AP Calc BC A-
AP Micro- A-
Honors Spanish 3 A-
Ap Lit B
PE- A+!!! Just kidding I know this is not needed for chancing just so proud lol</p>

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<p>and Im from illinois</p>

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<p>ajrpcpro - A mix of acceptances, waitlists, and rejections is a reality for almost every student applying to the more selective and competitive schools that are on your list. While I understand it can be disappointing, it is important to learn to manage your expectations through the process. I would encourage you to consider that acceptances to UIUC and U of Indiana are not “terrible” results in the slightest. They are well thought of universities that offer their students strong educations. There are many that would be envious of the opportunity to attend those schools. </p>

<p>My goal with my two sons that have gone through this process so far was to end up with several options they would feel comfortable with. Admissions at the “selective” level of schools is somewhat unpredictable. If you end up with acceptances to several schools you feel are good fits, you are in an enviable position.</p>

<p>You really don’t know how the rest of your apps will turn out. If your scores and grades are in the 50-75% range for these schools then your certainly have a good chance. You can easily look up the acceptance rates at the schools you applied to and make an educated guess how things may turn out. </p>

<p>Would you be happy and in a good position financially at your safety schools? If so, I’m not sure you need to scramble for additional schools to apply to this late in the process. What are you planning to study?</p>

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<p>Going to my safety schools would save me 100 thousand so financially I’m in a great position however I was just thinking my list might have been very over zealous due to the recent admission decisions. Maybe I’m thinking to negative when it’s this early and I have 9 schools to hear from and hopefully I get into one of them. I am planning on studying finance/economics</p>

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<p>Tobornton2 are you saying that UCLA is as hard to get into as duke or cornell?</p>

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<p>Your list is, indeed, very reach-heavy, but if you’re comfortable attending either Indiana or UIUC then you’re fine.
You’re applying to a few OOS public universities: do your parents have $35-50,000 in the bank, per year, for the sole purpose of your education? If not, these applications were foolish since you may get in but won’t be able to attend.
(Remember that as a freshman you can only borrow $5,500.)
If you want to add a few more schools, here’s a list for you to look at:

[List</a> of Late Deadline Schools- Locate Colleges with Late Application Deadlines at Petersons.com](<a href=“College Search | College Finder | Colleges by Major & Location”>College Search | College Finder | Colleges by Major & Location)
A lot of these schools are very good - F&M, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Kalamazoo, Hobart&William Smith, Ithaca… and may throw in a merit scholarship, too, for your stats.
In addition, if you want one more choice:
Depending on how much your parents can afford, run the Net Price Calculators on U-Wisconsin Madison’s and U-Mn-Twin Cities’ websites and send an application there.</p>

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<p>Tuition isnt an issue which is why I am applying to expensive schools and I will not get any financial aid. Looking at the schools you suggested my stats are above these schools. I am having a hard time understanding reach vs match clearly because my stats have me falling in the 50% or high at all of these schools and someone hasn’t been able to shed light on that fact.</p>

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<p>UVA, Stanford and Umichigan are competitive, so don’t think that they’re easy schools by any means. The college process is random. Sometimes, people don’t get into the schools that they deemed as safety, while getting into what they deemed to be a reach. Nevertheless, here is my take:
Umich(Deferred): high match (I would strongly suggest writing them a letter of continued interest)
UNC-CH: don’t know much about UNC
Duke: reach(filled up more than half its class already)
Cornell: reach
NYU: high match(good chance)
Emory University: don’t know about Emory
UCLA (more realistic first choice): (depends on your major)high match/low reach
UCB: same as above
USC: same as above
“The lack of EC’s is freshman year I was unable to do any because I had to babysit my sister everyday because my mother passed away and sophomore year was difficult till I had my car.”
You have had a much more difficult high school career than your peers, and I’m 100 percent sure that an admissions officer will take this very important factor into account. The fact that you were able to succeed academically with such a hardship shows that no matter what school you go to, you will become a very successful person. Best of luck :)</p>

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<p>Since you don’t need financial aid: match = you’re above the median but below the top 25%; Safety = you’re at or above the top 25% mark, you’re 100% sure you will get in and can afford it, and you like it. Reach= you’re just at the median or below the median and/or the selectivity is below 30%.</p>

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<p>with that said is my list still a reach-heavy?</p>

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<p>Considering that 6/9 schools are reaches, yes your list is still reach heavy, but if you’re happy with your safeties there’s no problem (Did you apply to the Honors Colleges? If not, do.)
If cost doesn’t matter, UCSD would become a match and another UC may become a safety.</p>

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<p>Do i even have a shot at any of these “reaches” since your wording says I should be expecting to enroll at IU or UIUC?</p>

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<p>Yes you do have a shot but they’re reaches, meaning that at best your odds are about 1:4 (so, 3/4 chances to enroll elsewhere). “Reach” doesn’t mean “impossible”, just “likelihood of not getting in is higher than likelihood of getting in”</p>

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<p>Alright thanks for everyone’s help</p>