<p>“Know who you are and what interests you.”</p>
<p>Great advice by M’s Mom. Personally I think it’s the foundation of a successful college application.</p>
<p>20more, Why would you immediately shun Clemson, Alabama, and Furman? These are excellent schools. What exactly makes a “top college” in your mind? In the South, these schools are considered better than Ivy leagues, and more affordable. Shouldn’t the OP decide what her “best colleges” are? Applying to top colleges is futile if you don’t stand a chance. I would encourage the OP to choose maybe one or two of the Ivy leagues, and not just because it’s a “top college”</p>
<p>I don’t think you have weak ECs as such but there is no clear leadership in one. If you are a science/math person, the top colleges will look for science fair award/math competitions.
Like the other posts said, I think you have to figure out a focus this summer and dive into it and you will be fine.</p>
<p>Howdoudo989: I live in the east, and here the focus is solely on ivy. I’ve never been exposed to Clemson or Alabama. Are they solid, good schools for science and math?</p>
<p>Fall2016parent: Yes I agree that I dont show strong leadership. im looking into summer science internships and hopefully I’ll get one! 
</p>
<p>M’s Mom: Thank you, I totally agree with your advice. I need to spend more time discovering who I am and where I belong schoolwise!</p>
<p>Your ECs are not that bad. You can get in to HYPSM although they will be big reaches, but that will depend on your essays mostly. Your ECs are not as weak as you think.</p>
<p>" I live in the east, and here the focus is solely on ivy."</p>
<p>This is why people need to get out of their local bubbles. There are lots of great schools all over the country. Spend some time figuring out which ones are right for you and expand your sense of the possibilities.</p>
<p>bump bump bump!!</p>
<p>I think you’re going to be fine! Your ECs aren’t weak at all (although they’re not super strong). I think you have just as good a chance at HYP as anyone else. As for other schools, you’ll be fine :)</p>
<p>The acceptance rate for those with a 2400 is something like 50% at Harvard. You’re chance is WAY above the 5%. A 2390 SAT is a hook… Intelligence is a hook…</p>
<p>howdoudo989: your’e wrong, in pretty much every regard. OP, rock on, you’re amazing! Your chances at any top ten school is over 50%. The fact that people are trying to tell you that you should “differentiate yourself” and try to hard to do other things is ridiculous. Track takes up a huge portion of one’s time, not to mention the vast other amounts of things you do. You also have A TWENTY THREE NINETY on the SAT. If you don’t get into a top 10 school, consider that an absolute shocker and blame it on bad luck (but this won’t happen).</p>
<p>You shouldn’t take all the comments/stats you see on CC to heart, not only is CC a very small opinion/stat pool, but most of the people here are big overachievers that care so much about college that they go on a forum to talk about it (i’m just as guilty of that). That being said, a majority of people here who post for chances to top schools have a legit shot to make them, and most of them do make at least one or two. On top of that, you have pretty nice EC’s in my opinion, you are a varisty athlete and have a couple leadership positions, you have a great chance to go to these schools. Not everyone wins an Intel award or goes to some research summit to make it to an Ivy, there are 10k kids a year that makes it, discount about 2000 URM’s and hooked apps and you have 8000 spots, not all of them can write a book about the EC’s they’ve done!!</p>
<p>I agree with a lot of the earlier advice. Work on getting leadership positions, things to distinguish yourself from all the other applicants, write an amazing essay. Actually, getting 2390 is not a hook for HYPSM. I personally know people with 2350+ who got denied from multiple Ivies each. If you go on the acceptance threads for HYPSM, tons of people with these scores DO get rejected. So unfortunately, your SAT score does not improve your chances at these dream schools. I would say that you have a really good chance at lower-ranking Ivies though, like Cornell. </p>
<p>If you need financial aid, a lot of non-Ivy, top schools will give merit aid / full tuition for scores like yours. The thing with the Ivies and some other colleges is that they only give need-based aid, so they try to meet your parent’s EFC (expected family contribution), which they calculate from FAFSA, etc. Meanwhile, other private colleges will give merit-based aid, which means that in instances where they give you full tuition, your parents will not have to pay for college at all. Your SAT scores leave you in a good position to seek out full tuition merit aid, so don’t just apply to Ivies! Good luck with everything.</p>
<p>^getting a 2300+ raises your chances significantly. What are you talking about?</p>
<p>I would have to agree about HYPSM. I would venture that the OP is much higher than 5%, but our valedictorian had the highest GPA in our school’s history (a top HS btw), a 2400 SAT and crazy ECs and didn’t get into either H or P. From what I understand, if you aren’t a legacy, child of a HUGE donor, recruited athlete, or an URM with crazy stats, you have virtually no chance of getting in.</p>
<p>“From what I understand, if you aren’t a legacy, child of a HUGE donor, recruited athlete, or an URM with crazy stats, you have virtually no chance of getting in.”</p>
<p>Is this a joke? Most students admitted to HYPSM AREN’T the the things you listed. Once you see this video, you’ll see how ridiculous your statement is. [Harvard</a> Admissions Dean Fitzsimmons Interview (On Harvard Time) - YouTube](<a href=“Harvard Admissions Dean Fitzsimmons Interview (On Harvard Time) - YouTube”>Harvard Admissions Dean Fitzsimmons Interview (On Harvard Time) - YouTube)</p>
<p>gazoz- are you kidding me. LOL That is your proof. He never addressed ANY of the things that I alluded to in my post (nor would I expect him to admit some of those things in public). The bottom line is that whatever the statistics, you have a higher chance of admission if you are legacy, donor’s kid, recruited athlete etc. That is a fact. With an acceptance rate at 7% or whatever it is, the Q becomes is it: Legacy 14%; Athlete 20%; Donor’s kid 30%; URM 20%; “normal” high achieving kid 3%, or what? We certainly don’t know, and maybe my statement of “virtually no chance” was a bit of a stretch, but I would argue that whatever the number for a “non-hook” candidate is (probably 3-4%), I think a lot of people would call that “virtually no chance”.</p>
<p>Edit- at UNC for example the admittance rate for OOS legacy children is over twice what it is for non legacy. I know for a fact from good friends that their children who were recruited were told that if there stats were even close to the average of the school that they would be admitted (and they have been).</p>
<p>I agree with TV4caster. If you have a hook (the ones he mentioned), then your chances are raised significantly. The OP doesn’t seem have these things. For unhooked applicants, the chance of getting in is extremely low, although it is still possible. </p>
<p>And I stand by my earlier statement. 2300+ doesn’t mean anything for unhooked applicants. In fact, admission officers have said that anything ABOVE 2200+ or 2250+ (I forget which), ALL of those scores look the same to them. They’re not going to accept one applicant over another just because one’s SAT score is slightly higher, as long as they’re in that range. If the GPA and SAT scores are up to par, they look for things that define the applicant and set them apart - unusual EC’s, national awards, leadership positions that require a lot of work, amazing essays or life experiences, etc. </p>
<p>Of course, this is only the VERY top colleges (HYPSM). At lower-ranking colleges like Cornell, non-Ivies, a 2390 will improve your chances significantly.</p>
<p>TV4Caster- In the video the dean did say that around 600 accepted students are exceptionally talented in one area (music, athletes, students that win national science or math awards) and then the rest are simply well rounded. But he didn’t say anything about legacies, children of donors, or URMs.</p>