<p>Like zoosermom, I see the 12% rank as your real problem, especially at your reaches. Even with SATs above 2300, someone who is out of the top 10% at most schools isn’t likely to succeed at most of the Ivies. Perhaps your school and your ECs can get you in…</p>
<p>You also haven’t described your courseload. Will it be “most rigorous”? Do you have more than a few Bs or any Cs on your transcript?</p>
<p>Depending on your test scores, I agree that BU seems like a safety, but whether it is a financial safety is another matter. I assume that you know that most of the schools you list are need-only. Run some of the EFC calculators to get an idea of how much money you might get.</p>
<p>As for fitting all of your ECs into an application, I would advise creating a resume outside of the common app, where you can present your ECs to best advantage. If you can get a recommendation from perhaps two different EC areas to go with your two teacher recs, that would not be a bad idea either. There’s nothing wrong with sending 2 additional recs, and the kids I know who were successful at HYP admissions did so.</p>
<p>I think it’s great that you’re applying to so many reach schools (you certainly seem qualified), but I would recommend that you stick a safety school or two into your list somewhere.</p>
<p>Agreed with LogicWarrior. The only safety that you have is BU. But, I would apply to UMass Amherst as a total safety (both financially and personally). I’m assuming that you like in Mass because you went to tons of Harvard stuff in Mass =)</p>
<p>The OP’s school is just not any HS – it’s Boston Latin, one of the-ranked, national high schools that sends a bunch of kids to the Ivies every year. Being outside of the top 10 is not that much of a negative, it just means that HYPSM is unlikely.</p>
<p>About the Common App resume - there’s a section where you can “upload additional documents.” I just uploaded my resume which was saved as a word document, so all my schools were able to see my full resume.</p>
<p>Well, as I said, being outside the top 10% at most schools will be a problem for the Ivies. All of the Ivies, not just HYP. Obviously, being outside the top 10% at a well-known magnet or prep school is going to be less of a problem. But something to consider is how many kids in the top 10% at Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Thomas Jefferson, and the like are going to be applying to his list of schools. Not to mention the top 10% at Exeter, St. Paul’s, Groton, Choate, and his own school.</p>
<p>Does Boston Latin have the same relationship with Cornell, Columbia, Penn, Dartmouth, and Brown-the rest of the Ivies on his list–as it does with Harvard? I don’t know.</p>
<p>As with anyone else, a lot will probably depend on his course choices, his scores, his recommendations, and his essay. He would seem to have a shot at any school on his list, but less of a shot than if his class rank were higher, even at Boston Latin.</p>
<p>I obviously agree with Consolation. The kids who rang higher may just have higher GPAs and more compelling ECs. It’s not outside the realm of possibility. The OP is an Asian male with stereotypical ECs. Which doesn’t make him any less remarkable and wonderful of a human being, but he doesn’t get a leg up there, either.</p>
<p>I think everyone needs to apply to at least one safety. The whole purpose of a safety is a school that you know that you can get into, that if April rolls around and none of your reaches and matches accept you OR give you financial aid at, there’s a school that you love and wouldn’t mind attending that you can also afford and that has a higher chance of giving you scholarship money.</p>
<p>Ivy League schools don’t give merit scholarships. And the safeties and matches on your list, if you are in the middle 25-50% of students, won’t give you a whole lot of merit-based financial aid if you are just their average student.</p>
<p>It is personally interesting to me that you are applying to 6 different Ivy League universities that are extremely different except that they are selective. Cornell is in a cold little upstate New York town and it’s huge. Dartmouth is in an even colder little New Hampshire town and it’s small. University of Pennsylvania and Columbia are both fairly large but they’re in large cities. Not that this is not common, but they just seem so disparate especially since all of your matches seem to be in or near large cities.</p>
<p>AS for your chances, all of your reaches have acceptance rates of less than 10%. So I wouldn’t say your chances are good, but no one’s really are (except in certain circumstances). I agree with College3231 that you should also look at some mid-range LACs – not just the top ones like Williams and Amherst (which are NOT safeties) but schools liie Babson, Bard, Connecticut, Dickinson, Emerson, Hampshire, Haverford, Marist, Muhlenberg, Northeastern, Skidmore, Vassar, and Wheaton. Most of those are low-matches or high-safeties for you. Also, apply to your state’s flagship university.</p>
<p>Having such a high GPA at Boston Latin I don’t think you’ll have to worry much – let’s face it, high school rankings affect admissions counselors too – but let’s say you fall in love with Skidmore and they give you something akin to a free ride and then you get into Boston College with nothing…</p>