So, where do I stand in the whole HYP?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm a high school junior looking to apply to some good schools: H,Y,P, JHU, Duke, and maybe a couple others. I thought with all what I have, I was doing pretty good for getting where I needed to be, but now after looking at these forums I'm starting to realize that my little bubble is bursting and that some of these schools are reaches for anyone. So here's my stats:</p>

<p>I'm a white, upper-middle class male from Orlando
GPA: 4.0UW, 4.5W
Rank: 4/702
SAT: 2110 760M, 690CR, 660W w/ 11/12 essay, gonna retake
No SAT II's yet, gonna take this summer
ACT: 31, gonna retake
Other: AP World History-5, I'm taking two more AP tests, Lit and US History, and I know if I study hard enough, I can get 5's on both of them, so let's assume I do
Next Year Schedule: AP Comp Govt/Us Govt, Ap Macro/Micro Econ, AP Calc BC, AP Lang, AP Chem, Physics honors, band</p>

<p>EC's:
Varsity Swimming- it will be 4 years, team captain next year
Club Swimming- 5 years
Varsity Track- 9th grade
SGA- 10th, 12th- representative
NHS- 10th, 11th, 12th, will be pres next year
FCA- 9th, 10th, 11th (officer), 12th (officer)
Marching Band- 9th, 10th (section leader), 11th (section leader), 12th
Concert Band- 9th, 10th, 11th, first chair baritone all years
Volunteer hours- 150+ including Freshman mentoring 11th and 12th grades, Habitat for Humanity, Church Vacation Bible School, and home-repairing project over spring break 2 years
Church Youth Group- all years, likely leadership role next year
Presidential Classrooms- June 2006
U of Texas Swim Camp- July 2006</p>

<p>Awards:
Academic Honor roll- all years
Reading Award- 11th
1st chair all-county baritone, 2nd chair all-district- 10th
Superior at solo and ensemble- 10th
All-county swimmer- 11th
Regional qualifier in multiple events (swimming)- 10th, 11th, with high places there and at districts
1st place and 3rd places at 2005 FL Swimming Senior State
2006 AAA Travel Challenge State Champion, national qualifier (nationals not until this May)
NMS preliminary (probably will be commended unless last year's cutoff for FL goes down one more point)</p>

<p>I've also sent in several essays for some of those scholarships on Fastweb.com that I haven't heard back from yet (AFSA Essay, DuPont Challenge, others) and hopefully I'll get something from at least a couple of those...I'm also going to put something together for the Young Epidemiology Scholarship that is coming up in January.</p>

<p>So, what do you guys think? Hopefully I have a fairly decent chance at Duke and Johns Hopkins, but what I'm really wondering is about Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Out of those my top two are Yale and Johns Hopkins, as I'm trying to drop my times enough in swimming to get in on their swim teams (I can probably do it by next March). I'll also likely be the only kid applying from my school to any of these colleges as most here are set on Florida schools with Bright Futures and all. It's not that we're dumb, it's just that most want to stay in the sunny Florida weather and get free money easily. If I don't get into any of these, then I will be stuck at UF, not a bad school but I wouldn't be able to swim there, so I'm really working hard to get in and get enough money to pay for these others. So please comment and tell me if I have a chance at HYP, JHU, and Duke, and what I need to work on in order to get a legitimate hook.</p>

<p>EDIT: Oh yeah, I will be applying to Yale Single Choice EA, then all others RD</p>

2

<p>Not an expert, but here goes:
Pros
* Good GPA
* Swimming
* Involvement in music, athletics, and academics</p>

<p>Cons:
*white male upper class
* CR and writing scores
* lack of science courses. most kids applying usually have one AP science their junior year
* not too many AP courses. There are some CC who have like more five APs with nothing less than scores of 5s before starting their senior year </p>

<p>Focusing on cons so it can help you but you look like a decent, not extraordinary, candidate. With luck, especially at the ivies, you will go to a top school.</p>

3

<p>Thanks, and I agree with the whole lack of AP science and the flat out number. This is because our school is only 4 years old and developing their AP programs. Last year, the only two that were offered to sophomores were Bio and WH, and I couldn't take Bio because I would have had to quit band because of really crazy schedule conflicts. This year, only AP Lit and USH were offered to juniors, as not enough signed up for Chem and the class was dropped for this year, but will return next year. And I would take AP physics and psych, the only other two offered that I didn't mention, but again band conflicts with both and I won't have enough room in my schedule anyways. But Yale and all them will take all this into account, that I took the hardest schedule possible (all others were honors) right?</p>

4

<p>I think so...I am also a junior so don't know yet</p>

5

<p>well, being a white male is actually an advantage nowadays. schools are so inundated with high quality female applicants that it's a breath of fresh air when they get a really great guy.</p>

6

<p>5 AP's is pretty weak for HYP, as is your SAT score. However, you have a good chance at Duke and Hopkins</p>

7

<p>5 AP's is not "pretty weak for HYP".
Get real.</p>

8

<p>IMO I think you got a good shot at the Ivies and Duke. Ima be applying Duke too. The thing that I have seen is that teh Ivies are a hit and miss sort of thing. you got the ECs and grades are excellent. The SAT/ACT thing is average but ou got a good shot at making it into at least a couple Ivies IMO. Take it with a grain of salt.</p>

9

<p>APs only depends on how many are offered at your school...</p>

<p>The average at MIT thru senior year was 5-6.</p>

<p>The swimmming and the AAA Travel is impressive, especially the latter.
Lottery ticket!</p>

10

<p>Thanks guys! To clear something up I have seven AP's lined up for next year actually. The whole micro/macro econ and comparative/us gov't count is four tests total, even though at our school it is considered one class. So my grand total by the end of high school will be ten. As for why I can't take more is our gay block scheduling that screws over everyone's schedules, I have the hardest schedule that I could possibly take while staying in band. And I'm definitely going to try to bring up my test scores, when I took the ACT I didn't finish science, even though on the practice tests I was getting 35's on that section, and I forgot my calculator for math. Thanks though, I really needed the confidence booster after seeing all these others getting deferred/rejected. I mean, I know that any school is a reach, but if my chances at HYP are 1/3 (a guess I just made up), then the law of probability says that I should get into at least one of them!</p>

11

<p>Honestly, HYP admissions have been weird this year. Perfect students from my school w/ perfect scores, tons of APs, GREAT ECs and personalities have been rejected from HYP. A lot of people applied to Yale SCEA and the one girl who got in from my school had taken NO AP courses. In fact, a lot of her classes weren't even honors, and she is a white female as well. Everyone thought she'd be rejected. My point is that HYP admissions are completely unpredictable, so don't feel bad if things don't work out at those particular schools; I hope they do though, good luck</p>

12

<p>guys, i dont think AP really amtters that much. My friend got into Cornell and and didnt even take any APs. I know its Cornell but still- she DIDN'T TAKE ANY APs at all.</p>

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<p>what're your times in your best events? Yale's pretty fast. And has the coach started sending you stuff?</p>

14

<p>In all honesty, I think your only chance at HY or P will be as a recruited athlete. Your ECs are below average for those schools as is your SAT score. Duke you have a fair shot at, but being from the South doesn't help. Best shot is at JHU.</p>

15

<p>
[quote]
As for why I can't take more is our gay block scheduling that screws over everyone's schedules.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure your block scheduling doesn't have a sexual preference.</p>

16

<p>gay = happy = deluded = demented = stupid = irrational</p>

<p>so thats the equation!</p>

<p>(this has nothing to do with sexual preference at all)</p>

17

<p>AAA, along with some other awards, are impressive.
Def. need to improve SAT and/or ACT for HYP.</p>

<p>Also, how are you gonna take SAT IIs this SUMMER?</p>

18

<p>SAT II's- June 3rd, I guess it's not really summer, but it is a week and a half after I get out of school</p>

<p>My times aren't really close enough to get into Yale right now. I looked at what they consider "recruitable," and I have to drop a lot. I was supposed to swim at this meet fully tapered, but for whatever reason I wasn't entered into it, so my times aren't as fast as they could have been. Off what I swam last, untapered, I'm six seconds off in my 100 breast and 10 in my 200 breast. Most of my summer is going to be dedicated to swimming, with about 14000+ yards per day and a lot of weights. And I'm going to swim camp at U of Texas which should improve my technique a lot. Though Yale is still a complete reach for me, and I haven't contacted the coach or vice versa. Johns Hopkins would definitely be a better fit for athletics, but I'm still not giving up hope...</p>