Some Ivies

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I have already formed my own opinions on my relative chances with these schools that I'm applying to and I just wanted to see if others agreed or disagreed and why. I'm applying next year to Yale, Harvard, MIT, and Princeton - and my in-state safety school.</p>

<p>Stats:
School Type: Public
Location: Michigan
Race/Gender: Asian/Female
Prospective Major: Biomedicine/engineering
Unweighted GPA: 4.0 on a 4.0 scale, no 4.25s for A+s
Weighted GPA: school doesn't weight
Class rank: school doesn't rank, but i can safely say within the top 5%</p>

<p>SAT I Scores - two sittings, these are the highest in each.
SAT I Math: 800
SAT I Critical Reading: 800
SAT I Writing: 800</p>

<p>ACT: composite 33</p>

<p>AP US hist: 4</p>

<p>Taking five APs this year: French, Euro, Calc BC, Chemistry, and English Lang - I'm expecting 5's on everything except possibly euro and french.</p>

<p>Extra-curriculars:
NHS officer, Science Olympiad captain (several regional awards, unfortunately my team didn't qualify for states), debate team - dozens of individual and team awards, orchestra (violin/officer), freshman mentor, JV tennis for 3 years (will be 4), tutor, ... that's all I can currently think of.</p>

<p>my thoughts on my chances - do you agree/disagree and why?</p>

<p>Yale: good chance, turns on essays, interview, and rec letters
Harvard: middling chance, ditto above on essays/recs/interviews
MIT: good chance, essays/interview/recs
Princeton: okay chance, essays/interviews/recs</p>

<p>thanks so much :D</p>

<p>EDIT: also doing an engineering internship this summer :D</p>

2

<p>You have really good statistics, but none of you ECs really jump off the page to set you apart from the other kids with 4.0s and great SAT scores. So I think you have a decent chance at all of them, but I don’t think you can really say ‘good chance’ for Yale or MIT without something extraordinary going for you.</p>

3

<p>thanks :smiley: one of the things i’m most concerned about is seeming to be like all the other asians on paper - I’m really hoping that my essays will pull me through, but if not, oh well. at least i’m a girl ;)</p>

4

<p>Also consider CMU and Unviersity of Rochester. Best of luck!</p>

5

<p>Your test scores are flawless but yeah, your extra curriculars might need a little more work :stuck_out_tongue: Also, MIT is incredibly difficult to get into even with perfect scores and good extra curriulars, so I would try to go for math/science awards…just enter lots of competitons, put in the work, and you’ll probably get one or two first places (at least) that’ll look better on an app
Good luck!</p>

6

<p>This is harsh, but has to be said… You’re just another Asian. I’m sorry. Being a female in engineering is the only thing going for you. Realistically, I can’t see any of those top schools accepting you. It happened with me, perfect SAT scores and grades, focused ECs with solid leadership positions and long-standing commitment, plenty of awards at school/provincial level, passionate essays, good recs, but rejected HPSM.</p>

<p>Write some awesome essays and hope for the best. I would apply to some more schools other than simply HYPSM (though you missed Stanford, which is amazing). I am very fortunate to be accepted to Columbia, and I think I’ll love it there :)</p>

7

<p>I’m curious, why a better chance at Yale than at Harvard and Princeton? </p>

<p>Their admissions percentages are close and their 75th percentile scores are identical at 790 per section. Lots of kids with your stats get into each, lots don’t. At any of them more than a quarter of the class would have equally good stats, but as 40% have hooks that allow them lower stats, the majority of the unhooked admits have equal stats. </p>

<p>So while it will come down to recs and essays, you will have to make sure your truly make you stand out among others with near perfect stats. And while your school doesn’t rank, they will approximate a rank for you. If you’re not at the very top, that also comes into play.</p>

8

<p>you are definitely a smart girl, smarter than I am, especially in scores, but honestly, don’t take the Ivy league for granted. There definitely people who are just as competitive or even better. I am definitely not arguing that you won’t get in since the acceptances are somewhat arbitrary (to a degree). I had a friend with a 2400 and etc but got rejected or waitlisted from all the top schools. But then again, we’re from California so competition sucks. Also, you have too few APs, sorry yo. I took like 7 my senior year.</p>

<p>Now for my shameless filler, you should apply to Duke because it is frkn awesome. DUKE! DUKE! DUKE! DUKE! DUKE! DUKE! DUKE! DUKE!</p>

9

<p>oh, and Duke’s biomedical engineering is awesome. Seriously. Check out Pratt Engineering.</p>

10

<p>I’d definitely consider applying to other schools besides HYPM and a Michigan school (Ann Arbor?). What about some of the top liberal arts colleges? Any other colleges of interest? Other ivies? It wouldn’t be unheard of for you to be rejected to all of those schools (save for your state school), so you should apply to some other good ones in case. I say your chances are okay, definitely solid if you rock your essays and recs. GL!</p>

11

<p>Thanks so much to everyone who’s replied!</p>

<p>@hmom… I guess I put Yale above Harvard and Princeton simply because I’m more interested there and I feel like that will show through on my application.</p>

<p>@zephyravatar - all of your comments have merit, but your story just shows how arbitrary acceptances can be. Anyway, I figure I’ll put my best effort in and see where it takes me. :)</p>

<p>@woodchuck - oh, I’m not taking them for granted at all. :D</p>

<p>and to those who think I should consider applying elsewhere - trust me, I’ve considered a lot of other schools - my original list had upwards of 30 but I’ve since been able to condense it. I won’t be surprised if I’m rejected at all of those ivies, but if I am, I know I’ll be perfectly happy at my state school. :)</p>

12

<p>You could get into many top schools (other than HYPSM) instead of going to your state school. Are you so sure you wouldn’t enjoy a school other than those schools and your state school? Not 30 schools, but like suggested earlier, schools like Duke would be great choices.</p>

13

<p>ultimately i feel like its your decision. i’m crossing my fingers for you that you get in!! your stats are already very very very impressive and there’s not a whole lot you have to be unhappy with. chances are you’ll get in to at least one of those schools :)</p>

14

<p>NICE SAT SCORES!!</p>

<p>Id suggest a career in Med but if you want to become an Engineer, id suggest adding UIUC as a safety net. It has more #1 rated engineering programs than i think all the top ten college except MIT and one other school (forgot which). I learned this at WYSE state finals lol. the guy made a big deal about it.</p>

15

<p>thanks all :slight_smile: well, I considered Duke because of it’s amazing biomedical programs but my concern is that if sometime during my college career I realize “ew, I hate medicine and all related fields,” I feel like Duke doesn’t have much to offer in most other fields. I think I would be happy in many other places, but I think realistically, looking at my senior year, I won’t be able to do that many apps and make them quality applications.</p>

<p>I did consider several other Ivies, as well as John Hopkins, and the thing is I just don’t find their student life and culture as appealing as the ones listed above.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for the well-wishes and cautions though :)</p>

16

<p>NO! DUKE = PWNAGE!</p>

<p>I’m an English and Poli Sci double major. It is perfect!!!</p>

17

<p>Since I’m going to Duke next year for premed, I really hope “DUKE=PWNAGE”. It’s a strong school in many subjects; IMO, it’s more balanced than Johns Hopkins, which you are considering. Of course, HYPSM will be incredible in everything, I’m not comparing Duke to them. But there are also things like DukeEngage, FOCUS, etc. that not many other schools offer, and you’d certainly have a solid shot at getting in. If it’s something that matters, I chose Duke (full tuition FA) over comparable premed schools of Washington U. St. Louis and Emory (full ride) because of the much higher school spirit and atmosphere at Duke.</p>

<p>Great scores by the way, overachieving Azns for the win. If it helps, I got waitlisted from Harvard with an SAT of 2370 (one sitting), 4.0 UW GPA, and decent ECs (4 years of band and academic team w/ leadership, NHS and other honor clubs, hospital ER volunteering). I didn’t apply to any other Ivies though.</p>

18

<p>@metb29 - can you describe more of what you mean by “higher school spirit and atmosphere,” please? I’m curious :slight_smile: Duke’s obviously a great school, and I’ll consider applying there depending on my early admissions decisions next year - I just don’t want to be like a friend of mine who applied to 18 schools and was rejected everywhere she actually cared about - I’d rather put more effort into the schools that I really want to attend rather than write okay applications for schools I have a better shot at. :3</p>

<p>Thanks and congratulations on your own scores! Also congratulations on Duke, and thanks for the information on your stats. :)</p>

19

<p>Well, Duke has basketball :slight_smile: and it also has some of that southern culture. When I was there on an April visit, the students were laidback, friendly, and fun, but obviously were still intellectual and motivated. And you could tell they loved their school. I’m sure HYPSM would be the same, but I’ve never visited them, so I can’t judge. Harvard might grant a miracle, who knows–if I manage to get accepted off the waitlist, it’ll be the hardest decision of my life. </p>

<p>Since you’re a rising junior, you’ll have a lot of time to decide where you really want to go. I didn’t even think of top 20 schools until I got my SAT scores back in June last year, I figured I would go to U of Florida. You can’t really know about a college until you actually visit, preferably overnight. Just read about your choices as much as you can, and it should be easy for you with all the mail you’ll be getting for your SAT scores.</p>

<p>Out of curiosity, what non-HYPSM schools are you considering? I assume your safety is Michigan-Ann Arbor, still a great school (though I don’t know much about it).</p>

20

<p>I’m essentially considering HYPM (sans S :P) and safety at this point. I did consider Duke and Rice and John Hopkins but I guess my main reasoning for not planning on applying there (at this point) would be I think I’d love Michigan and I think between Michigan and those three I’d probably go for Michigan. :3</p>