Stanford, Brown, Dartmouth, Duke + others.. too many reaches?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey guys, wondering what my chances would be for these schools, Stanford obviously my top choice!</p>

<p><em>School weighs... horribly</em>
(9-12)GPA: 3.802 W, 3.712 UW
(10-12)GPA:4.048 W, 3.921 UW</p>

<p>GPA's broken Down:
3.196(Freshmen)1 Honors
3.792(Sophomore)No Honors/AP
4.229(Junior)5 AP
4.167(First Semester Senior Year)3AP so far-6 total[block scheduling]</p>

<p>Class Rank: 50/570 (top 10%)</p>

<p>Region: Mid-West</p>

<p>ACT:35
SAT II: Math IIC-800, US History-800, Physics-770</p>

<p>AP Classes: (11) All Taken/Taking Junior and Senior Year
AP Calculus A
AP Calculus B
AP Calculus C
AP Biology
AP Statistics
AP US History
AP European History
AP English Literature(IV)
AP Physics A
AP Physics B
AP Chemistry</p>

<p>AP Test:
Calc AB-5
Biology-5
US History-5
Statistics-5</p>

<p>Taking:
European History
English Lit.
Physics
Chem
Calc BC</p>

<p>ECs:
Community Service Club - 11,12 - Treasurer
Speech and Debate - 10,11,12 - Vice President
Foreign Language Club - 11,12 - Secretary
NHS - 10,11,12 - Nothing
Philosophy Club - 11,12 - Nothing
Tennis(school) - 11,12 - Varsity Letter
Swim team(YMCA) - 11,12 - Captain</p>

<p>Summers:
Spanish III Community College: A/A
TASP
Internship at local law firm
Volunteering at local hospital</p>

<p>Awards:
AP Scholar with Honor
NMSF-229
AMC12
AIME
USAMO
Honor Roll
Science, Math, and History seals of excellence
Who's Who among high school students!(something like that..)
Spanish Honors Society
Tennis and Swimming Awards</p>

<p>Recs:
3, two teachers and one close family friend.. i'd rate teachers: 7/10, 8/10, and family friend's 10/10 Counselors 9/10... she barely knew me but checked the best for all..</p>

<p>Essays:
So subjective, but I think I did them well</p>

<p>Colleges-(too many reaches?)</p>

<p>Reaches:
Stanford
Columbia
Brown
Dartmouth
Duke
UPenn
Princeton
Caltech</p>

<p>Matches:
Emory
Georgetown
Tufts</p>

<p>Safeties:
UMKC
UMC
KU
SLU</p>

2

<p>Do you really need 4 safeties...? And I heard that Who's who thing is a complete scam...</p>

<p>Cal-Tech will be the hardest IMO -- none of the EC's you listed are geared towards the sciences, and they really want to see science research. </p>

<p>U-Penn and Columbia depend on your major...</p>

<p>Your Rank might hurt a bit, even though you are in top 10%. I suggest omitting it, since admissions officers will then predict your rank. Perhaps the predicted rank will be higher then the actual one.</p>

<p>Standardized testing is really nice...no problem with those scores at any school listed.</p>

<p>I think you have a solid chance at most schools.</p>

3

<p>well, I havent applied to UMKC and KU yet.. so I guess I'll save myself the trouble(already in at UM-C)</p>

<p>Forgot to include national debate competition last year... I did alright, making it was hard enough.</p>

4

<p>theres no such thing as AP Physics A unless like u take it over 2 years or something iono, but no exam like that or AP Calculus A, AP Calculus B, and AP Calculus C</p>

5

<p>School breaks calculus into 3 semesters because of block scheduling, same thing with physics.</p>

6

<p>ooh cool, i wish my school had block scheduling, i hear its better than regular scheduling</p>

7

<p>It's pretty nice, only gets boring when you have a boring class(90 minutes of it)..</p>

8

<p>jovenes- What do you mean depends on my major? At the moment I'm considering political science/medicine/philosophy... kinda iffy about medicine
and... I can omit my rank- is that really a wise decision?</p>

9

<p>I mean that for U Penn, Business would be the hardest, and for Columbia, Engineering would be the easiest. However, I do not know the situation in other schools.</p>

<p>In my school, I was given the option to omit rank -- and had to sign forms if I wanted to. The purpose was to discuss it with the family and the guidance counselor. You should talk to them as well -- see what they think. A good GC will tell you the correct decision.</p>

10

<p>kind of off topic, but i don't really understand how the rec of a close family friend would even be valid?? i mean wouldn't ANYONE's close family friend write an excellent rec for the applicant? how do colleges look at these kinds of recs..</p>

11

<p>Sure, anyone's close family friend would do that -- unless he or she was trying to sabatoge the other of course :)</p>

<p>Well look at Dartmouth -- they have student recs...</p>

<p>My guess is that many of these letters are very generic -- i.e " Oh he's so polite! So disciplined! So smart, honest + any good descriptive adjective...</p>

<p>Maybe colleges do want a biased viewpoint? Use it as a comparison -- does the letter fit in with the overall qualities of the applicant? If not, then something is wrong, and colleges will pick up on that.</p>

12

<p>don't list who's who.</p>

13

<p>on CC or on the app or both?
oh, and the rec of a family friend teachers at a CC in my city.</p>

14

<p>Bump... was wondering if I should remove caltech, and maybe add harvard for s&g? do I stand a remote chance at that app pool?</p>

15

<p>I think you're a little reach heavy. I'd maybe dump Princeton and Caltech and add a slightly less selective school in their place to hedge your bets. Maybe Northwestern and WashU?</p>

16

<p>Slipper gives good advice!</p>