Stanford, Colombia, Princeton, Duke, Northwestern, Harvard

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi everyone, I'm new to this site but had a question. My college counselor advised me to send all test scores to every school I apply to. My scores are as follows:</p>

<p>SAT (first time): 2200 - Reading (730), Math (710), Writing (760; essay = 11)
SAT (second time): 2250 - Reading (750), Math (750), Writing (750; essay = 12)</p>

<p>Subject Tests: Math II (800), Chemistry (800), Physics (800), US History (770), Spanish (630)</p>

<p>ACT (only time): 35 - Math (36), Reading (34), Science (36), English (34; essay = 10)</p>

<p>Clearly my ACT is better than my SAT, but do colleges just look for the best test scores on every application? Of course I'm going to send my subject tests anyways, so should I also send my SAT too if it all costs the same? Should I send my Spanish subject test; it is the worst test of the bunch?</p>

<p>Additionally, would anyone like to speculate on my chances of getting into any of these schools: Stanford, Colombia, Princeton, Duke, Northwestern, UVA, UCLA/Berkeley, UMichigan, UPenn, Harvard, Yale.</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 4.156
Rank: #1
AP (IB not offered): Chemistry (5), Calculus BC (5), US History (5), US Government (4), Macroeconomics (5), Physics B (5), Statistics (5), English Literature (senior course), Biology (senior course), European History (senior course), Psychology (senior course), Spanish Language (senior course)
School: Medium Public
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Indian</p>

<p>Academic Honors/Awards:
GPA Highest Honors
Bauch and Lomb Honorary Science Scholarship
National Honors Society
National Spanish Exam Bronze Medal
AP Scholar with Distinction
First Chair Award - French Horn</p>

<p>Extracurricular:
1) 4 year Varsity Tennis starter and current team captain, district finalist and conference champion
2) President and 3-year member of volunteer organization that sends around 100 high school mentors to a local elementary school to teach and mentor young children.
3) President of Mock Trial program and 4-year team captain, regional qualifier
4) Copy Editor of school newspaper and Editor in Chief of a new current events publication that I've founded and set up at my high school.
5) First Chair French Horn at school concert band and section leader in marching band, 4-year member
6) Parliamentarian of Model UN with 2 gavels and 7 superior delegation (#1 team award)
7) Assistant Researcher with publications and 150+ hours of volunteer service
8) Assistant Tennis Coach at local country club during sophomore and junior year
9) First Chair Trumpet at school jazz band, solo around venues in Northeast Ohio
10) Senior year student body representative</p>

<p>2 Teacher Recs from my Chemistry teacher and History teacher who both loved me as a student and work with me as advisors in various clubs, advisor rec is good. No legacy at any great colleges...my parents are both physicians currently who went to state schools. Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment!</p>

2

<p>Stanford, reach
Colombia, reach
Princeton, reach
Duke, borderline reachy
Northwestern, borderline reachy
UVA, high match unless you’re instate in which case you’re a match
UCLA, match
Berkeley, high match
UMichigan, match
UPenn, low reach
Harvard, reach
Yale, reach.</p>

<p>Then again, you’re only guaranteed a 0% chance of admission if you don’t send an app in.</p>

3

<p>I agree with @ThatPurpleKoala, most of them are reaches. You should probably find a safety or two that you would love attending. Also, have you considered any Liberal Arts Colleges? Also, all it takes to get into Colombia is a round trip plane ticket, or just a single ticket to get you there. For example, according to Google Flights, it costs $899 and up to purchase a round-trip ticket to Bogota, Colombia.</p>

<p>Another thing you have to consider is finances. Do you have enough frequent flyer miles that you will be able to afford a free flight to Colombia, or are you going to pay full freight? I suggest either taking a seat in coach or taking out a loan if your expected family contribution is less than $899 per flight.</p>

<p>Ok, ok, ok, I think I went too far, lol, forgive me…</p>

4

<p>Hey, Your academic scores look pretty solid and competitive. What I would personally suggest is that you achieve something unique extra curricular wise. Your scores will definitely get you through the entry level, but after that it’s your EC’S that will differ you from those 25,000+ applicants. Every year more than 30,000 students apply to the ivy leagues, now keep in mind that not all of them have perfect SAT scores or GPA’s but STILL some get accepted. For example, my cousin got accepted into Cornell, which is again an ivy league. She had an SAT score of 1850 and GPA of 3.8 unweighted. Her friend got rejected who had everything perfect and was top 1% of her class. This clearly shows how the admission officers are not JUST considering the grades. You have soo many different EC’s but not any of them are unique. Think about those 30,000 more applicants who play tennis are even presidents of NHS and etc etc. My cousin was not even a member of NHS. The main reason she got accepted was because of her interest in women’s rights. Which not many students think about. She travelled to Asia (even India) and observed all these factors and states of Women in different countries. This made her stand out of those 30,000 applicants. I am not saying that you don’t have a chance, but just find something UNIQUE and achieve excellency on it. Trust me, admission officers couldn’t careless about NHS and popular sports such as tennis. Most of these schools, already have a tennis team. Good luck and keep up the good work! Also could you chance me back to my only thread? Thanks! :)</p>

5

<p>Thanks guys! I have a few safeties in Ohio State (my state school), University of Michigan, and University of North Carolina. @Harvardreamss‌ I totally get what you’re saying that some of my ECs are not the most unique, but you don’t think two presidencies, captainships, and over 200 hours of volunteer work are impressive?</p>

6

<p>@tkashyap yes they are definitely impressive but not unique. So many of those 30,000 applicants have the same EC’s. Always think about what is the most passionate thing in your life, and achieve excellency in it. I visited Harvard this summer and met the admission counselor. The first and only thing she asked me was ‘what can you bring to Harvard?’. This is just another way of asking ‘who are you? what is unique about you?’. Your EC’s reflect your leadership qualities which is a great thing! but what else? Just think about it. Good luck :)</p>

7

<p>Okay thanks for the advice! I try to present myself as a leader in all my applications! Where’s your thread?</p>

8

<p>Bump</p>

9

<p>Stanford, Columbia, Princeton, Yale and Harvard are all crapshoots that can’t really be a surefire match for anybody. I think you’re a competitive student though! You have a solid chance of getting into one. Structure your apps to show some sense of direction in ur ECs to make you stand out some more.
Duke… I don’t know enough about it.
ova, ucla, berkeley… high match
UPenn… medium reach
northwestern… high match</p>

10

<p>What do you mean by structure my applications @lovinglifern555‌ ??</p>

11

<p>Maybe I’m missing something but how in the world do you have a 4.16 UNWEIGHTED gpa?</p>

<p>Anyways, you have as good a chance as anyone. I have the same opinion as everyone else who already chanced you. I think that your ECs are pretty average as everyone has already addressed. (This is only concerning schools like Harvard, Yale, etc… For safeties your an easy admit) </p>

<p>I personally feel that the biggest weakness is actually the fact that you are an Indian male. Can’t really change it, but schools literally accept a certain number of students based on their profile such as ethnicity. Good luck.</p>

<p>Also, I personally wouldn’t even submit your SAT I. Your ACT is another level above your SAT scores. I wouldn’t do it. As for your spanish score, 600+ is actually decent since it isn’t your native language. I think it serves as a kudos and shows confidence to send that score.</p>

12

<p>Thanks for the advice @Bailkun‌! Do you think admission offices will hold it against me if I submit both? I understand that my ACT is better, but do you think sending in the SAT to show my work ethic (and especially the 12 on the essay) would be a detriment to my application? </p>

13

<p>In my personal opinion, colleges do not care about the essay score. Many school regard the standardized 30 minute essay a joke. I personally do myself. They will judge your essay skills based on the application you send. They are more concerned with your score with writing which in your case is 760.</p>

<p>This is what I think about whether or not to send your SAT I.</p>

<p>a 35 ACT = 2330 in the SAT. This is different level from your SAT scores. I think inputting your SAT scores will not help you at all.</p>

14

<p>Also chance me back? :slight_smile: <a href=“Need safety and match schools I should apply to as an ivy league applicant. I will chance back. - #2 by sparkl3 - Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums”>Need safety and match schools I should apply to as an ivy league applicant. I will chance back. - #2 by sparkl3 - Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums;

15

<p>I think you should send both scores! while the 35 is obviously better than the 2250 (which is still a great score), its not a secret that a majority of students send in SAT over ACT, so it probably couldn’t hurt to send both considering you did well on it. and i think what most people are saying about showing direction is that yes, you do have an impressive list of EC’s, however, it looks like you just joined a bunch of random clubs just for the heck of it, or to put on your application. colleges would rather see, for example, an intended engineer major participate in maybe science national honors society, programming club, robotics, math team, volunteer at a computer sales place, work at best buy, etc. than being the captain and president of every club ranging from newspaper to yearbook to math team to science team to debate team. its not doubt impressive, but it doesn’t seem like there’s a directional force behind it, it doesn’t seem like you really found and devoted yourself to a passion</p>

16

<p>but i do think you have a good a chance as any, your scores will definitely get you in the preliminary round, hopefully you have good recs and essays!</p>

17

<p>Good call @nehc97‌ ! These clubs are the best organizations that my school offers (for example, no math clubs or organizations are offered other than the yearly AMC, and we have no Science Olympiad team), so obviously my extracurricular focus was more well rounded and focused on leadership rather than one specific field. Pertaining to my pre-med aspirations, my hours of independent laboratory research is the biggest component that ties me into that field.</p>

18

<p>Bump</p>

19

Hey, please tell what chances do I have into to going into the top colleges in USA.
I am currently in 11th.

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Composite Score-2050 Math-750 Critical Reading-650 Writing-650 (Writing again soon and expecting a better score)

ACT (breakdown): Not written yet but planning to

SAT II: Math-800 Chemistry-800 Physics-800

Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10% of my class

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

grades in 9th - CGPA-9.4
grades in 10th - CGPA-9.8
grades in 11th - 86% (was concentrating on extracurriculars so my percentage dropped)
grades in 12th - 95% (aiming for)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

Music : Successfully completed all 8 grades of Keyboard with a distinction. I have participated in many competitions winning many accolades and also given many stage performances in school and outside. I also reproduce and compose music. I also have a channel on youtube. I have also been part of my school’s Brass Band for 4 years, me being the lead Saxophone player.

Computer and Technology : I have successfully completed courses on web development (PHP and MySQL), web designing(Adobe Dreamweaver, HTML, CSS), Adobe Flash, Adobe Photoshop and Animation (3ds Max) (All certified by the World Multimedia Association). I also learn several programming languages (Java, Javascript, C, C++) myself with books and the internet. I also edit video and music, having participated in several movie making competitions. I have also completed the course of learning the Python programming language from school which is part of the CBSE syllabus. I officially develop Android apps and have developed 5 so far.

Sports : I had learnt Karate till the black belt and won several accolades securing the 3rd position in a national level for a Karate competition. I am also a very ardent basketball player and often play cricket, squash and football too.

Puzzles : Speedcubing is also a very ardent hobby of mine. I can currently solve the 2x2, 3x3, 4x4 and the 5x5 Rubik’s Cubes. I have participated in several national competitions in Dubai and have come among the top 20. I often play chess too.

Art and Dance : Have participated in several art and dance competitions in senior school and have acquired certificates.

Other : I have participated in the F1 in Schools competition and have gone till the national level. (i have a certificate for that too)

Job/Work Experience: Web development, app development and video and audio editing.
Volunteer/Community service: None yet
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Not written yet
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Applied for Financial Aid?: Planning to
Intended Major:Computer Science
State :
Country:Indian living in Dubai

I am planning to apply to Stanford, MIT, Harvard, UC Berkeley, Caltech and Purdue.

20

Hi @Deebthik‌, I think you have a decent chance at any one of these schools as you bring diversity to the campus. However, your test scores really need to be brought up for a chance at these schools. If you can obtain at least a 2250 you should be fine. ACT is much easier than SAT in my opinion. I also think you need to go into more detail on your extracurriculars…as of now, they seem very generic. What have you done that’s different from all the other applicants? There is huge opportunity in the computer science department to do something influential…create a website that helps your local community, for example.