Stanford, Princeton, Duke, Berkeley, etc. I'll chance back if you want!

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>I made a similar thread a few months ago, but some of the stats on there are outdated and my college choices have changed since then. My top choice is Stanford, closely followed by Duke and Princeton and finally Berkeley. I'm also applying to USC, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB and maybe Northwestern or BC. We'll see how things go. </p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT I: 2180 (690 M, 760 W and 730 R) (One sitting)
SAT II: Took Lit, Math 1. Taking World History in Jan. Still awaiting results. </p>

<p>IB: Predicted 43/45 Total (Economics HL 7, History HL 7, English HL 6, Biology SL 7, Maths Studies 7, Arabic Ab Initio 6)</p>

<p>GPA: British system school, so we don't really have GPAs. I achieved 7 A*s and 4 As at GCSE though and my IB predicteds are quite high, so I assume I would be close to 4.0.</p>

<p>ECAs:</p>

<p>300+ Hours of Community Service (Including self organized trip to India for 3 weeks during summer to volunteer at an autism center, and further volunteering in Chaing Mai, Thailand)</p>

<p>Leader of the Community Service Team at School; organize fundraising initiatives for local charities throughout the year.</p>

<p>Vice-leader/president of School Economics Society.</p>

<p>Member of school soccer team.</p>

<p>Team leader in Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver Awards (for those of you who know what that is)</p>

<p>Won overall first place at the Japan Karate Association Tournament in Bahrain, 2011.</p>

<p>Member of MUN Organizing Committee (Head of Communications).</p>

<ul>
<li>Some other small stuff.</li>
</ul>

<p>Essays:</p>

<p>Common App:</p>

<p>Wrote about the gym - how I used to be severely overweight and managed to turn my life around by working out. Started writing the essay towards the end of September, finished in 2 nights ago. A lot of thoughts and emotions went into it, and I think it turned out quite well. 8/10</p>

<p>Duke: Wrote about my passion for community service, and how Duke will enable me to continue with what I love. Also wrote about my cultural diversity as a German-born Iranian who has been raised in Bahrain (a small island in the Middle East) 8/10</p>

<p>UCs: Essays were okay - one was about volunteering in India and the other was a condensed version of my common app essay. 6-7/10</p>

<p>Other:</p>

<p>I expect my recommendations are quite good. Got one from my English teacher, one from my History teacher and one from the deputy head teacher/principal. All know me quite well and have good relationships with me. </p>

<p>I'm an international applicant. I live in Bahrain, have Iranian roots and German citizenship. I speak Farsi, German, English, and Arabic fluently. Applying for political science. Don't require any financial aid.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>I think your apps look really great but your SAT score might be kind of low for top tier schools. Your amazing ECs could help even that out. </p>

<p>Reach/Low Match: Stanford, Princeton, Duke</p>

<p>You can probably get into everything else!</p>

<p>Can you chance me back?</p>

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<p>@musktard Thanks for your quick reply buddy! Yeah sure, no problem :)</p>

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<p>Bumpp</p>

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<p>I was accepted into Stanford’s ERC & IMO your ECs are great, but your SAT I is a little low- if you could increase it by 100 points, it might slightly increase your chances. Your essays are very, very important. Since your stats are like those of many other applicants, you’ll need to make sure your essays are extraordinary and unique.
Same goes for other schools.
Good luck! </p>

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<p>Stanford and Princeton are reaches for everybody…but you have a decent shot…I think you should most probably get into Berkeley, if you SAT 2 scores are good…Your EC’s are excellent…your background makes you unique…you essays seems to be good…so yes you are a solid candidate to most colleges…but u can never be sure about HYPSM and some others…</p>

<p>Chance me back whenever you feel like
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1701839-chance-me-will-chance-back.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1701839-chance-me-will-chance-back.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>@Dream0n‌ @michaelite‌ Alright sweet, thanks guys. Anyone else willing to chance me?</p>

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<p>Your ECs are good, except honestly the volunteering in India might seem a little overrated to colleges, since I get the feeling that they’re starting to see through the extreme community service projects. However, everything else is very good, esp your community service team stuff. I don’t know about the British school system stuff, but your grades look good from what I can see. I think if you can amp up your UC essays then you would have a very good chance there. If not, then Berkeley would be tougher than the others, but not out of reach at all. Princeton, Duke, and Stanford are all reaches, but not completely out of reach as well, esp Duke. Could you chance me back? :smiley:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1720737-chance-for-bowdoin-bates-colby.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1720737-chance-for-bowdoin-bates-colby.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Stanford reach
Berkeley low reach- high match
Duke low reach- high match
Princeton reach
Chance me back-
ACT 34
SAT subject test - 2360( math 2 800 phy 800 math1 760)
AP - 5’s in 2 subjects
Class rank 2 in 186
Predicted external exam year 12 97.5%
Essays and supplements solid
9-12 grades almost all subjects have straight A’s
International Male Student
My ec’s are-
Programming in 3 languages outside school curriculum
Web designing
Internship at Tata associates
Community Service Volunteer at two associations tons of service hours
Ethical Hacking
TIE Young Entrepreneurs program really changed my mindset centred many essays around this
B.R.A.T.S. Robotics course
Chief Secretary of Computer club headed an event that crossed international borders
Technical Head of Literarture club
Public speaking- master of ceremonies in many events
Guitar course
Times of India merit awards
Olympiads and intra school events
Awards for academic excellence</p>

<p>I am from India AP is not offered in my school I just took the exams by reading books without the help of any teacher.</p>

<p>Chance me for Jerome Fisher, I know chances for such a program is really unpredictable but any comments are appreciated. I have also listed CS as an alternate choice chance me for that to.
Other colleges-
UCLA, UCB, Georgia Tech, UIUC, Harvey Mudd, NYU, Cornell, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, University of Washington Seattle, MIT.</p>

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<p>It looks pretty reachy for you. The Karate award will look nice. </p>

<p>UC’s will be mostly test scores and grades- essays usually don’t make much of a difference (def. won’t hurt, so you are good on that front). However, being out of country will hurt your chances. I would say bank on UCSD/UCSB, but UCB/UCLA are uncertain.</p>

<p>For the ivies/Stanford/Duke you will need to really floor them with your essays. They need to be 10/10. </p>

<p>Good luck! </p>

<p>(Chance back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1690291-chance-me-at-ivies-top-publics.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1690291-chance-me-at-ivies-top-publics.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;)</p>

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<p>@puzzled123 I’d never be able to say one of my essays was a 10/10…it’s too subjective/inaccurate. I’m just trying my best to let my personality shine through. If they like me, awesome. If they don’t, that’s fine too. </p>

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<p>From my view, you’ll definitely get into UCLA, UCSD and UCSB. UCB I’m not quite sure of but I say you might get in (comparing your stats with my friend’s who got into UCB) </p>

<p>Could you chance back please?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1721340-chances-for-international-student-uc-berkely-ucla-uc-san-diego-uc-irvine-nyu-emory-and-more.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1721340-chances-for-international-student-uc-berkely-ucla-uc-san-diego-uc-irvine-nyu-emory-and-more.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>@wldb15‌ chanced you back :)</p>

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<p>Are you sure you want to apply to all of those schools? Someone who is happy with the environment at Princeton probably won’t be happy with UCLA…</p>

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<p>@hosley17 I’ll be happy. UCLA for the weather and the girls, Princeton for the prestige and education. Not to say that Princeton doesn’t have nice girls or UCLA doesn’t have a good education.</p>

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<p>Similar stats to mine and I didn’t get into Stanford or Duke (that’s not to say you won’t get in). I’d say a high reach for Stanford, Duke, Princeton. Low reach for USC. High Match for UCLA and UCB. The rest you should get into (unless you go the Northwestern route, in which case, low reach).</p>

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<p>@smithg1227 Wow bro, may I ask where you go to college now? What do you think were your biggest weaknesses - or rather, what do you think could have improved your chances of getting into Duke/Stanford?</p>

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<p>I go to school at a small private school called Stetson University in central Florida right now (working on transfer applications to Columbia, Yale, Penn and Vanderbilt)… I’d say my biggest weakness was definitely my GPA (3.75-ish) and average test scores (32 ACT, 2150 SAT). I did get into some good schools (Alabama, NYU [would’ve went but couldn’t afford it]). Other than that, I did pretty much as much as I could to get in. If I could offer any advice, It’d be to be grateful for the opportunity just to APPLY to these schools because you’ve clearly worked hard just to be in this position. If you are offered an interview opportunity, take it (Really, I did about 5 interviews and they’ve proved invaluable. I’m so much more comfortable in interview situations now). Make sure you have some safety schools as well, but in general, just enjoy this experience and kept your head up, no matter decision you get back.</p>

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<p>@Smithg1227‌ Damn man, that might have been the best thing anyone’s ever told me on this forum. Much appreciated dude, and I hope you get into a college of your choice. <3</p>

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<p>bumpp</p>