Stanford (REA/RD?), Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, UCB, UCLA, etc.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey guys, so I’ve been contemplating on whether to apply REA or RD to Stanford. My GPA isn’t that good, my ACT is amazing, and I would like to think my EC’s are great as well (but that’s for you to decide to). There are obviously other schools that I’m applying to, but right now I just want to focus asking you guys if I should apply REA or RD to Stanford. I want to major in Business, but I might go undeclared.

Schools that I’m applying to (Please Chance me!):
Stanford (REA or RD)
Cornell
Dartmouth
Brown
UPenn
NYU Stern
Wash U in St. Louis
UVA
U of Mich
Northwestern
USC
Columbia (lol)
UCB and UCLA (and other mid-tier UC’s)

Ethnicity: Asian
10th-11th GPA: 3.77 UW, 4.25 W
10th GPA: 4.0 W
11th GPA: 4.5 W (upward trend I guess)
UC GPA: 4.08 (I think)
ACT: 35C (34 E, 35 M, 36 R, 35 S)
SAT Subjects: 700 Bio E (going to retake), going to take Math 2 this November.
AP’s: AP Human geo, AP Calc AB, APUSH, AP Bio, APES, AP Comp Sci, AP US Gov
HS Rank: Top 9% (my school doesn’t let us know what specific rank we’re in, so it’s either you’re in the top 9% of your grade or you’re not)
I also took one CC course, Intro to Bus, and got an A
Rec. Letters: Both from my English 11 (he’s the only AP Lang teacher at my school) and APUSh teachers. Expecting great letters of rec. from them. I’m also getting an additional LOR from my CEO when I worked at a web-designing company (look below). He will explain my creativity that I brought to the table and how my passion for entrepreneurship.

E.C’s:
-President of Key Club (organized collection drives, UNICEF Halloween drive, etc.)
-President/Founder of Stock Market Club (planning to participate in state/regional virtual investment contests)
-VP of DECA club
-HS soccer for 2 years and competitive club soccer for many years.
-HS track for 1 year
-HS band for 2 years
-NHS member for 3 years
-Been playing piano for 10+ years and won many local (and very few state) awards.
-Coached elementary/middle-school kids soccer at a Korean-American soccer organization in a local city for 3-4 years.
-Paid internship as a business marketing apprentice at an import/exporting company.
-Worked as a regular employee at a web designing company with an above-average pay than just minimum wage. I got recruited as a web design for their company for 2 summers, since I couldn’t work during the school year. Although I have some interest and ability in computer graphic designs, I don’t wish to pursue this as a possible major of mine in college.
-Raised a collection drive for a non-profit organization (New Eyes, a 501c-nonprofit organization) and collected hundreds of glasses during this summer, and looking forward to continue this project for a couple of more months into my senior year.
-Started an online business and planning to create a kickstarter, but don’t know if the results and accomplishments of this business will prevail in time for application deadlines (I wrote my essays about this, explained the growth and development, and showed how this business has shaped my interests for entrepreneurship).

I hope my EC’s will show my interests for business (more specifically, entrepreneurship) while my GPA isn’t that great. Please be candid and I will chance back! Thanks!

2

Bump! Please provide any feedback, I’d greatly appreciate it!

3

you have a shot but a lot of those colleges are really based on luck like the ivies. I think you will get into those with above 20% acceptance rate with fairly high consistency though

4

^Thanks! BUMP

5

Stanford (REA or RD) - reach either way
Cornell - low reach
Dartmouth - low reach
Brown - low reach
UPenn - reach
NYU Stern - low reach
Wash U in St. Louis - low reach
UVA - high match
U of Mic -high match
Northwestern - low reach
USC - high match
Columbia (lol) - reach
UCB and UCLA - high match
Mid-tier UCs - match
Lower UCs - low match to safety

Your ACT compensated for lower GPA!

6

@uclaparent9 Thanks! And just a quick question: I’m used to the safety, match, and reach chancing, but not so much for high match, low reach, etc. (seems like a dumb question haha). So since I only see that the mid uc’s as pure matches, does that still mean I have a decent/good shot at being admitted to the high match schools or what? Thanks.

7

I consider a “match” at 50% of possibility. A “low” or “high”, changes that chance by about +/-10%. And yes…you have a good chance to still be accepted to a high match. I say if you apply to 3 such school you will be accepted to one surely (well, may be a little shy of that!) … And to two, well possibly!

8

S and B will be reaches just because of the numbers applying. Slight reach for C, C D and Penn, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you got in 2 out of 4.For the remaining schools, you are pretty solid, I say 7 out 10. One comment, you need to narrow this list down.

9

Where is your home state and what is your intended major?

10

@billcsho California and business (but I might go undeclared because I’m not 100%)

11

I see USC and maybe, UCLA. Not Stanford.

12

@JustOneDad Thanks! What do you think about the other schools, if I may ask?

13

Sorry, I just don’t know enough about them and the kinds of students that get in. Looking over the list, I’m sure you are competitive at some of them.

What do you think of USC?

14

@JustOneDad Oh, no worries! USC is an excellent school, especially its business program. Though, I’m still not 100% sure if I want to major in business and it’s just not my top choice.

15

Bump! Always open to more feedback!

16

So, how I view acceptance to all these top tiered schools is this: It’s how you distinguish yourself from the thousands of applicants just like you.

First step to this, is to be involved in many activities that show passion, and are unique. You DEFINITELY have those, for sure.

The second step is the harder part.

I guarantee you that there are applicants out there with your same academics scores(or even better) and very Similar business extra curricular activities. Obviously not the exact same, but there are definitely many people out there that have a profile like you. I’m not trying to discount your work, because it’s amazing, but doing that work is just half the battle.

The next half is, how are you different from the people that look the same as you on paper?

Say you take two people who have similar profiles on paper. There is a good chance that those people may actually have totally different personalities and ideals that just can’t be captured on an a resume or list of activities and your scores.

You need to use your writing, to show how you are special. Not because of what you did. But why you did it. How you did it. How you got to your achievements. The acheivement itself is special, but what’s more special is the path you took to that. That path shows your character, shows all the hours of hard work and tears you put into an area of passion. How well you do that, will really improve your chances at top schools.

In terms of grades, scores, and EC’s, your’e in the ball park. It’s all about how you write and how you show yourself in your essays now!

17

Your UC GPA is a little bit low for UCLA and UCB. How is your 9th grade GPA (or 9-11 grade cumulative GPA)? This is critical for your UMich chance. Your ACT score is good, but your GPA may be a problem. If you are not so sure about business major yet, then you should not apply to Ross pre-admit but just LSA at UMich. You may apply to Ross after freshmen year. If your 9-11th grade uwGPA is still around 3.77, then UMich LSA would be a low reach for you. The OOS admission rate at UMich is around 20%. They consider GPA as very important (more important than test score) while yours is below admission average.

18

@billcsho My 9-11 UW gpa is a 3.80, but my 9-11 W gpa is a 4.10 because there aren’t any honor/AP courses available for freshman in my school (honors count as 5 points for an A just like APs).

19

BUMP

20

What schools did you finally make and what did you choose?