Stanford, Tufts, others - no ego boost/nerve calming necessary!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey guys! This is my first post, and boy am I glad I found this area. I'm actually in a little bit of a predicament with designating my reaches, matches, and safeties because my grades vs. my SATs/APs are a little skewed; my GPA is low but my SATs are high. Hoping someone can help me out!</p>

<p>My Current List:
Reaches-
[ul]Stanford University (top choice)[/ul]
[ul]Tufts University[/ul]
[ul]Wesleyan University[/ul]
[ul]Barnard College[/ul]
Matches-
[ul]UC San Diego[/ul]
[ul]Brandeis University[/ul]
[ul]University of Pittsburgh[/ul]
Safeties-
[ul]Pitzer College[/ul]
[ul]Occidental College[/ul]
[ul]Wheaton College (MA)[/ul]</p>

<p>I'm a rising senior at a public high school. We're actually ranked in the top 100 high schools in America, so many people here go on to Ivies and Oxford and Cambridge and other amazing schools and people are expected to be exceedingly talented.</p>

<p>I was raised in California; am currently in Massachusetts for all of high school.</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.42
Weighted GPA: 4.37</p>

<p>All my classes have been honors classes, except for orchestra freshman year. After that, orchestra was honors too (chamber).
APs
[ul]AP European History: 5[/ul]
[ul]AP Biology: 5[/ul]
Taking: AP English, AP Spanish, and AP Psychology during my senior year.</p>

<p>SATs
SAT Is
[ul]Writing: 800[/ul]
[ul]Math: 800[/ul]
[ul]Critical Reading: 780[/ul]
^ all one test; not multiple/separate</p>

<p>SAT IIs
[ul]Chemistry: 600 (not submitting this one)[/ul]
[ul]Biology: 690 (probably not submitting this either)[/ul]
[ul]Math II: 760[/ul]
Planning to take Literature this fall.</p>

<p>ECs:
[ul]-Soccer: High school JV member before junior year, captain junior year, and Varsity player this upcoming year.[/ul]
[ul]-Violin: Orchestra all four years; honors/chamber; 2006 CMEA Ensemble Gold Medal recipient; was taught in Indian style for a year as well; pit orchestra for school musicals.[/ul]
[ul]-Newspaper: Staff member of school newspaper every year; editor senior year.[/ul]
[ul]-Mentoring: Mentored middle school students in violin.[/ul]
[ul]-Theatre: Tech a couple of times; general crew (not sure if this is going on).[/ul]
[ul]-Tutoring: Tutored students in math freshman year.[/ul]</p>

<p>Honors:
[ul]-National Honors Society member (inducted junior year)[/ul]</p>

<p>My recs are from my Spanish teacher and chemistry teacher; both know me very well and I loved their classes. I think we will be okay on this front.</p>

<p>I'm inclined towards the health care/medicinal direction; recently I discovered biomedical engineering and fell in love with the concept. That doesn't mean that's the only thing I'm looking at, though; I'm not naturally good at sciences even though I love them. I'm naturally good at English grammar and foreign languages.</p>

<p>Also, I'm Indian (with biochemist parents) and I'm not a genius. Major point deduction there... great.</p>

<p>A. Should I add anything to this post? Am I forgetting anything important because I can be really absentminded?
B. Have I pinpointed the correct reaches, matches, and safeties for my stats?
C. What are my chances of getting into my reaches? (esp. Stanford)
D. Do you have any recommendations for colleges that better suit my interests/abilities? Let me know!</p>

<p>Thank you for any help whatsoever! I really appreciate it. If you need to be harsh, please be harsh. If you want to be nice to me, that's cool too.</p>

2

<p>A. It would help if you could provide a class rank. </p>

<p>B. Yes. I think you can move Tufts down a tier, though.</p>

<p>C. As it stands, you are an ORM coming from an OR state. What makes matters worse is that your school is ultra competitive, meaning that there will be many kids in your grade vying for the same spots at Stanford. You need to be extraordinary student at your school for you to be have a shot.</p>

<p>That being said, your SAT Reasoning is obviously great, but it is weighed down significantly by weak extracurriculars and [an apparently] weak GPA. I would say that Stanford is a very big reach, with Wesleyan and Barnard being lower reaches. </p>

<p>D. If UCSD is on your list, why not look at UCB and UCLA?</p>

3

<p>Thanks!
A. We don’t know our class ranks. I realize it would help, but they just don’t share with us unless we’re being considered for valedictorian or salutatorian (which I am obviously not)
B. Most kids from my school don’t look at Stanford, though; they’re all East Coast/New Englanders and look at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, etc. Would you really think Tufts is a match? It’s pretty selective.
C. Oh man, what’s wrong with my ECs? No, I know they’re not amazing, but they’re all I’ve got. That’s exactly what I thought for the ranking - Stanford is way out there. I’m hoping to impress a little more with my essays/supplement.
D. My parents have UCB and UCLA listed as party schools in their books, so I’m not allowed to apply there. UCSD is partyish too, but there’s amazing research opportunities and I guess research > excessive partying.</p>

4

<p>A. Okay, but I would assume that the 3.4 is indicative of a copious amount of Bs on your transcript; this does not bode well for your chances at your reach schools.</p>

<p>B. Hopefully that turns out to be the case, but HYPMS includes the “S” for a reason; kids that apply to the Ivies will generally apply to Stanford as well. And I guess pushing Tufts down an entire tier might have been excessive, but still don’t believe it be a reach for you. </p>

<p>C. No, I’m not saying that your extracurriculars are bad, just that they are very generic. And good luck with your essays. </p>

<p>D. Hah.</p>

5

<p>A. Actually, I have all As, every year, every subject - except math. Solid C+ every single year, starting with freshman geometry honors, sophomore algebra II honors, and continuing the trend with junior precalculus honors. I get math. I’m good at math. I just cannot take math tests. It’s the same with biology. I got a B in AP bio junior year.
B. Right, right. Most of my friends (who are all the excessively smart but still really social and involved people) aren’t looking at Stanford, but you never know who is.
C. I guess they are pretty generic. But Indian violin is nice! And editor? Looks good… ish?
D. Plus UCB would totally be a reach. Though I literally grew up on that campus. Oh, good times.</p>

6

<p>Stanford is unrealistic but I could see Cal. They are anxious for OOS and if your UC GPA is anywhere near your weighted, you have a great shot. It’s not a party school, tell your parents to do their homework. I also think Barnard is a likely, your scores are very high there.</p>

7

<p>Oh man, when billabong said UCB my mind jumped to UCSB. But I was talking about Cal in the second post. 2:40 am is when I am most levelheaded, obviously.
The only problem with Cal was that I thought it would be a reach, and my parents think it’s too big. I personally would love to go, but Stanford is more acceptable for them.
Are you sure about Barnard? We’ll see, I guess.
Thank you for your input!</p>

8

<p>If anyone has the time/knowhow - what are my chances at Pomona College?</p>

9

<p>All of the Claremont Colleges are very numbers driven. Pomona would probably be a low to mid reach.</p>

10

<p>I agree with a previous poster who said your ECs were a bit weak. You want to major in Biomed Engineering, and based off your ECs, there’s not really anything that shows me that you want to go in that direction (ex; science clubs or something).</p>

<p>Since you’re going into Senior year now, there’s not much you can do except try and get as involved as much as possible in your current ECs. Adding new ECs now will just look like padding.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

11

<p>by “editor”, do you mean editor-in-chief? It makes a difference.</p>

12

<p>@ billabong - that’s what I figured, mid-reach. Don’t know if it’s that strong in bio, though. Meh.
@ Whatdoyouknow - I know; it’s just that sports have taken up so much of my time that clubs/competitions went a little out the window. -sigh-
@ johnwesley - co-editor-in-chief. I’ll definitely specify. Thank you!</p>

13

<p>You will not fare to well in any type of engineering if you are not good at math - in the application process and simply when you are in college. Straight C’s in one of the fundamental subject of your intended major is about the last thing you want. Not the end of the world though.</p>

<p>Also, why are your parents having so much say in where you go? “They say that is too much of a party school” or “Stanford is more acceptable for them”, all that is ridiculous. This is YOUR college you will go to, not theirs.</p>

14

<p>I am good at math, though! I can do it. Look at my SAT II! Seriously, high school in general is just not my forte. Plus I don’t know about the biomed engineering; it’s just something I recently discovered that interests me.</p>

<p>My parents are Indian. 'Nuff said. It doesn’t matter so much where I want to go as somewhere that will catapult me to my future altar of glory in which I will make a lot of money and other fun things.</p>

<p>Another question (I’m chock full of 'em!) - are programs like [MIT</a> ESP - Junction](<a href=“http://esp.mit.edu/learn/Junction/index.html]MIT”>MIT ESP - Junction) and [MIT</a> ESP - HSSP](<a href=“http://esp.mit.edu/learn/HSSP/index.html]MIT”>MIT ESP - HSSP) ECs that I should put down? I took quite a lot of classes, many related to biology.</p>

15

<p>Bumpity bump from all the way on the fifth page. Can anyone answer my question ^ ?</p>

16

<p>Rebump. Just a question about whether classes at MIT during the summer and spring would be ECs.
I mean, if you want to chance me, that would be great too. That is why I made this thread…</p>

17

<p>Guys, please?</p>

18

<p>:( this is my sad face…</p>

19

<p>The only reaches on you list are Wesleyan (slight) Stamford (out of reach).
Good luck !</p>

20

<p>The only reaches on you list are Wesleyan (slight) Stamford (out of reach).
Good luck !</p>