Top Liberal Arts Colleges + Ivy Chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Hi everyone! Hope you are all having a lovely night :slight_smile: I for one am on the brink of an existential crisis, so I’m trying to channel my stress into something, anything, and I decided a chance post was what that thing would be. I know that at this level, chance posts are pointless because you can’t really chance because there are so many outside factors (essays and recs are so very important!!). I honestly just felt like writing stuff out because like I said school is stressful and while I have loads of other things I could be doing, procrastination is my middle name. I’ve also already created one of these like a year ago, so I’m probably breaking some code of honor by redoing this, but…well, I don’t have a but. Anyway, to stop with the rambling…

Objective:

ACT (breakdown): 33 C (34 E, 34 M, 33 R, 33 S); 36 W
SAT II: n/a
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.56
Rank: 3/449 (top 1%)
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (4), Human Geo (5), English Language and Comp (5), US History (5), Chem (3…yikes!!), Calc AB (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP US and Comparative Gov, AP German, AP Stats, AP Psych, AP Physics C (as you can see by the 3 in AP Chem, I’m not a science person, so this class is kicking my butt atm)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): uhh…I attended Virginia Governor’s School for German, National Merit Commended, AP Scholar w/ Distinction…and on the common app I put history student of the year for my school (lol) and winning NaNoWriMo in 9th grade (lol…major I know, I’ve got the certificate and everything!)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  1. Global Leaders (founder and president); global current events type club where we talk about global events that don’t get widespread international coverage + bias in English media
  2. Disney Princess fan page contributor; spent most of my time here…lots of articles written on sexism, racism, and other general problems in Disney films (as well as more lighthearted ones)
  3. German Club (president)
  4. Self-taught Norwegian; did it through free online resources!! Hei:)
  5. Social Science Honor Society (president); started social initiative thingy
  6. Track and Field; wasn’t great lol, but did it for 3 years…team placed at states all years
  7. Work at Kumon; worked there for over a year!:slight_smile:
  8. Class Office (historian)
  9. Mu Alpha Theta (historian)
  10. Pen-pal exchange thing w people across the world who I weekly Skype w :slight_smile:
    Essays (rating 1-10, details): Uhhh…I wrote my common app on the disney princess fan page and I genuinely feel like it’s the best thing I’ve ever written…extremely heartfelt, talked about how as a gay male it was my first time I ever felt accepted, but it was really light and funny too:) everyone who has read it has loved it, even the adults in my life despite the seemingly strange topic
    Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): My counselor loves me, so hopefully that’ll be good! I got my APUSH teacher to write one of the teacher ones, and she too loves me and I talked extensively with her outside of class. My AP Lang teacher wrote the other, and she sent me snippets from it and it brought me to tears! She talked about how likable I am and how much she respected me not only as a student, but as a person. So, they should all be good!!

Other

Intended Majors: uhhh linguistics/sociology/global affairs/cog sci/political sci/german??? maybe
State (if domestic applicant): Virginia!
School Type: public!! pretty good, sends ~10 kids each year to top 20 schools
Ethnicity: white!
Gender: male!
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I’m first gen!! so there’s that

Schools I’m applying to:
Yale (SCEA)
UVA (EA)
William and Mary
Brown
UChicago
Swarthmore
Vassar
Wesleyan
Pomona

UVA and W&M are safeties (not to sound cocky!!) because I go to a relatively well-regarded (top 10 in the state) public school in VA where 30+ students get accepted each year and based on Naviance no one with my stats has ever been rejected from these schools.

I applied to fly-in programs for all the liberal arts schools I’m applying to, and got accepted to Vassar’s, Wesleyan’s, and Pomona’s. These fly-ins are generally said to be more difficult to get into than the school’s themselves, and Vassar literally told us we’re basically guaranteed acceptance so long as we “keep up the good work” (their words not mine!)

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Like I said at the beginning, I know chancing is stupid, but if you had to say a verdict on all of these schools, please say what you think the outcome will be! I’d be happy going to every single one of these schools, so don’t feel bad if it’s rejects across the board minus one or two. Thanks so much for getting through this mess of a post and surprisingly I do feel a little better after laying out my life for the past four years in a thread! Good night everyone and thanks in advance to all who comment! :slight_smile: Good luck to us all as the weather gets colder and morale gets lower!

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I think Yale, Brown, and Chicago are tough for everyone. Being first gen should help.
I think you’ll get in everywhere else.
And you weren’t being cocky about UVA and W&M… My daughter is in NoVa with 4.0 UW…Naviance shows those schools almost never reject kids with perfect grades and lots of APs.
Good luck and try not to stress it. You’ll do fine.

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Very impressive resume.

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eyyyyy Nanowrimo
Your stats are very similar to mine! (minus the white male thing) We’re even applying to a lot of the same colleges. Your essay sounds fantastic, as well, so best wishes to you! I’m pretty sure that out of all of the fairly selective schools that you’ve named, you’ll get into a least a few you’ll like.

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Impressive resume, and congrats on the fly ins! You should be quite confident. Yale, Brown, UChicago are reaches for all and Pomona can be difficult, but if anyone has a chance, you do.

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UChicago is going to love that essay as it sounds totally quirky. After the Halloween costume fracas at Yale it may not go over quite as well there but who knows, it’s a reach for all. Keep us updated with the good news!

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@kmk1004 I just looked at your Chance Me thread and I have to say your stats are very, very impressive! Good luck to you as well, who knows, maybe this time next year we’ll end up at the same school! :slight_smile:

@Oregon2016 What do you mean by the Halloween costume fracas? I’ve heard vaguely about it, but could you elaborate on what that has to do with my chances at Yale?

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Thank you all so much for the kind comments!!! Not sure if you all felt bad for me as I came across as a bit of a wreck here, but regardless I very much so appreciated the kind words. I will for sure update this throughout the year as I get the inevitable acceptances, rejections, and everything else in between!

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I didn’t follow it closely. Had to do with “cultural appropriation”. Google “Yale Halloween costume controversy at Silliman College” for the full story. I have 3 daughters so Disney princess were a constant Halloween presence.

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Hey everyone! I am an international student from Europe, at the moment I am polishing my Common App for Yale Early Action, and I was wondering what are my chances of being accepted by Yale and other Ivies? Also, could you suggest any other school I should apply (which with financial aid for internationals)? Thank you!
I’d like to pursue a major in the Cellular Biology, as I’d like to work as a biomedical research scientist.
*Academics: *
I am doing the IB, have 7 subject including English, Bio and Chem HL; predicted score 43/45. Before the IB, I attended the National program for 2 years and had maximal grade average(4.0/4.0). Also, I speak 4 languages. I am sitting the SAT in November, and Bio+Math2 in December. I expect to score well above the average.
I had a campus interview which was really good, I believe I conveyed my message and passion.
*Activities: * I was into research since the beggining of the high school, authored 2 research papers, attended conferences, competitions… I had been a member of Talent Center for 4 years now. During summer, I attended the Yale Young Global Scholars Biomedical Sciences and the similar course at Oxford University. Also, I volunteered a lot, organised meaningful projects for community. I do a lot of dabate, MUNs, tutoring, theatre etc.

*Recommondations: * Bio and English teacher who really like me, so I expect excellent feedback. Also my research mentor will upload an additional recommondation, and I’ upload my 2 research abstracts.
*Hooks: * First-generation student, Moved to another country to study, and to get better opportunities, Diversity, Ample research experience.

Thanks!

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@colleges321 You must start your own thread.

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Thank you, I am still trying to figure out how the website works. :slight_smile:

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Hi! I know I’m a little late, but you have really impressive stats! I only have a couple concerns about your chances at top schools:

  1. Why didn’t you take BC calc this year? (I am a parent of a student in your county (bc there is only one school in VA’s top 10 schools that still ranks its students)) BC is offered at every LC school. Although your other course rigor is fantastic, this could be a big red flag. If your calc grade last year wasn’t fantastic, it may appear that you’re trying to game your class ranking.
  2. For the Disney Princess forum, are you writing published articles or are you merely posting on a forum? I doubt it will matter much to ad-coms but having official publication vs. a more casual setting could make it seem non-legit.

Top schools are a total crapshoot, but you are an absolutely fantastic applicant! Do let us know how things go for you.

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@swegereager I actually got an A+ in Calc AB and a 5 on the exam and was in no ways trying to “game the system” by skipping out on BC. It was more so because while I’m very good at the subject, I don’t really like it very much, coupled with the fact that the BC teacher at my school is pretty infamous, I’m not applying as a STEM major, and I was already signed up for 6 APs, I figured not taking BC wouldn’t really matter much. Do you think the 5 on the AP exam as well as the A+ on my transcript will make it so not taking BC isn’t a red flag?

As for the DP forum, I’d say it’s somewhere in the middle. It isn’t an official publication per say, but it’s more than just posting a thread in here for example. By listing the DP forum on college applications I wasn’t so much trying to impress admission officers, but trying to show them more of my personality I’d say.

Thank you so much for taking time to comment, I’ll definitely be updating this thread as the results trickle in (with my first result coming in a little over a month!). :slight_smile:

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@berkdork Makes sense. My son is the same way, although we (to his chagrin) decided to take the “safe” route, and he’s in BC this year. I don’t think it will be a make-or-break sort of deal but I would probably have advised against not taking it, since the Stats and Psych classes are going to be seen as “filler” (though they are probably more fun than integrals). At least at my son’s LC school, you get the “hardest schedule” rating as long as you take 1 AP in every core class and yours is probably the same way–so you’re good on that front. Your resounding success in AB helps, definitely.

The DP forum sounds so cool! Hopefully the ad-coms will be able to discern that you’re a truly unique individual worthy of admission!

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Also, is your ACT a 33C or a 34C? Having the 2 34s and the 2 33s would round up, right? (unless that’s your superscore?)

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@swegereager That was actually a typo on my part, after having typed so many 33s and 34s, I accidentally mistyped my science score which is sadly an underwhelming 30. I was this close to retaking the ACT because I honestly felt I could’ve done better had I tried once more, but at the end of the day I was content with my 33 (as that was the goal I had initially set for myself).

I’m certainly not worried about whether or not I’ll get the “hardest schedule” rating, seeing as I’m graduating with more APs than anyone else in my class and my guidance counselor actually told me it was a good idea to skip out on BC after hearing my reasoning. I was slightly worried about the stats/psych combo, but among my other classes I didn’t think much of it!

Is your son also a senior? If so, good luck to him this app season!

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@berkdork There is no need to redo a 33 on the ACT–that’s an excellent score! It is around Yale’s 50th percentile and thus, while it will not be an admissions boost, it will not be a detractor either.

Graduating with the most APs in your class is a real accomplishment! I would caution against perceiving that as a safety net, though, as top schools often want to see you take ‘the toughest curriculum possible in your core classes’. Unfortunately, you didn’t do that in math. Will it affect your admissions decision? No, I would highly doubt it. Still, however, if they notice, it might be something an ad-com highlights before your application goes to committee.

You have absolutely no reason to worry about college apps. You’re going to get denied some Ivies/top LACs, but you’re going to get into some as well. You are an excellent candidate and should be proud of all that you’ve accomplished.

And yes, my son is a senior :slight_smile: He is applying to P SCEA.! He is actually a very similar applicant to you in many ways. His scores are better, but you have him by just a hair on GPA. We will see what happens in December. All the best to you! You will do fantastically.

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UPDATE: I have so far been deferred from Yale and accepted to UVA (yay)! I honestly couldn’t have hoped for much better than that! The only difference from the OP is that I ended up applying to URichmond instead of William and Mary. Now that I have an acceptance under my belt I feel so relieved though!

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From looking at your thread, I think Yale is the only school you’re going to not get into. Usually the people who get into HSYPM have almost perfect scores/ GPAs/ and national awards. For example, for my friend, it took being African American, a nationally recognized opera singer, and having a 4.0UW/4.8WGPA, 2390 SAT to get into Princeton.

UVA- accept
William and Mary- accept
Brown- accept (they are going to love your common app essay because its super quirky which fits brown.)
UChicago- accept (Again, absolutely sure that they are going to love your common app essay because its super quirky. They only way they won’t accept you is if you fked up your supplemental essay- which you probably didn’t since your common app was so creative.)
Swarthmore- accept
Vassar- accept
Wesleyan- accept
Pomona- accept

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@bubblepop12444 You’re certainly being too kind/optimistic, but I appreciate the positivity nonetheless :slight_smile: For UChicago I wrote my supplements on coloring books, bullet points, and my love for Zootopia/MIKA/Matthew Gray Gubler/Avatar: The Last Airbender (for the tell us about your interests prompt), so I definitely kept up the “quirky” theme…my hopes aren’t too high though because with EA/ED I/ED II I feel like my comparatively mediocre self has no chance of getting in RD, but I still gave it my best effort regardless :slight_smile: Brown I’m feeling iffy with as well, as I never fully clicked with all of my supplements, but getting in would be a dream come true! Like I said originally in my OP though, getting into just one or two of the out-of-staters would be incredible!