UPenn/Yale - anyone weighing in on chance would be greatly appreciated!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Yale, UPenn, Columbia, Cornell, Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, Pratt Institute, Savannah College of Art and Design<br>
I’ve already been provisionally accepted to Clemson University – I’d like to go into architecture so I’m not taking this for granted. </p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 4.0</p>

<p>Weighted GPA: 4.6</p>

<p>APs:
Junior Year – Physics B 5; Calc AB 5; Comp Gov 5; Eng Lang 5; US Hist 4
Senior Year - Calc BC; Micro Econ; Macro Econ; Studio Art; Eng Lit
I believe my school offers around twenty or so APs – basically most excluding the languages that aren’t French and Spanish.</p>

<p>Rank: 16 out of 619 (Very competitive in the top thirty or so)</p>

<p>SAT: CR – 750, Math – 700, Writing – 600, Composite - 2050 (This was my first sitting with no review; I’m taking it again in October and expecting it to go up as my PSAT went from 207 to 231 the second time)</p>

<p>Employment: n/a</p>

<p>Academic Honors:
8th grade statewide Lt. Governor’s Writing Award (I know it’s early, but should I include it anyway….?)
9th grade English, Math, and Science department awards
National Council for the Teachers of English essay contest nominee (still waiting for results)
County Public Library writing contests to meet young adult authors (ten winners for each) – Laurie Halse Anderson (2006), John Green (2008)
District Honors for perfect CR PSAT score
My guidance counselor told me I’d get National Merit of some sort, take that as you will.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Academic Quizbowl Team member 10th, 11th, President 12th (As a team we came in 2nd in the state at the state NAQT qualifying tournament, and I received top scorer at one tournament. As President, I organize our home tournaments and run scoring for them and decide what tournaments the team should go to. I think that I probably will be writing about this for my essay.)
Seven years of Orchestra; for 10th, 11th, 12th I auditioned for and made the Symphony Orchestra which is a really big deal at my school – every four years we go on an international trip. This year I also plan to be in Chamber orchestra, which plays paying gigs and is for honors credit. For the violin, I have done Solo and Ensemble festival this past year and received a rating of excellent on my solo.
Theatre Odyssey 9th, 10th; Community Theater volunteering for three shows in the 2008-2009 season (Assistant Stage Manager for one, backstage crew for two) I plan on doing more of this because I simply love it.
YMCA Youth in Government 9th – page; 10th – attorney; 11th – legislator; 12th – I plan on being a party leader (This is a mock state government program held every year)
Civinettes member 11th, 12th including summer volunteering
Library volunteering in the teen services department averaging four hours a month plus a yearly weekend reading festival
Member of Mu Alpha Theta, National Art Honors Society, and NHS 10th, 11th, and 12th</p>

<p>Recs:
I shouldn’t have any problems with recommendations, my AP English Lang teacher is writing one that is sure to be good and for the second I think I’m asking the AP Physics teacher.</p>

<p>Extra Information:
One of the things I really love is reading (favorite author Oscar Wilde) and I hope to show it in my application, probably in the essay. Another thing I love is painting, I’ve been using the summer to do a series of paintings on Alice in Wonderland. I’d love to travel a lot someday.</p>

<p>I visited the majority of the schools on my list and absolutely loved Penn and Yale, I hope to be able to get into them though my resume doesn’t really reach “superstudent” status, haha. I plan on applying early action to Yale, I can’t do early decision anywhere because of our financial situation at the moment.</p>

<p>If you give me my chances, thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment, it’s really appreciated. Advice is also welcome.</p>

2

<p>Don’t know the art schools, you look good for Penn and Cornell. Yale and Columbia with their sub 10% admit rates are very, very tough but will certainly be possibilities with a 2300 plus and great applicaton.</p>

3

<p>“I can’t do early decision anywhere because of our financial situation at the moment.”</p>

<p>Reasons for not doing early decision are that you don’t have that one dream school above all others, or you want to compare financial aid packages. But if you have the dream school you will attend if there is any way possible, you can apply ED, and if the FA offer is insufficient you can decline without consequence and apply RD to other schools (except, I’ve been told, to another Ivy if you declined an ED offer from an Ivy).</p>

4

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<p>[Early</a> Decision at Smith for Financial Aid Applicant? - Ask The Dean](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/early-decision-at-smith-for-financial-aid-applicant.htm]Early”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/early-decision-at-smith-for-financial-aid-applicant.htm)</p>

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<p><a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/DownloadForms.aspx[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/DownloadForms.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thanks for that, I wasn’t aware.
I think I’ll still do early action for Yale, though, because I really loved it a lot.</p>

6

<p>Just a word of advice…if your SAT score doesn’t go up substantially (2200 range), you might want to consider doing ED since you are a reach candidate for most Ivies and SCEA doesn’t exactly improve your chances. </p>

<p>I know some people on this forum are going to disagree with applying ED to a school that is not your absolute first choice, but I think someone in the OP’s situation shouldn’t risk rejection from both schools.</p>

7

<p>Update: I took the ACT instead and made a 35. I also won an NCTE Award for Superior Writing, and am a NM Semifinalist. I have a lead role in a play, am Vice President of National Art Honors Society, and auditioned and made Chamber Orchestra (1 of 8 violins, and the only one without private lessons). I’m assuming all of this makes my chances go up, am I now likely to get into an ivy?</p>

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<p>Hmm well I say that you are set for at least one ivy (I’d bet you get into 40-50% of them though). One flaw though is your awards. This might just be because I am bitter (lol I didnt win the NCTE thing), but you do lack awards. I would try to get some more (I know its hard to do that at this point in time though). However, other than that, you are set!</p>

<p>Have fun at (insert ivy here),
Robbie</p>

9

<p>Maybe think of it this way: Your chances may be as good as anyone’s, which are not very good; hardly anyone is admitted to an Ivy, but a few thousand are admitted every year. Go ahead and apply, but also to your match schools, and a couple of safeties.</p>

10

<p>Thank you!</p>