Wharton, Wash U, Dartmouth, UVA, UNC, Duke, Emory

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm only a junior and recently got my SATs back so I just wanted some input on my chances at some of the schools above. My SATs are by far my weakest part, but im hoping it will be overlooked.</p>

<p>White Male- Junior
Very competitive public HS in maryland (top 10 public hs in nation)
Rank: N/A (Because of its competitiveness, school doesn't rank)</p>

<p>UW: 4.00
Weighted GPA: appx. 4.7</p>

<p>Freshman Year:</p>

<p>H English
H Bio
H Alg 2 w/ analysis
H Us history
Photo
Phys Ed
H Spanish 3</p>

<p>Sophmore Year:</p>

<p>H English
H Chem
H Physics
H PreCalc RL (an accelerated class for kids who really like math, teacher mentions it in rec if one is gotten from her)
H Spanish 4
Web Design
AP Gov't</p>

<p>Junior Year:</p>

<p>AP BC Calc
AP Physics C
AP US History
H English
H Spanish 5
Weight Training
SAT Prep/ H Health
1 semester internship --architecture firm</p>

<p>SAT scores:</p>

<p>SAT M:790, W:670, CR:600
**will take again in october, but the CR score will prob remain in the 600-650 range, the writing could go up to 700, math will go up depending on careless mistakes)</p>

<p>SAT IIs: Will take Physics, US History, Math II</p>

<p>APs: Govt 5, Will take Physics C, Calc BC, and US History</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Baseball (9,10, hopefully will make in 11th)
Baseball summer camp counselor (4 weeks, will try to work again this summer)
**I have a real passion for baseball (not that good) but will try to make it shine in my essays and such --looking into an internship w/ washington nationals</p>

<p>Architecture Internship (11)
Model UN (10,11)
DECA club (11)
70 hrs community service (many of which coming from helping to mentor a kid experiencing homelessness)
babysit every week</p>

<p><strong><em>I will try to show my love of kids and baseball. Most of my ECs deal with baseball or working with kids and i think thats something i will focus on throughout my applications</em></strong></p>

<p>I know that my ECs are kind of weak and same with SATs (esp. CR) but Wharton is my #1 choice and will most likely apply early (chances for Washu and dartmouth ED wouldn't hurt either)</p>

2

<p>bump 10 char</p>

3

<p>If you get your SAT up<br>
Wharton=Far Reach
Wash U=High Target
Dartmouth=Reach
UVA=Target
Duke=Safe
Emory=Target</p>

<p>If you get your ECs up
Wharton=Mid Reach
Wash U=Low Target
Dartmouth=Low Reach
UVA=Safe
Duke=Safe
Emory=Safe</p>

4

<p>Unfortunately no, your SATs will not be overlooked...</p>

<p>Wharton - Big Reach
Wash U - Reach
Dartmouth - Reach
UVA - Reach (OOS)
Duke - Reach
Emory - Match</p>

<p>Even if you bring your SATs up another 50 odd points, things will not change all that much. Wharton will remain a big reach, the other reaches remain reaches or at best, low reaches. Except for Emory, these schools are all extremely difficult to get into. Emory is merely very difficult.</p>

<p>If you're really set on getting into a B school, you probably should aim a tad lower. Fortunately, there's lots of good B-schools where your stats are competitive. Here's a short list:</p>

<p>Smeal (Penn State, University Park)
Carlson (U of Minnesota - Twin Cities)
Notre Dame
McDonough (Georgetown)
Smith ( U of Maryland, College Park)
Carroll (Boston College)</p>

<p>If you want to see a more comprehensive list, pick up the August 27, 2007 edition of U.S. News or the May 8, 2006 edition of Business Week.</p>

5

<p>That's interesting. UMD is my big safety just because my entire family went there and it's 20 minutes away from my house. I just thought that with a flawless GPA, many of the top schools would overlook a mediocre CR section. Other than retaking the SAT (which I plan to do in october), is there anything else that I can do to really stand-out. I can try to increase my ECs but with baseball until May, i dont know what I can do. Any suggestions?</p>

<p>And AY and amptron, thanks for the input.</p>

6

<p>
[quote]
My SATs are by far my weakest part, but im hoping it will be overlooked.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>don't count on it...especially not for wharton.</p>

7

<p>internships at a financial institution always help you stand out regardless of where you attend.</p>

8

<p>I didn't mean to totally discourage you from applying to a couple of reaches. If you can bring your SATs up another 50 points or so, it would help a bit at all those schools. Fact is, you should apply to a couple of reaches. You might get lucky. But you should also apply to a bunch of matches and a couple of safeties because lucky doesn't happen all that frequently.</p>

<p>As far as trying to improve your ECs, well, it's a little late in the game for that. You can bet the admissions people would sense, that if you suddenly did 400 hours of charity work over the summer between your junior and senior years, that your intentions were not exactly sincere.</p>

<p>Your best bet is to keep the grades up , study for the SATs - maybe take a class or something, try to raise the SAT score, and do the ECs you enjoy. It's writing about the stuff you like in your essays that will make you stand out, not some phony-baloney EC that you're only doing because you think it will help you get into a college.</p>

9

<p>I haven't narrowed down my schools yet, but I only posted the schools I have a high interest in going and not a great/definite shot of getting into. I have a few safeties and some lesser schools (wake, nyu(maybe not as much), bucknell, umd, miami) but no sense in chancing those. </p>

<p>I plan on doing a summer program or internship or camp counselor so that could add something to it. And I'm fully aware of not going out and joining a bunch of random BS clubs to increase my ECs. I'm really looking into getting something with the Washington Nationals (interesting, different, and probably really fun)</p>

<p>As for my SATs, I'm just not great at CR. Its as simple as that. Never have been good at that kind of stuff and its that simple. I'm going to work on vocabulary as well as do a bunch of practice tests in prep for October SAT but realistically my math wont go up (if so 10 pts is not a big jump), my CR could go up to mid-to-upper 600s at best (prob hover around 630-650 and then W might go up to 700s or low 700s. That could possibly get my SAT to a 2150ish (but thats prob a max realistic score).</p>

<p>I realize that Wharton and Dartmouth are reaches for anyone (let alone a 2060 SAT candidate) but hopefully i can write good essays that show my love for baseball and working with kids.</p>

<p>Thanks for all of the input...and to everyone thats replied, when i said overlooked, i meant that they might see a mediocre CR score and realize that my GPA M score and other extra stuff outweigh it enough (thats all)</p>

10

<p>anyone else wanna chime in....bump</p>

11

<p>anyone else have any thoughts</p>

12

<p>i think the only thing going for you is your GPA because your ECs are fairly weak and your SAT isnt great. i'm kind of in the same situation as you, so i cant make a good call</p>

13

<p>bump 10 char</p>

14

<p>WashU ED is well within reach (high match/ slight reach), Dartmouth will be tougher (reach).</p>