What are my chances at Ivy Leagues?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Okay, so I'm going to be a senior this fall, and I would just like to know what my chances are at getting accepted into Ivy League/prestigious colleges. Obviously, there's no way anyone can know for sure, but anyone's opinion would be greatly appreciated! </p>

<p>STATS
SAT: 2300 (750 CR, 770 M, 780 W)
SAT 2: 800 for Math 2, ? SAT 2 for Biology (will find out this Thursday)
GPA: 96.2 out of 100, ranked as 2 out of 130
PSAT: 219
AP classes: Junior- Biology, U.S. History, Language and Composition (will find out scores in July); Senior- Physics C, European History, Literature and Composition, Calculus BC, French
Research classes: Taking a Science Research class (three year intensive research class), taking Cambridge Pre-University class (two year intensive independent class, only offered to about 11 schools in America)
High school: Definitely best in my region, pretty good in country, but it's a public high school, so it can't really compete with prestigious prep schools
Recommendation letters: Science Research, Precalc/Calc teachers and NYU mentor- all of them know me pretty well, so these should be fine</p>

<p>ACTIVITIES
Math League (9th grade-present), will be an officer senior year
Science Olympiad (9th grade-present), was historian junior year and will be president senior year
Contrast Newspaper Club (11th grade-present), was junior editor junior year and will be editor-in-chief senior year
National Honor Society (inducted in 11th grade)</p>

<p>Had a mentor at Columbia University Medical Center during the summer of 2012 and worked on an experiment with brain tumors (part of my Science Research class)
Will be continuing with a mentor at NYU during the summer of 2013, experiment is currently unknown</p>

<p>Accepted into Columbia Science Honors Program during sophomore year (intensive Saturday classes at Columbia University, acceptance rate of about 15% of highly capable sophomore, juniors, and seniors) </p>

<p>Volunteered at Vassar Brothers Hospital (summer of 2011-2012)
Language tutor (2011-2012)
Math tutor (2012-present)
In total, I have at least 250 hours of community service.</p>

<p>ACADEMIC RECORDS
Possibly a National Merit Scholar Finalist (don't know cutoff score yet for NY-definitely a Commended Scholar)
Regional awards: various first prizes for Science Olympiad and Math League
Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award </p>

<p>SKILLS
Sports: Varsity Tennis (10th grade-present)
Languages: English, Malayalam (mother tongue)
Musical instruments: violin (3rd grade-11th grade)</p>

<p>OTHERS
Financial Contribution Capacity: Would like to apply for financial aid, but my family is capable of paying for my tuition (upper-middle class, so financial aid probably won't be given)
Ethnicity: Indian-American
I've never had any disciplinary problems in school, no legal troubles, etc.</p>

<p>If you guys could please let me know how my application would look to highly competitive schools, that would be great!</p>

2

<p>Your application will look very good to highly competitive schools, and I believe that if you choose your list wisely, you will be accepted to multiple highly competitive schools. But…your application will look quite similar to a lot of other applications, so it is difficult to predict your chances at any specific highly competitive school. So your strategy should be not to have one “dream” school, but to craft a list of reach, match and safety schools. I would expect you to have a reach-heavy list–maybe as many as ten reaches–and then a couple of matches and at least one true safety.</p>

3

<p>teacher recs and essays will make all the difference for you…your stats are great but you will need to (and have teachers) advocate for your involvement in EC’s, etc.</p>

4

<p>Thanks so much, guys. I’ll definitely make sure that my teachers know what to write about for recommendations. And I’m trying not to get too attached to a single school, since the chances of getting into Ivies are pretty slim!</p>

5

<p>You will get into some great colleges.</p>

<p>“Top 15 colleges”: High Reach to Low Reach</p>

6

<p>Thank you for your opinion. It really means a lot to me. (:</p>

7

<p>You will get into amazing schools - probably Cornell too</p>

8

<p>Thank you! Hopefully, these great schools are within reach.</p>

9

<p><em>UPDATE</em> So, I got an 800 on Biology E (yay!), but I only got a 4 on the Biology AP. I got a 5 on my Language and US AP’s, but do you think the 4 in Bio is going to hurt me? I want to become a doctor, so idk how a 4 will look to colleges. Most people say that AP scores don’t play that big of a role, but it’s still making me nervous. :/</p>

10

<p>You should be fine, don’t worry about that. Even a 4 is a good score and some schools even give credit for that. You have a great GPA, ECs and test scores. Keep up the good work!</p>

11

<p>Thank you, that helps. (:</p>

12

<p>EC are fantastic and can make u stand out…you SAT is at least ~75% at these schools and give u a nice chance and SAT2 scores show u can consistently score well in specific areas. U didnt take so many AP courses…more wouldve seemed better. Your gpa is also fantastic.
again, these schools are reaches for everyone, but i think u have a solid chance especially if u apply ED</p>

<p>UPenn (if apply ED) low reach (match)
Columbuia low reach
Brown reach
Dartmouth low reach
Cornell match (esp. ED)
Harvard reach
Yale reach
Princeton reach</p>

<p>chance back!?!?!?!</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1527194-brandeis-chance-will-apply-ed-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1527194-brandeis-chance-will-apply-ed-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

13

<p>columbia ED…match. if u show interest in Columbia especially with you history there, you have a fantastic chance! good luck</p>

<p>chance back…???</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1527194-brandeis-chance-will-apply-ed-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1527194-brandeis-chance-will-apply-ed-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

14

<p>Thanks! And my school doesn’t have too many APs, 3 was the norm for juniors. I took another AP level class, but it doesn’t have an AP exam; it has an assessment from Cambridge instead. It’s recognized by Ivy Leagues, so hopefully that should count for something.</p>

15

<p>All of the schools you want to apply to are low reaches. You’ll do fantastic in the app process, don’t worry.</p>

<p>Chance back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1517788-chance-johns-hopkins-ed-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1517788-chance-johns-hopkins-ed-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

16

<p>Thanks, I’ll chance you back!</p>

17

<p>You seem pretty well situated to get into some of those schools. I think you have a very good chance at Columbia, especially if you were to apply ED. Cornell, would be one that I would expect you to get into. Brown, Penn, and Dartmouth would all be more difficult. And obviously a smaller chance at Princeton, Yale, and Harvard, but they’re certainly possible!</p>

18

<p>Thanks, that seems realistic. I know someone that got into Harvard but was rejected from Georgetown, so I guess we’ll never really know what colleges are looking for.</p>

19

<p>Can anyone reply? I’ll chance back!</p>

20

<p>I feel you have good chances at all those schools just make sure your essays stand out and you will be fine :)</p>