What are my chances at these top schools?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>So, I just got rejected from MIT, and I'm now becoming more and more nervous regarding my other decisions. I'm waiting on Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UPenn, Duke, and Carnegie Mellon. I don't expect to get into all of them, but I want to know that I can at least get into some. It's been a tough past couple of days because of the MIT decision, and I now have this strange feeling that I'll be rejected everywhere. Please let me know what you think. </p>

<p>GPA (weighted)<em>: 4.66
GPA (unweighted)</em>: 4.0 (All A's and three A+'s)
*based on 9th, 10th, and 11th grade
Class Rank: currently hold 2nd spot</p>

<p>SAT (1600 scale): 1530 (760 CR, 770 Math)
SAT (2400 scale): 2330 (760 CR, 770 Math, 800 Writing)</p>

<p>SAT Chemistry: 710
SAT Math Level II: 770</p>

<p>AP World History: 5
AP Calculus AB: 5
AP Chemistry: 5
AP English Lang: 4
AP U.S. History: 4</p>

<p>Honors and Awards:
Excalibur National Science Honor Society (President)
English Honor Society
Spanish Honor Society
Mu Alpha Theta (Math Honors Society)
Jack C. DuBois History Honor Society
National Honor Society
Science (Chemistry) Olympiad
Headmaster’s List (all A’s), 9, 10, 11
Highest GPA in the grade, 11
Brown Book Award (for scholarship and high character), 11
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Medal Award (for outstanding academic achievement in the study of mathematics and science), 11
Sewanee Award for Excellence in Writing, 11
Rochester Susan B. Anthony/Frederick Douglas Humanities Award, 11
AP Scholar with Distinction</p>

<p>ECs:
Varsity Cross Country (Captain, won district championship, made it to states, medaled at a couple of meets, in the local newspaper a couple of times, athlete of the week twice)</p>

<p>Varsity Soccer (average player, nothing special)</p>

<p>Community Learning Partnership (CLP)
Member of organization that provides a forum for sharing community, school and university educational opportunities/events in an effort to support each other’s activities, partner where possible and highlight what each institution is offering</p>

<p>Summer Soccer Camp
Soccer coach for elementary school children</p>

<p>National Honor Society
Peer tutor in the areas of math and science</p>

<p>Honor Council
Member of board made up of teachers and students that presides over cases of students’ infractions and decides on consequence.</p>

<p>Breakthrough Miami
Summer service and leadership program to provide inner-city youth with educational and athletic guidance</p>

<p>Senior Year Courses:
AP Physics (currently A+)
AP Calculus BC (currently A+)
AP Economics/Government (currently A)
AP Spanish Language (currently A)
Honors Evolution (currently A)</p>

<p>Other Info:
I am cuban and neither of my parents attended college, making me a first-generation college applicant.
My essays are pretty good.</p>

2

<p>Did you apply anywhere else other than those schools!?</p>

3

<p>You’ll find out soon enough.</p>

4

<p>Well geez, your application is nearly perfect. I think you could at least get into ONE of those schools. Did you apply anywhere else though? Because those schools have tough competition…</p>

5

<p>Those are the only schools I applied to. I applied to Michigan but forgot to send my scores, so my app was withdrawn :-/</p>

6

<p>bump, please help</p>

7

<p>You’re fineee. </p>

8

<p>Yikes, probably should have had some safeties/matches/places-with-an-acceptance-rate-over-20%…</p>

9

<p>I can’t imagine with that resume and the minority issue that you won’t at least get into Duke. That seems like
your “safety” at this point. </p>

10

<p>Keep us posted!</p>

11

<p>numbuh, I’ll start with reassuring news…you look like a terrific candidate. You have seriously done everything right in high school and you sound like a good person as well.<br>
Now can I use you as a cautionary tale as well? You really haven’t applied to a single safety…every one of your colleges is a stretch. I believe you will get into one of them…but others could make a good argument that you may just miss admittance on all of them. I will hold out hope…you have an excellent background…</p>

12

<p>I understand that when it comes to top schools, decisions are mostly arbitrary. But does a student with my credentials ever end up not going someplace like the schools I’ve listed above. Sure, it makes sense to me that a student could want to go to Yale, but instead they get into Princeton, and that’s that. But does a student with all A’s and a 2300+ ever get rejected from ALL of the top schools to which he has applied?</p>

13

<p>^ There are plenty of students with 4.0s and good SATs. There are not enough seats at top colleges for all of them.</p>

14

<p>Will the hooks help at all: cuban, first-gen?</p>

15

<p>??</p>

16

<p>From what I can tell (at least in my school), when a student has a 4.0 uw with tons of APs but gets a 710 and 770 on chem/math 2 subject tests (good scores, but when you look at percentiles they are only decent) it makes the application look odd for lack of a better word. For schools like MIT, where it seems that you need to be a Nobel prize winner to get in, these subtleties could cause an admissions officer to reconsider the application. However, your app seems perfect, and you should get into at least one of those schools (very surprised if you didn’t). </p>

17

<p>“I understand that when it comes to top schools, decisions are mostly arbitrary. But does a student with my credentials ever end up not going someplace like the schools I’ve listed above. Sure, it makes sense to me that a student could want to go to Yale, but instead they get into Princeton, and that’s that. But does a student with all A’s and a 2300+ ever get rejected from ALL of the top schools to which he has applied?”</p>

<p>Yes, of course it can happen (see links). There are schools still accepting applications. You may want to consider adding a safety school.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/47867-we-re-picking-up-the-pieces-but-what-went-wrong-p1.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/47867-we-re-picking-up-the-pieces-but-what-went-wrong-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kid-s-story-a-year-later-p1.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kid-s-story-a-year-later-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

18

<p>Arwarw, here’s the rest of that amazing story…i think it’s one of the best that has ever run at CC…the end result was that the kid was rejected from <em>100</em> of his colleges…took a gap year…and then was accepted to MIT <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kid-s-story-a-year-later.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kid-s-story-a-year-later.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

19

<p>^^^ Agreed. It’s an interesting story. He did have Oberlin and Swathmore on his list, which indicates to me that he and his family were somewhat thoughtful and not completely beguiled by the brand names. </p>

20

<p>For those that are interested in knowing my decisions…</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon- Accepted
Duke- Accepted
UPenn- Accepted
Harvard- Rejected
Princeton- Rejected
Yale- Wait listed
Stanford- Accepted </p>

<p>I’m really pleased with these decisions, and I’d like to thank those who offered their assistance. </p>