What are my chances based on academics to get into Princeton, Columbia, or Upenn

W: 4.85 (On a 0-5 point basis with APs)
UW: 4
SAT: 1560
ACT: 35
I know ECs are a big part, but I just want to judge it from academics alone first.

Planning on perhaps graduating early, but first I want to make sure I have a fighting chance with people who have a one year advantage over me

Step 1: go to the website of each school and look at the class profile (another option would be to look at the Common Data Set). Compare your stats. You will notice that your stats alone would be acceptable, though note that the rigor of your schedule will provide context for your gpa.

Step 2: Figure that most, probably more than half, of the applicants also have acceptable stats. In the class profile, look at the acceptance rate. (Also see if you can find acceptance rates for SCEA at Princeton and ED at Columbia and Penn, if you are considering applying early someplace; some portion of the early pool will be hooked and/or very competitive, so it’s hard to say how much applying early increases your chances.) That’s about as much as anyone can tell you about chances based on academic stats, i.e., you can figure this part out yourself.

If you are considering graduating a year early, then you need to consider whether your schedule will have been rigorous enough. Graduating early may put you at a huge disadvantage both academically and for ECs/self-development.

Thank You! I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.

Lot of kids who apply to those schools will have similar stats. It comes down to ECs, essays and LORs, gender, ethnicity and your location.

Very low, based on academics alone, unless you are a favored URM in which case I will say you are presumptive admit.

Remember, only a very small portion of the classes at the Ivies is chosen solely for academic prowess, and the only way to show that is through extraordinary achievement way beyond simple tasks like SATs or GPA. There are also very few of these sorts of genius level kids in the entire country applying to college in any given year, way way fewer than even the total size of just the HYP entering class.

For instance, I have posted this before, but here is a paper by an 11-year old in number theory:

http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/~ono/REUs/archive/results/REU2017CuretonYeo.pdf

Here is a paper on the Flynn effect, lead-written by a 15 year old:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608013001556?via%3Dihub

I could go on, but that is the sort of accomplishment that basically auto admits you on the basis of academics alone.

Everyone else has to go through the holistic process. Best of luck!

You are a competitive applicant. Your stats are great. Write amazing essays and you could get accepted to any of these schools

The problem is that it’s not based just on academics.

Just about every kid who applies to the Ivies is qualified to be there.

From that incredibly qualified applicant pool, they accept something like 7% of applicants.

So, assuming your ECs and essay and everything else make it into the “Very Qualified” pool, I’m still saying ballpark 1 in 10 or so.

Apply. But don’t put your hopes into the Ivies. The odds are simply stacked against every single incredibly qualified applicant who applies.

UPenn ED, I would give you a 1 in 2 chance based on academics. This could go up or down based on other factors.

If you’re an under-represented minority, you will likely be offered acceptance to every single school to which you apply, especially if you’re male, slightly less likely if you’re female, but you’d still probably get into Penn and Columbia. If you’re not an URM, your chances are slim, but not impossible. I don’t think that graduating early would make any difference, unless there is some achievement that you would have early in your senior year, such as winning a major national competition. Your record is wonderful, but even if it were 5.0 and 1600 SATs, you’re not guaranteed admission to any Ivy, although you would likely get into Penn and Columbia. But I don’t think that your grades in first semester of senior year, or re-taking the SAT, are likely to bring up your already fantastic credentials.

However, if you were to apply early decision to Penn, or early decision to Columbia, I would say that it would increase your chances.

If money is no concern, and you don’t care about missing senior year, I would recommend that you apply early decision to Penn or Columbia, and plan on taking a gap year doing something amazing that YOU want to do - travel, work for a political campaign, scientific research, whatever you can get that you love doing.