What are my chances in to getting into Duke, Princeton, or Northwestern?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I am African-American male and currently a junior in High School</p>

<p>(I plan on studying business)</p>

<p>3.5 UW GPA
-Mostly Honors classes and Moderate amount of APs (few non-honors courses)... I understand this is a bit low because they mostly look for all AP courses.</p>

<p>2010 on SATs</p>

<p>CR: 680
M: 670
WR:650</p>

<p>Great extracurriculars:
-Have had two summer jobs</p>

<p>-A member of the LEAD business program at Northwestern University. This is a prestigious business program for African American High school students. It is a month long curriculum in which students stay on Northwestern's campus the whole time.</p>

<p>-A member of the Impact program. (run by Pricewaterhouse coopers) A college preparatory and business program for minority students in Philadelphia.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Three years of varsity basketball</p></li>
<li><p>Attended Valley Forge Military Academy for two years, recieved many honors, medals, and the leadership position of Sergeant there.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>-DECA</p>

<p>-member of the Marching band at Valley Forge Military Academy</p>

<ul>
<li>have more but im sure you get the jist.</li>
</ul>

<p>Awards:
-Medals from Valley Forge Military Academy
-Honor Roll most marking periods
-Basketball MVP and captain
- The Hocker Scholarship (30,000 dollar scholarship to Valley Forge Military Academy)</p>

<p>Im a great writer and my hook will be about my experience at Valley Forge Military Academy and my leadership experience. Either that or I will write about my interest in business and entrepreneurship.</p>

<p>(I no longer attend Valley Forge Military Academy for personal reasons, Not Disciplinary)</p>

<p>From what you see here what are my chances of getting into Duke and what do you suggest I do to improve my chances? From here on I'll only be adding to my resume.</p>

2

<p>First of all, your hook is that you are african american and not that you will be writing about your experience at Valley Forge. Hooks are URM, legacy status, children of major donors, and athletes.</p>

<p>Honestly, if you weren’t a minority I would say your chances are almost zero in getting into Princeton, Duke and Northwestern. Your GPA is really low for those schools and from what you wrote, you haven’t taken an exactly rigorous courseload. SAT’s are also pretty low too, you need to retake and get at least a solid 2100. </p>

<p>I would say these schools are mid reaches, bit better chances if you apply ED to duke or NU, but your chances improve considerably if you can really improve your SAT score.</p>

<p>And what is your class rank and/or percentile?</p>

3

<p>Thank you for the input, my class rank doesn’t come out until I receive my final report card so I don’t have that at the moment, I understand that being an URM means a lot in my chances of getting accepted. Also, I’m curious as to what you mean by ‘mid reaches’, could you explain a little more? Thank you again!</p>

4

<p>Mid reaches is an understatement. I don’t think you have much of a chance unless your SAT is at least a 2200. All schools are huge reaches. Improve your SAT and NU and Duke might become lower reaches. Also what are your actual ECs? The valley forge stuff is good, but you don’t have anything else regularly. I say no chance for now, but you can improve.</p>

5

<p>To be honest, a 3.5 GPA severely limits your chances. You have a decent application if you ignore that, although the SAT may be a little low as well.</p>

<p>In terms of extracurriculars, there’s not much of a “passion.” It seems scattered to an extent. At this point, it’s crucial that you present yourself well and do your homework. I wouldn’t rule out these schools, but you’ve put yourself at a disadvantage with the objective requirements.</p>

6

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<p>I don’t think you understand how much of a hook URM is. For example, this year an african american kid, in our school which sends few, if any, kids to top schools each year, ranked ~9/202 got a likely letter to Columbia and Cornell, while our valedictorian (white male) got rejected from columbia (he is going to harvard). He had worse EC’s than the OP, SAT score was about a 2150, but ranked just in the top 5% of the class. </p>

<p>Yes, OP’s grades and scores are sub par for those schools, but the URM status gives him a decent chance, more so if he gets his SAT score up.I’d still stay its pretty unlikely but I wouldnt be that surprise if he got into at least one of those 3 schools.</p>

7

<p>Even for URM, unlikely.</p>

8

<p>I think you would have better chances if your GPA was a 3.8 or higher. Try improving on it. SAT scores are important, but you GPA is far more imperative. </p>

<p>@cortana4311 What were OP’s scores?</p>

9

<p>URM hook is very powerful, but it does not extend the range of scores very far. A white with a 2350 can easily get rejected. An AA with 2200 is almost guaranteed.</p>

10

<p>@overachiever he had a solid 2100, with an 800 in math.</p>

11

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<p>Yes ImSoAmbitious. The URM hook is only powerful when the scores and GPA minimum are met. An URM with 2200 and great GPA is pretty much guaranteed admission into any school outside of HYPS. A hook is something that guarantees you into college when you have similar statistics. It is not something that digs you from the lower 10th percentile into the 90th percentile for acceptances.</p>

12

<p>Thank You Zlicht. Said it perfectly.</p>

13

<p>Thanks everyone, I appreciate the feedback, say I improve my SAT to ~2200, how much would that improve my chances? My class rank will probably be in the top 15-20% by the way.</p>

14

<p>Princeton - high if not super high reach
Duke - High reach
Northwestern - Reach - Only reason the odds would be better is if the LEAD program at Northwestern is competitive and if OP got picked over other URMs. This means someone at NU can provide a recommendation.</p>

15

<p>Thank you, it is competitive. (Allows 800 out of several thousand students across the country) but it isn’t run directly by NU, and I’m not sure how directly involved NU is with the program outside of us staying on the campus and using their facilities.</p>

16

<p>It’s going to be hard, but if you do ED to Duke, you’d be in the hunt, your GPA will be a disadvantage, but with your minority status and interesting experiences, there is a shot with ED. Take the ACT/retake the SAT and improve your score.</p>