What are my Chances? Junior in hs wanna see how I'm doing

Chance Me / Match Me!
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So I’m a junior but wanna see my chances at my schools I am thinking of applying to
Colleges:
Based on collegevine
Targets and Safeties: UIUC, George Washington University, Boston University, Marquette, Northeastern
Reaches: Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Boston College, Northwestern, U of Chicago, Wash-U St. Louis
I also plan on applying EA for most of these that have that available if not EA than RD, applying for financial aid, and scholarships

Demographics/hook: eastern European white male first-gen immigrant (not first-gen student)

State: Illinois

GPA: 3.84 unweighted 4.38 weighted

Most recent SAT Practice with Khan Academy: 1270 (620 math 650 reading)

AP with some test scores *if not mentioned no test taken or not yet taken: AP Human Geo 5, AP seminar, AP World History 4, AP Physics, AP Language, AP Government, AP US History, trying to become some sort of AP Scholar this year too

dual-credit: Dualcredit Spanish at Eastern Illinois University, honors classes every class available for core classes, along with some electives

Courseload: I have taken every class offered as honors AP or dual credit, only non honors was Spanish 2 first semester freshman year, and some required electives, along with law classes that weren’t honors

Extracurriculars: Debate team: 9-10 (also foreign affairs research chair for 10th grade*. Speech team 9-11. Scholastic Bowl 9-11. Student Principal Advisory Council member Several political campaigns in the 2020 election including field director and political director for a senate primary in Iowa, field organizer (only paid one) for a congressional primary in Wisconsin, field intern for a congressional race in Illinois (received school credit for this), field organizing intern (paid) for state party of Iowa, and a high-ranking member of a new organization called the United Rural Democrats being a state director for Illinois, secretary, and a board member.

Any questions let me know! Thanks!

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This turned out to be long.

You could use some true/r safeties. In case.

What major? If poli sci or related, good ECs (many kids aiming for PS never get themselves out there.) But for the reachiest, we can’t guess how the 4 score will be viewed. So if it’s PS, do all you can to get a 5 on govt and USH.

Same re: getting the SAT scores up. Look at the colleges’ reported 25-75 percentile scores (from their own web info) and aim to get near or better at the 75th.

The impact of your gpa depends on what classes got less than A. Those related to your major are most important.

Don’t just rely on 3rd party info or predictions. Dig deep into what the colleges, themselves, say-and show. Get an idea what matters to them, then see what you may need to tweak. (Don’t assume the only valid ECs are goal related. Top colleges like depth and breadth.)

“eastern European white male first-gen immigrant” not a hook.

You’re basically where a lot of kids are. Need to focus now on your own deeper digging into the targets, what they offer and expect, put those ideas together for when you complete your app/supp.

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Work on that SAT score. You can’t count on test optional still being around next year. I’m surprised you came up with that list of targets and safeties with that score. I would have guessed your score would be below 25th percentile for all of them but I haven’t actually researched it do I could be wrong. Maybe Marquette is a safety but I’m not sure. The good news is that you have time to bring that score up.

The other thing you need to do is find a real safety. This is a school where you are sure that you can be admitted, you are sure you can afford, and you would be happy to attend.

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You need to work on SAT and finding real safeties. The average gpa for northeastern is 4.0+, sat like 1470. Are you able to take the SATs or ACTs now?

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Schools like Boston U and Northeastern really aren’t targets for you with your current SAT score. Your current estimate of a 1270 falls below the 25th percentile for both schools, making them reaches for you. These schools also have admit rates of 22% and 19% respectively, making them more of a reach for any student. You may want to look for other schools as targets and safeties and/or plan on uping your SAT.

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Thank you for all of the advice, I definitely needed a reality check and collegevine’s rankings might be a tad out of reach understatement of the century. Thanks!

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