I am going to be a senior soon and college decisions will soon be approaching. I was just wondering what chances I have at getting into schools like Harvard, MIT, and Stanford?
I have a 3.9 GPA unweighted and 5.0 weighted, 34 ACT Score, somewhere around 2200 SAT Score (perfect in math). I have taken a lot of AP classes and have gotten mostly 5’s on them.
I am in a lot of clubs and am an officer/leader in a few of them. I am in national honor society and spanish honor society. I have volunteered in many places including a hospital since my sophomore year summer. I am one of the leaders of a local student run competition held for middle-schoolers around the state.
I believe I have a good relationship with a few of my teachers so I don’t think recommendations will be much of a problem.
Please give me your opinions as to whether or not I will be admitted. Also do I have any chance at getting a scholarship for academic performance? (Those schools are really expensive).
In short, no - merit aid is rare and limited at the tippy-top schools. Instead they tend to have more generous financial aid packages - less dependent on loans, lower EFCs, etc.
You know you have the numbers, and are asking whether your “AND” parts are strong enough for top tier schools, which frankly nobody can answer, esp w/o essays & recs to consider. I might say that the way you present your ECs doesn’t knock my socks off, but a) that might just be how you’ve summarised it and b) it’s not my socks that matter
If you’re poor, you’ll get financial aid which is often very generous.
For chances at the Ivies, chances aren’t that great. You picked basically 3 of the most selective universities in the world, and you’re unhooked so…
You’ll probably have a 2-3% at these schools for an unhooked applicant. People with amazing EC’s and scores don’t get in. They’re looking for something unique about you. Perhaps an experience, perhaps your passion…something to make you stand out from the thousands of people who have 34 ACT, 2200 SAT 3.9 GPA, besides your name.
You may be admitted, and I will say this to most if not all the people who are not legacy, recruited athlete, olympian winners, URM’s with great scores etc. It is pointless asking about chances to those schools because they are looking for so many things that cannot be listed on CC or on your application. Your personality, your character, (how you fit into the school) are all things that you can’t convey to us but you can to the adcoms via essays and interviews, all of which hold significant weight in the admissions process.
Definitely apply, but be prepared to work hard on those essays and be prepared for a rejection letter as 95% of people do end up getting one.