I am currently a junior. I have a 4.63 GPA, and have been taking college classes since 9th grade. I am going to graduate high school with my hs diploma, and two Associate’s degrees.
My SAT is a 1490. I am going to be taking it once more to improve my score, and am aiming for a 1520. I have not taken SAT II tests yet, but I will be taking them soon.
My extracurriculars include:
President and Founder of Writing Club at my school,
Founder of writing competition at my school,
Founder of writing program at city library,
Working as a tutor in my college’s library,
VP of Red Cross Club at my school,
Student Government,
and District Officer for district-wide art club.
I have also completed over 200 community service hours, volunteering at my local library, at the childcare area in my city’s recreation center, and being a teacher/cabin leader at a summer science camp.
I am going to apply Early Action to Harvard, and regular decision to Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Stanford, UCLA, University of Chicago and Columbia. I am going to apply to more but these are the main ones. What are my chances of getting into these schools? Which ones are reach schools? Which ones are safety?
There are hundreds of schools in the country. Yet, you appear to be rejecting almost all of them in favor of a tiny group of colleges that accept a tiny group of the highest achieving students in the country. Why? If you consider all your peers in your school, are you the very top one (not in terms of GPA but in terms of overall achievements)? If someone were to ask the superintendent of your school district who was the strongest scholar (again, not the highest GPA but the best thinker) would your name come up? Do your peers all know you are a remarkably good thinker so they regularly look to you to help solve academic problems? Are you among the most accomplished people your age in your county? Do most people you know view you that way? Because anything but a “yes” to at least some of these questions suggest that you are not being very realistic.
Read the “chance me” threads about some of the schools you list. Or look at the credentials of those who were accepted. Also, you leave out so much information that I could be under estimating your record. What science camp did you work at?
What do you mean when you write that you’ve been taking college classes and will have two AA’s when you graduate from high school? Details matter. Where were those college courses taken and what topics were they in? If you tell me you took STEM courses at Stanford and aced them all, I’d say your chances are better. But if you took a bunch of on-line courses or courses at a local community college, I won’t. A lot of high school students are taking loads of community college classes, doing well in them and thinking that they are ready to be accepted to Harvard. Not always, but generally, the community college classes are not at the same level as those offered by selective colleges. In fact they are sometimes pitched at a lower level than typical high school honor or AP classes . And this is more likely to be true in regions of the US where the public schools are poorly ranked and where average ACT/SAT scores tend to be below US averages. That’s because they are often designed primarily for students who did poorly in high school and therefore didn’t attend a 4 year college. A string of A’s in those courses won’t impress adcons at selective colleges. Adcons would be impressed with a string of As from courses taken through a program like Hopkins’ CTY or or at a reasonably ranked local 4 year college.
You have a fine group of ECs that I hope you selected on the basis of your interests and expectation that they will be good meaningful activities for you. Your ECs don’t suggest unusual levels of achievement or ability though. But that is what getting into the colleges you list would require. They are looking for indices that you already have (or have great potential to) achieve at remarkable levels. Simply joining or even starting clubs in your school simply won’t do it. You need to show that your efforts resulted in impressive achievements, awards, prizes, at a state or national level. You started a writing competition in your school. Great. But have you won any state or nation wide writing competitions?You started a writing club. Great but have you submitted your work for publication and has it been published? You are District Officer for district-wide art club. Great but have you won art awards at a state or national art competition?
Is it unreasonable to expect such a high level of achievement in someone who is still in high school? Yes it is. That’s why there are hundreds of schools that are not looking for such high levels of achievement. The majority of those schools would be thrilled to have you as a student. But you’ve chosen a tiny group of schools that are earmarked for the tiny group of students who achieve at remarkably high levels. Why?
In terms of chances, are you a California resident (for UCLA). Assuming the college courses you took were at a CC and not a rigorous college, and assuming your high school GPA is based on fairly typical high school classes (and not Calculus 3, organic chemistry, etc), and assuming you are not legacy at one of the schools you list, I think you should re-think your list. I think applying restricted early action to Harvard would be a waste of an application and you’d lost out on the opportunity to apply early to a school you have a better shot at.
Your chances of getting into those schools is less than 10%, in some cases, less than 6%.
If the weather forecast said 94% chance of full sun, would you carry an umbrella? Do yourself a favor and instead focus on good match and safety schools.
@STF4717 makes a good point “If the weather forecast said 94% chance of full sun, would you carry an umbrella? Do yourself a favor and instead focus on good match and safety schools.”
But getting rejected by all your schools is far worse then getting soaked or unnecessarily carrying an umbrella.
If there were a 94% chance large rocks are going to fall from the sky I suspect you would change your plans and stay indoors. You have some impressive credentials and each school will render independent decisions…but the reality is the odds are stacked against you. Create a plan not an ambition and good luck.
Every one of the school you mention gets more qualified applicants than they can possible accept. When you look at their acceptance rates, know that 99% of the kids who apply are kids just like you-- incredibly bright, hardworking with wonderful grades and terrific EC’s.
Yet they still admit only 10/12/15% or whatever of the applicants from that incredibly talented pool of applicants.
NONE of those schools is a safety for ANYONE. No one has a “good shot” at admissions at any of them. At this point, it’s a roll of the dice.
So absolutely apply, and good luck. But do not limit your applications to these schools. Find other schools where your odds of admission are much better.
All of these are high reaches for everyone unless you are first generation poor URM or multigenerational wealthy legacy or uniquely talented/accomplished a rare sport.
You’ll be throwing away your early action at Harvard, unless you love it so much to gamble your chance, use early action at a school where your chances are reasonable. I would recommend using it at less known but equally good schools.
Do think about cost of attendance as well, if you are high need or high wealth then you can afford any school with parental help or financial aid but if your family is middle or upper middle then it’s going to be difficult to afford expensive schools. In that case focus on schools with merit scholarships.
Might be a “better” shot. But unless the nationally ranked is being recruited for the sport, “good shot” may be stretching it, as Nathan Chen can supposedly attest to.
if you are not a recruited athlete, donor, legacy, first generation, Pell grant eligible, international, or URM you are applying for only 25% of the slots for each class. There are probably about 40,000 kids with stats at or better than yours applying for about 2,400 slots at those 6 schools for people like you, so at best a 6% chance in total. (with the exception of UCLA which if you are out of state full pay your odds are better). You will find lots of cases of kids with 1500 + straight As getting rejected from those schools
@maroonhamster19, absolutely none of these colleges are safeties. In a sea of 1500+ SATs and 4.0 UW GPAs, I think one’s essays really need to come from the heart, grab an admission officer’s attention, and distinguish one from tens of thousands of applicants. Be true to yourself. Do not necessarily say what you think the AOs want to hear. Round out with a variety of colleges you think you want to attend. That said, my middle class unhooked daughter managed to get accepted to two of the colleges on your list. I really think it was the effort, thought, and truth she put into her essays that tipped the scales in her favor. Wishing you the best!
I attend an early college academy, where the work has been rigorous all four years. I have taken all Honors and AP Classes throughout high school. I am a California resident (will my chances of admission to UCLA increase?), and am at the top of my class. I earned a full scholarship to and attended TechTrek, a science and math camp for girls. I have also earned a full scholarship to and attended the Envision Emergency Medicine Summer Camp. I have earned a partial scholarship to and attended the National Student Leadership Conference Medicine and Healthcare Camp at Harvard University. I am going to graduate with a High School Diploma, an A.A. in Business, and an A.A. in Natural Sciences. I am aiming to do pre-med at a four-year. Does this raise my chances at getting into these schools (specifically, Johns Hopkins and Harvard)?
I’d agree that you might want to add a combination of at least 4 safeties and matches. Since you live in California, it would likely be smart to add another less prestigious but respected UC, if not 2. I’d also potentially look at other schools in the Northeast that are still great but perhaps not as prestigous, since you do seem interested in that region (Ex: Boston College).
I agree that none of them are safeties. FWIW, my eldest son took classes at our local university (with the college kids) beginning in middle school. He finished Calculus in 8th grade and took higher math classes throughout high school. He was valedictorian with a 2250 SAT with 800s on his subject tests, and all 5s on the APs except for a 3 Spanish. He worked since age 12 as a soccer ref. He was a freelance writer and started his own online business. He was a 4 year varsity sport kids in soccer, swimming, and XC. He was captain of his ACE team and stared his own chapter of the KIVA club at his high school. He was even selected by the school system to sit in and conduct job interviews for their next principal.
He applied to most of these schools and was waitlisted to them all except for Duke. And Duke’s need based cost was double their pretty campus visit brochure’s estimate. Granted the fine print said to check the NPC, but I didn’t do that until much later. (my mistake)
Fortunately, his did apply and was accepted to several in-state schools and is currently happy at a small private school where he was given free tuition. The bottom line is that for every 1 available spot, there are 10 amazing kids who deserve to be there.
I’ll be frank, just from the limited amount of info you will be wasting your early opportunity on Harvard, and you will be rejected RD from all of those schools. Your SAT is below your peers that you will be competing against. Unless you have a hook or are a recruited athlete, I would look elsewhere (probably some California schools). Also you need to mention whether you need financial aid (and how much),and what major your planning on. These two things are actually far more important.
@whidbeyite2002, there is just about zero possibility a compelling essay will lead to acceptance by any of those schools for this student-unless the information provided in the essay (not the way it is written) suggests she has fared as well as she has while simultaneously overcoming formidable challenges-like undergoing treatment for cancer, being abandoned by her family and transporting herself from an impoverished country to the US as a young child…like that. A well written essay without a corresponding story of dealing well with immense challenges (at the magnitude of those listed) won’t be enough to gain entry to the sort of schools the OP lists.