What are my chances (planning to apply to ten colleges).

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a rising senior this year.

GPA: 3.415 (Weighted 4.015) GPA will rise as I’m retaking any classes I got a C in online over the summer and during this upcoming first semester. Unweighted should increase by about 0.2 to a 3.6 and weighted will increase substantially, possible to my district’s cap of 4.5 by the end of senior year).

Took almost all honors/AP that were offered throughout high school. The only exception was Physics as Honors wasn’t offered and I didn’t feel I’d be successful in AP so I took regular.

Two years of Spanish.

AP World (10): 4
APUSH (11): 4

Senior Workload: Rigorous (AP Psych, AP Environmental Science, AP Stats, AP Gov, English Honors, Spanish II H)

I’m a year ahead on math (I will have completed five years of high school math, all honors with AP Stats this year).
Four years of high school science, two honors, one AP.

ACT: Highest composite is 33. Superscore is 34. (E- 36, R- 35, S- 36, M- 29; W-8) (Planning to take one more time to increase math).

SAT: 1380

SAT Subject: US History- 710. Math L1- 680. (Taking literature next month).

Extracurriculars: Choir (9, 10); Tech Theatre (11); Speech and Debate (11, 12); Politics Club (12, Founder/President); Democrats Club (12, Founder/President).

2017 National Student Leadership Conference- Intelligence and National Security (at American University).

College List:

1 American University

Michigan State
University of Nevada-Reno (In-state)
Georgetown
George Washington University
Arizona State University (WUE)
Northeastern
Harvard (Reach/dream school)
University of Portland (received priority status, no fee)
Tulane (same as Portland)

(I’m aware “priority status” isn’t that prestigious but I’m taking advantage of the free applications and using them as safety net schools).

Intending to double-major in PoliSci and Economics.

So what do you think my chances are? Thank you so much!

2

I don’t mean this in a mean way, but I think applying to Harvard might not be not worth it. You have a limited amount of time and effort to put into your applications. It’s okay to apply to reaches, but it’s better to focus your application on something a bit more realistic.

American: high match (you are on the low side for GPA, high side for SAT/ACT)
Michigan State: match (same reason)
University of Nevada-Reno: safety
Georgetown: reach
George Washington University: match
Arizona State University (WUE): safety
Northeastern: reach
Harvard: out of reach
University of Portland: high match
Tulane: high match

Edit: Also, it may concern colleges that you are a year ahead in math but have relatively low standardized testing scores in math. That can sometimes indicate that your school is not very rigorous, which would make your GPA look worse.

3

Note that ASU offers WUE only for some campuses. It may not be available for the main Tempe campus.

4

You have nice stats and you will wind up somewhere that will allow you to do whatever you want to do in life. That being said, if you’re not serious about Tulane, don’t waste your time. They accept only 21% of applicants and routinely reject even high stats kids who fail to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the school and articulate how its academic offerings connect the applicant with his or her interests and career plans.

5

I would not apply to Harvard or Georgetown. Your grades just are not going to make the cut (not sure what your class rank is, but unless your school has ridiculous grade deflation or something, a 3.4 is not competitive). Many many kids each year get rejected from both schools with a 4.0, so unless you have a huge hook (which, from what I can tell, you don’t) the odds of you getting in are extremely low. I’m not trying to be mean or discouraging or harsh, I’m just giving what I think is helpful advice; if you take these two schools off the list, you can either add two more schools that are a better fit for you, or you can spend more time on applications to the other 8 schools on your list. Let me also say a 3.4 GPA isn’t terrible or anything, it just probably will not be strong enough to get you into the very top schools in the US.

Your chances at all the other schools are decent. I would guess that GW, northeastern, and Tulane would be reaches, but realistic reaches. University of Nevada is a safety, and the others are matches. So other than Harvard and Georgetown, your list looks good, and I think you will be happy in the end because I know you will get into at least a few schools on your list. Best of luck!

6

First, can you modify your senior schedule? Unless your school is lower performing, this would be looked at as a schedule for a “smart slacker” trying to emphasize GPA over rigor.
This is because you manage to take 3 of the 4 AP lites (used as complements when students have a heavy load, or as forays into academic rigor for juniors/seniors who had a light schedule till then.) You don’t have any of the Core AP’s; if it’s because your high school doesnt offer them, it’s one thing, but you should try your best to offset that with dual enrollment or online classes or anything to up your course rigor.
Basically, you’d need 4 from AP English, AP gov (us+ comp or us+ ECON), AP calculus, AP foreign language, AP bio/Chem/physics. You could take 2-3 of these plus AP stats and either APES or AP psych.
I see you’re only taking Spanish 2: can you take College Spanish 1-2 at a community college, as this would count as reaching high school level 3 <- what most selective 4-year colleges minimally expect, but higher would be expected for Georgetown/GWU/American).

Can you articulate why Harvard and not Pomona or Stanford or Carleton or UPenn?
What do you see in Harvard that Georgetown doesn’t have?
Looking at your criteria adults here will be able to suggest colleges that are reachable reaches.
(A 3.6 with two AP 4’s, only two years of a foreign language, no subject tests, would make Harvard, Georgetown, GWU, high reaches.)

Are you scheduled for subject tests?

What’s your budget?

Guessing you live in Nevada, so in an under -represented state. If you apply to a clever list of schools and correct your senior schedule you’d have a shot at good colleges, but right now your list really all over the place.

ASU : apply early and aim for Barrett.
UN Reno is a safety but you need another one (perhaps better suited to your ambitions).
You have very few matches, basically UPortlqnd and ASU Barrett, and there’s no certainty they’ll be affordable : run the NPC
Considering your interests, I’d run the NPC on Willamette, Lewis and Clark, Kalamazoo, UPuget Sound, Occidental, Dickinson, Macalester. The last three are reachable reaches and they “meet need”.

7

I edited to add my subject tests scores, maybe it didn’t show up.

US History- 710
Math L1- 680
Scheduled for Literature (should be high, based off previous standardized test scores in English/Reading)

I chose AP Stats over Calc because I’ve been much more successful with statistics than calculus over the years. My fear of taking AP Calc is just getting a C (or D), making it a worthless course to take in the end.

I am enrolled in AP Gov, and I may switch from honors to AP Lit (12th grade AP English in my district).
I’m currently taking both Spanish 1 (through BYU) and Spanish II H (online through my district), so a third year of AP Spanish is not possible, unless I were to take it concurrently with the first two years, which I have no intention of doing. AP Chem, foreign language, comp, and ECON are not offered at my school, and I’m maxed out on online classes, retaking C’s as I stated in the original post, which will improve my unweighted to 3.6 or 3.7, and my weighted should cap out at 4.5, with all the AP classes this year, even if they are “lite.”

8

No offense taken, thank you very much for your advice!