What are my chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I am a second-semester junior at a public school in Massachusetts.

Early Action:
Harvard
University of Michigan
University of Virginia
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
University of California Berkeley
University of California Los Angeles
University of Maryland

Regular Decision:
Stanford University
Duke University
Carnegie Mellon
Wake Forest University
Princeton
Northwestern
University of Notre Dame
Georgetown
Brown University
University of Southern California

Cumulative GPA as of now: 104.25
Rank: 1 out of about 250

ACT: 32 (taking again)
taking SAT subject tests in math and U.S. history in May

Freshman grades:

French 2 (Honors): A
English (Honors): A+
World History (Honors): A+
Geometry (Honors): A+
Biology (Honors): A+
Chorus (Honors): A+
Health: A+
Gym: A+
GPA: 101.95

Sophomore Grades:

French 3 (Honors): A+
Accelerated Algebra 2: A+
AP European History: A+
Chemistry (Honors): A+
English (Honors): A+
Chorus (Honors): A+
Health: A+
Gym: A
GPA: 104.997

Junior Grades (first semester):

French 4 (Honors): A
AP U.S.: A
AP English Lang: A-
AP Government (U.S.): A+
AP Statistics: A+
Accelerated Pre-Calc: A+
Physics (Honors): A+
GPA: 105.53 (my year end grade for english is on track to be an A, and my year end grades for APUSH and French are on track to be A+s)

Senior Schedule:

AP Physics
AP Psychology
AP English Lit
AP Calc BC
AP Human Geography
AP French

Awards:

Freshman:
World History excellence

Sophomore
Accelerated Algebra 2 excellence
Health excellence
Overall outstanding academic excellence
Most improved chorus

Junior:
Harvard Book Award
Overall Outstanding Academic Achievement
TBD

Extra Curriculars:
Math team
Varsity Cross Country
Theatre
World Language National Honor Society (potential officer)
National Honor Society (running for officer position)
English National Honor Society
Class Secretary (freshman and sophomore)
Mock Trial
Founder and president of political awareness club

Also attended three courses at Phillips Andover Academy over the summer and achieved the highest score in all of them. Going into my senior year I will attend Harvard for a program in statistics and politics.
Additionally, I am flying out to Washington D.C. for a week this summer to do a program at George Mason University studying national security and diplomacy.

2

Have you taken the PSAT/SAT or ACT yet as that’s really needed to help establish target, reach and safety baselines unless you were applying to test optional schools?

3

ACT 32 but I hope to get it up to a 33/34 when I take it again

4

Most of these schools are going to be a reaches for everyone - even with a +33 ACT. At this point, only U of MD would be considered a solid match, so in addition to striving for a higher score look at schools where a 32 ACT is in the top 25% for matches and where it is above the top 25% for safeties as your current list is very Reach heavy for both EA and RD schools.

5

Mostly reaches on your list.

6

I have more schools, I am just wondering about my chances in these ones particularly.

7

I would definitely pare down the list of schools you are applying to. being that this isn’t even your full list.

8

applying to ~20 unless I get accepted EA to Harvard, UNC, UC Berkeley, or UCLA

9

The UC’s look at GPA and test scores.

Currently, your tests are not within range as an OOS applicant.
Can you afford the UC’s?
No financial aid for OOS students.

10

twenty schools? holy mother of god

11

Nothing outside school, except some classes? And if you’re applying high, individual class “bests” and “most improved” are petty ante. Tippy tops aren’t looking for who colors best within the lines (the hs box. )

12

uc schools dont have early action/early decision

13

@John123456789

Most of your EA schools are SCEA, you can’t apply to Harvard and another reach school.

All of these schools bare High Reaches for you. You should apply to one of the schools on your “RD list” ED. Or raise your ACT to at least a 34.

14

straight A grades, 1490 SAT and 32 ACT puts you in a large group of “average excellent” students with whom you will be in competition for a very limited number of spots. Your ECs are not exceptional, and you appear to have no “hook” to attract the big fishes. So your chances are probably around the average acceptance rates for these colleges.
Identify the college that fits your financial situation and academic interests (politics? IR?) and consider ED on that one to improve your chances.

15

Most of these schools are reaches for you and you have absolutely no safeties in your list, which is a troubling sign. I have heard way too many horror stories of bright students having to attend community college since they were rejected from every single university, particularly because every university they applied to was elite and had <15% acceptance rates. I am scared that you may also find yourself in this situation; please apply to some safety schools as well (state schools would be a good option).

I think you are lacking a bit in your test scores. If you do retake the ACT, strive for at least 34 to be competitive for most of these colleges. If you are not URM, you will want to raise that goal score to 35. You might want to try the SAT and see if you are better at it; if you do, strive for at least 1500 (if you have a hook) or 1550+. This will at least make you competitive in the applicant pool.

You are also lacking quite a bit in your ECs. Attending university-held programs may not solve the issue since many of these programs are basically open to those who have the money to pay. Whether they show demonstrated interest is a whole other debate, and many of the schools you have listed do not even consider demonstrated interest (as shown in their common data sets). Your awards are pretty decent, but are only regional and district awards for the most part (except the Harvard book award) so they won’t earn you national or international recognition, which is the type of recognition elite colleges will want to see you have. I would suggest you use this summer to get more involved in ECs that are related to your intended major and also carry a lot of weight on your profile. Good luck! I would appreciate it if you could chance me back here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1995754-chance-me-low-gpa-rank-cornell-rice-wash-u-ucla-etc-p1.html

16

I am concerned that the length of the list makes it look like you don’t really care where you go. Will you be able to put a lot of time into the various essays that you will need to write? Universities seem to like to believe that you are serious about attending (possibly to protect their yield). Also, if you get into a lot of these do you know where you would choose to go, and why?

Can you afford each of these without any financial aid?

17

yes

18

You are going to go homeless without a fee waiver if you plan to apply to ALL of those schools. Also, all of those schools are reaches, hardly any of them can even be considered matches with your stats. You also need safeties, as you’re going to be out of luck if you get rejected to all of them (unlikely, but I’ve heard stories…)

19

ill be fine