<p>Hey guys. I've never posted on here but I see that some people have really gotten good advice about their chances of getting into some of these top schools, so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm a junior at one of the top prep schools in texas. I've started talking about college a little bit, but I really can't wait. Everybody's telling me I'll get into good colleges because I'm black and I have good test scores. How much of a factor is that? Any advice would be much appreciated. </p>
<p>University of Pennsylvania
Duke University
Northwestern University
Vanderbilt University
Washington Universty at St. Louis
Emory University
Pomona College</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.67
Weighted GPA: 4.02
Class Rank: My school doesn't rank</p>
<p>SAT I Math Score: 750
SAT I CriticalReading Score: 720
SAT I Writing Score: 730</p>
<p>2200 in total</p>
<p>Activities
Football 4 years
Basketball 4 years
Track 4 years (i'm really involved in sports)
School Newspaper Sports Writer 4 years
Student Council 3 years
Youth Advisory Council 3 years
Intercultural Club 2 years
Dallas Area Diversity Youth Association (DADYO) 1 year
Spanish Club 2 years
Admissions Ambassador 2 years</p>
<p>National Merit Commended Scholar
National Achievement Scholar
3 or 4 Journalism Awards for My sports stories
National Spanish Honor Society
National Spanish Exam Silver Medalist</p>
<p>AP classes:
Junior year
AP U.S. History
AP Spanish Language
Senior year
AP Biology
AP English
AP Stat
AP Calc BC
AP Spanish Lit. </p>
<p>I'm really want to go into some field of science with some kind of minor in spanish and eventually be a doctor.</p>
<p>You have no safeties. That's the first thing I see...I guess maybe UT is your safety? Sure, your minority status and good stats will take you far, but of course they are not a shoo-in...most important is having a good application all around. However, I do feel that you have chosen a good list for yourself, in general. UPenn, Duke, and WashU are your toughest customers, but I think that as long as your essays and recommendations are appropriately strong, you will be admitted to at least one or two if not all three. Northwestern and Pomona are in the "high match" category...I feel that you are very qualified and likely to be admitted, but can't call them a shoo-in, by any means. Vanderbilt and Emory are good matches for you--I think that you are pretty likely to be admitted (no guarantees, of course). As long as you have a good safety in there, I wouldn't change your list much...in my opinion, if you don't already want to go for a bunch of those 10% acceptance rate schools, there is no reason to add the pain and uncertainty. You have an appropriately balanced list already, and the schools seem like they fit together. Good luck.</p>
<p>You stand a super good chance at WashU, and Pomona, if not UPenn...I can't say what your chances, but be confident and apply wherever you see fit. Your ECs and coursework are definitely solid, URM or not.</p>
<p>hey thanks. yeah i didn't really include any of my safety schools but UT is one of them. u of miami, smu, and lehigh also look like pretty safe bets right now. Everybody's gonna have a tough time getting into Duke (21%?) , Penn (18%), or WashU (21%). If I got into anyone of those, I'd be ecstatic. My teacher recs should be good, and I plan on writing my essays about sports and the lessons they've taught me. I think it could be really interesting for an AdCom. I appreciate the advice though.</p>
<p>I'm sorry - URM = underrepresented minority. I mean, race aside, you have a great combo of SAT scores+ECs+coursework.</p>
<p>advantagious, Vanderbilt is easier to get into than WashU?? I beg to differ!! Or maybe you're right, though. I never applied to Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>It's never a waste of time applying anywhere, er, well not always. But if you don't apply at all, you're surely not getting. Apply to P if you think you have a chance. If you get in - perfect. If you don't, well too bad, and move on; at least you'll know you did give it a shot.</p>
<p>i just went and look at another thread and saw it. thanks though.
yeah even if i didn't include that i was black, i think i'd be up there with anybody.
from what i've heard vanderbilt isn't too hard to get into. just from their admission rate and average SAT scores, i'm way above average. i've also heard it's a lot easier to get into WashU if you apply early. it goes from 21% regular decision to 40% early decision. i just don't know if i really wanna go there bad enough to commit early. i wanna be able to sort out my financial aid offers and see what works best. if i were going to apply early anywhere, it'd be northwestern. i really wanna go there.
princeton's a good school and a black kid in the grade above me w/ similar scores, ec's, and gpa got into stanford, princeton, and harvard so that's why i was wondering. he ended up picking stanford.</p>
<p>u have extremely good stats- and id say with URM status you have atleast a 30% chance at any of those--id say emory, northwestern and pomona might be matches for you</p>
<p>you have a great chance at WashU RD, no need to commit, if you're not sure. Talk to guys ahead of you who applied and got into the schools you're interested - they might also have a few words of advice.</p>
<p>i already have. that's what i'm basing most of my information on - especially about the washU ED deal. i'm at a pretty good private school so everybody has good test scores. our senior class was 5outof15 at penn, 12outof26 at washU, and 12outof23 at northwestern.</p>
<p>my 1470 is in the range for duke ( middle 50% 1380-1550) and penn (1330-1510). so i'm happy about that. that's what i was most worried about.
but what else are they looking for out of URM's?
i'm pretty involved in sports and i have a lot more awards than i included on there. i don't have a lot of other stuff because sports take up so much of my time. i'll write a good essay and i guess we'll see what happens.
right now i'm thinking about applying to penn ED because i heard it improves your odds alot. what do u think?</p>
<p>Well, I <em>think</em> WashU is more selective than Vanderbilt...(checking USNWR)...it has a much lower acceptance rate and somewhat higher applicant stats (SAT and % in top ten %). However, it might be tougher out of the south--I don't live there, so I don't know that for sure, however, nor do I know the current acceptance rate at Vanderbilt (USNWR is 2005...it says 19% for WashU and 30% for Vanderbilt). </p>
<p>Anyway, I think that the OP has a good shot at WashU and Duke as well. UPenn is certainly a possibility, but that is the most selective school on the list. Overall, I stand by my analysis (and agree that UT, SMU and Lehigh are good safeties).</p>
<p>Edit: If you really want to go to UPenn, ED is a great idea...they are especially known for favoring their ED applicants. I think that you would be very likely to get in ED (again...as long as your app is good).</p>
<p>do u go to st. mark's in dallas? Penn u have a fair chance as well as duke (probly better at duke), it seems u've taken advantage of the things ur school offers extracurricular-wise, so you've got a fighting chance at all schools</p>
<p>i think you have a shot at princeton too. you should deff apply if you wanna go cuz you do have a chance of getting in. it's a really random process, you might get lucky.</p>