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Hey, I'm new here and I'm wondering if anyone can give me my chances for admission to the following schools:
Stanford (EA)
Harvard
Princeton
Yale
Duke
Brigham Young
Indiana

Here's my stats.

Age/Gender/Ethnicity: 16(moved up a grade in 1st grade), F, Caucasian

School: Public, not known for sending students to top schools.
GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 4.369 weighted

Rank: 3 of 356

Intended major: Physics

SAT I: 710 verbal, 720 math (I've only taken it once, will be retaking in November and December if necessary)

SAT II: will take next week

AP:
Junior year: AB Calculus, 4
Senior year: Physics C, Statistics, Microecononics, English literature (Our school only offers 10 AP classes, several of them only started this year, so I couldn't take them due to scheduling conflicts)

Extracurriculars: Varsity Gymnastics (been in gymnastics my whole life), Varsity cheerleading (3 yrs.), Class officer (4 yrs; treasurer, secretary, vice president, vice president), key club (2 yrs), Church youth group (president for 1 yr.), Cardinal Cadre (1 yr., a host service at our school)

Work experience:Gymnastics instructor for 7 months, 10 hours a week. Babysitting for family members, often for free for my aunt.

Awards: National merit commended student, marion county principal's award (3 yrs., awarded to top 1%, 2%, 3% of class respectively), scored in 90th percentile on American Chemical Society end of year exam, Who's Who Among American High School Students 1 yr., straight-A honor roll each year.
Miscellaneous: Attended the Richard Lugar Symposium for Tomorrow's leaders. I attend a 1 yr. seminary class before school every day (a church scripture class). Attend 2 week-long church camps each summer. For 1 summer my grandma lived with us. She had alzheimers and we had to watch her constantly. I was responsible for her for 1-2 hours every day while my mom took my brother and sisters to places they needed to be. She died later that summer. I'm not sure how, or if, to add this to my application, any suggestions would help.

Thanks for your suggestions!

By John_Updike (John_Updike) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 02:49 pm: Edit

Stanford (EA)-Reach
Harvard-Reach
Princeton-Reach
Yale-Reach
Duke-Reach, but less so than HYPS
Brigham Young-safety
Indiana-safety

Get some match schools.

Reach Reasons-
While you show lots of leadership in your extracurricular positions, your test scores are pretty low and your class rank is not amazing (Top 1% is great, but try to move up). You can include the story about your grandmother if it is really meaningful, but keep in mind, you cannot "expect to explain all the nuances of death in 500 words...keep it meaningful."

By R2005 (R2005) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 03:53 pm: Edit

John Updike:
What do you mean by saying her class rank is not that great?" It's, uh, top 1%. Colleges want top 10%. Not only is her rank AMAZING, but so is her GPA. What do you expect, top 1/3 percent? Get realistic and give it a break.

Here's how I'm looking at it..
Stanford: Reach
Harvard: Reach
Princeton: Reach
Yale: Reach
(ahem, these are crapshoots for anyone)
Duke: low reach. Match, perhaps?
Brigham: Safety
Indiana: Safety

I do agree that you need some solid matches. Try to bring the SAT up to 1450+, if you can. Your test scores aren't "pretty low."

Oh, and for the passion/dedication--- play up the gymnastics.

I think you're solid. Gooood Luckk!

By Flipchick1127 (Flipchick1127) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 04:36 pm: Edit

Thanks for the feedback! I know my SAT scores are my low point right now. I'm aiming to get at least a 1450 if not higher after I take them again. I didn't finish the math the first time, so I figured if I finished it I might score higher. I've also taken my ACTs but I haven't gotten the scores. Do these colleges look at both tests or whichever one you scored higher in?

By Slipper2002 (Slipper2002) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 04:39 pm: Edit

I don't know gymnastics but if any top schools i.e. stanford have a program and want you you're in.

OTHERWISE
You look pretty good but you need some match schools and maybe a couple more reasonable reaches.

HYPS - major reach, most likely reject with those scores (sorry)

Duke - reach

Brigham Young-major safety
Indiana-major major major safety

I have said this to someone else but I really question a strategy where you have schools WAY above you and WAY below you. Judging by your list I would add Penn, Dartmouth, Brown. They are all reaches but closer to you than HYPS. You will be happy you applied. Also, get some matches like UVA, UNC, Emory, Northwestern etc.

IF I were you I'd do:

Princeton
Stanford

Duke
Brown
Dartmouth
Penn

Northwestern
UNC
UVA
Emory

AND: Apply to Michigan NOW. You'll get in within a month and will not need safeties at all.

10-11 schools, all of which are great places and you can't go wrong with any...a much more realistic list.

By Lfill (Lfill) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 05:04 pm: Edit

We met Friday with a college counselor and talked about these schools. To be honest, unless you are being recruited for gymnastics, you have very little chance at HYPS. Duke is easier, but we were told that for a white non hook applicant, there's not much of a chance with a below 1500 SAT. Sorry. This was hard for my daughter to hear.

By Slipper2002 (Slipper2002) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 05:40 pm: Edit

I don't know gymnastics but if any top schools i.e. stanford have a program and want you you're in.

OTHERWISE
You look pretty good but you need some match schools and maybe a couple more reasonable reaches.

HYPS - major reach, most likely reject with those scores (sorry)

Duke - reach

Brigham Young-major safety
Indiana-major major major safety

I have said this to someone else but I really question a strategy where you have schools WAY above you and WAY below you. Judging by your list I would add Penn, Dartmouth, Brown. They are all reaches but closer to you than HYPS. You will be happy you applied. Also, get some matches like UVA, UNC, Emory, Northwestern etc.

IF I were you I'd do:

Princeton
Stanford

Duke
Brown
Dartmouth
Penn

Northwestern
UNC
UVA
Emory

AND: Apply to Michigan NOW. You'll get in within a month and will not need safeties at all.

10-11 schools, all of which are great places and you can't go wrong with any...a much more realistic list.

By Dak (Dak) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 12:47 am: Edit

I don't mean to contradict, but as far as Duke goes, I was accepted to Duke (Pratt Engineering) with a 1380 SAT and 32 ACT. I was #1 in my class and had an UW 4.0. Highest SAT II was 710. I think I had pretty good essays, and very good teacher recs. I'm not an URM, legacy, or recruited athlete. SO...you never know.

I would take projections (based on SAT scores) with a grain of salt and go for it with any school you want to apply. You're obviously a good student and your SAT scores are well above average. Good luck - DUKE IS AWESOME!

By Slipper2002 (Slipper2002) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 07:31 am: Edit

I agree that she should "go for the top schools" but she needs more reasonable reaches/ matches like the middle ivies and duke plus some matches like Northwestern...

By Slipper2002 (Slipper2002) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 08:23 am: Edit

Basically having 2 major reaches, 3 reach/matches, 2 matches, 1-2 safeties is probably the best way to make sure you end up a great place. The difference in life between Stanford and Brown is not that great if it even exists, but between Brown and BYU/ Indiana its huge.

Right now you have 4 major reaches, 1 reach match, 2 safeties. You're missing out on the most important section, reach/ matches and matches.

By Flipchick1127 (Flipchick1127) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 07:20 pm: Edit

Thanks again for the feedback. I realize I need more matches. The reason I don't have many right now is that I'm still a little undecided on which ones to apply to. I think I am going to add Northwestern though. I do, also, hope to get my SAT scores up nearer to a 1500. Since I've only taken it once, it's bound to go up.

By Slipper2002 (Slipper2002) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 01:34 am: Edit

If you get over a 1500 Duke becomes more of a match, then I would add more match schools like Penn, Dartmouth, Brown. Michigan would become a safety.