Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

I'd absolutely LOVE to go to one of the following schools: Stanford, UC Berkely, Northwestern, Columbia, Duke, or Harvard. What are my chances with these stats??? Please help!!

I'm finishing up my junior year and I'm in line to be Valedictorian of a class of just over 400 kids. I took 3 AP classes this year and am scheduled to take 3 more next year; all of my other classes have been honors. I have about a 99% average unweighted. I've only taken the SATs once so far, and I got a 660 on Verbal and a 760 on Math: 1420 combined.

As far as extracurricular:
~I just got elected senior class president
~treasurer of my class for the last 2 years
~active in student council
~the vice president of SADD
~a member of Welcome Crew (to help the incoming freshmen)
~NHS
~I am the captain of the varsity tennis team for which I've played for the last 4 years. I also ran indoor and outdoor track for the last 2 years
~I volunteer at a community center/camp for underpriveledged kids and have a job each summer.


Negatives:
~I've attended public school for my entire life
~I know my SATs aren't exceptional, but I'm planning on taking them a second time to try and improve my verbal score.
~I haven't yet taken SAT IIs or ACTs
~I'm not sure what I'd like to major in; I'll probably go in as undeclared or as liberal arts and then take it from there.
~I'm a white female from the Northeast.

By Jgriffith04 (Jgriffith04) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 01:26 am: Edit

Hey there,
I am by no means an expert (a junior myslef desperatly trying to get into Stanford) however, I have collected a lot of info. Your Sat's are not bad (70% have over a 1400 at Stanford) I'm not sure what a 99% GPA is, but stanford will unweigh your grades and throw out anything that is not a core class to determine your "Stanford GPA". Write killer essays and get some awesome letters of rec and your resume sounds about like mine..which I hope is good enough too...public school will not really hurt you that much, and you have to remeber that the majority of people addmitted to Private universities are still white...plus you are a woman which will help your cause. Finally, not knowing what you are going to major in is OKAY...Stanford doesn't even let students declare until there Junior year. HOPE I HELPED AND GOOD LUCK!!!!

By Laur~abby (Laur~abby) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 01:41 am: Edit

Hey~ thanks for responding!! Basically, a 99% is all A+'s, and that's before the AP and honors weightings are factored in.... leaving me with about a 105% average (which I think defeats the purpose of having only 100%). Do you think that being from a state that's definately far from California (NY) will help/hurt my chances in any way? Or have no effect?

By Jason817 (Jason817) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 01:50 am: Edit

A 90%=105%. A- = A+. They both have the same value when colleges calculate your GPA.

By Trojan1444 (Trojan1444) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 02:02 am: Edit

Your school must be incredibly easy if you can have a 99% AVERAGE. That's insane.

By Tuannguyen (Tuannguyen) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 03:25 am: Edit

99% AVERAGE? OMG, did you forget to fill in a circle or something? Maybe the date so you were penalized. OMG, that's nuts.

By Dream5 (Dream5) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 04:42 am: Edit

EXTREMELY unlikely: harvard, stanfrod and columbia

so-so: duke, northwestern, berkeley

you need some safety schools. with your stats, you can't afford to apply only to these top schools.

By Laur~abby (Laur~abby) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 10:51 am: Edit

What do I need to do to be able to get into these top schools?? Increase my SATS?

By Sunshine916 (Sunshine916) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 11:50 am: Edit

top schools get tens of thousands of applications identical to yours (and mine...) every year. your SAT's are a bout average for most of these, so theres not much to worry about there. i'd say with a 99% GPA, you've got some SERIOUS grade inflation, but that cant be held against you...the biggest thing is that you dont have anything that makes yourself stand out. they get bored of the same "class president, valedictorian, NHS, etc." stuff everyday and thats why most candidates like that are rejected.

but NOT to ruin your hopes, the college admissions process is random. many LIKE to reject the top students to boost their ratings. in the words of a former duke adcom member "we spend the year travelling around the country to recruit the top students in the country only to deny them." have you noticed that many schools seem to accept the seemingly "lesser-qualified" students over the overachievers? most super-selective schools tend to reject 60-80% of applied valedictorians...

your stats are definitely in the range. keep up the good work. along with luck, anything is possible~!

P.S.-ADD SAFETY SCHOOLS. you DO NOT want to end up not getting accepted anywhere.

By Laur~abby (Laur~abby) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 01:35 pm: Edit

What do you think would be some good safety schools? I'm looking for a school in a big city, with a fairly large undergrad population. I'll probably go in as liberal arts or undeclared, so majors aren't really a big factor right now. Also, a good financial aid program would be great. I'd like a school that, even though it's a safety school, has a good rep and still has high standards.

By Laur~abby (Laur~abby) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 01:39 pm: Edit

And my school really isn't easy at all... it's not like everyone has a 99% average... that's the reason I'm valedictorian. I've worked sooo hard to get this far, please don't try and take that away from me by saying that my school's easy: it's not.

By Laur~abby (Laur~abby) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 01:43 pm: Edit

Also, what do you think my chances are at Emory and Penn?

By Cuponoodles (Cuponoodles) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 01:46 pm: Edit

I don't see your chances at Harvard, Columbia, or Stanford.

By Impact (Impact) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 02:20 pm: Edit

Emory- super likely

Penn- good chance

By Laur~abby (Laur~abby) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 07:07 pm: Edit

What can I do to make myself stand out??? I'm not a legacy, and don't really know any alumni from any of these schools in the type of way that would be appropriate for a letter of recommendation... please help!!!

By Laur~abby (Laur~abby) on Sunday, June 01, 2003 - 07:11 pm: Edit

Also ~ I won the Harvard Book Award... do top colleges care about that or are they pretty used to seeing it on applications?

By Laur~abby (Laur~abby) on Tuesday, June 03, 2003 - 11:12 am: Edit

bump!! please help me!!!

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Tuesday, June 03, 2003 - 09:11 pm: Edit

Your chances at Penn would be good if you apply Early Decision - they take a large number of students for the freshman class ED - your stats would give you a good chance of getting in ED. In the regular pool, it'd be a toss up.

In fact, you might want to take a look at the ED numbers for your absolute top - and hardest - schools and pick the one you like best and apply ED- that may increase your chances somewhat.

By Agentx004 (Agentx004) on Tuesday, June 03, 2003 - 09:24 pm: Edit

here's the truth, and don't take it as a way of me being mean. basically, if you were harvard or columbia material, you wouldn't have to ask what to do in order to make yourself stand out. you would have already accomplished it. good luck.

By Sunshine916 (Sunshine916) on Tuesday, June 03, 2003 - 09:43 pm: Edit

i agree with agentx in some ways. i mean, if you do something for the SOLE reason of wanting to stand out, colleges see right through that. those admissions people can pick out the people who do stuff for getting into college versus the people who do it for the passion of it. keep doing what you're doing now as best as you can. that's all anyone can really say. there is a good chance that you will be denied from harvard, stanford, columbia, because nobody has a good shot at those schools. even the best people get denied. unless you are a genius AND have a mad legacy AND your dad donated $20 billion dollars, nobody has a good shot at those schools.

i dont know about safeties, because i spend my life trying to get as far away from liberal arts as possible, and im not a big city girl.

im not saying your school is easy. im just saying that there has to be some grade inflation anywhere. the girl who is in line for valedictorian at our school (normal, public, appox 540 people) probably has a percentage average of 96-97% unweighted and she is pretty damn smart and wastes her life with her nose dug into a book. 1580 SAT's last october too. the girl who's getting valedictorian this year has like a 95. of course our school goes by the 4 point scale, weighted. you must be bright for being valedictorian, but each school grades differently and im just saying yours is probably easier than a lot of upper-level privates.

good luck!

By Laur~abby (Laur~abby) on Tuesday, June 03, 2003 - 10:53 pm: Edit

Does anyone have good ideas for safeties that fit the standards I have? Thanks!!

By Songbabe (Songbabe) on Saturday, June 07, 2003 - 04:28 pm: Edit

Hey I was wondering where should I apply and what are my chances? I really wanna get into U Penn, Columbia, and Georgetown
SAT: 720 math, 770 verbal
PSAT: 215 (probably Semifinalist)
ACT: 32 composite
dad's a SU professor at electrical engineering
93% average (approx unweighed 3.8) (public school with no ranking sys)
7 individual writing awards, 3 group awards in journalism
attending Columbia's journalism workshop
120 hours of community service
head students editor at the middle school
770 World History SATII
just took my writing (670, retaking), math I and IIC, bio (expecting 700 range for all)
CTYer for 3 years
going to Wharton Business institute campy thingie
key club, pac (1 award), art (1 award)
top county duet pianist (with my best friend) for 2 years according to NYSSMA
3 years of Varsity Tennis (most improved award)
6-7 APs by end of senior years, expecting 4s or 5s
Chinese school for 11 years, piano for 11 years (never went to a competition, just enjoy it)
Oh yeah, I'm an Asian American girl wanting to get into bio, Business, international relations or economics

By Cardinal15 (Cardinal15) on Friday, September 05, 2003 - 02:17 am: Edit

My opinion:

You might get into Columbia and Penn -- you're definitely in range stats-wise -- I'd say you have a good shot.

Harvard and Stanford -- those stats just get you in the door! I don't think anybody knows how they pick their classes (especially Stanford)!

Best of luck to you! Do everything you can in your control -- keep working hard, both in and out of the classroom. Submit interesting and memorable applications. The rest is all luck! So I wish you well, and don't worry -- you're someone who'll shine in life, regardless of where you go to school!