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High school junior:
SAT: 1410 (taking again soon)
good PSAT scores
3.5 at a REALLY hard prep school (rarely does someone emerge with a 4.0)
Taken all the hard classes available

been dedicated to three ECs for 6-8 years.

big sis at ivy
what are my chances? any suggestions of ways to boost my chances? i'm taking SATs in a few months. Whats my biggest weakness?

By Trickyrikki (Trickyrikki) on Thursday, January 08, 2004 - 11:38 am: Edit

bump. feeling lonely

By Caliplaya03 (Caliplaya03) on Thursday, January 08, 2004 - 01:08 pm: Edit

Your biggest weakness is your gpa. Your sat score us giid though. Since you are at a REALLy hard prep school I guess they will notice that um..... what is your class rank???

By Caliplaya03 (Caliplaya03) on Thursday, January 08, 2004 - 01:10 pm: Edit

Your only weakness is you gpa. You sat score is pretty good though.Well you might have a chance since your school is a REALLY hard prep school. Ya i think you can retake the sats and try to bring that gpa up.

By Caliplaya03 (Caliplaya03) on Thursday, January 08, 2004 - 02:00 pm: Edit

sry for the double post.

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Thursday, January 08, 2004 - 04:13 pm: Edit

what are your ec? are they unusual or eye catching?

By Daggerlee (Daggerlee) on Thursday, January 08, 2004 - 07:20 pm: Edit

You've got about as good as a chance as anyone else, unless you write a really spectacular essay, or happen to get a book published in the next year..

By Kiwinuts (Kiwinuts) on Thursday, January 08, 2004 - 07:29 pm: Edit

Speaking as harvard grad, trust me on this:
The admissions process is essentially all numbers.
No one cares about ECs if you got a bad sat score.
Aim for 800s on the three sat IIs you need.
and 1600 for the sats -- not hard, have a "do or die" mentality.

By Soblase (Soblase) on Thursday, January 08, 2004 - 08:28 pm: Edit

mabye that's at harvard but it certainly is not true with Stanford.

as long as you have great recs, ecs, and essays, youll have a fine chance. especially since admission to stanford is pretty random....


good luck

By Flipdude04 (Flipdude04) on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 03:15 pm: Edit

what are my chances of getting into Yale ? SAT880, SATII's500, 570, 520. some extracurricular activities (sports, clubs, summer program, etc.) GPA 4.02 Top 4%.

Personal Statement:
Most people see my sexuality as the defining aspect of my character.
They do not take account of my strong belief in God, my Filipino descent,
and dedication to service. Although it is difficult to remain outwardly
confident in an environment in which people reject exceptions, I never
turned away from the truth about my homosexuality.

When I turned seventeen, I told my father I was homosexual even though
I knew he detested homosexuality. I wish there was a fresh way to
describe hostility, to describe how agonizing it felt to be rejected by my
own father. His Filipino belief, often stated, that “blood is thicker
than water” felt meaningless when I witnessed the intensity of his desire
to push me out of my own family.

Yet it was my father’s influence that gave me the strength to be honest
with him. His constant presence and support created the secure
environment I needed to become my own person. His teachings remained with me,
even in his absence. When I was struggling with my calculus and United
States history class, and with personal problems, I remembered his
favorite proverb: “a quitter never wins, a winner never quits.” At times I
did want to give up, but my father’s words gave me strength.

After a period of silence, my father finally accepted me. With time he
became proud of my strength in the face of his rejection. This personal
struggle taught me that as I become more and more independent of my
family, I could always depend on them for support and acceptance. That, in
turn, gave me even greater confidence.

Nevertheless, I often find myself searching for the approval of others.
For years, my life was nothing but a sequence of unsteady illusions,
shadows that rejected me, and a father who told me that my sexuality made
me perverse. Now that I am open about it, I want respect for my
homosexuality, and I feel pride for all the “freaks” who are being badgered,
accused, and ridiculed for refusing to conform to the expectations of
society.

The incident with my father gave me the security and thoughtfulness to
seek freedom. The rejection I felt, and the embarrassment I brought
upon my family, were not “punishments” I had to endure; instead, they
motivated me to understand the perspectives of others. The experience
taught me that the key to my survival is my own acceptance of myself. I owe
this self-confidence to my family and especially to my father, who
taught me to be strong and who will stand behind me in the future. I have
come to embrace my identity as a homosexual, and I encourage others to
do the same.

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 04:30 pm: Edit

You've gotta get your SAT's up to atleast a 1100, atleast, to have any chance at all. Probably even higher

It's the sad truth of it.

By Soccerrulz888 (Soccerrulz888) on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 06:05 pm: Edit

ok i am a junior at one of the top public schools in alabama i have a 4.1 GPA, 1350 on the SAT,i made a 191 on the PSAT, and a lot of ec's. what are my chances of getting into a school with a scholarship to somewhere like vanderbilt or duke

By Kiwinuts (Kiwinuts) on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 06:50 pm: Edit

flipdude04, um..i think your test scores are subpar --to say the least -- for yale.

By Fri3ndlyfire (Fri3ndlyfire) on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 12:50 am: Edit

Flipdude04: i think ur essay's a bit unconventional...

By Trickyrikki (Trickyrikki) on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 01:12 pm: Edit

ok sorry i'm finally back to post again i was gone for a couple days. My gpa's actually a 3.55 (as if that makes a difference lol)
i'm in the top 5-10% in my class. I'm president of one of my EC's this year and hopefully next year too.
i co-lead another and will be leader next year on my own.

I'm really interested in Stanford, Soblase, are you a student there? what were your stats? ecs? what do you think was most pivotal in your acceptance?
thanks everyone who's posted so far

By Clipper (Clipper) on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 03:28 pm: Edit

Tricki - why are you asking this board for your chances? I don't mean to be cruel but if you go to a really hard PREP school then you have college counselors who know you better than we do to determine if you can get in. Also your sister is in an ivy so she should be able to give you some advice by comparing your stats/ecs to the students who attend her ivy.

By Trickyrikki (Trickyrikki) on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 03:59 pm: Edit

i just wanted some objective opinions. and i wanted to hear from people at ivies other than the one my sister is at.

By Soblase (Soblase) on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 06:08 pm: Edit

hey,
i got admitted EA there and will be attending next year.
I had below stanford's average for SATs. I have a good GPA but not near perfect. I did however have spectacular (in my opinon of course) ECs, Recs and essays. so it just shows that # dont mean everything, but your other things like ECs, Recs and Esssay mean a lot!

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 08:37 pm: Edit

what were your sat and gpa?

#'s don't mean everything, but they mean a lot.

By Sokkerdude4 (Sokkerdude4) on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 09:01 pm: Edit

Flipdude I don't care what your GPA is nor do I care about your sexuality...if you are planning on admission to yale with an 880 SAT and 500s on your SAT II....you wouldn't get in even if you were george bush's son. Up those scores and stop striving for the pity vote.

By Soblase (Soblase) on Sunday, January 11, 2004 - 01:58 am: Edit

um, im almost positive george bush's son could go there with the scores you said.

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Sunday, January 11, 2004 - 02:08 am: Edit

and he did!

bastard

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Sunday, January 11, 2004 - 02:11 am: Edit

yeah, i'm not sure how you scored an 880. I am a huge opponent of the SAT system, but I'm not sure how you're in the top 4% with that score. i mean that's incredibly low. do you just test really poorly? is english your second language or something? dyslexia? inability to read anything at all (j/k)?

take a sylvan or pr class.

By Trickyrikki (Trickyrikki) on Monday, January 12, 2004 - 10:51 pm: Edit

Thanks Soblase... its actually really encouraging to know they're looking at the whole person

By Bern700 (Bern700) on Monday, January 12, 2004 - 11:08 pm: Edit

Kiwinuts: What are you talking about?

Harvard (and in that case IVY) admissions is not all about numbers. I don't know when you graduated but this might have been true 15-20+ years ago. Today Harvard (as well as most IVYs) regularly reject 1600/800/800/800/valedictorians because they are not well rounded...I read that at Harvard specifically they accept only about 60% of applicants with a 1600. If it was "all numbers" then every 1600 applicant would get in. I know of lots of cases in which students have gotten into Harvard with 1200-1300 SATs, mainly b/c of their ECs. Personally, I got in to Wharton which is almost as selective as Harvard (I think 12% acceptance rate) with a 1300/800/640/570 4.3 GPA. Also read "A is for Admissions" written by a former IVY admissions officer an it show you how much of a role ECs play in a person's admissions.

It's not all about those ridiculous SATs. I don't think Harvard would admit a student with 1600/800/800/800 but with a 3.2. This shows that the person is lazy and not working up to their potential. If it were all about the numbers, as you put it, he or she would have gotten in. Rather universities want students with great GPA/rank, decent/above average SAT, and ECs that they pursue with a passion.

I would suggest getting your facts straight before posting ridiculous and misleading information.

By Wasim (Wasim) on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 09:09 am: Edit

please let me know what are my chances of geeting admitted to vassar, harvard, yale, macalester i am home schooled, i got 1460 in SAT I, and in SAT II i got 760 in physics, IC, and IIc. in writing i got 690. english is my 2nd language. so my essays were pretty ordinary. i have below avg ECs. lastly i got 6 A's in o levels and 2 A's in a levels.

By Baatasari (Baatasari) on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 06:06 pm: Edit

What are the chnances at Stanford:
SATI 1490(800M+690V)
SATII MathIC 750=97%ile
Year book editor in Junior and would be in Senior also
AP Bio 5
Taking 5 APs in Junior and planning for 5 more APs in senior.
GPA 4.13 in Sophomre
4.29 in Junior
Planning to take SATII english and math II
expecting scores aobve 750
Interested in Medicine. What do I need? Any advice please

By Thedad (Thedad) on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 06:47 pm: Edit

Bern700, most of the people on this board over-value stats. You under-value them.

It is true that you will always find someone with fairly low SAT I's--1200 to 1300, for instance--getting admitted to the elite schools. However, the *percentages* of those being admitted in each score range plummet as the scores descend. Yes, bushels of 1600's get rejected...but (depending on school) 40-75 percent still get in, in comparison to a 9-15 percent overall rate of acceptance and some really deathly numbers for under 1400. Futhermore, someone admitted with low scores is more likely to have either *outstanding* EC's/essay or *multiple* hooks. Your ordinary "great person with great EC's" is not in that league.

Congratulations on getting into Wharton...you will find that your 1300 SAT a) won't matter once your in and b) will be among the lower scores there. The overall admissions numbers wouldn't work out otherwise.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 07:08 pm: Edit

Bern700, most of the people on this board over-value stats. You under-value them.

It is true that you will always find someone with fairly low SAT I's--1200 to 1300, for instance--getting admitted to the elite schools. However, the *percentages* of those being admitted in each score range plummet as the scores descend. Yes, bushels of 1600's get rejected...but (depending on school) 40-75 percent still get in, in comparison to a 9-15 percent overall rate of acceptance and some really deathly numbers for under 1400. Futhermore, someone admitted with low scores is more likely to have either *outstanding* EC's/essay or *multiple* hooks. Your ordinary "great person with great EC's" is not in that league.

Congratulations on getting into Wharton...you will find that your 1300 SAT a) won't matter once your in and b) will be among the lower scores there. The overall admissions numbers wouldn't work out otherwise.

By Trickyrikki (Trickyrikki) on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 10:19 pm: Edit

I agree "Thedad," Bern700, yes, good stats aren't a guarentee, but SATs of 880 combined will be pretty much a knockout at a school like Yale where they have their choice of 2,000 applicants who are well rounded AND are above 1300. sorry flipdude

By Bern700 (Bern700) on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - 11:55 pm: Edit

Thedad: I agree with what your saying. Statistically, having a 1600 gives one a HUGE advantage and "the *percentages* of those being admitted in each score range plummet as the scores descend." I can't contest that point.

I'm just trying to make the point that the SAT is not everything. Kiwinuts' post gives the false illusion that numbers (in particular the SAT) are the only thing that matter in admissions. I was just trying to break the common misconception that getting a 1600 will guarantee admissions to any college. It seems as if people are only concerned with SAT scores. If you notice on many of the "what are my chances" posts even if a person's overall stats are stellar but his or her SAT is a 1340 people will tell them that they don't have a chance, etc. They just look at the SAT score and if its not a 1500+ then they disregard that person as an overall applicant. On the contrary, though, when they see an applicant with shoddy stats but with a 1600 then they automatically say "hey you'll definitely get into Harvard."

Statistically, yes you do have a better chance (not a guarantee) if your SATs are higher. Sorry for ranting but I'm just sick of people thinking that the SAT is the almighty god that determines where a person goes to college and if they will success.

By Shadow67 (Shadow67) on Wednesday, January 14, 2004 - 12:52 am: Edit

Hey, i was just wondering.....how much do colleges care about having a poor background? i mean.....my ecs are kinda limited because of my financial situations.....would elite colleges care about that at all? and if yes, how much do they care about it?

By Wasim (Wasim) on Wednesday, January 14, 2004 - 01:18 am: Edit

Please can all the experts here rate my chances.

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Wednesday, January 14, 2004 - 05:55 am: Edit

wasim:

start your own thread! you'll get more responses and not cloud up other people's chances threads

By Wasim (Wasim) on Wednesday, January 14, 2004 - 01:16 pm: Edit

hey Argilospsychi,
i might just do that, but everyone is most welcome to rate my chances. i will keep checking. why dont u give it a try Argilospsychi.

By Sheeprun (Sheeprun) on Friday, January 30, 2004 - 04:10 pm: Edit

Argilospsychi,

It is perfectly OK---and indeed preferable on College Confidential---for many people to ask many different questions in a single thread.

No one "owns" the thread that they started. We are all smart enough that a series of questions does not "cloud up" our thoughts---or a thread.... most of us anyway.

<moderator>

By Jesus911 (Jesus911) on Friday, January 30, 2004 - 04:52 pm: Edit

Hey all,

I'v got 1340 in SAT I , 760 in maths, 580 in verbal.
SAT II:
Maths IIC : 800
Physics : 760
Writing : 560

Finishin 6 A-levels by the end of this year, expected 6 A's ...

I'm an international student qith english as my 2nd language,
Do I have any realistic chance of gettin into Harvard/Princeton/Stanford...
Or shall i just forget about them and take up my oxford offer?

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Friday, January 30, 2004 - 06:16 pm: Edit

Sheeprun:

I was merely offering a suggestion that I thought might yeild Wasim more responses, as the thread would be focused on his question specifically. I was by no means asserting that he had no right or reason to post his question on this thread nor was I attempting to 'own' or promote 'ownership' of this or any other thread.

Uh huh...

Hopefully *most of us* will be smart enough to infer *that*