What are my chances of getting into a top Ivy-Level school?

Question

I am planning to major in economics... looking at Stanford and MIT.

I go to a public high school, probably one of the top in the city of Chicago. Will probably graduate top 5% of class. Courseload is very challenging with many AP classes.

GPA: 3.92/4 unweighted, 5.04 weighted
ACT: 33
SAT: 2160

Extracurriculars
Plays on Chess Team (3rd place in state 2006, 2nd place 2007).. I also will be the captain this year.

I'm an active chess player that plays chess outside of school in many local and national tournaments.

Math Counts, Math Team, NJHS, Ping Pong
Outside of class, I serve as a teaching assistant for a Kung Fu class (I've been taking Kung Fu for 7 years). I also am part of a Lion Dance group that performs around the area, so this can count as job experience.

Small things include my frequent traveling, piano playing, tutoring experience...

So what are my chances?

Answer 1

Matt is right on.

Firstly, I'm pretty sure the grading scale Stanford and other top schools use don't allow for a 5.0+ GPA. Just not possible on their scale. Your school must use some funky weighted scale.

So far, you're pretty average. Stanford and MIT aren't the best bets. I'm liking the high ranked chess thing, but would prefer if it were that high nationally. I'd feel much better if you had higher standardized test scores. Basically, both schools have tons of applicants as good as you or better.

And yes, why isn't U of Chicago on your list? Yeah, both are good in Econ, but it sounds like you're considering their Business School rankings for undergrad. If you're Econ, you aim for U of Chicago. Worry about bus school afterwards if that's even what you wanna do (I've got a cousin making 7 figures with just a U of Chicago econ degree so grad school isn't necessary).

Answer 2

Although everything looks really good you have to remember that so will the applications of most others who are applying. There will also be higher SAT scores. How much tutoring and other volunteer work have you done? That will count more then grades/test scores for an Ivy League school. How long have you been an Assistant Teacher for the Kung Fu class and what exactly did you do for the students? The more things that stand out and are different will greatly improve your chances. Good Luck!!!!!

Answer 3

The highest SAT score you could get in my day was 1600. They must have changed the scoring around so I don't know what your score means. I don't want to rain on your parade but for perspective purposes, my brother scored a 1600 on his SAT's when 1600 was the best, played varsity soccer, was the AMC state champion and went to nationals for that. He also competed in the world level competition for a chance to go to India. He also went to nationals twice in the high school science bowl competition. Everything was perfect except one B he received from a teacher he did not get along with in high school. The Dean of the math department at Stanford found out about him and wrote him a letter begging him to apply. Well, he applied to Stanford and didn't get in. They apparently had a bunch of applicants just like him. My advice: Shoot for the top because if you don't apply you won't get in, but apply to some other schools for backup. College is getting freaking competitive these days. And my brother applied 10 years ago! In the whole scheme of things, it didn't matter that he didn't get into Stanford because he met an amazing woman at the school he attended who is now his wife and he has been invited on multiple occasions to speak at academic conferences at places such as Oxford in England so I'd say he's doing pretty well despite his top choice being a bust. Good luck. It's a jungle out there.

By the way, congratulations on your accomplishments thus far. You will definitely go somewhere in life.

Answer 4

Your credentials are good, but they would be only average, or maybe not even as good as average at Harvard. So, you are pretty unlikely to get accepted there unless you have some 'hook.' You need to have done something notable to distinguish yourself from the other 22000 kids who are applying with equal or better stats.

If you are planning on studying Econ I wonder why you are thinking of going to Massachusetts. You have the best Econ school in the world right over at Hyde Park at the University of Chicago. Well, lots of kids dont want to go to school in their hometowns. I can understand that.

There are quite a few other excellent schools you should be checking out, though. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Good luck.

Answer 5

holy shizzz. you are friggin smarttt. you'll get in for sure (:

your weighted gpa is really really high, and top schools always look at gpa. i think your SAT is a bit low though .. i'm a sophomore and i can do a 2050 ..

i think you'll get into stanford or mit. i wanna go to mit or nyu for finance. (:

Answer 6

About the same as the other 30,000 applicants with your credentials. Apply and see what happens.