IVY LEAGUE CHANCEs?

Question

i have a 3.97 gpa
play soccer for 4 yrs
did track for 4 yrs
play guitar and drums
mock trial and student council
hard worker, good speaker
debate club
pingpong club
socially active
take most APS
ahead 1 math and science subject
took extracourses at MIT
SAT- 2340

voulenteer also

that GPA is unweighted

attend an extremely competetive school
ranked 2

SAT 2 scores were all top notch

Answer 1

As a point of refereence, my son graduated from High School in 2006 with the following stats:

GPA: 4.27 unweighted (on a scale where an A+ = 4.33)
Class Rank # 1
SAT1: 2360 - one seating
SAT2's - one seating each:
Chem, Math 1 and Math 2: 800 each
World History: 790
Bio: 760
9 AP's: 8 with a score of 5, 1 with a score of 4
Was a national merit semifinalist at the time
Did some volunteer work, taught sunday school, etc.
Was a 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do
Was on the track team for 3 years
and was president of the national honor society during his senior year.


He applied to eight schools, Princeton, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon and MIT and was accepted to all except MIT.

He attended a competitive public school in NY.

Looking at your stats, I see alot of similarity...although you make no mention of SAT 2 or AP scores or class rank. Assuming your scores are consistent with the rest of your profile, I would think that you have a good shot of being accepted into an Ivy or Ivy equivalent school.....but keep in mind that nothing is a sure thing.

As a previous post stated, Harvard accepts 8% of it applicants. Every school has needs each year. Whether they need a new quarterback for the football team or a french horn player for the orchestra....there will be a number of acceptances that go out to fill those needs...and those applicants may be less qualified than you. So, the 8% acceptance can drop to something like 5% for those students who are simply trying to get in without filling a specific need of the school or a legacy.

You should get into a great school. Good luck.

Answer 2

You should have a good chance of getting in where you want, I would think.

Forgive me for my ignorance, but when I took SATs there were two scores possible (verbal and math), each worth a max 800 (same when I took the GRE), so I wonder what the heck is a 2340. I guess I got old when I wasn't paying attention. The best we could get was 1600. I just assume that the best you could have done was 2400 and thus the 2340 is a pretty fine achievement.

Answer 3

You will get into some great colleges. If your 3.97 is unweighted, then many schools will think that you are an ideal candidate.

I am not usually overly optimistic about someone's chance of getting into an Ivy League school. Harvard accepts 8% of its applicants. If we assume that half the applicants are qualified (and I suspect that more are) -- then Harvard rejects 86% of its qualified applicants. This does not bode well for any students -- even those with qualifications like yours.

You are qualified to get in. I would be surprised if you couldn't get into SOME Ivy league school. I would be shocked if you got into ALL of them.

My advice is to apply to a few of the most selective schools (Ivy League or Ivy Equivalent like MIT, Duke, Chicago or Stanford). Also apply to a few of the better state universities (Berkeley, Michigan, Virginia).

Good luck. You will be able to go somewhere really good.

Answer 4

Your extracurriculars and scores are solid. You are obviously a high achiever, but, please don't take this the wrong way, you need to really stand out to get into Harvard - language wise, volunteer wise, whatever! They are looking for someone who is essentially saving the world while getting that 2400 and maintaining the 4.0. And with admissions percentages under 10%, they can afford to be that selective!

I think your best best is to apply to one or two Ivies. MIT would be a great choice since you took the courses there, and perhaps you'd like somewhere else like Cornell or Dartmouth, which are slightly easier admits than Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. You have a decent shot and should put in these apps, because you could very well get in, but you still need to proceed with caution! Good luck!

Answer 5

uumm, i advise you to go ahead and apply where you want to go...while most ivy league tend to pick those on top, is not always the case...so like all admission officer would tell you every student profile is not the same... i know a few people with hu-hu grade that got into good schools while others with better grades didnt...just make sure you shine above all the other application