my nephew is a high school senior, here are his stats and at the end I will be listing the schools he wants to apply to.
GPA= 3.2 unweighted, 3.9 weighted (goes to top magnet school in his state and has been on an upward trend ever since the start of his junior year, ranks 35 out of a class of 82 students). He started out slow his first 2 years at a magnet school.
Test Scores: 800 math, 790 reading and 780 writing. He scored that on his second attempt.
34 on the ACT and he made the following on the subject tests for the SAT
US History: 710
Biology: 740
Volunteer Hours: About 40, 12 of them spent on cleaning up a lake and the rest spent in a hospital working with doctors.
Extra Curricular activities: Soccer Team member, a fitness program captain at his school, HOSA member, Tennis Player, Ecology Club member, started his own SAT Club to help students raise their scores, Academic Decathlon team captain, and he won governor’s honors in Social Studies (US History), Economics and Math.
Other special things: Won an essay competition for the Bantam Classic company in his local area and as a result he was recognized by a congressman from his state. Also he won an essay competition in his school, as a result he had to read the essay out loud in front of everyone in the gym.
State of residence: GA
he has already applied to his safety schools and match schools, now he wants to know his chances at his reach schools
University of Virginia at Charlottesville
Harvard University
Yale University
Princeton University
Columbia University
Brown University
Northwestern University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Georgetown
Boston College
and Johns Hopkins
Tell your nephew I said congrats. I could not even pull a score that high and I got into Harvard, Columbia and Cornell. I made a 2340 (an impressive score, nothing compared to that of your nephew’s).
I was rejected from Yale though so you know the process works in so many mysterious ways. The SAT score is outstanding and his extra curriculars are great, his merits are admirable and as for his GPA, well from the looks of it I can tell you that he took a lot of tough courses in order to have that high of a GPA in the first place (weighted not unweighted).
I will break it down for you.
UVA – match because of his SAT score, since it is an out of state public with a 31k tag JUST for tuition, I say he should seriously consider removing it from the list.
Harvard – reach for just about anybody, I doubt he will make it though because they turn away turns of perfect kids but like anyone else, he has a small chance. His story seems interesting and if possible, the smart move here would be to get the congressman to write him a letter of recommendation. The good thing is financial aid at Harvard is beyond admirable, if his family makes below 60k, he is going to get a full ride.
Yale and Princeton = same as Harvard.
Columbia = a little easier to get into but I would suggest that he not go here since it is in a bad part of NYC and the switch from small town to a big city all of a sudden might impact his academic progress.
Northwestern = most likely a match, I used to live in Chicago and I knew a kid with a 3.1 GPA and a 1500 SAT score (math and verbal) who got in about 3 years ago.
MIT = huge reach, take it off the list. If he really wants to go there tell him to apply to grad school.
Georgetown = his SAT score is well above their top range and his ECs will turn a lot of heads.
Boston College = match but a waste of money, 50k per year for your undergrad is not worth it.
Johns Hopkins = he might make it.
As for the list.
If you had to narrow it down I would suggest picking Johns Hopkins and Harvard as his wildcard school. If he wants to apply to one more tell him to pick Brown University, he has a good chance there.
As for colleges he may want to look at: Carnegie Melon and Cornell University are some good picks.
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:33 pm
His GPA hurts him a little
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December 3rd, 2009 at 8:40 pm
With those scores he can get in almost anywhere. Congrats on the great SAT & ACT scores.
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December 3rd, 2009 at 9:08 pm
I tell you know, I got a plumbing degree at Ashworth Community College Online and am very content with my port-a-potty cleaning service now. So don’t aim so high, go for the lower schools, like Ashworth Community College Online
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December 3rd, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Probably get accepted to Virginia, Northwestern, BC, and Georgetown. Shocked if he doesn’t get into Virginia. Don’t see him getting accepted to the other schools, sorry.
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December 3rd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
First of all, it never hurts to apply to a lot of colleges. He is doing the right thing in that sense.
It is hard to say what his chances are for sure just because it depends on who else is applying with him. If they all have the similar qualifications and higher GPAs, it hurts his chances more than if the people who apply have less of something than him. It obviously varies from year to year because different people apply.
I had an adviser that used to work in admissions and decide who got into the college she worked for and so she told me a lot of things that people might not think of. For example, his GPA could actually be fine if he took a lot of difficult classes. Colleges like that better than someone with a 4.0 that took all easy classes. So, it doesn’t necessarily hold him back. His test scores are all very good and the volunteer time and extracurriculars will make him look good as well. Colleges want people that they think will be involved with things on campus.
I think his chances are pretty good at this point, but like I said, it all depends on who his competition is.
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December 3rd, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Tell your nephew I said congrats. I could not even pull a score that high and I got into Harvard, Columbia and Cornell. I made a 2340 (an impressive score, nothing compared to that of your nephew’s).
I was rejected from Yale though so you know the process works in so many mysterious ways. The SAT score is outstanding and his extra curriculars are great, his merits are admirable and as for his GPA, well from the looks of it I can tell you that he took a lot of tough courses in order to have that high of a GPA in the first place (weighted not unweighted).
I will break it down for you.
UVA – match because of his SAT score, since it is an out of state public with a 31k tag JUST for tuition, I say he should seriously consider removing it from the list.
Harvard – reach for just about anybody, I doubt he will make it though because they turn away turns of perfect kids but like anyone else, he has a small chance. His story seems interesting and if possible, the smart move here would be to get the congressman to write him a letter of recommendation. The good thing is financial aid at Harvard is beyond admirable, if his family makes below 60k, he is going to get a full ride.
Yale and Princeton = same as Harvard.
Columbia = a little easier to get into but I would suggest that he not go here since it is in a bad part of NYC and the switch from small town to a big city all of a sudden might impact his academic progress.
Northwestern = most likely a match, I used to live in Chicago and I knew a kid with a 3.1 GPA and a 1500 SAT score (math and verbal) who got in about 3 years ago.
MIT = huge reach, take it off the list. If he really wants to go there tell him to apply to grad school.
Georgetown = his SAT score is well above their top range and his ECs will turn a lot of heads.
Boston College = match but a waste of money, 50k per year for your undergrad is not worth it.
Johns Hopkins = he might make it.
As for the list.
If you had to narrow it down I would suggest picking Johns Hopkins and Harvard as his wildcard school. If he wants to apply to one more tell him to pick Brown University, he has a good chance there.
As for colleges he may want to look at: Carnegie Melon and Cornell University are some good picks.
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