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@AarushK
1 answer, 2 votes
 • 5 months ago •
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Hello, im a freshman in high school and I don't know a lot about the college selections and stuff, so I was wondering if you could answer some questions.

Firstly, in all of the good schools like harvard, princeton, yale, upenn and stuff, in collegevine it always gives me a really low chance of getting in to those colleges when I put my stats in (that will be below). Even when I click simulate chances and change my SAT score to a perfect 1600 and act score to the max, and say that I'm a national athelete in several sports, it still does not make my chances higher than a 50%. I do not think that everyone selected in these colleges take 100 honors classes and stuff when in hs, and I doubt that they are all national champions in several sports. Is the chancing actually supposed to be that low, or should it be higher?

Also, here are some of my stats:

1. 3.82 unweighted gpa (i know, its not ideal but ill try and get it to a 3.87 at least before senior year)

2. currently taking all honors exept spanish (i will override to honors next year), health and gym (I have to take .5 credits of gym one year, and health for 2 years for 1 credit), and lunch (please let me know if there is an honors lunch. I would love to take that)

3. I planned out the next for years, and I will be taking 11 ap classes, and 15 honors (mabye more since I have a lot of room in my schedule during senior year). The max credits we can take in a year is 8, and im taking 8 credits freshman year (no study hall), will be taking 7.5 credits sophmore year (1/2 period free), 7 or 7.5 credits junior year (1/2 period free) and currently i have only 6 credits planned for senior year, but I can guarentee that ill take at least 1 credit more.

4. In concert band and marching band. I play trombone. Currently, for concert band it looks like i will be section leader and first chair, since the only two other freshman tromboners NEVER practice. Also, for marching band, I am hopefully going to get to be drum major, because I am planning on doing that.

5. PMEA - Philidelphia music thing - A large district concert that I'm hoping to join on trombone in the next three years (freshman aren't allowed).

6. Jazz band - no freshman tromboners but me are really interested in spending any extra time for band at all, so since jazz band is optional, I'm the only freshman trombone in jazz. Because of this, it is very likely that I will be the only senior trombone player in jazz band when I'm a senior, so I will most likely be the section leader and first chair.

7. I'm in a ton of random clubs that require barely any commitment, like Physics club, chess club, and stuff. I might be able to be the president of leader of something when I'm a senior.

8. I play tennis and soccer, and I hope to make the varsity team when I'm a senior. Also, another question; will it ruin a college application if I say that I'm a substitute in soccer or any other sport? I'm not saying that that will happen, but I'm just wondering.

9. I will take 4 years of spanish, and do ap spanish lang and culture senior year.

10. I obviously did not take the SAT yet, but i took the 8/9 PSAT, and I got a 1220. It said it was in the 97th percentile in the country. I am currently taking algebra 2, so when I finish that, I will hopefully be able to to score a bit better.

That is all of the stuff that I'm involved in. I probably will be doing more stuff by senior year.

Could you give me a few colleges that I won't have a very hard time getting into? I prefer anywhere in the northeast, and a highly ranked college. Preferably an ivy or top 50. Thanks!

ClassOf2027CollegeAdmissions
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Accepted Answer
@em-h
27 answers, 38 votes
 • 5 months ago

Hello! It is hard to get into many highly ranked colleges, so your chances will rarely be above 50% unless you've won a Nobel Prize, Olympic Gold Medal, National Book Award, or something of that caliber. Your stats are quite impressive, so you'll be fine. Colleges, especially Ivies, are extremely selective. That being said, you should check out:

-Binghamton University

-Dickinson College

-Amherst College

-Babson College

-Rhode Island School of Design

-Hamilton College

-Carnegie Mellon University

- Loyola University Maryland

-Johns Hopkins University

-Middlebury College

-Bentley Unversity

-Northeastern University

-Rutgers University

and

-Skidmore College

I wish you luck in your search! Remember, the college you go to is not an indicator of your worth as a person!

1
[🎤 AUTHOR]@AarushK5 months ago

Thanks for responding! Just to clarify, CollegeVine says I have a 10% chance at getting into Amherst. Does this mean that if 10 people with my exact statistics submit an application, only 1 will be selected? Because it is kind of surprising to me that somebody could be an olympic athlete and only have a 1 in 2 chance in getting into harvard or something. Thanks!

@em-h5 months ago

Your assessment is indeed correct! With your statistics, the college would determine your admittance based upon your essays, supplemental materials (like an art portfolio), gender, region of origin, and other details. Also, this might not be easy to believe, but I know of a few elite athletes who have been rejected from Ivies and other highly-ranked schools. Being exceptional is no guarantee of admittance.

[🎤 AUTHOR]@AarushK5 months ago

Umm. That's a little confusing. So if I were to get into Amherst, 10% of it would be because of my SAT score, ACT score, GPA, and extracurriculars, and 90% of it would be from essays, gender, region of origin, and minor details? The proportions don't really add up in a fair way. This makes it so that my gender and region of origin are more important for colleges than test scores and extracurriculars. Right? I really hope I'm wrong about this, but this seems kind of unfair.

@em-h5 months ago

Not exactly! Most of your value comes from your scores, GPA, extracurriculars, and essays. If, for example, Amherst had 10 really good students of equal value (some schools use a points system, others use tiers, you get the point) and could only admit one of them, then that decision would likely come down to your supplemental essays, gender, region of origin, international status, financial ability, and the like.

1
@smthatguy
7 answers, 15 votes
 • 5 months ago

I know it seems crazy, but it's true man. Admissions are insane, there is still a 1 in 2 chance a national athlete with a perfect sat gets rejected. And you need, like, 3.9 gpa minimum for ivies. Once you get there, you can consider harvard, yale, Princeton, it, and all those. There is still time before senior year, so try to keep your ec's and honors/ap's up till then. Good luck

1
[🎤 AUTHOR]@AarushK5 months ago [edited]

Just to clarify, 24K students get into harvard. If the acceptance rate is 4%, then 600000 student apply for harvard. If I have a 50% chance at getting into harvard when I click simulate then at least 300,000 student have the same or better transcript than that. This is assuming that exactly 50% have a better transcript than me and 50% have a worse transcript. If only 24K student get in, then around 276000 would be rejected. But according to the previous calculations, ---continued

[🎤 AUTHOR]@AarushK5 months ago [edited]

---all of these student have perfect test scores and sports. It dont think all of these people were national athletes. Also, according to collegevine, the average student in harvard has a gpa of 3.87 not 4.0, a sat of 1510, not 1600, and an act of 34 not 36. However, I previously proved that everyone in harvard had to have perfect everything. I hope that I am completely wrong, but I just wanted to point out that this does not make a lot of sense. Please message back with the answer. Thanks!

@em-h5 months ago

Collegevine is wrong here - the average weighted GPA for the admitted Harvard class is 4.18 as of 2022. The unweighted average is 3.95. The average SAT score is between 1520-1600 and the average ACT is 33-36.

@smthatguy3 months ago

I know its been a while, mb. GPA, act/sat are just to make you an option. If you are below the threshold, you won't be considered. Essentially, you need a 1520+ sat/ 33+ act, outstanding ec's, and a 3.95+ unweighted gpa. That means 70 ish% of applicants are even considered. Then, only the top 6 ish% have good enough essays and ecs to be accepted. Also, just because you have a 50% chance doesn't mean 50% of applicants are more impressive or better. It just means their essays are better and ---

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