What are my chances at <span title="Stanford/UPenn/MIT/Dartmouth?">Stanford/UPenn/MIT/Dartmo...</span>

Question

My current credentials are:

-3.8 unweighted GPA (4.3 weighted)

-33 ACT composite (essay only scored an 8)

-National Honor Society President

-Spanish Club Vice President

-Future Business Leaders of America Honorary Member

-total of 7 AP courses (almost all other courses are honors)

-great teacher recommendations

-Writer for school publication

-Varsity Baseball as a freshman

-Speak English, Spanish, and decent Chinese (I am continuing to take Chinese classes)

-Manager of the School Store

-40 or so community service hours

As a bonus, I lived in Argentina for four years and Beijing, China for five years. In China, I attended one of the best international schools worldwide and maintained a 3.5 GPA there unweighted.

I will be applying to college as unranked because I switched schools half way through high school. My first school was much more difficult than the second, giving me a much lower average gpa than I would have at only my current school. With only my grades at my current school, I am 5th or so of 300.

Answer 1

Good chances if you apply early decision at UPenn. What are your SAT II scores?

Answer 2

I would say no for Stanford and MIT and maybe with a great application for Penn and Dartmouth.

No to Stanford because your stats are low for an unhooked applicant (hook=recruited athlete, legacy, minority=50% of class) and you have average ECs. With a &gt;10% admit rate, they only take the extraordinary.

No to MIT because you do not list any exceptional math/science achievements. MITexpectss at minimum you&#039;ve been involved with AIM, AIME, Intel, Westinghouse...

At Penn and Dartmouth your stats make you an average applicant. If you can find some way to stand out, you have a shot. Excellent references and an excellent essay may put you over the top.

But don&#039;t count on any of these schools, have some great safeties. This will be the hardest year in history to get into top colleges. The competition among Asian candidates is the most fierce. All of the ivies except Cornell take &gt;15% and the pool comes from both Asian Americans and international Asians. A recent book reports that Asian candidates need 50 point higher than a white candidate on the SAT at ivies.

What will hurt you most is th 3.5 at the harder school. Ivies get high stats candidates from the world&#039;s toughest schools and their admits are the top students at those schools.