<p>Helloooo College Confidential! I’ve been lurking on this forum since I was a freshman, and now I’m a junior and I decided to finally make a thread hahah
Brown has been my dream school since my freshman year, sooo here are my stats and I was wondering if I’m on the right track and what I can do to improve my chances. I’m very interested in biology and possibly becoming a veterinarian, so hopefully my classes and extracurriculars will reflect that.</p>
<p>Female, Hispanic</p>
<p>GPA
Weighted GPA (with art): 99.58%
Weighted GPA (without art): 100.26%
Unweighted GPA (with art): 95.38%
Unweighted GPA (without art): 94.80%
Currently the valedictorian of my class out of around 150 kids.</p>
<p>TEST SCORES
Practice SAT from College Board website:
Verbal: 760
Writing: 690
Math: 630
Total: 2080</p>
<p>Practice SAT from SAT class:
Math: 620-680
Verbal: 660-740
Writing: 620-750
Total: 1900-2170
(I don’t know why they just provided ranges but that’s all I have :/)
Hopefully those will go up after I finish the SAT course. :)</p>
<p>COURSE LOAD
I’ve been taking the most difficult courses possible since freshman year. (All honors)
AP World History (4) sophomore year.
I’m currently in AP Biology and AP U.S. History.
I plan on taking AP Environmental, possibly AP Physics, AP Art, SUPA Economics, SUPA English and college level Spanish next year.</p>
<p>EXTRACURRICULARS
I’ve been a coxswain on the varsity crew team since freshman year and will most likely be head coxswain this year and next year.
I’ve been taking art classes since freshman year, so far I’ve taking Studio Art and Drawing & Painting, I’m currently in Advanced Art, and next year I’ll be in an AP art class.
I’ve been in Environmental club since sophomore year and will either be president or vice president this year depending on how elections turn out.
I was vice president of my class sophomore year, dropped that to pursue other interests.
I was told that I’ll be initiated into NHS later this year, and I’ll hopefully hold a leadership position.</p>
<p>COMMUNITY SERVICE
Member of the Red Cross, I haven’t done any significant volunteer work aside from a few blood drives.
I helped organize blood drives at the high school while on student council.
I plan on volunteering at a veterinary clinic this upcoming summer. (I would have done it last summer but both of my parents work so I had no transportation.)</p>
<p>I know I have a lot to work on, does anyone have any suggestions, comments, anything? Any feedback would be appreciated!</p>
<p>We are very similar. Lol. (Excluding the gender)
Your stats are very good, but I think you should’ve remained Vice President. It would have looked nice on your application. Your chances are good, especially since you’re hispanic.
BTW, does CB grade your practice essay online?</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback! CB does give you a grade for the essay but it’s done electronically, so they probably just base it off of the length of the essay, so I’m assuming it’s inaccurate. But it’s nice to see the CR and Math sections :)</p>
<p>I have since I’ve been told sometimes people do much better on that than on the SAT, so I’ll probably be signing up for that soon. Have you taken it yet?</p>
<p>I’m a junior, so I have not taken the exam. I have looked through practice tests, though. Their english portion is easier than the SAT’s writing portion; their math portion has more advanced questions than the SAT’s math section; the ACT’s reading section has easier passages, but very little time; ACT has science reasoning, which I hate!! Lol.
But this is my opinion. Yours may differ, but I suggest you to take a practice test of some sort.
It’s funny how people say the ACT is easier, but no one has ever said that about the SAT… Lol.</p>
<p>Couple of thoughts for you:
Think you are on track for the most part. (You seem to know how important getting those board scores up is).
Particularly for Brown (I really think more so than some of the other same tier schools, although they all like to see this): pick something over the next year that is an EC that really requires and can benefit from your whole-hearted and significant time investment, and follow it with a passion. This will help show leadership and commitment, and hopefully self motivation. (and may help you define what you like and are good at as a bonus). You sound more like an art type major than a pre-vet. (But at a school like Brown you can do both.)
Some things to think about: pre-vet is very much like premed, and schools like to see a strong math and science background. (math scores, calculus) Brown has very few “pre-vet” students. The reason for this is that most pre-vet students go to strong schools in states that have Vet Schools, re the admissions chances for those schools. Also at least in the past it has been harder to get into vet school than med school. You need to have a long/ detailed “pre-vet” experience re working in clinics , research etc. That said, one of my friends at Brown (one of the best students there) was “pre-vet” and went to arguably the best vet school in the US, so it is possible.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback! I love painting and drawing and such but I wouldn’t want to pursue it as a career so that’s why I wasn’t considering any kind of art major, but maybe it would be fun to explore that too.
I’ve always been kind of confused on what CC considers ECs. I’ve seen a lot of other students mention that they’re very committed to say, a sports team or a school club or something, but usually other users will tell them that they’re lacking a very committed or passionate EC. What kind of activities are they referring to if they’re ruling out clubs, sports, art and music, etc?</p>
<p>Female coxswains can draw attention at some schools, esp if you want to continue with crew. But, your ECs aren’t very strong. In general, you need to show the impact of what you did, not just a title or participation. Did the enviro club do anything? Take on a community project or promote a cause? What was your role? Same Q for VP and, by your own admission, you did little for the Red Cross.</p>
<p>If you want a STEM major (bio,) you should be involved in a math and/or science club, volunteering at a hospital or with animals now, or taking on on-going responsibilities with the Red Cross. That’s what your competition will be doing. </p>
<p>But, to show your maturity, energy and perspective, you need activities that get you out of your “comfort zone.” Not just a little of this and a little of that, at the high school or through the hs. Get started asap and keep to a regular commitment.</p>
I’ve been lurking on this forum since I was a freshman, and now I’m a junior and I decided to finally make a thread hahah 
CB does give you a grade for the essay but it’s done electronically, so they probably just base it off of the length of the essay, so I’m assuming it’s inaccurate. But it’s nice to see the CR and Math sections :)</p>