<p>@ambitious1 I definitely think that retaking the SAT subject tests will help you out a lot. Thats why Im retaking mine and January since I know I cant really do any better on the SAT (I got a 2010 in December)</p>
<p>@Buttafly13 I definitely think its worth a shot</p>
<p>Solid SAT and a good, not great GPA. The essays, leadership and recommendations can make a difference for the positive. Don’t focus on your low income, urm, single mom hooks though. Really focus on your passions, dreams, aspirations and what value you bring to each school and what value each can bring to you. You are trying to be in a long term relationship with these school so while it’s nice that your hooks are taken into consideration, they are the not reason you will or will not be selected. Your hooks possibly put your GPA into perspective vs your SAT score. It tells me that you’re smart enough to do better but faced some tough circumstances that made it difficult to just be where you are now. Now, prove me right in your essays and other recommendations and you’ve got a good shot.</p>
<p>madaboutx gave great advice you! I think you should follow what has been prescribed. Let your counselor talk about the trials and tribulations. If you do not at least apply to duke you defintely know the answer. Be aware GPA and strong course curriculumn is important to elite schools. In my opinion, it is hard to overcome the GPA and a weak course curriculum. I thinks test scores are just a check off box. They are important but not big decider on wether you get in. These schools want you to graduate and make sure you can do the work. Sell yourself to the schools! Let them know you can be a asset to their college. Good luck and Try hard!</p>
<p>Thank you guys so much for the advice!! I worked really hard on my essays and had them read by many people and I got great feedback on them. I tried to focus a lot on my position as the youth director of an organization that focuses on increasing the college going tradition among inner city blacks; that is what I wrote my common app ec essay on. I wrote my main essay about how mental illness among family members led me to want to be a psychiatrist. </p>
<p>Sent from my SGH-T589 using CC</p>
<p>O and yes I had my counselor talk about all that stuff, I did not talk about it. I have taken almost the most rigorous course load offered at my school. Plus 2 cc classes this summer which I received As in. Thanks again and good luck to everyone applying!!</p>
<p>Sent from my SGH-T589 using CC</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice Madaboutx!</p>
<p>Arg I’m gonna apply to H and P. I’ll give it a shot!</p>
<p>I applied to my top choice today. <3333333 Yay. Just have to send my ACT score on Wednesday! I hope it’s okay. c:</p>
<p>My UPenn essay, the Ben Franklin one, is so corny. Haha</p>
<p>^So was mine, lol.</p>
<p>It’s very nice to see all you applying to all the Ivies and other great schools! My highest reach schools that I’m applying to are UC Berkeley, UCLA, and USC. I know they’re not Ivies but they pretty selective schools and kind of hard to get into! lol :-)</p>
<p>Hahaha samee! I can’t do NYC either! Cities are gross and germy and unless you’re in Manhattan, I’ll pass.</p>
<p>I have applied to Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth. Wish me luck!!!</p>
<p>Good Luck to all the regular decision people! I know the deadline was just a few days ago, so best of luck to all! We will be praying for you and I hope more of you will be joining me at Harvard in the fall ;)</p>
<p>Good luck everyone! I just decided to apply to Princeton. If that falls through then I always have my #1 choice.</p>
<p>Let’s see some acceptances everyone!</p>
<p>It’s weird, I joined this site thinking that I was going to apply to all the ivies (hence the name) but I ended up only applying to Brown. </p>
<p>Apart from that, I’ll just repeat what everyone has said so far, good luck everyone!!!</p>
<p>Hello everybody - Just a new parent trying to get info for my daughter. She’s incredibly talented in the arts (music, dance, photography) and hardworking student. She applied to several schools and could use some feedback. I hope this is enough info. Thanks so much. </p>
<p>SAT Subj: Math 2 - 620; Lit - 630
ACT: 29
GPA: 4.0
AP courses not offered</p>
<p>EC: Dance (8 yrs), Music (2), Photography (5),
YoungArts plus various music and photo honors</p>
<p>Language: Fluent in ASL - Amer Sign Language</p>
<p>Volunteering: Various NonProfits during Holidays, Dance Studio (100+ hours), APLA, GLAAD, event photographer </p>
<p>Any advice re: chances for these colleges? Wesleyan, NYU, Brown, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, USC, U of Chicago, Emerson</p>
<p>Thanks again.</p>
<p>Her chances are pretty med to low for those schools, apply to some safeties</p>
<p>Get that ACT score up to a 30+ and try and get at least 1 SAT subject test to at least a 700. Your D needs to get more leadership positions in something she is passionate about. She has time to fix these. The universities that you are applying to are tough to get into even for URM’s. IMO, she has to show them she is a special person that has high intellectual curiosity to learn. Can your D take a college course (dual credit) to beef up her transcript. Most people on CC think that if you are a URM -you are in. A URM has the same worries as a ORM. Remember you are competing with other URM’s (AA) in admissions and there are some really strong students that could get into the ivys in any case. Good Luck</p>
<p>@dreamweaver she already applied… i think she has a good shot at nyu, weslyan, emerson, and usc those are still reach schools for her but it was well worth applying, the ivies seem to be very high reach schools. but best of luck to you and you daughter!</p>