<p>Yes, this is another "Chance Me" post. But not quite the average. I'm from small town USA, Southern Illinois to be exact. my school offers 0 AP classes, has no NHS or Beta Program, and places relatively zero emphasis on anything that doesn't involve a football or a basketball. Although we did begin a program where each student was given a personal MacBook for schoolwork in tech in the classroom purposes, but they mostly just got used for Facebook and Skype IM'ing. Excellent waste of money.
Here's my dilemma.
34 on the ACT w/ writing. In my class, the next highest is currently a 27. Awaiting my SAT results back, but I feel confident. Got a 1930 on my first, and I was clueless when I walked in.
I'm an Eagle Scout,
Varsity Cross Country runner,
I'm 1/~100 students in my class, 4.0 unweighted GPA,
Current Senior Class President,
3rd Place at FBLA State in Technology Concepts, and a few years of work experience at a slew of employers, my current being a local IT company. (working three jobs atm)
among numerous community service hours and projects to help as much as possible with an organization that is trying to restore a state park.
What I'm asking, is will my location/opportunities be seen as "overcoming challenges" if I apply to Cornell's Engineering School (amound other Ivies, poss. Stanford)? Or will I be lost in the crowd when put up against students who are at the top of their class at college prep high schools, score consistant 36/2400s, and can safely land an airplane into the Hudson blindfolded?</p>
<p>My thanks to anyone who can contribute, and I'm hoping anyone else who hasn't been given much academic opportunity sees this as well.</p>
<p>If you ED, I’d say you have an okay shot because you truly excelled in a crap environment. Use your ACT, don’t bother with SATs unless you have the time and money to spare to do better in that instead of your ACTs. In your case, having a high standardized test score does matter quite a lot because frankly your class rank isn’t going to favor you as much as it should in better schools.</p>
<p>Sadly, I don’t know if I’ll be able to ED because of the dates that the Subject Tests fall on, I’m going to be out of the state and their Engineering school requires Math I/II and a Science. I don’t think I can take it until the next year, and I don’t know if it’ll be scored in time for ED on November 1st…</p>
<p>I don’t know what adcoms are thinking, but I do know they try to find a diverse class with diverse backgrounds in rural and depressed urban environments. I sometimes get the idea that the parade of prep school / AP / IB / equestrian team applicants gets a little nauseating and they like seeing someone like you who made the best of a challenging environment. </p>
<p>They certainly won’t hold the limitations of your school against you and they definitely look for more in candidates than just perfect test scores, if that’s what worries you. Definitely apply.</p>
<p>That’s relieving to hear, until I started doing a bit of research I never really knew how much different I had it than your typical Ivy applicant. I love it here in the rural, don’t get me wrong, but when my senior class started to score higher on the ACTs than the past classes a mob of parents went crazy because my school doesn’t integrate APs, Beta, Honors, or even a regular physics class. Has anyone out there applied/been accepted with a smaller school background?</p>