Can I get into Amherst, Bowdoin, or Dartmouth?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi -
I'm a white male junior at a very prestigious PUBLIC high school in Connecticut. I take hard classes (3 APs this year and planning on 4 next year, plus plenty of honors classes in all four years), and I consider myself to have fairly strong ECs. Could anyone chance me for Bowdoin College, Dartmouth College (Early Decision), or Amherst College? I will chance back!</p>

<p>I woke up kind of late, and as a result did not do as well as I would have liked freshman and sophomore year. I didn't do poorly, but just not well for the schools I'm looking. These are my WEIGHTED GPAs for each year:
Freshman GPA: 3.60
Sophmore: 3.67
Junior year I'm really starting to try, and for the first semester I have a 4.1 weighted. I can maintain this for the whole year. My AP classes are:
AP Calculus AB
AP Biology
AP Economics (Macro and Micro)
I'll take four AP exams in the spring (there's one for micro and one for macro), and most likely do well on them. I'll say 5 on bio, 5 on micro, 4 on macro, and 4 on AB Calc
Senior year I will probably have about the same gpa as junior year (first quarter grades). My planned APs are:
AP Multi AB
AP Chem
AP Physics C
AP Stat or AP World History</p>

<p>ACT Score:
Science 35
Reading 36
English 33
Math 34
Composite 35</p>

<p>SATIIs:
Taking Math 2 in the spring, will do well.
Taking either Bio or Physics, whichever i feel i can do better on. </p>

<p>I will have very strong teacher recs; I have great relationships with two teachers I intend on asking. My essay will be strong, as there is a huge college counseling business in my town that can help a ton with essay writing. My ECs are:
-President of Kindness Club, essentially visiting 2nd grade classrooms and trying to instill a sense of kindness and awareness of all people
-Town Youth Commission, group of about 12 high school students making executive decisions for the town on a variety of topics
-Town Kindness Project, similar to Kindness Club, but on more of a town wide scale. Hoping to be president by senior year. All three of the previous listings tie in very closely so I am hoping this is my strong involvement in the community
-Work 6 hours a week in the fall (10th, 11th, and assuming 12th grade) at a Tennis Club
-3 Years varsity lacrosse
-Lacrosse volunteer at Coach's youth clinics (40 hours total, 10th, 11th, 12th grade)
-Offseason Lacrosse Conditioning (4 hours/week 9th and 10th grade, 2 hours/week 11th/12th grade)
-Scholar Athlete of the Week for lacrosse
-Elite summer lacrosse travel team (10th, 11th, 12th)
-Service League (60 hours by the time I graduate)
-Tutoring in inner city (10th grade fall, sophomore summer, 11th grade fall, assuming junior summer and 12th grade fall) (3 hours/week)
-Service Trip to Ecuador (I know colleges see that kids do this to look good on resume, but I got selected as an ambassador to the program so that's good I think)
-Intern at a lab at Harvard Medical School Junior Summer. ~2 weeks (cousin is a prominent researcher there, managed to get me a spot for this upcoming summer)
-National Spanish Exam 9th grade honorable mention (will take again in spring this year)
-Second Honors 9th grade
-First Honors (10th) (assuming 11th, and 12th)
-AMC Exam score: 86 as a sophomore, will do better this year
-BioOlympiad: taking this february
-Published in School Journal for World Cup economics research paper</p>

<p>I am probably missing some stuff, but this is all I can think of. Is this a good list of ECs? Any suggestions as to how to make it stronger if not? </p>

<p>Finally, do you think my freshman and soph years will screw me in the college process? Or will a strong Junior and Senior year + great scores compensate for that? Thanks to everyone who answers, I will for sure chance back!</p>

2

<p>What is your class rank? Your GPA is extremely low for these schools (I am assuming you have under a 3.5 uw)…
Also yes the freshman and sophomore year as you put it, will “screw you over.” The GPA you submit to colleges is the one that is cumulative at the end of junior year, which means your GPA will be comprised of two bad years and one good year. That combined with the high test scores implies a certain level of laziness that is far from ideal in the world of college admissions. As for your ECs your list is extremely long, but what are you committed to?</p>

3

<p>u have a good chance as long as u keep bringing your grades up
ur act saves u</p>

4

<p>I would withhold judgment until I find out your class rank, and maybe your unweighted GPA. Either way, getting into Amherst, Bowdoin, or Dartmouth would be tough, but not impossible. At very least, I think that colleges will appreciate that you improved on your junior year-- it’s better to have your GPA improve over time than get worse.</p>

5

<p>@artsygirl13
My school doesn’t rank, but I’d assume by the end of junior year I will be about top 20-15%.
I’m actually quite committed to all of them. I’m president of the Kindness Club and Investment Club. I completely designed a banner that was hung over Main Street in our town for the Kindness Project. I will have tutored for 3 years by the time I’m applying, and have also made several donations which have been recognized by the organization. I know it seems like I have a bunch of things but anyone in any of those individual groups can attest to how committed I am</p>

6

<p>I’m liking your chances. You are solid in everything except your GPA. Make sure to get straight As if you can your junior year and your first semester senior year. If you do I think youll have a great chance</p>

7

<p>It certainly wouldn’t hurt to take some more college tests, eg the SAT too (likely you will do quite well, as you did on the ACT) and perhaps 3 or 4 SAT II’s. My son got into Amherst for next year. He did the ACT and SAT (ACT- 34, superscore 35; SAT- 2290 top single sitting; superscore 2330) and 2 SAT II’s (Math 2- 800; U.S.- 760). He presented all of these scores, and I think that the colleges seeing that he could do very well on two different college tests (ie SAT and ACT) was a bit more impressive than just doing quite well on one. Also, he did just 2 SAT II’s, but he has a 4.0 uw GPA. Since your GPA is your “weakness”, you could try to counterbalance it by plenty of high standardized test scores: ACT, SAT, and several SAT II’s. I have read that many selective colleges look at GPA/rigor of courses as heavily as SAT/ACT, so it is important. Many of them say that the next most important admissions factor is the rec, tied with the essays; the EC’s are a bit less important, but they are still a factor and may be a tipping point. I hope you do get into your first choice, but I’d suggest applying to some excellent but not quite so selective schools as well. My son had 5 reaches, 1 low reach, 4 cores, and 2 safeties, although he didn’t finish the whole application process for all of them since he got into a reach, his ED school (Amherst) in December.</p>