<p>I would really like to know how I stand against other applicants from the schools to which I am applying. If you have any ideas about how I can make myself stand out more, please share!</p>
<p>I am a hispanic junior from PA looking to major in some kind of physical sciences.</p>
<p>SCHOOLS
Harvard
Princeton (#1 choice by far)
UPenn
MIT
Boston College
Johns Hopkins
Drexel
Penn State</p>
<p>SCORES
PSAT - 223
+CR 70
+M 73
+W 80
SAT - 2090 (I am retaking in January)
+CR 630 (OUCH)
+M 740
+W 720
+Essay 10
ACT - 34
+E 33
+M 32
+R 35
+S 35
+Essay 10</p>
<p>GRADES
Cumulative GPA - 3.85UW (eh), 4.2W (also kinda low)
9th - 1 regular, 5 Honors, 0 AP (none available)
10th - 0 regular, 6 Honors, 0 AP (1 available - will this hurt me?)
11th - 0 regular, 1 Honors, 4 AP
12th (predicted) - 0 regular, 1 Honors, 5 AP
Overall, I had a pretty rigorous schedule throughout high school, although I could have fit in 1 more AP sophomore year.</p>
<p>AWARDS
National Honor Society
National Spanish Honor Society
National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist
National Hispanic Scholar
(Hopefully) AP Scholar with Honor
High Honor Roll 9th Grade
Distinguished Honor Roll 10th and 11th Grades</p>
<p>EXTRACURRICULARS
Junior Varsity Soccer (200+ hours) [9-10]
Varsity Soccer (200+ hours) [11-current]
Robe Choir (50 hours) [9]
Key Club (50 hours) [10-current]
Township Civic Association Junior Board Member (100 hours) [11-current]
Hospital Volunteer - Patient Transport (150+ hours) [11-current]
Member of Various Clubs - (50 hours total) [11-current]
+Asian Culture Club (hahaha)
+World Affairs Club
+Model UN Club
+Scholar's Bowl
+Science Olympiad
+Spanish Club</p>
<p>What do my chances look like?</p>
<p>Thanks for reading, even if you don't respond!</p>
<p>Impressive enough grades and ECs however the schools u wish to apply are very unpredictable. You’ll need stellar essays n LORs to have a decent chance.</p>
<p>Forget about the SAT. Clearly you do much better on the ACT. A 34 is already an amazing score, and will be competitive at all the top schools. I’m pretty sure a 34 is the 75th percentile of admitted students at Princeton and UPenn. You can go ahead and retake it and shoot for a 35-36, but a 34 is strong at any school. At Harvard and MIT the 75th percentile is a 35, so it can only help you to retake it. If not, you’re still fine</p>
<p>@ yammy, I signed up to take the SAT a while ago so if I do get a better score (say, 2250ish range) I will include that; if not, I will only send my ACT score. Hopefully, I can improve enough that my SAT is the better score of the two.</p>
<p>@SAT128, I think I am going to retake the ACT sometime later in the year. With the semester coming to a close soon, I don’t want to bog myself down too much more andd worry about the ACT in addition to normal classes. I will probably take it again in the spring, when my schedule changes and is less challenging.</p>
<p>@Catria, thanks! Those are the chances I thought I had as well. However, you typed Yale as one of the colleges… did you mean Boston College? Oops! haha</p>
<p>Does anybody have ideas as to schools I might be a good fit at that are about the same as JHU?</p>
<p>What’s your class rank/percentile? And don’t forget to take atleast 2 subject tests. Princeton, Harvard, and MIT require them (UPenn requires them if using SAT; MIT requires math + science)</p>
<p>@SAT128, I am ranked 63/549, putting me in the 11th percentile. I don’t believe that this is shown on my transcript, because I had to ask for it, but I am still really worried that not even being in the top 10% will hurt me. I do think that I will be in the top 8ish% by the end of the year, however, since I have a very rigorous schedule this year compared to other students.
As for subject tests, I plan on taking Math II, Physics (I’m gonna have to study A LOT for this one), and Spanish.</p>
<p>JHU: High match
Boston College: Match
Princeton: Reach
Harvard: Reach
MIT: Reach
UPenn: Reach
Drexel: Safety
PSU: Safety</p>
<p>That SAT score is hurting you, you may want to bring your CR up quite a bit, and for MIT, bring up math, take math 2 and get a 800, same with physics and MIT is a rather good chance.</p>
<p>@ThePhoenixForce, if I were to just send in my ACT score, would any of your predictions change? Unless I get a 2250+ when I retake the SAT in January, I am going to only send in my ACT (with SAT IIs).</p>
<p>@kitts, just send ACT, and if you pull off a 800 in Math 2 and a 770+ in Physics, you’re pretty much a High Match for MIT, the rest stays the same though.</p>
<p>I say with your ACT scores that BC is a match. If you did not have that ACT score, and only had your SAT score, even with EC’s I would say its a low reach.</p>
<p>I agree with everyone else
All those are reaches
And PSU and Drexel are safeties
Have you considered applying to will and marry? That would be a strong match and it is an OUTSTANDING university with a lot of history being one of the first universities in America (just a cool fact IMO)</p>