<p>GPA: 3.99
Class rank: 3/606
ACT: 34
SAT: 2250</p>
<p>Sophomore year: All honors and 2 APs
Junior year: All honors and 3 APs</p>
<p>Varsity Cross Country since fresh year
Captain </p>
<p>Varsity Basketball since soph year
Captain</p>
<p>Varsity Track since fresh year
Captain</p>
<p>Most of my ECs are my sports, I also play AAU basketball but I am on the leadership team for NHS (Secretary) and am currently running for public relations in student council. I am also a link crew leader that helps incoming freshmen, and I lettered in Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I teach Sunday School and Vacation Bible School at my church. Volunteer at the hospital my mom works at. I am a member of my school's band and will have taken 5 years of Spanish, please give me my chances!</p>
<p>HYPS=reach if not recruited. You have good stats but you need to show extraordinary talent in some area, or be very good in many areas. I assume you are very good at sports–if you’re recruited you’re set. Good shot at duke L&S (i have two friends, both with good stats similar to yours, one rejected by duke engineering, other into L&S).</p>
<p>Cornell/rice good shot. Uchicago also reach i think.</p>
<p>My suggestions:
Be sure to do something cool this summer (research, volunteer, whatever… if you can something that will highlight a particular talent/interest, or practice a sport to be outstanding at)
Apply lots of schools, including HYPS, hope for best there but don’t be surprised w/ rejections.
Make your essays good.
Ace your subject tests if you haven’t taken them yet.</p>
<p>Obviously if the coach wants you, you’re almost guaranteed acceptance. Otherwise, I think it will help a lot to raise your SAT to 2300+ or ACT to 35+. Your GPA is great. Your ECs are not that unique, but substantial and very time consuming. Try to get another leadership position if possible.</p>
<p>I think people at CC put too much emphasis on ECs and discount that the first things that any university looks at are grades and SAT/ACT. A 34 ACT is like a 2250 and a 35 is like a 2350. So there is a difference, but I agree that it might not be worth retaking depending on how much effort you need to put in to raise it.</p>
<p>^What we are saying is that one does not stand a better chance with a 35 or a 36. There are plenty of examples on CC of perfect scorers not getting into Stanford.</p>
<p>Just because some perfect scorers don’t get in, that doesn’t mean it’s not beneficial to have a perfect or near-perfect score. Acceptance rates positively correlate to test scores.</p>
<p>There are some schools that publish this data but most don’t. You have to look at the middle 50 to see the range. There are scores that definitely stop you from getting into certain schools but 34 is not it.</p>
<p>The same schools will still turn you down with a 35 or 36. It does happen to a very large number of people and not SOME.</p>
<p>"For Susan Lee, the application process has been equally perplexing. The Glenbard North senior ranked sixth out of 680 in her class, scored a 35 on her ACT and participated in a hefty log of activities, including four years in student council.</p>
<p>Even so, of the 10 schools where she applied, she was turned down by four, wait-listed by four (Duke University, the U. of C., Penn and Northwestern) and accepted by two (Boston College and New York University)."</p>
<p>Higher test scores strengthen your application. Period. With higher test scores, you will get into more schools and the probablility of getting into a given school increases.</p>
<p>A 2400 doesn’t look that much better than a 2350, A 2300 doesn’t look much better than a 2250. But it does look better. And that can make a difference. I doubt I would have gotten into Stanford with a 2230. But I did with a 2380.</p>
<p>Of course, the trade off is spending more time on extracurriculars/other as opposed to studying for/taking SATs.</p>
<p>Yes, people with 2400s get rejected routinely, while people with 2100s get in. But those 2100 SAT people had to strengthen their application in other areas (published author, recruited athlete, urm, outstanding hardships they overcame, concert pianist…) to get in. The admission process is holistic. Everything matters. Test scores are one part. Higher test scores=stronger application. You can make up weak test scores in other areas. High test scores by themselves do not make a great application-- less outstanding ECs/grades/essays/LOR/anything can sink high test scores-- but higher scores help, no questions asked.</p>
<p>People say all this stuff about the admissions process not making any sense. It does make sense. Schools choose their candidates with a purpose. They take the strongest applications. Strengthening your application increases their odds.</p>
<p>Of course there is some chance involved. I got into Stanford but not HYMP. I know two friends who got in MIT but not HYPS; one who got in princeton but not HYMS; one who got in HYP but not S/M. Chance? Yes. Blind chance? No. They all had very strong applications, but not so strong as to be shoo-ins.</p>
<p>Some people are shoo-ins (IMO winners etc.) Some are shoo-outs (1500 sat 2.0 gpa). Between there, it’s a ‘probablility distribution’, with marginally stronger applications being margninally more likely to be chosen, and strong but slightly weaker ones slightly less likely to be chosen. If you’re ‘on the cuff’ the odds may be 50/50 at each of HYPS. This means you have a very strong application, which may or may not be chosen.</p>