Chance/Common App questions

<p>This is less a "chance" post and more a "is she doing this right?" post ....</p>

<p>My instate daughter will be applying ED.
one of the top schools in FFX Co. GPA between 4.1 and 4.2 weighted. Slight incline each year (all A/A-, a couple of B/B+s)
AP's taken:
AP World History (5)
AP US History (4)
AP Lang (4)
AP Environmental Science (4)</p>

<p>Senior year schedule:
AP Calc AB
AP English Lit
AP Gov
AP Art History
Physics
Spanish 5 (she did not take AP Spanish..is this a bad thing?)</p>

<p>SAT superscore 1350 (650 math 700 reading)
SAT II 690 US history, 670 Math 1 (will it hurt her for those to be sent? I think they may have been..)</p>

<p>Had an interview - she thought it went exceptionally well! (She is a huge fan of the school, very outgoing - both helped, I'm sure.)</p>

<p>Will also be submitting a fine arts supplement with additional recommendation.</p>

<p>Plentiful EC's focusing on one or two areas building to leadership positions. Founded a social venture that is now in place in her school..all within her primary interest area.</p>

<p>So, all looks good, right? Thoughts on chances for ED admission? I think the biggest obstacles are those out of her control....the number of high achieving girls within her HS that will also apply. I think that is what is stressing her - how to be sure to "shine the light" on her achievements with so many other wonderful candidates from her school and district.</p>

<p>My question is how she can best to present this on the application. It has been overwhelming for her to look at the online Common app and try to fill in the blanks with her achievements - many don't seem to "fit" into the list of categories. For instance - is her social venture (sort of a social entrepreneurship) considered community service? Or should she place it under "other"? Are there any tips out there for how to best display one's achievements?<br>
Also..is it best to list all EC's? She has lots..but only a few that take most of her time. Is it still best to "fill the sheet"?<br>
Should honor roll status be listed under honors/awards, or is that apparent from her transcript? </p>

<p>Thanks for your thoughts! (W&M Admission - is there anything else she can do at this point to enhance her application? )</p>

<p>Also - should she send in her AP scores as part of the application?</p>

<p>Your daughter is certainly doing all of the right things and is certainly someone we’d encourage to apply. Chances are always a bit better during ED because the pool is smaller so it’s easier for any student to shine.</p>

<p>As for Spanish 5, it is a less rigorous class than AP Spanish but overall your daughter’s schedule is challenging and balanced so that is not something that will make or break your D’s application.</p>

<p>We would advise taking the ACT again in October if possible. Her current score is certainly solid but since we superscore the SAT and consider the best outcome it can’t hurt her and a 1350 is about average for our pool.</p>

<p>As for her ECs, we don’t really care what category the student selects as long as we understand the nature of the involvement and any leadership is highlighted. She can use the short-answer to provide more detail on her social entrepreneurship or upload a resume to the additional information section if she feels that’s necessary. She shouldn’t feel compelled to fill the slots allotted on the Common App. She should simply list those ECs that have been meaningful to her. Honor Roll status is an award not an EC. She might want to check out our recent Admit It! Blog on ECs for additional advice ([W&M</a> Blogs Examining Extracurricular Activities](<a href=“http://blogs.wm.edu/2011/06/22/examining-extracurricular-activities/]W&M”>http://blogs.wm.edu/2011/06/22/examining-extracurricular-activities/)).</p>

<p>As for how to showcase herself, she interviewed, she’s making an art submission so she’s doing great. Now she just needs to use the essay to let us know something about her we didn’t learn from the other components. We wrote some blogs on that too ([W&M</a> Blogs Eeeek…It’s the Essay](<a href=“http://blogs.wm.edu/2011/07/07/eeeek-its-the-essay/]W&M”>http://blogs.wm.edu/2011/07/07/eeeek-its-the-essay/), [W&M</a> Blogs You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression or How I Continued Venting and Learned to Despise the College Essay](<a href=“http://blogs.wm.edu/2011/07/15/you-never-get-a-second-chance-to-make-a-first-impression-or-how-i-continued-venting-and-learned-to-despise-the-college-essay/]W&M”>http://blogs.wm.edu/2011/07/15/you-never-get-a-second-chance-to-make-a-first-impression-or-how-i-continued-venting-and-learned-to-despise-the-college-essay/), [W&M</a> Blogs You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression or How I Stopped Venting and Learned to Love the College Essay](<a href=“http://blogs.wm.edu/2011/07/26/you-never-get-a-second-chance-to-make-a-first-impression-or-how-i-stopped-venting-and-learned-to-love-the-college-essay/]W&M”>http://blogs.wm.edu/2011/07/26/you-never-get-a-second-chance-to-make-a-first-impression-or-how-i-stopped-venting-and-learned-to-love-the-college-essay/)).</p>

<p>Hope this helps</p>

<p>As for AP scores, she can send them if she wishes but they are optional. She can also self-report them in the standardized testing portion of the Common App.</p>

<p>''We would advise taking the ACT again in October if possible. Her current score is certainly solid but since we superscore the SAT and consider the best outcome it can’t hurt her and a 1350 is about average for our pool"</p>

<p>W&M Admission - she has not taken the ACT. Do you mean the SAT again? If so, she has taken them twice, so the 1350 is her superscore. I know it couldn’t hurt…would raising her math be a “make or break” issue? I would not anticipate a huge gain - at what point would it really make a difference? She has an audition for the state honors choir that morning - a potentially big conflict for her. I don’t think she would give that up unless she thought it would be a major difference in her application. (I’m hoping no?)</p>

<p>Thanks for all your help!!</p>

<p>Yes we meant the SAT. Sorry for the confusion.</p>

<p>Of course the SAT is only one part of our process; no more and no less. If she could raise her score 30-50 points total that is a significant difference. But if she’s taken it twice and didn’t see much improvement from attempt one to attempt two then taking it a third time isn’t likely to yield much difference.</p>

<p>We were just providing the advice we could to help make your D the most competitive applicant she can be. If she believes her time is better spent auditioning we get that.</p>

<p>Got it - thanks so much for all the advice!! It is very much appreciated.</p>