<p>Hey I'm from CA and Vandy's my top choice. Here's my stats:</p>
<p>10-12 GPA: 4.48
Total: 4.27 Unweighted: 3.62 (difference=testament to how many honors i took...)
5s on all AP tests (Lang, world history, us history, calc bc, bio...nxt year lit, stats, physics)
Rank: top 17% out of 480ish
SAT I: 2130 ACT: 31
SAT IIs: Bio 740/ US His 760</p>
<p>ECs:</p>
<p>-8 yrs Adv. Orchestra/1 yr Symphony Orch (director's award)
-4 yrs Varsity Badminton (#1 singles player),
-2 years Varsity Debate (Merit Award/Speaker Award/3rd Place @ tournys),
-4 years KEY club (officer),
-2 years science olympiad (officer),
-2 yrs NAHS, 1 yr Red Cross Club (officer),
-2 yrs Teen Outreach Project (VP/co-founder),
-Volunteered in Thailand a few summers @ Battered Women's shelter teaching english/funding new construction (~50hrs)
-Taught science enrichment program for 1/2 a year (20 hrs) @ local elementary school, Volunteered @ local senior center and woman's shelter (80 hrs), peer tutor (50hrs)</p>
<p>Work experience:</p>
<p>Modeling 4 yrs in summer in Thailand (should i include/emphasize?)
Tutor (4hrs/week)</p>
<p>You certainly have a chance. Beyond that it is hard to say. Vandy has become very hard to predict. Put together as good an essay as you can, see if you can get the ACT up a little. The biggest negative I see is your rank. Does your school provide this in your application? If not that helps. You have a great resume and should be proud of your accomplishment. Best of luck.</p>
<p>love your AP scores and high SATIIs which I think adds to your ACT and SAT scores and shows your doggedness in standardized exams after taking classes. Definitely talk about modeling in Thailand. That sounds unique! Good luck. You will get in a fine school regardless.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. Talking about modeling is difficult…I have to work extra hard not to sound like a ditz, cuz lets be honest, modeling is kinda inherently ditzy. I’m considering choosing it to elaborate on on the common app…Unfortunately, rank is reported. My school (a competitive public) is abnormal; #1 in the class has almost a 5.0, top 10% have a minimum of a 4.5, and of course freshman year is taken into account, which brings me down a ton.</p>
<p>you’ve definitely got a shot and you’re definitely a great applicant, but the problem is, Vanderbilt gets thousands of applicants that are just as fantastic. i had very similar stats (freakishly similar) and didn’t get in EDI, and i have to believe that although we’re both well-qualified they simply can’t accept everyone that applies. it sucks, i know, but i really think that with so many great applicants there has to be tons of undeserved rejections and it’s just going to come down to something that your admissions counselor happens to connect with/thinks is out of the ordinary or original. you have fantastic stats though and you’re obviously a great student, so you’ve got just as good a shot as anyone else! good luck!</p>
<p>If Vandy is your top choice, state it. AP scores express college readiness and readiness to produce rote learning by taking responsibility to learn the basics taught in class and in reading material. At Vanderbilt, you are expected to take full responsibility for rote learning on your own. If there was a maturity issue in your study habits as a freshman…state it in a cogent honest manner. Let the adcoms weight things. They have almost 25 thousand applicants and in the end, some of their judgments are subjective and random.<br>
Don’t apologize for modeling or reference the word ditzy as a put down. Use humor but paint a picture. Few readers have been models in high school in a foreign market. Describe, describe. Let your powers of description be the whole point.
Don’t be a stranger. That is the most important thing. If you don’t shed light on any questions that might come up, strangers will make guesses and make up the answers for you. If you put forth a non-whiny and not windy cogent explanation, they will believe you.<br>
No matter what happens, put your heart in it. You will get into a fine college. Vanderbilt is a great university but not the only good education out there.</p>
<p>YES OF COURSE YOU STAND A CHANCE. Just make sure to really show how you would be an ideal Vandy student through your essay and make your uniqueness shine.</p>