<p>Hey guys!
I'm a senior who is getting pretty stressed about the upcoming application due dates, any advise will be appreciated.</p>
<p>Current list:
Safety state schools
Uchicago
Amherst
Cornell
Stanford EA
Berkeley</p>
<p>Profile: International Asian Female (Mid-western Resident, no financial aid)
High School:
Mid-sized public school. Definitely not a great school, ranked like 50th in the state</p>
<p>Grades:
4.0uw 4.56w
1/350
APs: Taking almost all of the AP's offered at my school, about 9 of them, fours and fives on all. Taking 3 this year and three college courses.</p>
<p>SAT: Super score: 2270 (1570 M+CR, 700 W <--need retake?)
SATII: 760 Math II, 750 USH, 730 Bio</p>
<p>EC
Science Oly Nationals Team #15-20 and individual #7. State 1st. Event leader and Captain.
Business Prof. of America, Chapter President. Some state medals.
Debate Society founder, President
Spanish Club, President
Habitat for Humanity, President</p>
<p>Internship
-Content Research Intern with a focus on bio-related topics at an educational video game company. ~3hr/ week
-Development Intern with an informatics grad lab group at local university. ~3hr/week</p>
<p>Independent Research
Biology lab at local university, possible publication. ~6 hours/ week</p>
<p>Volunteering
500+ hours at local science museum and have received several presidential service award for it.
~100+ more hours in other scattered community services</p>
<p>Recs
Teachers are good, counselor is pretty average<-- she's responsible for like 400 students.</p>
<p>You look pretty good with the GPA and class rank and activities But I suggest taking the ACT (if you haven’t already) instead of trying the SAT again. Sometimes, someone who gets a good score on the SAT can get an even better score on the ACT! I’m just speaking from personal example, because I got practically the same scores as you on the SAT but did better (got a 35) my first try taking the ACT.</p>
<p>Don’t obsess over those SATs its all about the rest of your application outside of the scores. Seriously, you’re over 2250 on the SATs, that’s not the worry. You now need to focus on presenting yourself well on the Application. How will your essays be? Recs? That’s what needs to be strong.</p>
<p>There’s really not much room for your scores to improve IMO. But since your schools are so selective, it’s really important that the subjective parts of your app make you seem awesome. I don’t think Indiana state residency has that much of an effect but maybe.
Uchicago- reach
Amherst- high match/low reach
Cornell- low reach
Stanford- reach
Berkeley- reach
Best of luck! Chance me back?</p>
<p>@bentley…yeah. Cornell has like a 20% acceptance rate, right? You’re a valedictorian with a 2270 SAT, multiple leadership positions, conducted independent research, have over 500 volunteer hours, and good SAT Subject Scores. </p>
<p>Quite frankly, your only “weakness” from an admissions standpoint is your race, but I could counter that with your score really being a 1570 (Cornell only looks at CR+M, giving you an advantage).</p>
<p>I’d be less confident about your chances at a 10 percent school, but at a 20 percent like Cornell? You’re in. Book it.</p>
<p>I would not say that Amherst is any easier to get into than U of Chicago. Amherst is quite selective, and its mean SAT/SATII/ACT scores are quite comparable to those at Uof C.</p>
But I suggest taking the ACT (if you haven’t already) instead of trying the SAT again. Sometimes, someone who gets a good score on the SAT can get an even better score on the ACT! I’m just speaking from personal example, because I got practically the same scores as you on the SAT but did better (got a 35) my first try taking the ACT.</p>